A road less traveled

Chapter 37

Rayce found them an open hotel and grabbed a room. It was a single bed but Lyth was beyond the point of caring. She grabbed a shower while he settled in. The hotel was one of the nicer ones, all the bells and whistles so to speak. A place she would never stay as it would draw way too much attention to her activities. The hot water washed away the physical signs of the trauma, but the emotional and mental ones, that was something only time could erase. Scrubbing the grime from her body Lyth let her mind wander over who could be responsible for the attack. She had a gut feeling about who it might be, but it would sound insane if she tried to pin it to him without hard evidence. This made her angry. A knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.

"Lyth, are you okay?" Rayce's voice inquired through the door.

"Yea. Just finishing up. Should I leave the water on for you?" she grumbled.

"Sure."

With that Lyth steps out of the shower and grabs a towel just as Rayce walks in. He freezes in his tracks as he stares. Lyth raises an eyebrow and smirks as she goes about drying herself off, not even acknowledging the elephant in the room. Rayce's face turns red as he tries to speak but nothing comes out. Lyth can see the events are weighing heavily on him. His shoulders are slumped, and his eyes are dull as if it's too heavy a burden for him to carry. She feels a moment of pity for the man, his life must be as hard as hers. Taking the chance to distract him, Lyth grins evilly then drops the towel and marches out of the bathroom, leaving Rayce gaping after her. Falling face down on the bed Lyth laughed so hard she cried, the look on his face was priceless. She knew there would be some type of hell to pay in return, but it was worth the shock factor alone in that moment. She knows he will be thinking of other things and not the tragedy they just endured. It's a sobering thought but not necessarily a bad thought to realize she just endured one of her worst life experiences with someone else, a man at that. That was an uncommon experience for her, they were usually brought about by men. The sun was just beginning to crest in the sky, lighting up the skyline in beautiful hues of blues, pinks, and oranges. The city skyline was impressive, but Lyth found the view of the nearby park more fascinating. She grabbed the shirt Rayce had left for her and slipped it on. It barely reached mid-thigh, but it was better than putting the dress back on. Lyth wasn't sure if she would ever be able to wear that dress again. She walked to the balcony doors and pushed them open letting the chilly morning air brush against her exposed skin as she inhaled deeply. Normally balconies were prime hit grounds but something told Lyth whoever was after her probably figured her for dead by the scenes she knew would be flashing across the news channels by now. Rayce emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and one roughly drying his dripping hair. Lyth gave him a look from head to toe and watched him turn red once again as she took a moment longer ogling the line of hair that ran down his front into his towel.  She raised an eyebrow suggestively and bit her lip to keep from laughing at his reaction. Her shoulder shook silently as she turned back to the balcony to give him some privacy to get ready. The poor man was just such an easy target for her taunting.

Rayce joined her on the balcony after throwing on a pair of shorts. He would be glad when the new clothing arrived. He looked out and silently contemplated what the future was going to hold for them now. His best friend and business partner was dead. And why? Who set off the bombs that annihilated almost a hundred people? What had he done? A million questions ran through his mind as he stood there and gazed on the city skyline.

"Why?" he uttered.

"It's my fault." came the quiet reply he wasn't expecting.

"What do you mean it's your fault?" he queried.

A heavy sighed filled the air between them before she spoke. The sigh said a great deal without saying a single word. Rayce could feel the sadness it held. "Just what I said Rayce. I am the why. It's because of me all of this happened."

Rayce grabbed her by the upper arm and spun her to face him.

"Explain," he growled.

Lyth didn't fight him, she just looked at the hand holding her arm and then back up to him pointedly. Rayce quickly let go, running a hand through his still damp hair as it began to curl slightly.

"I need to know Lyth. I don't know what has happened in my world. You came in and things have been chaos since then. My best friend is dead! He was into something and I need to know what the hell is going on!"

"I don't know what Auggie was into. I only know who I saw and what it could possibly mean. But the explosion, that was personal. Rayce, I can tell you the truth, but I'm not sure you're ready. You may never be ready to know this. It's probably just best if Ben and I leave."

Rayce shoved her into the wall and held her there, his arms caged around her head. His eyes looked into hers, pain, anger, sadness all filled their depths. She wasn't going to hide anything from him. It would be brutal and he might not come out better for it. He slowly closed his eyes for a moment until her hand touched his face tenderly. She stood there watching his war with himself, knowing this wasn't going to end well for either one of them.

"You're strong Rayce. But what I would have to share, it's, not pleasant. You'll never look at me the same, you'll question everyone and everything in your life from this moment forward. I'm trying to save Ben from that." She let her hand drop from his face to his chest and she tried to push him away from her. His chest was rock hard and for a small moment, she found herself wanting to explore it. She quickly stuffed that thought and feeling into a deep dark corner of her mind and was shocked to find him not moving.

"Move out of my way Rayce."

"No." It was a  simple statement, but the ramifications were far-reaching. She knew in that instant he wasn't going to back away from the ugly truth. He was going to take the challenge and she could only hope, for his sake he came out better in the end.

"Fine. Let's grab something to drink and sit down. This is going to take a while." Lyth relented.