Warning: Strong Language and Sexual References!
*********************************
"Quit being weird. People will think you're a narc," Ary hissed at Rave.
They were currently sitting in the diner that Maria Toldesta, aka Destiny, was working at. Ary was trying to figure out what she wanted to eat. Rave was making things more difficult by sitting stiffly in the booth and staring at everyone with the same hardened look that most cops gave criminals. She was only thankful that he hadn't been recognized yet.
"How am I supposed to act? Why can't we just grab her and go? It'd be a lot faster and easier than having to eat lunch here everyday," Rave shot back at her. He had been complaining about this for the past four days.
Working together proved to be more difficult than either of them realized. They both had to be in charge of a situation, which always led them to butt heads. This was Ary's case and Rave kept trying to take charge, even though he had no idea of how to handle the situation. Ary wished they could go back to the way things were, with both of them doing their own thing, but Rave was adamant about them working together.
"Rave, we've been through this. She's not some criminal that we can just beat the information out of," Ary said, speaking to him as if he were a child.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Rave grumbled, leaning back in the booth. "Why can't we just go to your cousin about Christian's extracurricular activities. I know I can beat the information out of him."
"As much as we both would love to hit Luke right now, that's not going to help anything either," Ary sighed. She really wanted to punch her cousin. "He's being shielded by my Aunt Charlotte, and if you think my mom is crazy just wait until you see what my aunt does when someone hurts her precious little boy."
"A mamma's boy? Figures," Rave scoffed.
"Can we just forget about Luke for a second and focus on the task at hand?" Ary growled at him.
"Did you even get a chance to talk to him?" Rave asked, ignoring has efforts to change the subject.
"No. Most of the attention was focused on me. I was lucky to get five minutes alone in the bathroom, and even then I usually had Mads or Scar right outside the door asking questions," she sighed, shaking her head. Lying was so much easier.
"You should really find a way to talk to him. He could still be in contact with Christian," Rave shrugged, his eyes still on Maria as he none-to-subtly stalked her.
"He's not in contact with Christian!" Ary argued.
Rave looked over at her and he was frowning. "You can't know that for sure. You didn't even know that he's gay," he pointed out.
"You didn't know about it either, and I paid you to stalk him," Ary shot back at him. She wasn't about to take the blame for this one.
"You paid me to keep him alive. I did my job," Rave shrugged.
"He got shot and almost died," she corrected him.
"He's still alive," Rave grumbled.
"Yeah, thanks to me," she scoffed. "Tell me again exactly what you're good for?" she gave him a hard look.
"I can take you back home and show you exactly what I'm good for," he said, his voice low as he leaned over the table. His steel colored eyes were heated as he gazed at her.
Ary kept her face blank, even as her body warmed all over. She didn't need to be reminded just how good Rave was in bed. He knew how to please a woman. Why wouldn't he? He'd probably been with a hundred women, whereas she had only ever been with one man.
"You know you keep throwing that out there, but how am I to know really just how good you are? It's not exactly a fair judgement of skills when I have nothing to compare it to. Maybe I should fix that," she replied, lightly.
The look on Rave's face was downright murderous. He clearly did not enjoy her teasing. But why? Did he actually care about her or was he just a possessive ass that didn't want to share his property? She didn't know and it was suddenly starting to bother her.
Their little couple's squabble, the first actual fight they were having about their actual relationship, was cut short when Maria came over to their booth, a notepad in hand. Ary shot Rave a warning look, willing him to behave himself.
"Can I get you guys anything?" Maria greeted them. She had a smile on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. Her eyes were almost dead-looking; glassy and shadowed.
Rave, obviously still pissed from what Ary had said to him, just glared up at Maria. His expression was hostile and if Ary didn't know him, she'd probably be a little unnerved by his behavior. The woman was obviously bothered by Rave as she seemed to lean away from him and focus her eyes anywhere, but on him.
"Yeah, we'll have two cheeseburgers with fries," Ary told Maria, a big smile plastered on her face. As soon as the young woman walked away, Ary turned to glare at Rave. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed.
"What do you think is wrong with me?" he grumbled, slouching down in the booth.
"You know, we never actually said we were exclusive, and all we really do is have sex. We're more like roommates with benefits than an actual couple," she pointed out.
