{{Unedited}}
The seatbelt light dinged off, and she flew out of the seat like it was on fire, heading towards the bathroom, and closing herself in.
She sat on the closed toilet and buried her face in her hands as she rocked. Her skin felt like it was on fire again.
You’re falling in love with him.
“No, I’m not,” she sat up straight, hugging her middle.
Marielle… you’re falling in love with him. You’re falling hard. He’s all that you think about outside of Vincent.
“I just… I’m just confused.” She shook her head from side to side. She chuckled at herself, “He’s just, you know… hotter than hell, and I’m just tempted.”
He is hotter than hell… but you’d feel this way if he were less attractive, too. You two have so much fun together, and your magnetism, chemistry, and connection is deep, and unrelenting. The very fact that you can do what you can won’t let you let this go.
“No, no, I’m just confused.”
No, you’re not confused. You’ve known for a while now that all of this is wrong. Vincent’s a liar, even though you love him, he’s a liar; a manipulator.
“But I do love him.”
You do love him. But you’re better with Austin and you know it.
“How can I be better with a cheater? That’s what he is! He’s a cheater! He’s going to break me.”
No, Marielle, you’re breaking him.
She stood, angrily and went to the mirror, splashing some water onto her face and clearing her expression of any sadness.
“I won’t budge on this right now. He’s my best friend, and even though I’ve slipped a little, I’m leaving it there. I might want more, but he’s not ready for it, neither am I.”
What about when you are?
“I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it… if either of us actually comes to it.”
You are so scared of him.
“I’m scared of both of them.” She shook her head, “But in different ways.”
Vincent could kill you with his hands… Austin will kill you with his heart.
“Yes.”
She stopped debating herself and left the room, praying that no one heard that one sided conversation.
When the door shut, she bumped into the older Stewardess who had been serving Austin during the flight. She looked Marielle over, and smirked. “Lucky,” she taunted. `
“Oh,” Marielle said, demurely. “He’s not mine.”
The stewardess – who’s name tag said Beth – looked Marielle over like she was stupid, then glanced back at Austin, who was looking over the seats to see if Marielle was okay, then back to her. “Yes, he is,” Beth said with a strong nod before she passed Marielle, going back to the other hens at the end of the plane who were still fanning themselves.
Heh, if you all only knew how much he could cool you down, Marielle thought, wickedly as she went back to Vincent, slipping in next to him.
“I kind of got trapped back there,” she said, then she winced.
“I know. No worries,” he replied and he looked back out the window again.
Marielle felt her chest burn with anxiety and pain. Vincent knew; he must know, he always had so far. She squeezed his hand, and leaned her head against his shoulder. He smelled earthy, but she could just barely smell and taste the nervous sweat that he was producing. “I love you, Vincent,” she whispered.
He pinched his eyes closed, and let out a long, sad sigh. There was relief behind it, however. “I love you more than you will ever know, Masin,” he replied, turning and kissing her temple. “Do you want love?” He meant sex. Her cheeks filled with color and she slowly nodded, “Love now? Or love later?” he asked, implying that he knew that they’d been in a ‘fight’ but that this one was definitely for their relationship.
“Now?” she asked, incredulous.
“I’ll give you what you want regardless of where we are,” he breathed into her ear, low and desperate.
Her mind went numb. “Uh…” she stammered, her cheeks growing warm with color. “Where?”
“The bathroom?” he asked. This was obviously half a joke at least.
She glanced back, they would both definitely be walking past Austin to do this. “No, Vincent, let’s wait,” she replied chuckling as the growing tension in her body caused her to squeeze his forearm.
Her mind started to race with questions about how much he must know and what he was considering doing as a result. She didn’t even know what she was doing about any of it. This was a mess. She glanced back down the long row between the chairs that led back to the bathroom. Austin wasn’t in his seat anymore… must have gotten up to use the restroom.
Han was a row back and to the right, and she looked at Marielle with a smile, patting an empty seat next to her. On the other side of Han was a man in a suit who was asleep against the window. Even though the man was asleep, Marielle could tell that he was handsome. Han probably already had his number; and guessed that Han was lonely now that she couldn’t chat him up. Han mouthed, “come talk” and Marielle turned to Vincent. “Han wants to talk,” she said.
“Go talk to her, have fun.” He gently kissed her forehead. “I’ll sit here and think about you whispering my name,” he purred while she was close.
She swallowed, her mind filling with thoughts of their bodies, and staggered over to Han. Austin still wasn’t back. “How ya doin’, Scarlett?”
