seeing is believing

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

Thomas didn’t know what else to say. He knew there was nothing he could do to take her scars away and even if he could, he knew that she wouldn’t let him. As he mentioned guns, he saw her body tense and knew that something had led to her fear of them. He nodded, though, not wanting to offend her. “I’m afraid I don’t know as much about hand-to-hand combat, but I will teach you what I know. ” He knew that he would need to provide and explanation at this point and he sucked in a breath. “I was an officer in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy for eight years,” he admitted. “I can teach you anything you want to know.”

She shifted uncomfortably in his chair, her eyes focused on the computer, not daring to glance up at him. She refused to let herself hide from everything that had happened to her but that didn't mean that it was the easiest thing to talk about. "I've trained in hand-to-hand combat for quite a while but I suppose a refresher might be handy". She was more than capable of defending herself but brushing up on her skills was never going to be a bad thing. "Wow.. why did you leave the Navy?" she asked. 

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

After that revelation, Thomas didn’t know what else to say to her. There was a primal anger in him, an anger that made him want to hurt those who had hurt her. When he saw her scars, his eyebrows rose and leaned across the desk to place a soft kiss on her forehead before sitting back in his chair. He sat there in silence for a moment. “I think you need more than a knife,” he finally said. “How about I teach you how to shoot a gun?” he asked, curious about her response. “I have formal training.” He didn’t elaborate, but he had been an officer in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy and had kept up his training when he’d left the service, knowing the importance of safety in this day and age.

She tugged down her shirt as he leaned over and pressed a kiss against her forehead, returning her attention to the computer so that she didn't have to focus on how incredibly open and honest she was being with this complete stranger. Her body tensed when he offered to teach her how to shoot a gun, hating the idea. She could still remember being on the phone with her best friend when he ran into the men who had hurt her; could remember hearing shots fired and him crying out in pain, forgetting to hang up the phone, too distracted by trying to even the score. She had had to identify his body, riddled with bullet holes. "No thank you. I'm not really a gun person. Thanks for offering though, that's rather kind of you"

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

Thomas nodded back at her, curious as to why she didn’t talk more about it, since she had been the one to bring it up. He didn’t say anything, however, and ran his hand through his hair as he watched her. “Three inches?” he said with a laugh. “At least you know how to use it.” He chuckled again, picturing her trying to stab someone with a Swiss Army knife. He knew he’d just laugh, but then again, that might give her the upper hand. He saw the sliver of her skin but didn’t say anything and diverted his eyes, not wanting to stare at her.

"Thanks for not asking", she murmured, glancing over at him. She knew he was probably curious but she appreciated the fact that he didn't push for any details. "My best friend got really drunk one night and I had to go and pick him up except he'd left the bar by the time I got there. I went looking for him and encountered a group of guys that weren't the nicest". She didn't bother saying anymore; not wanting to tell him that they had each taken their turn with her before stabbing her and leaving her for dead on the street. Thankfully, someone had stumbled across her body before it was too late but it had set off a chain of events that she'd never be able to change. Her hands reached for the hem of her shirt, tugging it up slightly so that she could show him the scars on her chest from where the knife had pierced her skin. "Trust me, I know how to make sure it hurts"

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

He sat down in the armchair near his bookshelf and let out a small breath. “I don’t believe in casual sex,” he said bluntly. “It might sound romantic and maybe a bit antiquated in this time period, but I don’t believe in giving into one’s body and desires just because you can. It shows poor self-control.” He raised a brow as she mentioned she was deadly with her Swiss Army knife. Thomas bit his lip to keep from chuckling. “If you say so,” he said. “Please tell me the blade is longer than 2 inches.” He smiled and said nothing as she mentioned the next time, noting the blush on her cheek.

She just nodded, not bothering to give her own reason, knowing that he'd end up pitying her and she definitely didn't want that. She hadn't been intimate with anyone since the incident that had put her in hospital for three weeks and before that, she had only really been intimate with her best friend, the two of them involved in a very dependent friendship. "It's three inches and I'm strong enough to stab it right where it hurts", she informed him, rolling her eyes at his doubt. She leaned back in his chair to stretch, her shirt rising up and showing off a thin slither of pale skin, sighing softly. 

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

Thomas shrugged at her furrowed eyebrows, knowing that his admission was a bit shocking. He had gotten that reaction before, but Thomas believed that it was important to save sex for people he loved, not people he met on the street. “A Swiss Army knife?” he said with a grin. “You can barely stick a pig with that.” He chuckled. “The pepper spray is a good deterrent though.” He shrugged noncommittally. “Perhaps,” he said. “Are you saying there’s going to be a next time?”