There it was. Ary just threw their relationship out in the open, for Rave to define. She had always thought of them as an exclusive couple, but they had never actually talked about it before. It was true that their relationship was nothing more than them sharing a bed and then going on their separate ways.
"Do you want to fuck other men?" Rave asked her, his eyes narrowing on her.
The question caught her off guard. She wasn't even thinking along those terms. She was trying to make their relationship more exclusive, not get permission to screw other guys. That was the farthest thing from her mind at the moment.
"Do you want to fuck other women?" Ary countered, bringing his question back on himself.
"This is stupid. Waiting around is pointless," he huffed, fidgeting in his seat.
"Then leave," she snapped at him. "If you don't want to be here, then just leave."
Ary was offended that Rave didn't answer her question. It made her worry. She hadn't actually been concerned with him hooking up with other women, but now it was at the top of the list of things for her to worry about.
"I'm not leaving," Rave told her.
Ary's heartbeat quickened at his words. She didn't exactly know why. She wanted Rave to leave. He was interfering with her work process. On the other hand it was nice to be out with him, doing semi-normal couple things. The only time they were ever alone together was when they were having sex, and even then Rave usually left right afterwards. She hated to admit it, but she had some insecurities about Rave. Lately she had been wondering just what their relationship was all about, if it could even be called that.
"That'd be a first," she mumbled underneath her breath, but still loud enough for Rave to hear.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"It means that you're always running off and leaving me at the club, expecting me to wait around for you," Ary snapped at him. She kept her voice low, not wanting anyone to overhear their fight.
"What do you think this is all about?" he asked, gesturing around the diner. "I get that forcing you to stay at the club was a bad idea. That's why I'm out here with you. The whole point of us working together was so you wouldn't have to stay at the club and I wouldn't have to worry about if you were okay or not."
He was right. As much as she hated to admit it, he was absolutely right. Going on stakeouts together was a major step in their relationship. Not only were they spending time together, but they weren't lying too one another anymore. They were actually communicating, like normal couples were supposed to do.
"I don't know what's wrong with me. I think my sisters are getting to me," Ary sighed. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
"I wouldn't be taking dating advice from your sisters if I were you," Rave warned her.
"Trust me, I know," she said, glaring at him. Who did he think he was, lecturing her on her own family? He'd known her sisters for, what? Five months? She'd known them her entire life. She didn't need to be told that they weren't exactly the most trustworthy people on the planet.
Sighing, Rave gave into her strange mood and decided to play along. "What exactly did they have to say about us?" he asked, with obvious reluctance.
"Nothing," she answered, defensively.
"What did they say, Ary?" Rave pressed harder. "That I'm a bad guy? That I'm dangerous? None of this is new information to you," he pointed out.
It was true. All the arguments that Scar and Mads had thrown at her were the exact same ones that Ary had considered before even getting involved with Rave. In her own mind it made perfect sense, but with other people bringing up the fact that Rave had killed people for terrible reasons made it seem a lot worse.
"Just forget I ever brought it up," Ary said, brushing him off. She wanted to forget that the whole thing ever even happened.
"I can't promise you that I'm never going to do terrible things again. I will kill if I have to," his voice was low and calm as he spoke. "I'm not going to go around killing people just for the hell of it."
"People kill for a lot of stupid reasons," she pointed out.
"I know. I used to be one of them. I'm trying to make better life decisions," he shrugged.
"Am I one of those better life decisions?" she asked, a little shyly.
"Being with you is almost as hazardous for my health as being in a gang was," Rave admitted. Ary glared at him. "But your save-the-world attitude has made me want to be a better person," he said, giving her a warm smile.
"You're such an idiot," Ary laughed, shaking her head.
The quiet chattering in the diner was soon broken by the sound of glass shattering against the floor. Both Ary and Rave turned their heads in the direction of the noise. It was caused by Maria; she was being harassed by a man that Ary didn't recognize.
"Do you know who that is?" Ary nodded to the man that was yelling at Maria in Spanish.
"He works for Damien. Damien runs a lot of underground businesses in the area. He was probably Maria's pimp," Rave explained, watching the interaction closely.
Ary gazed at Rave with pride. He actually was useful for something. He was a cornucopia of knowledge when it came to the Chicago underground. Maybe this whole working together wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Things went south fairly quickly. Ary didn't normally frequent spots that were in shady neighborhoods, but as the other diner patrons just kept their heads down, she assumed that this behavior was normal. No one was going to do anything while a young woman was practically being dragged outside.
