So. Guess who actually pulled together something to post over the last couple of days. I had hoped to post this either last night or this morning, but between my Tylenol PM (I had a multi-hour nap yesterday afternoon and wasn't taking any chances) and then having to chauffeur this morning, I didn't get it done until just now.
Trinity, you will be pleased to hear in advance that this is Jandy and Dechlan. I sat down with Faolan and Serenity in my brain last night and ended up starting to assemble multiple short blips for these two instead.
At any rate. Maybe I will get a post a month this year, at this rate.
And, to be fair, maybe I didn't get the drabble challenge done until just now, but my last twenty-eight some posts have been good about increasingly long scrawls.
Drabble Challenge: Day 31 - future
Word Count: 2,598 Minimum Goal: 1,860
Jandy knew she looked leagues away from how she usually did – seductive, untouchable, breathtaking, even – but she didn't realize how much until Dechlan stepped into the woman's locker room and paused. Not just a heartbeat, but several full moments in which he stilled entirely.
If it'd been any other moment, she may have tried to crack a joke, but standing on the cold tile in her bare feet because she didn't want to put on the dangerously tall heels she's been provided with, Jandy wanted nothing more to be herself again. This was not her. The black dress, draping low across her chest and lower down her back while reaching just low enough on her thighs to hide the knife scar she had. The blood-red lipstick chosen specifically to draw attention. The smoky eye shadow that allowed her to cast almost predatory glances if the moment – or Warren – should call for it. None of it, not even the artful tousle that her hair had undergone following a treatment to make the soft curls shine, and she’d never wanted it to be.
Dechlan was still frozen, both physically and mentally. His thoughts were turning circles and she didn't try to interrupt them, dropping her gaze and tucking her chin to her chest to try and find her own composure.
Shifting her footing and bumping the platform stilettos waiting to be worn, Jandy crossed her arms tight over her chest and cleared her throat to rid it of the tightness. "They did a real number on me, didn't they? Warren's got an incredible budget to pull off this sort of makeover. I have no idea what runway he pulled that lady off of, but it wasn't from back home."
Her voice unstuck her partner and she felt as Dechlan regained himself and crossed the remaining distance between them. Jandy let her gaze flicker up to meet his when his chest was in her eye-line. As usual, his face was hard to read and he was utilizing his one-sided ability to keep any specific thoughts he might have from leaking through to her.
"Say something, Dech." She whispered at his continued silence, searching his green eyes for some indication as to what he was thinking, manicured nails digging into the skin of her arm. "Please."
Dechlan drew in a breath, reigning in whatever his initial reaction was because she finally felt him let down the iron wall, his emotions spilling over. Tears filled Jandy's eyes that she struggled to blink away before her makeup got ruined because she hadn't realized how alone she’d felt until that moment.
Managing a ghost of a smile, Dechlan lifted his hands, letting his fingers catch the ends of her curling hair. Jandy’s breath caught in her throat and she couldn’t help but lean into him, trying to shield herself from the cold in the unheated space with the proximity.
We only have a few minutes. His comment was anything but focused, his thumbs brushing across her skin, fingers still tangled amongst her dark brown curls, as much absorbed in the moment as she was.
Jandy didn't care about how much time they did or didn't have, she just wanted to stay there. There, in that moment where the nightmare of their reality couldn't touch them, with her partner lingering close. She glanced up at him again, searching for a way to ask him to just get them out of there.
His grip on her curls tightened a fraction. It's going to be fine, Jandy. You just have to trust me.
It wasn’t hard to feel that he was holding something back. Not that it changed anything. I do trust you. It’s Warren I don’t trust. It’s what he has planned that I don’t trust. Reaching up, she found his wrists with her hands, not seeking to push him away, just to keep the tremors from settling in. Pain curled through her chest. Who knew what the night would hold, let alone their future. If they even had one, anymore.
Imagination took over without much trouble and her grip on Dechlan’s arms tensed before she could help it.
Hey.
Dark eyes flickered up to meet flecked green. The fear-driven pounding of her heart slowed under his touch, the feel of his fingers tangling in the ends of her tousled curls quieting her racing thoughts. She had enough forewarning of the kiss he pressed to her forehead for several lingering moments that it was a comfort, not a surprise or a shock. It felt natural. Right.
