[[ milliways ]]

[justdidntseeit]

[ "i can't see you get hurt again because your heart's bigger than your brain." ]

"Goin' s'where?"

Her stomach twists as she smooths Bill's rumpled hair from his forehead in the gray pre-dawn light.

"Just for a run. Go back to sleep."

He gives her a sleepy half-nod.

"Mmmkay. Careful, s'bunnies."

She nearly chokes on guilt as her lips brush his cheek.

"I will. Back in a little while."

She slips out of the suite and heads down the hall to Bill's empty room.


- - - - -


She finds the gun on the top shelf in his closet.

Jaw tight, she lifts the weapon with steady hands and checks the magazine, then tucks the gun into the waistband of her black running pants at the small of her back.

With its cold weight at the base of her spine, she's hyper-aware of every step, every flex of each muscle and every breath she takes as she locks Bill's door and heads downstairs.

She doesn't know if she'll find Ramon, but she has to try.

Comments

[justdidntseeit]

The force of the blow rocks her stool; she slides sideways off her seat and stumbles, only remaining upright because she slaps the counter's surface with one palm.

The pain is so intense that, for a moment, she feels nothing at all.

A heartbeat later, fire explodes along the side of her face and the bar is bright and blurry.

She lifts a hand dumbly to her mouth, and she's not surprised to find blood trickling from her nose.

[latino_menace]

He watches her impassively. There was more to that than the fact that he wanted to, though that was the main reason. It was also because...well. Any man worth his salt would stand up for his woman, right?

(Ramon rarely stands up for his women.)

If she's Bill's girlfriend, he'll be expecting the man to come looking for him. If not...well, it was a bit of fun because she annoyed him.

'See you around, Kate.'

He wanders off, mind turning to Fiona waiting in bed for him. Excellent.

[justdidntseeit]

She doesn't respond; it's all she can do to breathe past the pain of a thousand angry wasps stinging her nerve endings.

She lifts a tissue from the box Bar supplies without prompt, and it's a few long minutes before she stops shaking.

She heads for the stairs on watery legs.

Forget a run by the lake, she just wants a hot shower. Then she'll wake Bill.