As soon as the elevator doors opened, you quickly ran inside, trying to balance the two coffee cups in your hands without spilling anything. And as you pressed the number of your destination about ten times, the man next to you quirked an eyebrow. 

“Stupid thing.” You mumbled and the man coughed, making you look at him. “I already pressed that button.” 

Your eyes went wide, mostly in embarrassment and you looked away quickly. Not wanting to look him in the eye. Way to start off the day by making yourself look like a nutjob in front of a co-worker. Maybe you should've just taken the stairs. Although your body would highly disagree because of your poor stamina. Maybe you should take use of your gym membership like you always said you would. 

“You new here?” He asked and you nodded as the doors closed. Your eyes were focussing on the numbers of the elevator floors. “That obvious huh?” You tried to make a joke out of it and laughed nervously, but it quickly faded when you read his unamused expression. His eyes were an amber color, standing neutral yet stern and his hair was in a messy cut as it fitted his scruff beard. His face basically described someone saying 'really?' annoyed with their eyebrows scrunched, and you looked away at the elevator doors as the stranger did the same.

You sighed while mumbling in your breath and the stranger scratched the back of his neck, before silence took over. Just 3 minutes in an elevator with a handsome man with uncomfortable tension in the air, and you’ll be up, no problem. 

As you heard the pings of the floors that passed, you noticed the man eyeing you from the side. Something that made your nerves go up since you thought he was judging you by the second. It’s always been bothering you, that everytime people would look at you, you’d assume they’d think the worst of you. Luckily, the man seemed to notice, and he turned his head to the elevator doors again, scraping his throat.

“Sorry if I seemed rude.” 

You looked at your side, your eyes meeting his shoulder so you looked up, noticing the height difference. “Oh, you weren't rude, I’m clumsy. Guess I’m just kinda paranoid since it’s the first day. I’m not late, I just want to make a good impression. And as you can see I don’t handle elevators well. God, I don’t even know why I’m in here, I could've just taken the stairs but I didn’t want to meet my superiors while being all sweaty. Although I already feel like I’m soaked right now. Jeez, it’s hot in here.” Your hands were starting to get sweaty when you rambled to the stranger, and he still had his eyebrows raised a little. Inside you could mentally slap yourself. Of course that would be his reaction. If a random girl would suddenly ramble shit, you’d be like ‘what the fuck is going on’, no surprise that his reaction would be the same.

“It’s totally fine, don’t worry too much about it, alright? We’re almost up.” He caught you off guard as he gave you a genuine smile. Something that made you feel relieved that he answered calmly and this time you were the one scrunching your eyebrows up in confusion. Most times you weren’t this hyper, yet people still gave you looks that asked you to kindly fuck off. So this was new.

“So you need to be on the 9nth floor as well?” The stranger asked and you nodded slowly. “Yeah, I have a meeting with my superiors and other co-workers, you?”

“Same, so your superior must be Stan Hurley too, right?” You nodded and looked at the cups in your hands. “Yeah I brought him coffee, I hope it gives off a good impression.”

The man next to you looked at the cups as well, and you didn't realize he was really close to you. “You’re playing a dangerous game, what coffee did you get for him?”

“I got myself latte espresso with steamed milk, and I got Stan a Red Eye.”

The man beside you seemed to be impressed, making you feel relieved that you made the right order. “That’s his usual, how did you know that?”

 “His biography was on google,” You shrugged and he had an amused look on his face. “Wow... That’s actually smart.”

“Yeah, I felt like a stalker though. Anyway, everything to make a good impression.” 

“Can’t disagree with that.”

Both of you laughed and It actually felt nice to have a conversation with a stranger like him. Even though you kept thinking they would judge you, it could just be a friendly ear who might just become a friend. 

Maybe this first day isn’t gonna be as bad as you thought after all.

That’s until you heard a rattling sound and you felt the elevator slow down.