Marielle sighed… appropriate. She was still dangling Vincent off the tips of her fingers like Rhett Butler, and sneaking intimate moments with Austin like he was Ashley Wilkes.
“I’m not like this, you know?” she whispered, throwing a glance Vincent’s way, signaling that they had to whisper. While it was true that everyone’s ears had popped and their hearing sounded like it was inside a vacuum, she was still afraid that Vincent would hear. “I don’t do this. I can’t stand cheaters,” she said with a sigh as she leaned back against the chair.
Han nodded. “I remember,” she replied.
“Remember Matt?” She asked.
Han made a face, “ehh,” she grunted through a cringed-up face. She briefly reminded Marielle of Lucille Ball and Marielle chuckled, gently pressing her shoulder.
There was a pause, and the conversation shifted back to Austin. “He’s just…” she stopped, biting her lip and simpering.
“I have eyes, don’t I?” Han glowered at her, playfully. “He’s not into me, but damn, girl… would I bed him in two seconds flat.” Both ladies laughed a little under their breath. Han kept one eye on Vincent. “But what do you feel for him? What does your heart say?”
Marielle took in a deep pull of air, and stared ahead for a moment. The man asleep next to Han in the tawny suit snored softly, and both girls chuckled again. Han mouthed, ‘he’s really cute!’
“Did you get his number?”
“Girl, I’m all over that,” she said waving her cell phone in Marielle’s direction.
Marielle smirked. “What’s his name?”
“James Melliso.”
They fell silent for a moment as Marielle mentally drifted back to Han’s question. What does your heart say? Marielle took the end of her hair into her hands and began combing through her own dark tresses. “Look,” Marielle began readjusting her back uncomfortably, a little. “I can’t be… I can’t be in love with Austin Rancor.”
“Marielle,-” Han cocked her head at her with a motherly expression in her lovely blue eyes, “-why?” Han touched her forearm. “Disregarding can’t… why?”
Marielle was silent, her eyes were beginning to moisten a little, and it wasn’t just from her emotions, her back was starting to burn again. She growled; would this ever go away? “Aside from… the obvious, that I’m still with Vincent, and that I’m his wife in the other dimension,” she sighed and put her face into her hands, “Or was,” she bit her lip, realizing how crazy even that sounded. “I can’t go through the pain that he’d cause me.”
“Does he cause you pain now?”
Marielle nodded. “Yes. I don’t tell him that, but… every time I know that he’s seen a prostitute, or…” she shook her head and looked at the ceiling of the plane. “It hurts every damn time, Han. And I’m not even his. I can’t imagine what it would feel like if I were actually dating him, or heaven forbid… married to him or something. I think it would just-”
“You think he’d break you.”
“Yes. I know he’d utterly destroy me.”
Han was silent for a moment before venturing into territory that was weird to Marielle as she said. “I think maybe he did, once.”
Marielle’s eyes grew wide and she flicked her gaze to Vincent.
Vincent had said multiple times that Austin had screwed up with her, that they had been together at some point and that he had become something dark… but was any of that true? What if Vincent had lied to her to get her to be with him? Her heart sank.
The first night that they’d made love she could tell that a lot of what he’d said was truthful after the fact. But now something seemed even more unbalanced. She determined that she’d ask him later.
“You think Austin destroyed me?” Marielle pressed the present conversation.
“I think that he may have.”
“Then why would you be encouraging this?” She asked, the searing pain in her skin becoming unbearable again. –Austin… she begged in her mind.
Han shrugged. “I don’t think they’re the same,” she said quietly, and she was scrolling through her facebook feed, now. She lifted her phone, aimed it at the two of them and took a candid photo. Then she posted it, giving it the caption, “off to Venice. What, what?”
“You’re hilarious,” Marielle growled. “I look awful.” She was half a second from asking her to delete it, when she felt an icy spike run straight down her spine and she looked up into the blue eyes of her savior. He was looking down at her with compassion. -I’ve got you, darling.
Han was staring up at him with an expression of awe and confusion… what was he doing to her?
Marielle sighed, relieved once more and leaned back against the seat, biting back painful tears. The pain had subsided for now, yes, but she knew it would return shortly. She met eyes with him, grateful.
-Thank you so much.
-Please, just come to me. I’ll help.
He turned to walk back and he and Vincent’s eyes met briefly. Austin looked down, swallowed. Vincent glowered at him the entire way back to his seat.
