To Love a Criminal ((MIKE ZACHARIAS X OC))

Chapter 7

As promised, Mike was back at Silica's room the next morning; neglecting the courtesy of knocking.

She stirred immediately and flopped onto her back at his relatively quiet entrance. At times like these, Silica cursed her acute sense of hearing.

Mike approached her with an apologetic glint in his eye as he looked down at her. Her short hair was in disarray and the thin tank top she adorned was twisted around her waist, signifying noticeably that she was a restless sleeper. Mike felt a pang of pity kick his heart whilst his companion arose into a sitting position.

"Morning, sunshine," Mike greeted, mockery in his tone as he watched Silica adjust her shirt. "Sleep well?"

She shot him her famous scowl. "Well enough; until you barged in."

"The door hardly made a noise." Mike justified, crossing his arms.

Silica merely rolled her eyes halfheartedly and pushed herself out of bed. She strode passed him in long strides toward the dresser, where she attempted to neatly fold her uniform the day before. From the jumbled mass on the wooden surface, it was quite obvious that she failed.

With no hesitation, Silica turned her back to Mike and stripped her tank top. If Mike's laid back personality was any different, he probably would have choked on his spit at not only her confidence, but at the lack of care she had in the possibility of him staring at her. Instead, he focused his attention on the scars littering her back. They almost looked like slashes, which only managed to put dreadful thoughts in his head as to how she came to have them.

Once her chest was covered, she turned slightly to glance at Mike, who's eyes trailed up to meet her's as she did so. He masked his concern with a fraction of a smile, though Silica payed no mind to it as she changed into her white slacks.

Once her boots were on her feet and her jacket was pulled over her shoulders, both she and Mike proceeded to make their way out of the dorms and to wherever her training was supposed to take place.

"Oh," Mike said, seeming to remember something. "Have you ever ridden a horse before?"

Silica gave him a 'did you really just ask me that' look and shook her head. "No."

"Looks like you'll be learning two things today, then," Mike realized. "We gotta go by horseback to get to the training grounds."

"How big even is this place?" Silica questioned gruffly, still peeved from being woken up. Mike made a note that she was definitely not a morning person.

"A few hundred miles, I guess," Mike shrugged, unsure. "All I know is that it's big."

"No shit." Silica huffed. They soon approached the horse pens.

"You wanna give Toffee a try?" Mike offered, walking ahead a ways to the latch of the gate holding the creature inside. "He seemed to like you the last time you met."

Silica shrugged. If she were to be truthful, she'd say that she rather not ride a horse at all. She didn't like the look of them nor the idea of trusting another creature enough to ride atop its back. But, masking her hesitation with her pride, she choked it down and went with it anyway.

Taking her dismissal as a 'yes,' he unlatched the lock on the cage's door and wedged his way inside, coming back out with a saddle over his shoulder and reigns in his hands. Silica watched, only half interested, as he geared up the horse and drew him out of his pen by the reigns that were now secured snuggly around his snout and mouth.

"Here," he said, plopping the brown leather in her hands. "Make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

Silica gave Mike a glare as he walked off back to the pens, leaving Toffee in the hands of an ex-criminal. She didn't exactly feel comfortable with having the massive creature's eyes hanging on her curiously as she avoided it's gaze. She felt as if it could sense her hesitation somehow.