"Stay here," Rave ordered her as he slid out of the booth, beating her to the punch.
She just glared at his back as he followed the man and Maria outside. Who did he think he was, taking over her job like that? With everything that had happened recently, coupled with the events in Colorado and what happened five months ago, Ary would have expected Rave to realize by now that she was fully capable of taking care of herself.
Ary was still sitting at the booth when a gunshot rang out. The diner patrons screamed and ducked underneath their tables for cover. With panic coursing through her, Ary jumped to her feet and ran outside. Relief flooded her.
The man that had dragged Maria outside was laying face down on the ground, blood gently oozing from a gash on his forehead. Thankfully he was still breathing. Ary didn't think Rave could use another murder charge added to his already extremely colorful rapsheet. A gun, obviously his, was laying on the ground a few feet away from him.
"Oh my God, you're the White Raven!" Maria gasped, taking a few steps away from Rave. She practically tripped over her own feet in her attempt to scurry away from him.
Before the situation could get anymore out of hand, if that were even possible, Ary ran over to Maria and placed herself in between Rave and the terrified woman. Rave's attempts at comforting someone made Ary look like Dr. Phil.
"It's okay. We're not here to hurt you," Ary told her. She tried to keep her voice and stance non-threatening.
"Tell that to the gangbanger!" Maria shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Rave. Rave just gave her a hard look.
"Okay, as much as I'd love to hear you call Rave names, we need to get out of here," Ary tried to urge Maria out of the corner she had backed herself into.
The gunshot had set off a lot of alarms. They could hear police sirens in the distance, and Ary didn't feel like dealing with the cops at the moment. She also had a feeling that Maria didn't want to deal with them either.
Maria glanced between Rave and Ary, and then looked fearfully towards the direction that the sirens seemed to be coming from. She looked like a scared animal trapped in a cage. Ary felt a little bad for her. She had never been that afraid, but that was because she had learned how to defend and take care of herself, not just how to survive.
"We need to go," Rave broke the silence. He took his keys out of his pocket and started off across the street to where his car was parked.
Ary looked over at Maria. "It's either us or the cops," she said, giving the woman an ultimatum.
"Okay," Maria nodded. She followed Ary across the street to join Rave.
They stopped driving once the sounds of police sirens could no longer be heard. Rave wasn't exactly the best person to have around when trying to comfort someone so Ary made him wait on the sidewalk while she tried to calm Maria down in the car. He wasn't happy about it. The extreme displeasure on his face made his feelings about the situation plainly evident.
"I just want them to leave me alone," Maria sobbed into her hands. Her face was all blotchy and her thick mascara had smeared over her eyes to make her look like a raccoon.
"I promise you, we're not with the Bloodbaths," Ary said as she awkwardly patted the woman on the back. How was it that Ary was raised in a house with three other women and she had absolutely no idea how to be sensitive and comforting? Maybe spending all her time trying to avoid her mom and sisters hadn't been the best idea after all.
"B-but that man-" Maria glanced fearfully out the window at Rave, who was leaning against the side of a building, his arms crossed over his chest, and a deep scowl set to his strikingly handsome features.
"I know, but you don't have to worry. He's one of the good guys now," Ary told the other woman. A good guy, depending on just how far someone was willing to stretch the term.
"People don't change," Maria shook her head. She sniffed and swiped at her already puffy eyes.
"You did," Ary pointed out.
Maria thought about that for a moment and then said, "I've been trying to, but it hasn't been working out."
"Well, he's trying to change also, and I'll admit that it is definitely a hard task, but I can assure you that he's not the same man he was when he was in the gang," Ary said, softly.
Hell, he wasn't even the same man she had come across six months ago. He had changed. He certainly wasn't as cruel as he used to be and he at least was trying to attempt to understand her feelings and put them into perspective. Like her, he'd never been in a healthy, monogamous, adult relationship before either. He was trying, and that's all she could really ask for.
"Okay, I'll help you," Maria agreed, nodding her head.
For the first time Ary felt like they had a step up on Christian. Maria could provide them with a lot of useful information, and Ary didn't even get hurt in the process. She might just have to start talking to people before she punched them, just to see how things worked out.
********************************
Here it is, the much awaited next chapter! I apologize again for the late update. I hope you enjoy!