Han winced. “I wonder how much of that he heard,” she whispered, referring to their conversation before Austin had interrupted them.
Marielle mimicked her face, “maybe more than you know,” she was suddenly thinking about the fact that he could read her mind even from a bit away.
Han cocked her head at her like she didn’t understand because, she didn’t. “What happened?” Han asked leaning in.
Marielle winced. “Um… oh… I’m sort of in transformation,” she said putting finger quotes around the word, and she briefly pulled down her shirt at the back to show Han glistening silver.
Han gasped. “You’re going to be like him,” she said, eyeing Vincent.
“Well, technically, I already am… I just don’t have the nano-tech inserted, yet. My body has to adjust to what he did.”
“What did he do?”
Marielle shuddered, remembering. “Something painful.”
All at once, Jamie went running for the bathroom, a barf bag in his hands.
Han and Marielle exchanged looks, and Han got up, going after him.
***
The plane ride was long and arduous. Marielle sat with Vincent, and eventually found sleep again after taking another one of Vincent’s super-Vicodins. It did little to numb the excruciating pain. Several times she got up to see Austin, and each time he complied with compassion and deep empathy.
The third time that she went to him, she looked broken, fearful of asking again, tired and desperate. Her eyes watered, and she made an agonized expression. He lifted his hand, gently took her wrist, and pulled her down into the seat adjacent him before wrapping his arms around her, and holding her close. As he did this, he brushed his icy fingers down her back, and she cooled, her skin pricking.
“It hurts so bad,” she whimpered.
“Shhhh,” he whispered, gently rocking her. “It’s okay. I’m with you.” Then he surprised her by starting to hum; his tone was charming, strong, and perfect. Then words were coming out. “Ninna nanna, ninna oh. Questo bimbo a chi lo do? Ninna nanna, ninna oh. Questo bimbo a chi lo do? Se lo do alla Befana. Me lo tiene una settimana. Se lo do al al Bove Nero. Me lo tiene un anno intero. Se lo do al Lupo Bianco. Me lo tiene tanto, tanto. Ninna nanna, nanna fate. Il mio bimbo addormentate.” It was a lullaby of some kind. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his icy touch and his song, feeling like she could sleep again. At least in sleep, the pain wouldn’t be so intense.
She fell back against the seat, and slept with her head on his forearm. He gently brushed some hair back from her face, surprised at how content he was with this moment.
Vincent’s going to kill me, he thought, but this moment was worth it.
He helped her again when the pain became so much that she woke, and several more times before the sky turned dark outside.
When the plane landed, no one felt like they’d slept, especially Austin – who in his vigil – actually hadn’t.
Wincing, yawning, lumbering, and stretching, everyone disembarked from the plane and stumbled into the airport groggy and confused.
Vincent put his arm out to help Marielle. She winced the whole way through customs.
It was hard to believe that the pain in her back seemed to be worse at some times and better at others, but as they went to get their suitcases, it felt like she was going to die.
Austin walked by quickly, touching her lower spine before continuing to his suitcase. Vincent glowered at him, noting her reaction, but exhaled in a kind of relief for her as well. He helped her get their bags, and led the entire party out front where a shuttle was waiting for them.
The doors hissed open, and Sabine rolled her eyes. Of course… Chamber.
From the driver’s seat, he grinned at them, hanging playfully from the bar that helped them all get on. “Bonjour, Mesdames et messieurs,” he said, grinning wildly at Sabine’s discomfort. Everyone clambered onto the shuttle, dragging bags and bodies as everyone’s legs felt like jelly. “I’ll be your tour guide for this evening,” Chamber was saying sitting back down and fitting a black cap over his head. Once Vincent and Marielle got on, Chamber jumped up and embraced Vincent. Both patted one another on the back, quickly, and gave each other a smile that reminded everyone that they were informed, and the others weren’t; the twins had secrets that no one else knew.
“Nous parlerons plus tard,” Vincent was whispering.
“Oui,” Chamber replied with a quick nod, and he bent to help Sabine get her bag in through the door.
John rushed ahead, and took it from her. Chamber gave him a slightly overexaggerated bow and gestured for them both to move onto the shuttle.
Liam entered and gave Chamber a good, hard handshake. “How ya’ doin’, Soldier?”
Chamber see-sawed his hand in midair, then threw a glance at Vincent and Marielle, followed by a glance at Austin, who was just coming up the two steps to get in.
Austin gave Chamber a look and a nod, Chamber did the same. They’d played several years of cat and mouse between those glances with both having taken both roles at different times.
