There's an Invisible Man Sleeping in My Bed

Chapter 19

             Colt couldn’t help but shake his head over the brawl happening in front of him. While the one who’d frightened Thalia had him slightly concerned, the boys’, and they were boys, almost unskilled scrapping left him feeling almost embarrassed for them. By their age they should have been far better and really, should have at least entered manhood. Mentally entered, since he could see they’d passed the threshold physically.

            The only one who wasn’t a complete disgrace was Thalia’s cousin. Which certainly answered some of his earlier questions about William and his hold over his peers. Like his thought had summoned it, Colt heard William’s voice rise above the noise of the fight. The tone, one filled with fear and anger, had him turning his attention forward as much as the words of “Thalia run!”

            He saw the blond boy, now wearing an expression of unholy joy, rushing towards them. Or rather, towards Thalia.

            She noticed at the same time, quickly turning and shoving Ruth to one side. Her friend fell with a yelp while Thalia turned back to face her attacker. Not that Colt was about to let her face him alone.

            As the boy’s hand stretched out to grab her, Colt pulled on Thalia’s arm and waist, swinging her out of the way. Brant stumbled forward, only just saving himself from falling. He whirled, face gone red, eyes narrowed as he again raced towards Thalia.

            This time he managed to partially follow her as Colt pulled her to safety. But the foot Colt stuck out caused Brant to kiss the earth. He was up again in a moment, a low growl coming from his throat. Colt had to grin. He knew this boy’s type. Being defeated in a fight was for him, a fate worse than death. And the added humiliation of having a woman being the one to snatch victory from him would be unbearable and would likely cause him to make even more mistakes.

            Watching Brant throw himself at Thalia, arm held wide, Colt changed tactics. With a murmured apology to her, he grabbed Thalia’s wrist, glad her fear had caused her hands to clench tightly. With her back pressed tightly against her and his free arm around her waist, he waited until Brant put himself within range.

            Thalia, he realized, understood what he was trying to do. When he swung her arm in a curving strike, he could feel her squeezing her fist tighter. The blow landed solidly on Brant’s jaw, causing his head to snap sideways, shortly followed by the rest of him thanks to the force of the strike overbalancing him.

            Colt used the rest of the momentum to spin Thalia around, almost tripping them both as their legs tangled. For a moment, he was sure that anyone looking would have been able to see that she was only upright because he was holding her. He trusted the heat of the moment to make Ruth and William forget what they’d seen.

            He watched them carefully now, slowly releasing Thalia but not backing away. Ruth was staring open-mouthed at her friend while William moved in to deal the finishing blow to Brant. Colt winced slightly as he noted the force Thalia’s cousin put into the strike. It was clear to him that the boy couldn’t keep his emotions in check. Still, the other boy had attacked an unarmed woman so he supposed he deserved anything he got.

            With Brant incapacitated, Colt turned his attention to Thalia. Focusing on her properly, he finally noticed how little colour was in her face as well as the faint tremor in her arms.  He sighed, already regretting that he hadn’t just tripped the boy before he’d gotten to her. It had become almost habit to help his friends in a fight that he hadn’t given any consideration to Thalia’s position or how she differed from those who’d come before her.

            He blinked a few times, the realization that Thalia was the first woman he’d felt comfortable with since Liese suddenly unfolding.

The feeling of her leaning farther back into him broke him out of his shock. His head snapped up and watched William stalk closer, anger still holding his jaw tight. Colt snorted quietly, carefully releasing Thalia once he was certain she had her balance. He stepped away from her, but stayed close enough that a single lunge would be enough to grab a hold of her again if he had to.

“Thalia, are you alright?” William said.

Her head turned towards him, the shifting leaves causing sunlight to show how pale she still was. “I…I’m fine.”

He closed the remaining distance between them, touching her cheek with only three fingers. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you come. You nearly got hurt.”

She stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head. “No. It’s not your fault. I came because I wanted to. And how are you? You didn’t get hurt did you?”

“A few bruises but nothing serious.”

Colt snorted silently, having already noticed the limp William was hiding along with the odd way he stood, making him certain the boy’s ribs were damaged as well. He gave William marks for trying to keep Thalia from worrying but thought he was being foolish about his injuries.

            Ruth chose that moment to shove herself in beside the two. “This is exactly why I keep telling you to stop fighting all the time,” she told William tartly before her eyes went to Thalia. “Now, you’ve got to tell me how you did that. I didn’t know you knew any kind of self-defence.”

            Thalia’s hands clenched again and Colt could almost see her mind scrambling for some kind of answer that didn’t involve him. “I haven’t learned anything. Not really. But I guess maybe watching Will practicing karate helped me. A sort of absorption through observation. I’m not sure I could do it again and to be honest, I don’t want to. My heart is still racing.”

            Ruth and William looked at one another, some kind of understanding passing between them. They both shrugged. “You two should head back to school. The bell’ll ring soon.”

            Thalia frowned. “What about you?”

            “I need to finish things up here. Don’t worry,” he added, taking in her expression. “I’ll make sure to find out what I missed. Now hurry back. You don’t need detention and Ruth doesn’t need any more.”

            “Don’t do anything stupid,” Ruth said, grabbing Thalia’s arm and towing her behind her.

            Colt shook his head as he trailed behind them. He had a feeling that sooner or later, William or Ruth were going to find out about him.