The Fighter

Chapter Ten

Sitting in the small cafe, I stare at my coffee blankly as my father watches me with a look of pain on his face.  Jake told him that I don't speak.

"H-how long," he asks looking over at Jake.  He simply shrugs.  "H-how?"

"You and that thing you call a wife," Derek says bitterly while bringing me yet another muffin to snack on while we have this little meeting.  Derek didn't like the idea that I had agreed to meet with my father but I told him that I would do it at the cafe and he seemed to calm down a bit but not by much.  I have also noticed one brute in particular that has been sitting at the cafe's bar since we got here, far enough away that our conversation is still private but close enough to leap into action at any time.  This is when my phone decides to ping, notifying me that I have a message.

Hey.

Who is this?

Give you two guesses,
Darlin'.

The candyman?

Well... There is something
you can suck.

Perv.

Thank you.

I made you smile. My job
is done.

Thank you, B.

You're welcome, Darlin'.

Zoning back in on the conversation, I realize that my father had asked me a question.  Raising my brows in question, he repeats himself and I am slightly taken back by the question.

"How have you been supporting your brother and, I'm assuming, your stepmother?"  My eyes widen and my mouth flutters open before I sign that I help J rebuild cars for a living.  Jake, of course, translates my half-truth and my father simply flinches at the mention of my brother's fiance.  I look around the coffee shop and see the brooding figure at the bar look back at us, the white streak in his hair highlighted by the sun's rays, and I begin talking to Jake without looking away from the man, he slowly picks up his trash and heads towards Derek as if nothing is happening and my father watches us with vivid curiosity.  Pulling a pen out, I use the napkin that my coffee was sitting on and began writing.

Don't freak out, I am going to leave and the man with the silver stripe in his hair is going to follow me into the alleyway.  Don't follow me.  Stay here until Derek comes to get you.

"Junebug,"  I hold up a hand as my jaw clenches, years of torment difficult to forget.  "Sorry, June... I don't like this."

You don't have to.  Just do it.

Standing up, I walk toward the front door and into the alleyway where I knew he would think he had me cornered and turn to face him head-on, watching the look on his face as he notices that lack of fear written on mine.  The tall man stalks closer to me as I back further into the alley, away from prying eyes and curious cats; finally reaching the dead-end, I smile at the man in front of me and he does the same to me.

"Hey there, sweetheart," he says with a tilt of his head.  "I hear that you might know one of my friends and I need to know where he is."

I shrug at him and he grows angry with me.  Watching his face contort from smug to anger causes my smirk to grow more.  Raising my hands in a "come get me" motion, the man snaps a finger and three more men come from the shadows.  All three men look like stereotypical goons and I try my hardest not to laugh at my situation.  The tallest of the four men sports black hair with a single silver stripe in his hair with tanned skin and a scar tracing the right side of his jawline, ragged as if done by a broken bottle.  The two shorter men are twins with blonde hair and hoodies hanging three-fourths the over their heads with pants a few sizes too big and old, beat-up sneakers.  The shortest was the most goon looking, Godfather looking ass that I have ever seen; from slicked-back hair to the rings on his fingers, he looked like the stereotypical mafia groupie.

"Can we get this over with," I sign in annoyance and the silver-streaked man looks towards the twins expectantly.  

"She wants to get this over with," they say together in a slightly British accent and I look over at them with my brow raised.

"You speak sign language," the tall one asks.

"You don't speak it," one twin says.

"You read it," the other finishes.  I roll my eyes and get into a fighting position and they laugh at me, thinking it funny that I would attempt to fight against them.  The leader of the pack, the man that followed me out here, nods his head toward me and the Italian mobster come after me first.  Quickly taking him out, the twins come after me next and they are slightly more difficult to maneuver until I realize that their moves finish each other's, creating sync to the two fighters that is unlike anything that I have faced before.  Taking the two of them out took far more energy than I would have liked, especially because of the hits that they got in.

Finally knocking both twins down, I return to a loose fighting stance and bounce between my legs, looking a lot like the before of Steve Rodgers, I put my hand in a "come and get me" motion and he started after me.  Throwing punches out of nothing but rage, the man became volatile and uncontrollable.  He got a couple of good punches in when all of a sudden, he is ripped off of me and thrown the side of the alley where he lay unmoving for the time being.  Looking up from the ground where I had fallen due to exhaustion, I notice a pair of dazzling green eyes and smile broadly at him before waving slightly.

"Let me guess," he whispers while leaning down toward me, "you had this one handled."  I nod and he just smiles down at me.  "You're an idiot."

"Thank you."

"Not a compliment."  Picking me up, he leans the majority of my weight on him as we walk with my arm over his shoulder, which-- might I add-- is rather awkward seeing as he stands six foot five to my five foot eight.  Walking me to my car, he motions for my keys and I hand them over because I know that there is nothing that I can do to stop him from taking what he wants from me.  Getting into the passenger seat, I see my brother and father talking to Derek with worried expressions and I hope that Derek can ease their worry about me.

"Don't worry about them, Derek will take care of them."  I nod and then look over at him with a raised brow.  "What?"

"How'd you know where I was?"  A guilty look flittered over his face and I opened my mouth in shock.  "Did you follow me?"

"I wanted to make sure that you were okay and Derek refused to help me so I had to do it by myself.  You have to understand, June, seeing you like that brought back a lot of memories for me and I thought that maybe being near you, making sure that you're okay, would stop them.  It didn't, by the way, it actually made the feeling that we know each other somehow grow stronger."

"What did you mean that you knew someone with panic attacks like the one I had?"  Beast put the car into drive and started back to the bar that a lit of the guys from the bike shop hang out at, mostly because Bear owns it.

Taking a deep breath, he clenches the steering wheel.  "Jeremy always used to bring this little girl with him when he came to visit, granted I don't remember much about her because was a child at the time, but I do remember her bright red hair.  I used to call her Rose and it caught on, but when the accident happened, I was told that she was claimed as well.  Not physically, though, mentally.  She'd forgotten all about me."