I talked to Gage, Dechlan’s thoughts came across as quiet, calm, focused again.
Jandy found it difficult to match his mindset, not ready for this to end because that would mean he would have to walk away from her. His forehead was leaned against hers, hands cradling her face and probably crushing her hair, a fact she couldn’t have cared less about.
Despite his awareness of how her mind wandered, the man continued, We put contingencies in play. If things don’t go like they should, as they tend to with Warren. You’ll be safe and Warren will have Teagan and I nearby, so we can gather as much intel as possible from you two to pass on to him. Just stay calm and do what Gage tells you. He has all the mission details. Alright?
She murmured her understanding, eyes closing with oncoming weariness.
“Jandy.”
The switch to verbal communication confused her enough to get her eyes open again, searching Dechlan’s face to find out where his thoughts had gone now.
He smiled, a true one this time, not just the partial expression from minutes prior. “You look beautiful.”
Jandy felt tears fill her eyes, because he didn’t say it because of the dress, or the creative styling of her hair, but because she needed it.
“Thank you, Dechlan,” she whispered, tamping down her rising emotion and hoping their quiet exchange wouldn’t reach any prying ears outside the locker room.
//
Pounding bass and flashing lights were the only thing she knew for the first few minutes after they were allowed into the night club. That, and the press of bodies, perhaps too many, that filled the establishment. She stuck close to Gage’s side, hand tucked in the crook of his elbow to keep from getting separated.
Jandy found she had to remind herself to keep her chin up. It’d been well over a couple of years since she’d last been in one of these types of places and when she had been, she’d been the one serving the drinks, instead of the role she’d been made to occupy now.
“You do not go to them. You make them come to you. You are above them. If they want your attention, they must ask for it.” She hadn’t t liked that ill-tempered woman in the least, but at least her instructions for how Jandy was to act on this assignment meant she wouldn’t have to feign interest in any of the other patrons.
Yet, anyways. Gage had gotten his own orders. A mission and a target, no doubt.
What made fear twist in Jandy’s gut was not knowing what role she would be playing in this farce. The man at her side, shorter than she was used to and useless as a source of comfort, turned and the woman turned with him, past experience aiding her navigation in the death-trap heels. She let her gaze drift over the room, not settling on any one person for more than a heartbeat.
In the back of her thoughts, Dechlan was a solid presence, not interfering, but remaining very alert to what was going on around her. It took some effort to remember to focus on the details of the club, the faces, so that he would be able to have enough facts to come to his own conclusions. Watching through each other meant that they only saw what the other took notice of. So Jandy paid attention to how many exits there were and where the private tables were, instead of on how many drinks would be easily spiked by even an amateur.
“Wait here.” Gage had to lean close to get the message across, bringing with him an unfamiliar scent.
Shrugging, Jandy moved to occupy a nearby stool, perching on the leather with her legs crossed, setting her clutch on the round tabletop at her elbow. She kept her features expressionless, not interested but not bored, either. Both would attract unwanted attention, which she felt she was getting too much of already.
//
The pain was unlike anything else, despite the time she'd taken a bullet from some acquaintances of her father’s, the slash of a knife across her stomach, even when Jane had died and it had felt like someone had poured acid into her head.
“Tell me who sent you and what you were sent to do, or she’s going to suffer more.” Easy, oily, entirely in control and comfortable that way.
Their mark's bodyguard twisted her arm further at some unheard command, stretching the ligaments in her already dislocated shoulder further and causing the fiery pain spreading through her to burn hotter. Jandy screamed, unable to even think about quelling it.
She couldn't feel Dechlan, even on the fringes of her mind, as if the pain was blotting him out. She couldn't see Gage through the spots flooding her vision, even though she knew he had to be there, and the only sound ringing in her ears was her own cry of pain.
“I told you, I just wanted to see about making a deal. The girl’s got nothing to do with it.” Gage was on the verge of desperation; she could hear it in his voice over her gasped breaths.
The pressure on her forearm was relinquished and Jandy collapsed on the floor, agony white hot in every nerve of her body. The tile of the floor was cold beneath her cheek, the dampness of tears on her skin collecting particles of dirt, and at first she thought someone had turned the lights off in the back room, but realization dawned a heartbeat before she blacked out, pain radiating from her right shoulder.
//
“...Sparks...Sparks. Jandy!”