It was like the elevator jolted up before shutting down completely, and both of you snapped your heads up to the noise. The lights were still on, everything seemed normal but the one thing that made you know something was up, was that you couldn’t hear the sounds of the shaft moving. 

“What just happened?” You blinked and looked around. “I dunno?” The man took three steps forward, until he reached the buttons and inspected them as his face went close. “I think the elevator stopped?”

The words he spoke were enough for you to make a red light pop up in your brain, and you chuckled anxiously. “You’re kidding, right?”

He pressed the button to the 9th floor, but nothing happened. The only sound you could hear were scraping sounds, as if the elevator wanted to go up, but stuttered. The stranger turned around, his face in a confused look, and your heart felt like it stopped as your breathing hitched.

“No, no no no. Oh my god.” You mumbled as he tried it again for the third time, yet no luck. And the red light formed into panic in your head. “Try something, try pressing the open door button instead of the floor button?” He did what you suggested, again no reaction and you felt like you were getting dizzy, like anxiety knocked on your door.

“Why won’t it open? Are we stuck? Oh god.”

You started to feel light in your head, and dizziness started to form.

“Woah woah, easy easy alright. It’s probably just some malfunction, I’m sure the problem will be fixed soon.” The man was suddenly in front of you, holding your upper arms to keep you steady and your eyes darted around as you felt your chest tighten. “I am claustrophobic, I don’t even know why I took the elevator. Oh my god I’m gonna faint.”

“No, don't faint. If you’re gonna faint I’ll just have to faint as well, and that’s not gonna be fun for anyone. Just look at me alright? Focus on me. Look me in my eyes.” 

As the words rolled out of his mouth, your eyes moved to his, and you noticed there was a sweet and understanding look on his face. The lighting of the elevator also made his face brighter, his amber eyes now looking more like a honey color, making your breathing slow down a little bit. Yet, the tightness in your chest didn’t fade. 

You didn’t even feel the stranger take over the coffee cups and place them on the ground.

“Everything is gonna be okay, alright? I'll see if there is some way to connect ourselves to the maintenance downstairs, who can help us.” His eyes moved along the lines of the numerous buttons, and eventually settled on the yellow bell. The alarm button.

He gave you one more look of reassurance before turning around to the yellow button. He pressed it, both of you waiting in anticipation, and you started to feel as if the elevator doors were closing in on you, as if you were huddled in a tight little space. 

“Just look at the floor, not the walls… Just look at the floor, not the walls...” you mumbled to yourself as you looked at your feet. Everything looked like it was a little blurry as black spots appeared in your vision, and a ringing sound suddenly reached your ears. Shivers ran down your spine and you kept mumbling the same sentence over and over again on a loop. 

You probably looked like a lost kid now, and in truth, You were. Well, you felt like one.

“Alright, it gave a signal to the people in the building. These people know what to do, they’re trained to know what to do if an elevator gets stuck. We’ll be out in no time, and even if it’s worse than we thought, they’ll contact an elevator service technician to get us out.” The voice was dragged out. You couldn’t even hear the last words he spoke as the sounds around you were replaced with a high pitched sound. Black spots that were present just now, were starting to get bigger, and the pressure in your head felt larger. It felt like you were faltering. 

Your hands reached out to try and grasp something as everything went fully black, but it was too late as you fell on the floor, your side burning as you went.

“Holy shit!”

The last thing you remember is laying on the ground, wanting to open your eyes, yet everything stayed black.

-

“Look at me, you’re okay.”

“Hey, you’re okay.” You heard a voice say and your sight slowly reappeared as his face came into sight. “You scared the shit out of me.” 

You heard him chuckle a little, and as your sight was vividly clear again, you could see a look of worry on his face. “What happened?”

You coughed, your headache fading and you looked around to see you were still in the elevator, unfortunately. You hoped you were able to redo this day and choose to go with the stairs. Even though you wouldn't have had a conversation with the strange man if you’d taken the stairs, you wouldn’t have been in an elevator that was stuck.