Austin continued toward the back.
“Are things a total mess, yet?” Chamber asked.
Liam followed Chamber’s gaze through all three of them as well, “you have no idea,” he sighed. He leaned a little into Chamber’s space, “Are you going to come and be with us a little more permanently when this is all over?” The right side of Chamber’s mouth crept up into an approving smile. Liam wanted him there, and that meant a lot to him. “You’d be a good asset.”
“You have Vincent,” he explained.
Liam nodded, pursing his lips, briefly and stroking his beard. “While this is true, I think that both of you add something to the situation that is necessary.” Chamber glanced down, maybe trying to hide abashedness, and nodded. “Your direction-” he glanced at Vincent, meaning his direction, “-has been vital during this entire thing. It’s been over two months since he came to us, and I’ll be honest, without him, and…” he glanced at Austin, who was settling himself aimlessly at the back, “-that prick, there… I’m not sure how things would have unfolded.”
“Austin?” Chamber narrowed his eyes, and threw him a glance.
“Austin has been instrumental in helping a few of these guys find their place again after coming into contact with their other selves,” Liam said distantly. “He really helped Klara the in the days after she had to kill Raze.”
Chamber’s eyes widened for a moment as if this hit him in a different way once Liam said it. “O, Oui.” He removed the cap, ran his fingers through his hair a few times, and replaced it.
“He also really helped Kirra through that trauma and Jamie as well,” Liam threw Jamie and Mateo a look. They were both pushing one another out of the same seat in an odd game of musical chairs. Tala came and sat on Mateo’s lap after he sat down and spread his arms across the back, and gave Jamie a look as if to say, ‘what now?’ Jamie stood back and crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing the two of them. Mateo looked absolutely stunned to have a woman sitting on his knees. Han was snickering at the two of them; Liam got the feeling that Han had told her to do this; Tala must have decided that this was the time.
Jamie shook his head and backed off, sitting in another seat, and Tala slid off Mateo and wiggled her way down into the small spot to his left where she gave him a shy smile and stayed. Wingman was standing on the floor now, looking between the two of them as if he wanted attention, but was now being neglected. Both Mateo and Tala turned away from each other, color filling their cheeks. Liam didn’t catch much more of the situation, but he saw Tala mouth, “I hope that was okay.”
Liam turned back to Chamber, “Thank you for all your help. I don’t trust you worth a dime, but I can appreciate you- does that make sense?”
“Of course, I would have it no other way,” Chamber smiled at him, beaming, and gestured for Liam to sit down.
“Take us to Valorant, first?”
“It was in the cards.”
Vincent stepped into the conversation, “Actually, take us to the Air BNB, first,” he said. He looked back at Marielle who was in significant pain again, and holding herself around the middle. “We’re going to drop a few of them off.”
Liam noted that Tayane was already asleep on Klara’s shoulder, and that Klara’s head was slumped against the back of the shuttle; she was drooling.
Liam nodded, and sat, noting that Vincent and Chamber exchanged a bit of dialogue specifically in French.
Vincent came back to Marielle whose head was between her knees, her arms around her chest. “I don’t understand why it’s hurting so much again,” she groaned.
He sat with her, and offered her his hand. “It will be this intense for at least a few more hours.”
Austin winced and looked away, tearing off a hangnail with his teeth.
Vincent let out a long sigh, “Austin, come help her,” he said under his breath. Austin gave Vincent a look that said, ‘are you sure?’ Vincent nodded, and gestured him over.
He bent, and touched her, sending sweet, cooling rays into her skin. “How ironic that you need me to fix something that you did,” he hissed, dragging his gaze up to Vincent.
“She asked me to,” Vincent replied tightly, thinking how strange it was that not twelve hours ago, on the plane, he was thinking about the day that Marielle left Austin… and how these roles were reversed. How odd that Austin needed Vincent to care for something that he had done. “She practically demanded it- I had told her no several times and warned her of this,” he explained gesturing down to her. She was softly whimpering into her own knees. “Just stay… continue to cool her. Neither of us can stand seeing her in pain,” Vincent said with a wry smirk at Austin.
Austin swallowed thickly and complied, sitting on Marielle’s right.
“I know that you can read one another’s minds. Don’t think that I’m dense, Austin,” Vincent whispered under his breath.
Austin’s jaw tightened, and he paused for a moment. “She told me that she’s going to keep choosing you,” Austin replied, insecurely.