Unfamiliar voice, unknown surroundings, lingering memory of a burning pain and an operation that couldn’t have gone more wrong. Before she even got her eyes open, Jandy lashed out with one hand towards the voice, fingers curled back to use the heel of her palm as the impact point. The motion caused a fresh wash of liquid fire through her injured shoulder and arm, both immobilized against her chest.
Someone caught her flailing limb with a protest of, “Hey! Come on, Sparks.”
“Gage?” She managed, throat raw, trying to reach through the haze over her thoughts for Dechlan while blinking against the dim lighting of… wherever they were. “Where—“ Her question was cut off by a coughing fit.
“Take it easy. I’ll explain everything.” He still had a hold on her hand, and now used that grip to pull her upright, the other reaching to steady her once she was up.
Jandy focused on the man before her, the combination of dizziness and pain making her feel ill. “Water?” She croaked out, still trying to find her partner in their connection and the lack of his presence starting to cause fear to well up in her chest.
A bottle was produced without comment and Gage opened it with a deft twist, offering it to her. A second glance at his face revealed some severe bruising and a swollen lip. He hadn’t gotten off scot-free either, it seemed.
Her first instinct was to reach for the water with her right hand—the one that was wound tight with makeshift bandages from wrist to shoulder and bound against her torso—an instinct she didn’t find difficult to quell when even an attempt at movement drew a groan. Nope, she wouldn’t be using that side of her body for a while. Actually, if she focused, breathing hurt too, along her right side. That would have to come later, though.
The Daxton twin pressed the water into her left hand when she failed to take it after a few moments. “Drink, then think, since you can’t seem to do both.”
If Jandy had felt any better, she would expended the effort to find a comeback for that, but she was exhausted. So she lifted the plastic bottle to her lips, careful to make sure she could even get it that far, with the weakness that caused her limbs to shake.
While the liquid settled, the woman took a moment to observe her surroundings for the first time, letting Gage take the water and put the cap back on it.
The air was still around them, but when she focused, there were subtle vibrations that passed through the… boxes she was sitting on. It wasn’t a large space, and the only light was coming from a small window up over their heads. The size of it reminded her of…
“A train car? What are we doing on a train?” And where is Dechlan? And your sister?
Gage shifted from his crouch to sit on the ground, setting the bottle of water in a nearby backpack that was tucked between two more crates. “We are taking the most expedient means away from Warren and his center of control. Which is this.”
She settled her focus on him, taking in a breath to keep calm and steadying herself when the train swayed around them with her left hand planted on the box beneath her. The cost of a daring escape would no doubt be easy access to painkillers. And new clothes. It had taken a belated minute to realize she still wore the dirty and torn dress from… the prior day? “Things went south last night?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Our mark was onto us from the start.”
“And I suppose there’s a good reason that Teagan and Dechlan aren’t here right now?” Jandy aimed for nonchalant and failed, breath catching in her throat. She was already in too much pain to deal with what Gage would have to tell her about their missing partners.
“They said—well, Dechlan said through my sister to just get out. He gave me a name to use against our mark—you’re going to have to tell me how he knows this stuff—and they let me leave with you. With a few death threats, of course.”
“Of course,” she murmured, squeezing her eyes shut to combat a new pounding making itself known in her head. There still wasn’t great clarity going on upstairs and it was going to keep her from searching for Dechlan for the time being. No matter how much distance got put between them, she still should’ve been able to at least feel him. “What’s the plan, then?”
“We’re going to the coast, to New Washington. Dechlan and Teagan are going to try and rendezvous with us, but is they don’t show up by the end of the month, we’re supposed to get out of the country.”
Helplessness closed her throat. “I can’t do that, Gage. I can’t—“ ...leave him. He’s all that’s left.
A similar emotion was reflected in the male’s hazel eyes as he managed a humorless smirk. She’d left behind her—her pillar and he’d left behind his twin sister. They were in the same boat and right now, it was hard not to feel like they were both going to sink.
...And yeah. I have no idea how this turned out. I got it written, and that's enough for me, so I will let you all decide on if it's pathetic or not.
I do have some idea of the next portion, so maybe it won't be another month before you see anything from me, but we'll see. It's all up in the air with me.
Happy March to you all and a fantabulous April, if I probably won't be posting again until then. As always, muchas gracias for the patience.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