“Elevators suck.” You mumbled and the man laughed at your retort. “Yes, they do.”

You then noticed he was crouching in front of you, and you thought he must’ve guided you to sit down slowly against the wall of the elevator, after you fainted. 

“That fall was pretty nasty. Are you hurt?” He checked your face quickly for any bruises or scratches from the walls, and you then felt a sting in your side. Like it was burning.

“Only my side, I think I fell against the railing at the button section.” You lifted your shirt up a little, and as you shifted your hips, you saw a purple-ish bruise. You groaned, remembering that you would go to the beach with a friend of yours on the weekend, knowing the bruise would be  noticeable.

He looked at your side before sitting down next to you and he inspected the bruise as your breath hitched.

“It’s not that bad luckily, although I’m afraid you will have to carry that for a couple of days" 

The stranger smiled lightly and that’s when you realized you hadn’t even introduced yourself. It’s nice to know someone on the first day of work, but it’s better if you know a name to pronounce them.

“By the way, you never told me your name” You questioned in yourself but apparently you talked out loud. Probably because of the aftershock of fainting, you were still trembling. 

The man held out a hand for you to shake and you happily obliged. “I’m Mitch.” 

You looked at him again, seeing a different view of him after he said his name, and you smiled. Mitch suited him.

“Y/n.” 

“Pretty name for a pretty girl." He winked and had a grin plastered on his face. "Get out of here with the cheesiness." You playfully said to him, slightly swatting his knee and you felt heat radiate from your cheeks. Looking down again to try and cover them up with your hair, although he undoubtedly already noticed.

The two of you sat there in silence. A sigh escaped your lips as your eyes wandered to his form. Since there was a meeting, He wore an all black suit, something that wasn’t really casual, it was rather fancy. And it was then you noticed it looked good. He looked good. Like, really good. His side profile was in your view as you looked at him, and you didn’t even realize you were starting to zone out, until Mitch started speaking and snapped you out of your trance.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why did you actually faint?” You thought about the day everything started. It required some digging in your memories you had buried, but thinking about it now, it all came flooding back.

“That’s a long story.” 

You didn’t know if he wanted to hear it, since you were afraid you’d ramble the whole bible to him. Anytime when people would show interest in the subject, you’d explain it to them, but then they would wander off or pretend they cared. You could easily see it in their faces. 

But he had a slight smirk on his face and chuckled.

“Well, we have all the time. I’m listening, I promise.” He folded his hands on his crossed legs, and kept looking you in your eyes. Making you look down, before you opened up to him. 

“When I was 8, I was playing hide and seek with other girls from my class. It was hosted by a classmate from school at his house, and the whole class came. And so we decided to play hide and seek inside the house. I decided to hide inside the closet. But when I sat there for minutes, no one came. I was pumped because I wanted to win, but after half an hour, no one came. I waited and waited for three hours. So eventually I shouted for help, tried to pry my way out of the closet but it wouldn't budge. No one heard my cries, because it turned out they went outside. I felt like I was trapped, like there was tightness in my chest, I couldn't breathe. And as I kept crying, after 3 hours and 20 minutes, an adult heard me and freed me.”

He didn’t have to be Einstein to know why you couldn’t get out of the closet, and Mitch felt bad as he saw your expression sadden as you told your story. All the memories came crashing down on you again, and it felt like you were in the exact same place and moment like you were when you were a little kid. You thought you were ready to open up to people, yet everytime you would talk about it, it felt like you were trapped again, your voice cracking. Maybe you overestimated yourself, maybe talking about it was still relatively hard to process.

As you looked slowly at your side, Mitch was in the same position as he was before, only his gaze that lingered on you was a little more sad. Like he had empathy and you immediately coughed. “Sorry, that was depressing, it happened 16 years ago, I feel stupid for still being hung up about it. Sorry-” before you could finish your sentence, Mitch interrupted you and shuffled a little closer.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty for telling your story, and you shouldn’t feel sorry for feeling sorry for yourself. As a kid it’s traumatizing to go through something like that. Of course that would stick with you.” His words were well thought out, like there was a tone of understanding, yet something was still gnawing at you.