“I’m right here, you know,” Marielle growled from in between her knees. “Please don’t fight each other. I have a feeling that you’ve always been fighting each other. Why don’t you both try a different route this time? And then maybe we’ll all get through this,” she said, lifting her head and wincing. Austin cooled her again.
“I would like to try a different route, brother,” Vincent said extending his hand to Austin.
Austin eyed him as if he understood exactly what he meant by the word, but didn’t trust it one bit. He eventually took his hand and shook it, his obvious admiration for Vincent showing through his guilt. “Fratello,” Austin agreed, shaking his hand.
“Frère.” Vincent repeated, and he released Austin’s hand, while his other stayed on Marielle’s back, comforting her burns. There was silence for a beat, then Vincent sighed. “I want you to stay back with Marielle at the rental.”
Austin side glanced him curiously, “You think that’s a good idea?”
“I have a feeling,” Vincent said, clearing his throat. “Hard to explain, but I am rarely wrong.”
“What kind of feeling?” Marielle asked, sensing that once again, she was being forgotten between them. Vincent smiled at her, lovingly, and took her face into his hands, kissing her gently on the mouth. Austin turned away, his heart feeling a wound that he couldn’t ease with ice. “I don’t want you to worry about it. Because I’ll be fine,” he whispered against her mouth, giving her another gentle kiss. “But you’re not going. You’re in no condition to go. You need rest.”
“If you have a feeling, wouldn’t you prefer me to be there with you?”
“No, Austin. I know you’ll die to save-” he turned to him, “-my wife.” He faced forward again, “as weird as it may sound, I trust you with her more than anyone else on this shuttle, except maybe Chamber.”
“And in other regards?”
“Let’s just say that I don’t trust you at all in those regards,” he smirked at Austin, knowingly. “But I know Marielle, she won’t sleep with you.” Marielle glared at Vincent and he shrugged dismissively.
Austin looked down, defeated. He knew this, she’d told him on the plane… but he tried to hide a small smirk. But she is falling in love with me.
The rest of the ride to the rental was in silence.
They pulled up to a beautiful, slightly dilapidated, yellow building with rectangular windows lined by white lace curtains, and curled black bars and box flowers underneath each. This place was down the highway that connected Venice to the mainland and just on the other side, so technically not Venice.
Everyone unloaded and Austin spoke Italian to the man at the front desk, getting their keys, and checking them in.
“Okay, yeah, I can see how he’d be useful in a situation like this,” John said, leaning towards Sabine.
Sabine crossed her arms over her chest, “I would have rather stood here for an hour.”
Austin wasn’t sure whether Vincent had put his room next to his and Marielle’s on purpose, but it certainly gave him mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was close to them… on the other hand, he was close to them.
He instantly heard when the shower turned on not two minutes after they checked in. He was also painfully aware that it was Marielle who was in there, and not Vincent. He could tell by the movements and how things were being placed and done. He could hear her get in, he could hear the pounding water against the wall and the shower floor and curtain. He could hear a small sniffle. She was crying, and for a moment, he was there with her, embracing her under the comfort of the cool, pounding water.
In this fantasy, he did nothing except hold her and kiss the top of her head, and gently rock her as the water pounded against them both and hid her tears.
He put his fingertips to the wall separating them. -Can you hear me?
Nothing.
He closed his eyes, put his forehead to the barrier and closed out all other thoughts from his mind, listening as intently as he could. What came through was a weak and broken, -I’m so, so scared. I can’t show anyone, though.
-I’m here. He tried to force to her. -Please, hear me.
-God, what’s happening to me. I’m falling apart. I can’t love him, I can’t. Austin was uncertain whether she meant him or Vincent. -This isn’t me. This isn’t how I behave. I’m a horrible human being… He took a deep breath, and let it out, slowly as he lifted a finger, and gently caressed the wall. Then he paused, frozen in surprise. -Oh, Austin… He let out a ragged breath, barely able to swallow.
His fingers slipped to where he believed that she stood. All he wanted was to be with her, to be in her presence. Despite the fact that sex was a strong undertone, he just wanted to care for her in whatever way she wanted right now. -I’m here, what can I do, darling? Again, he tried to force it to her.
-Austin…
-I’m here, darling.
Vincent entered the bathroom, and Austin pulled away from the wall. Vincent said something that Austin couldn’t make out, but it was gentle.
“Okay,” Marielle replied.
He moved away from the wall, and went to his bedroom. He must have been one of the only rooms in this place to have a fireplace across from the foot of his bed.
