Let Me Hold You For Now

How Far You're Willing to Go

God damn it. He should have made her change. Zack was always good at disappearing into the shadows, but Ray attracted far too much attention. He made sure to hang back at least a hundred meters at all times. Which, much to his chagrin, had him picking up on all of the horrible things passing drunks slurred about her when they thought they were out of earshot. He wasn't a patient guy, but thanks to the frequent annoyances and beatings he had to put up with in prison, he mostly managed to hold it together on their way to the train station.

That was the first major step to her freedom plan, taking a train to the middle of nowhere. Well, Akita, specifically. Apparently that was as far as they could get with a rail pass. She was easily able to change the pin number on that kid's bank card with one phone call, so thanks to her and whatever the hell his name was, their little trip was fully funded. He wasn't exactly living it large since he was a college student, but they got enough money out of him to make the trip and pay for whatever they needed for at least a couple of weeks.

It was pretty immediately clear that having his brainy companion to rely on was going to make things really different. Not necessarily easier... Traveling with another person was bound to have its own set of problems. Luckily, Ray was a good problem-solver.

Zack ran into one of those problems after they boarded the crowded train. As usual, he was sinking into the background with a large hood hanging over his face and a pair of big headphones slung around his neck. He looked like an average college student trying to catch some sleep on the long train ride. Then it happened. There was the slightest bump in the tracks, and the guy passing through the car made a big show of falling on Ray, with his hand right between her thighs of course.

She sighed wearily and gave him a look.

"Are you done?" She asked dully.

"Oh sorry miss! I tripped. So clumsy."

She looked as cool and unflappable as ever. Instead of calling him out on the casual groping, she put up the center arm rest and scooted closer to his side, sending the pervert a warning look.

He stammered out some lame apology about thinking she was alone and scampered away like a scolded dog.

"Thanks." She mumbled softly and made herself comfortable against his shoulder. "Is this okay?"

"If you need to get all handsy with me to keep the perverts of the world from getting handsy with you, feel free."

"Alright."

"Does that kind of thing happen a lot?"

"What? Creepy old men groping girls on trains?"

"For example."

"I guess."

It clearly wasn't the first time someone had copped a feel on her. He had the urge to pull her closer. It was bad enough that other girls had to go through that, but Ray? The idea of anyone laying hands on her like that was a hard pill to swallow.

"I've never wanted to kill anyone so badly in my life."

"That would be bad for us."

"I know," he grumbled. "He's still alive isn't he?"

"For now." She shrugged. "Good job."

"I'm not a rabid dog. I can think ahead that much."

"Did you see that really nice watch he was wearing?"

"I wasn't looking at his watch."

"It was really nice. You meet all kinds of interesting people on trains." She nudged him. "I haven't given much thought as to where we're going to stay once we get into town." She pulled out a small black wallet from in between the seats and examined the ID card inside. It clearly belonged to the creep that fell on her. When the hell did she snag that? He didn't even see it! "Seems like a good enough place."

He grinned in excitement. Fuck... He forgot how much fun Ray was.

–

Ray purchased a map of the city from one of the vendors inside the station so they could find their way around. They gave the man enough time to make his way home and settle in so they could observe his situation.

They were both disappointed.

It was a nice place. As predicted, the guy was loaded. But just as Zack was about to bust the lock on a window at the back of the house, the guy's kids ambushed him. They both eagerly attached themselves to his legs.

"Daddy! You're back!"

Zack sighed and sank down to sit under the window.

Rachel observed him curiously as he wrestled with his moral conundrum. He absolutely loathed the idea of killing little kids and it was probably written all over his face.

"Well... That was unexpected." She shrugged. "Guess this one's out."

"Huh?"

"We're not going to kill his whole family! His wife and kids have enough to deal with, having a guy like him around."

Ah thank fuck. Turned out Ray had limits after all. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and felt some of the tension leave his body.

"Guess we'll have to find some other asshole."

"Zack?"

"Hm?"

"I know you're not a rabid dog or a monster. I've read the articles. I think I have a pretty good idea about how far you're willing to go."

He stared at her. She meant that, didn't she? She believed that he wasn't all bad.