“I just feel ashamed. There are people who have gone through way more shit than I did, and I still act like the world is ending.”

"Just because someone else may have it worse, doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to feel sad sometimes. Everyone has fears, it’s inevitable. There is nothing to be ashamed of.”

He leaned in, and for a second it looked like he was trying to reach for your hand, but he hesitated at the last second. He subtly pulled his hands away, placing them back on his knees and you decided not to pay too much attention to it. “Have you got any?” 

“Yeah, mine is terrifying,” he let out a laugh, putting emphasis on ‘terrifying’ while wiggling his eyebrows and biting his lip. 

“And what may that be?” 

He didn’t answer, instead he just looked in front of him, as if he was thinking really hard.

“Well?”

“Well, I’m afraid of…" He lingered on his last words before squinting his eyes. “...spiders?”

His words were dragged out and you snorted. “That sounded really convincing,”

Mitch’s posture changed as if he was caught in the act, and he sighed with a tiny bit of guilt in his face. “Sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry, thanks for trying to reassure me, it’s been a while since someone did that for me.”

The thought of him trying to cheer you up a bit, was a small gesture, yet it felt like opening a christmas gift. Even though he hardly knew you, he cared. And it seemed as if that thought hit something within you, making a tear slip and roll over your cheek.

As much as you tried to hold it in, hold it together, more tears followed and you bit your lip, inhaling deeply to try and contain yourself. 

Why was it so damn hard to just keep it together?

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just, I feel like I haven't cried in weeks and all my bottled up emotions are spilling out right now. I'm starting a new job in a new town, so I haven’t really had anyone to talk to or hold either or whatever, so- what are you doin-” Before you knew it, warmth surrounded your body as Mitch’s arms were around you, and you could smell his cologne as your eyes went wide. “Oh- oh okay...this is-”

“-Shh, shut up.”

“Okay...”

Your surprised look faltered as your eyes closed, and your arms wove around his body to hug him back, your chin resting on his shoulder. This was exactly what you needed, to hold someone close and to just vent out whatever you buried deep inside of you.

“Hey Mitch?”

"Yeah?" 

“Thank you,” You whispered and smiled through your tears. “For listening.” His hands were on the back of your head, playing with your hair as you heard his voice vibrate throughout your whole body.

"Of course." He held you close for a little longer before he decided to break the contact. “You’re sweaty, ew.” His playful tone made you snort, and when both of you pulled back, he wiped away some stray tears that were still sitting on your cheeks. 

The two of you sat there in silence. Just savoring this moment. 

You then noticed something in the corner of the elevator, and as your eyes diverted to it, you saw the two coffee cups sitting neatly on the floor. You were glad that Mitch had put them on the ground just before you fell, because if he didn't, it would've spilled everywhere and ruined your outfit. Facing your superior with a big stain in your blazer, would totally not give the right impression, and having to go to the ER for burn wounds, wasn’t really a fun trip either. 

You reached out for the cups and grabbed yours, surprised that it was still warm, and you took a few sips of your latte when you crawled back to the spot next to Mitch. He watched as you took a few sips, and you then looked at the other cup in front of you, and asked if Mitch wanted the Red Eye. "Uh, well, yeah it would be nice, I guess, but what about Sta-" "-It's fine, really. I mean, it's getting cold and I don't think giving a cold coffee to your superior is a way to make a good impression." You gave a little smile, grabbed the cup out of the cardboard cup holder and handed it over to him.

"Thanks." He grabbed the cup from your hand and immediately took a big swing. Something he regretted after, since his face scrunched up and he coughed a little after he swallowed his mouthful of coffee. "Oh, wow. That's- that's really strong. Now I get why his blood pressure is always sky high." 

