Love-Love || OLD DRAFT

fourteen - thirteen

A/n

Super quick update because I wanted to compensate for the dark/sad/non-(WAIT WE DO NOT HAVE A SHIP NAME YET!!!!) chapters that had dominated this book for a while now. Lol I'm pretty sure this entire sentence was grammatically incorrect.

....

It was a bright afternoon; the sky was a beautiful shade of blue and the smell of flowers in the air heralded the coming of spring. I used to tell Linden these were his-kind of days because the sky would match the brightness of his eyes, but he would cringe and say it was too happy and sappy (pun probably intended) for him.

We planted a white oak tree sapling beside his grave and his funeral was a sober affair. It was just Roux, me and Aspen and an old friend of Linden who Roux insisted we should invite. He didn’t say anything much, neither did any of us, and after the ceremony, he simply hugged us and left, as quietly as he had come.

As I saw him wipe a stray tear from his cheek, I realised I did not even know his name.

“I’ll be around,” Aspen whispered to me before leaving me standing alone, staring at the fresh mould of earth.

Roux joined me at my side.

“Will you stay if I ask you to?” I said without looking at her.

She was silent for a while, then said, “Did you know that when we first met, Lin used to get jealous every time you spent time with me? It was funny when I thought about it. Now, it’s just – I don’t know.” She took a deep breath. “I knew you cared about Lin, I’d seen it. But... the two of you were such a mess. And I knew he had gone crazy at one point – I didn’t want to admit it, but still I saw it. I just – I missed him so much, you know.”

I put an arm around her shoulder as she rested her head on mine. “I thought you were happy with me.”

“I was. I loved what we had. Fighting Super Storm was way cooler than drowning a few cops here and there. But it just – it’s tiring to never get answers. It’s frustrating sometimes when...” She looked up at me, “when you leave.”

I gulped down a sob and rubbed my tear stung eyes. “I’m sorry, Roux. I really am. If you give me another chance, I promise I’ll do better. I know you said you won’t forgive me but –”

“Hey!” She nudged my ribs lightly. “Stop taking all the blame. You being heroic is creeping me out.”

“I’m not,” I sniffed.

Roux smiled. “Speaking of heroics –” She stepped out of my hold and punched me hard on my arm. “Why the fuck are you sleeping with,” she lowered her voice and whisper-yelled, “Super Storm? Is that even allowed? When did it happen? When were you gonna tell me? Is that why you left me? Satan, you can never keep it in your pants, can you?”

I smiled when I saw her grinning despite pretending to glower at me. “We haven’t really gotten around to the sleeping bit –”

“Shut up, ew! I don’t need to know that,” she shouted, her hands over her ears.

“Well, you asked,” I shouted back.

“I didn’t!”

“You did!”

“I –” She broke off, looking over my shoulders. “Does this mean we won’t fight him anymore?”

I followed her gaze. A good fifteen metres away stood Aspen in a black suit, looking ridiculously handsome. He had his back to us and was busy on his phone. “We still can, if you want to.”

“I want to make him wet,” Roux said seriously, then burst into laughter when I turned to look at her.

I stared at her for a while, watched her smile wrinkle the skin beneath her eyes, and drank in the sound of her laugh. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

She turned serious in an instant. “Stop saying sorry. Help me take down Horwitz instead.”

“Of course,” I nodded. I held out my hand for her. “We’re going to make every single one of them pay.”

She took my hand and we made our way towards Aspen, who was still engrossed in his phone. I swear to Satan I’ll throw that phone away one day!

He turned to us when we approached, finally pocketing the phone.

“I don’t think we’ve officially met,” Roux said, extending a hand. “I’m Roux.”

“Aspen.” He shook her hand. “I always wanted to tell you that you’re pretty badass. Would’ve admired you, had you not always tried to kill me.”

Roux grinned and turned to me. “I think I approve!”

I rolled my eyes, smiling.

The three of us made our way out of the cemetery.

“I found fresh leads,” Aspen said, softly so only the two of us could hear. “They’re bigger than we thought. They have cops working for them, media channels, business corporations, politicians.”

“Yeah, I know,” Roux said. “I mean,” she looked around and said, “I’ll fill you in later.”

Aspen nodded. “We’ll get them,” he promised.

I caught his gaze. “Thank you.”

He fought a smile. “I still have to put the two of you in jail though.”

Roux and I froze in our tracks. “What?” we cried at the same time.

He smiled sheepishly. “I uh – I need public support. Your attack was bad for Storm’s reputation. I need to give the cops something concrete to retain their faith.”

“You want to use us to fix your reputation?” Roux asked incredulously.

“Fuck you,” I said, not offensively.

“You can, but you still have to spend some time in jail first,” Aspen said seriously.

Roux turned to face me, mouth agape. “Did he just?”

“We’re not acknowledging that,” I raised a hand to stop her, then turned to the stupid hero. “We’re not going to jail. Period.”

“Ridge, come on!” He was pleading now. Great! “It’s all part of the plan. The Horwitz must not know we are working together. And to fight them, I need the cops on my good side. So please, darling.”

“Okay, we are at darling now,” I heard Roux mutter. I wanted to die of embarrassment, I really did.

“Please?” Aspen continued, making a stupid puppy face that I was definitely not going to fall for.

“No!” I said sternly.

...

A/n

Spoiler alert - You do NOT want to miss the next chapter. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)