"I know this might be a bit of a personal question but is there any reason why you haven't had sex in such a long time?" she asked, tapping away on the computer keyboard as she spoke. She laughed when he doubted what the Swiss Army knife would be able to do. "Trust me, I can do some pretty serious damage with it. I can be pretty deadly", she smirked, her cheeks slightly tinged with pink as he asked if there would be a next time. "Well, we keep running into each other so I figured it'd probably happen again"

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

He nodded, raising an eyebrow. “Almost as long as me,” he said with a short laugh. He’d been without a serious girlfriend for two years and didn’t believe in casual sex. He never had. Thomas looked at her as he leaned back against the door. “I see. I worry about you working in that part of town,” he said bluntly. At her offer to pay again, he laughed. “I was raised by a woman that taught me very well,” he said with a laugh. “I’m certainly not letting you pay for food when it’s no trouble for me to do so.” He smiled.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly when he said that he hadn't had sex in such a long time either, shocked by that. She had obviously noticed that he was attractive even if she had no plans to act on it and she found it hard to believe that women hadn't thrown themselves at him. "It's honestly not that bad. Besides, I normally carry pepper spray and a swiss army knife so it's not like anyone is going to be able to hurt me". She was always remarkably skilled at self defense, learning it after a few incidents. "Fine, but it's my treat next time, okay?"

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

Thomas nodded as she continued looking through his paperwork. He hoped that she’d be able to make things easier for him. Not for the first time, he thought about offering her a job, but he wondered if she would ever take it. She seemed very self-sufficient, but if he was being honest, he really needed the help. He couldn’t run the whole business on his own, after all, and he was loathe to hire unknowns. “That sounds horrible,” he said bluntly. “Do you like working there?” he asked, genuinely curious. He laughed. “I’m not letting you pay,” he said with a grin. He called and ordered a few items. “It’ll be here soon.”

She glanced over at him when he asked her if he liked working with her. "I admit it's not the best job in the world but it pays the bills and the men can't touch me so that's definitely a bonus. I, uh.. haven't been intimate with anyone in over a year and a half so the whole not being touched thing is a big deal to me", she said simply. She didn't really see the point in lying to him; she had always been brutally honest, even if it meant people judged her. "Oh come on, don't be like that! At least take the tip from my bag. There's a handful of ones in there"

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

Thomas nodded and smiled at her, thankful for her help. He shrugged again, not caring what kind of system she wanted to set up as long as it worked. “It’s not that I don’t want to hire someone. I just don’t want to interview people. They always lie during interviews anyway, so you end up with someone that doesn’t know what they’re doing after pretending they did.” He chuckled and looked through the takeout menus he had tacked up onto the bulletin board on his wall. “Any preferences? Almost anything will deliver here.” He laughed.

She opened up a few programs on his computer, knowing that it would take her a couple of hours to fully copy all of his files onto a computer database but that it would definitely be worth it. "Ah, I guess that makes sense. We never have that at the strip club. My interview literally consisted of me taking off my clothes and the manager.. well, touching me.. to make sure I had no fat that would jiggle when dancing", she admitted. She glanced over at the bulletin board, her face splitting into a huge smile when she saw the menu for her favourite Chinese restaurant. "That one, please. I've got some cash in my bag so just grab what you need"

Returning the Favour | | Thomas & Kennedi

The entire time he was gone, Thomas had thought about Kennedi and wondered what exactly he’d gotten himself into. She was quite lovely, he could admit to himself, and he found that he wanted to spend more time with her. As they got to his office, he shrugged sheepishly and put his hands in his pockets after shedding his suit jacket and loosening his tie. He chuckled. “I just hate filing. And I keep missing clients because I’m meeting with them when they call and when I call back, they’re almost offended no one answered the phone.” He let out a sigh. “I appreciate your help. Are you hungry at all? I didn’t eat while I was gone and I’m famished.”

She listened to his problems, trying to figure out a way to solve them without him having to hire someone else. "I can probably set up a more efficient filing system for you and make an electronic version of it too so that it's easier to access when you're in a rush", she explained. "If you really don't want to hire a new receptionist, you should probably set up a better voice mail system so that customers don't just ring out. That way you can switch on the voice mail system when you're in a meeting and they'll still feel like they're important". As he asked about food, her stomach growled loudly and she nodded meekly. "Yeah, I guess I am kind of hungry"