You cracked out the loudest laugh yet this day, and looked around once again in the small room. “I hope for you there aren’t any cameras in this elevator to record that, otherwise you’d be the one playing a dangerous game.” He chuckled at the sentence you used against him, and laughter once again filled the air around you. That’s until everything went silent, and you knew he was gonna say something more serious.

“I don’t understand why those girls did what they did when you were 8, you’re a really kind person.” 

Both of you took another sip of your coffee. Some foam of your latte on your upper lip and you rubbed it away with your tongue.

“Yeah well, they never really liked me. No one really did. After all, I was just an energetic hyper ball that would ramble everywhere I went. It’s not as bad as it was before, but sometimes I just freak out and then I’m 8 again. Just scared shitless, I guess this is just my way of coping when I’m nervous.”

“I like that about you.” His eyes went to yours to make eye contact, and you happily looked back.

“You do?”

“Yeah.” 

Well that’s a first.

He had a cheeky grin and licked his lips. 

“You’re not like other girls.”

“Okay shut up, you ruined the moment.” Even though he had a playful sound in his voice, you gave him a light push to his shoulder and you both laughed. That’s until the cheeky grin changed into a knowing smirk.

“Moment huh?” The little shit was enjoying this. He was enjoying seeing you flustered and you swallowed hard, looking everywhere except his eyes. 

“Yeah,” Heat spread across your cheeks again. “There is something.” 

Biting his lip, he scratched his jaw and looked at your form, grinning widely after he noticed something and you frowned.

“You stopped trembling.”

You looked down, indeed seeing that you weren’t trembling and your face that held confusion, didn’t change one bit as you looked around. The fear of the small space didn’t even reach to you the past couple of minutes, and you then faced Mitch again, gaping at him like a fish.

“How did you manage to do that?” He simply shrugged, taking another sip of his coffee.

“What can I say? It’s my charm, the ladies love it.”

He shot you another wink, and you felt something in the pit of your stomach. Not a feeling that wanted you to throw up, but the feeling in your stomach you haven’t felt in years. A nice one. It was like your stomach was doing twists and rolls, in a good way.

He seemed to notice your state after the wink, and the little shit almost had a grin like the cheshire cat. Having to contain yourself not to smile as well, you rolled your eyes and snorted.  

“Well, I’m not like the other ladies” 

“Shut up.”

Right after both of you cracked a laugh again, you felt another jolt of the elevator, before you could hear the shaft and your eyes shot up. It indicated that the maintenance manager managed to fix the problem,  “Mitch, I think the elevator moved again.” You told your companion but all you heard was him groaning. 

“Mitch-” You looked at your side and your mouth went wide as you saw a small stain on his pants. Turns out he held his coffee in his hands as the elevator jolted, and a few hot droplets landed on his pants.

“Shit, are you okay?” You held in a laugh and he nodded as he burst out laughing too.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a small stain.”

“Shit, uhh.” you felt the need to help him, but you knew a coffee stain was most likely permanent. “I can make it up to you. Let me make it up to you.”

“Make it up to me?” He had an amused look on his face, and the both of you stood up from your seating position. He looked at the stain on his thigh, and he then looked back at you.

“Yeah, I know a stain like that probably won’t come out, I can pay you back, or-” 

“-I know a way for you to make it up to me” Your eyes that diverted when you were thinking about ways to fix it, now shot back up to look at Mitch, and it felt like your eyes were glued to his face. “What did you have in mind?”

He rubbed his hands together, smiling.

“We should go out sometime.”

“We should?"

“Yeah,” Now it was your time to smirk, your eyes standing playful as you cocked your head. “You sure you can handle my energetic ass? You know I’ll probably ramble the whole bible to you.”

“Yeah I know,” He grinned, “and I’ll happily listen.”

That’s the moment when you both heard a pinging sound, indicating you were at your destination, and at the same time, both your heads turned around. 

“We’re here, floor 9.”