There was a knock at the door, and Austin stopped from pulling some clothes out from his suitcase and went to it. It was Vincent. Vincent’s gaze briefly flicked to the wall where he heard the shower running, then back to Austin, then to the bed where he saw a row of socks and shirts. Then he looked down. “Protect my wife with your life.”
Austin nodded. “You know that I will.”
“I know, brother,” Vincent said, and he left, going back to the other room.
When Vincent closed the door, Marielle was standing in the middle of the room in her white robe and towel drying her long black hair. It was wet, and clumpy; Vincent still wanted to go and touch it, and breathe it in.
Instead, he leaned against the door and eyed her; the beautiful woman that he was so desperately in love with that he had ruined everything. She smiled at him, and for a moment they were silent.
Both of their earpieces fuzzed, and Vincent went to the desk in the room, picked his up, and put it into his ear. “Everyone check in with their name, then their agent name, and what channel you’re on. Channel zero reaches everyone, and it is the default.” Liam’s voice came through. Vincent threw hers to Marielle. She put it into her ear. “Liam Byrne, Brimstone. I’m channel one.”
“Yo, Mateo Armendáriz De la Fuente. Gekko, I’m channel two.”
“Jamie Adeyemi… Pheonix, yo! I’m on channel three.”
“Sabine Callas. Viper. Channel four.”
“John…” He paused. He hadn’t given himself a name yet. “My name will be Omen. Channel five.”
Marielle smiled. Omen. She liked that.
“Tala- Tala Nicole Dimaapi Valdez. I’m Neon?… Uh… channel six.”
There was a brief silence. “Vincent Fabron. I’m Chamber,” he shrugged, not really sure how that was going to work out when it came to Chamber two. “Channel seven.”
“Uh, bonjour? I’m also Vincent Fabron? Chamber number two? Channel eight.”
“Sunwoo, Han… Jett. Channel nine?”
“Alexander- Sasha Novikov. My agent name is Sova. I’m on channel ten.”
“Hellllllo,” a pleasant voice. Marielle smiled; she recognized it immediately. Vincent also grinned. “My name is Klara Böhringer. I’m Killjoy, and I am now on channel eleven.”
“Hey, hey, Tayane Alves, or Tata’ if you want. Raze. Channel twelve.”
“My name’s Kirra Foster. But you can call me the Great Reclaimer, mates.” Everyone laughed. “Or Skye. I’m officially on channel thirteen.”
Marielle waited a beat. Would Austin check in? Technically he had to, he was asked to. She heard nothing. “Marielle Chaenes. Unofficial agent name is Gall. Officially on fourteen.”
Silence for a moment. “I’m Austin Rancor,” Marielle smiled softly. “I’m guess I’m checking in as Tundra. Channel fifteen.”
“Tundra? I like it,” Liam said after a moment. Nothing else was said. “These lines are officially programmed in, everyone try and keep their earpiece in as much as possible.”
Everything went silent.
Marielle noted Vincent, who she hadn’t registered until now had been staring at her during the entire check in. “Why do you call him brother?” she asked.
He narrowed his eyes for a moment, then screwed them up as if thinking about this, “It’s a – walker thing.” She tilted her head, not understanding, “Lone walker. Austin operates alone, so do I. It’s sort of a code that we have among each other. He knows what I mean.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I don’t have to like him to love him, or to die for him. It means that we have shared experiences, and pains, and traumas.” He sighed, “It means that only we can know what it’s like to look down the barrel of a gun and shoot someone, not knowing if they deserved it or not… and be totally invisible,” he looked down, “and totally alone in that moment. It’s a… government thing amongst spies and assassins and so on.” He pushed his glasses back up his nose.
Marielle paused, dropping her towel from her hair. “I have to know more,” she explained changing the subject. “You know that I have to know more.”
Vincent nodded ruefully and eyed the floor for a moment. “I know.” He whispered. “I’ll tell you many things when I get back.” A knock. It was Liam. He nodded at him, and gently shut the door. “But I have to leave now.” He went to her, crawling over part of the bed to place a gentle kiss on her mouth. He gave her a stern look as if to say ‘be good’ but it melted into something that resembled pain. He tipped her chin up to look at him, ‘please, be good?’ She nodded. He pinched her chin, gently, and turned to leave.
“Be safe.”
He smirked at her, “I am always safe, my wife.”
She smiled at him, but the moment the door closed, the first thought she had was, I’m not your wife.