The doors of the elevator opened, the both of you wanting to walk out, but at that moment, you were stopped by a voice.

“Mitch, Y/n, where have you been? The meeting ended already, I- Mitch, you have a stain on your pants.” A man stood on the other side of the elevator, and you recognized him as Stan Hurley, your new superior. His voice was not mad, but you could easily hear the irritation in his voice, and see his unamused face. Before he could say anything more though, Mitch was quick to explain everything to him about the elevator being stuck.

Stan’s irritated face expression slowly turned into an understanding one, and he then looked at you. “Sorry to hear you both were stuck, but happy to know you both can get to work now. Hurry up.” Before both of you could say anything further, he already walked away. But Mitch said something just before.

"By the way, Stan, your taste in coffee is horrible."

Stan, who was now walking down the hall, turned his head around to shoot Mitch a look of confusion before turning back around. And you laughed at Mitch’s retort. 

You’d thought that after months of denying calls and changing locks, phone numbers, and making new social media accounts would’ve gotten Josh off your back, but he had proved you wrong yet again. Your fridge was running dangerously low on food, you had realized that morning, and despite the fact that you had wanted to spend your day off inside and relaxing, you were forced to put on some decent clothing and venture out into the streets of Washington and go to the grocery store.

You didn’t get very far into your errand when you ran into him. As you debated which kind of cereal you wanted to buy for the next two weeks, the tall man spotted you from the end of the aisle, and quickly came over to announce himself.

“Y/n! Hey, how’ve you been?” He asked casually.

Something similar to dread settled into your heart as you looked over at the man, quickly producing a scoff before turning to him. “You ask that as if I haven’t been ignoring your ass for the past 7 months. Leave me alone, Josh, is that so hard to understand?”

“Look, I just think that you made a mistake, okay?” He tried. “I think we were meant for each other, and I think you do, too.”

“No, Josh, we’re not. You made that very clear when you went behind my back and screwed half of my bridal party three weeks before the wedding.” You said. “Now back off before I call the cops.” Fed up, you dropped your basket of items on the floor and left the store, heading down the semi-crowded streets in the hopes that Josh wouldn’t follow after you.

After you’d turned down many different side streets and intersections, you turned around to see if the man was still following you and, to no surprise, he was. He was some 15 feet behind you, trying to act casual and miserably failing. A bout of anxiety bloomed in your chest as you wondered what he was going to say or do once he finally caught up with you, but you decided to at least try harder to ward him off.

As soon as you reached the doors to the pub you spotted, you turned and walked inside. It was a little dark, green stained glass covering the lights, casting a dim glow around the room. With every second that you spared looking around the room for somewhere to hide, Josh was getting a little closer. So, when your eyes locked onto the only person around your age who was at the bar, you darted over to him, taking the seat directly to his right.

“Hi, so, I know you don’t know me, but I need you to do me a favor.”

He looked over, and you couldn’t help but take notice of how attractive the man was. “I don’t do favors.”

“I get that, but my crazy ex is trying to get back with me - has been for a while, actually - but that’s not the point. I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend for like, 10 minutes when he walks in here. I’ll buy you drinks afterward, I promise.”

The man seemed to be considering it, but didn’t have time to respond when you heard the door creak open as Josh stepped in. It wasn’t hard for him to spot you, especially because you were the only girl in the bar. You groaned, flagging down a bartender as he made his way toward you.

“Y/n! Why’d you run off on me like that?”

“Josh, look, I-” you attempted to explain, turning in your chair to face him.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” The man beside you asked, furrowing his brow at Josh.

Josh smirked as he replied, “I’m Y/n’s fiancé.”

“That’s impossible, because she’s my girlfriend.” He said. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling me, babe.”

The playful smile on his face made your heart stutter as you looked back at him. “Nope. I’ve got nothing to hide.” You smiled. “But you remember what I told you about Josh, right? A few months ago?”

“Yeah, I think so,” he nodded, turning to the man to extend his hand, “I’m Mitch.”

“I don’t care.” Josh spat. “I’d appreciate it if you’d back off of her, though. She’s coming home with me.”

“I don’t think so, man,” Mitch sighed. “See, she isn’t coming home with anyone she doesn’t want to. That’s her choice. And I believe that she’d rather choose her new boyfriend over her ex-fiancé, don’t you?” He turned further, stepping off the stool and coming face-to-face with Josh. “Now, if you can, get your sorry ass out of here so I can enjoy some drinks with my girlfriend, that’d be great.”

You watched the moment unfold in milliseconds. The anger flared in Josh’s eyes, shining like the glint of the sun off a blade. He reared back, pulling his fist up, and slamming it into Mitch’s face. He was stunned, but it didn’t take him long to react, throwing punches of his own. They quickly caught the attention of the other patrons, busting lips, bruising eyes and ribs.

They were shouting at one another, but Josh was quickly disabled when he moved to tackle Mitch, who used the advantage to wrap a leg around the other man’s neck, twisting and pulling him to the ground, forcing the air from his lungs. He tightened the hold on Josh’s neck for a few moments longer before standing and crouching over the man, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and holding him up to say, “If I ever hear that you came anywhere near her again, I won’t leave you alive. Got it?”

As soon as the man produced a weak nod, Mitch let go of his shirt and stood up, huffing from the exertion. Turning to you, he saw the shock on your face and slowly approached.

“Can we go?” You asked shakily, eyes darting between Mitch and the man on the floor. The former nodded, grabbing his coat and following you out into the daylight. He squinted, hissing when he disturbed the bruise that surrounded his left eye. Turning to him, you scrunch your face and said, “You look horrible.”

“Thanks,” Mitch scoffed, trying to hide the smile playing on his lips.

“Can I take you back to mine to at least clean you up?” You offered. “I was supposed to buy you a drink, but I don’t think you’re gonna be allowed back in there for a while.” Mitch laughed, but shook his head. Before he could say anything, you interrupted. “It’s the least I could do. Really.”

With a final sigh, he nodded. “Fine. But you have to tell me the story behind that creep.”

“Deal.” You smiled. The two of you walked back to the store where you had left your car before heading back to your apartment. You talked casually on the way there, about things like where you were born and silly pet peeves that annoyed you to no end.

As soon as you were in the door, you sat the man down at your table, swiftly gathering all of your first-aid materials and setting them on the table next to him.

“So, seriously, what’s the deal with that guy?” Mitch asked as you filled a bowl with warm water.

“Josh was my highschool sweetheart.” You started as you made your way back to the table. Dipping a cloth in the water, you titled Mitch’s head and began to wipe the blood from his skin. “We were together from junior year up until about 7 months ago, so… god, almost 10 years?”

“Jesus,” Mitch breathed. You nodded in agreement, picking up some butterfly stitches.

“I know. We were supposed to get married and everything. He’s always had an easy temper, but you should know that by now.” You smirked, causing Mitch to chuckle. “I didn’t mind it; I thought it was a little charming. He supported me throughout medical school, didn’t mind that I wanted to wait until afterward to get married.” You paused looking through your materials for the gauze and tape to wrap Mitch’s knuckles. “Of course, that was until I found out that he slept with half of my bridal party two weeks before we were supposed to get married.”

“Ouch,” Mitch winced, “that’s gotta hurt. I mean, if that happened to me, I’d probably kill the guy.”

You nodded, taping the first hand as you spoke. “By the looks of it, you almost did,” you began on the other hand, “By the way, how did you do it? You looked like a damned MMA fighter or something.”

“I’m uh,” Mitch paused, keeping his eyes on you, debating on whether he should tell you the truth or keep his profession a secret. You looked up, your eyes meeting his, and he decided. “I work for the CIA. Field agent.”

“That must be tough,” you commented, finishing the wrapping.

“It can be, but I don’t mind it.” He nodded, watching you pack up the rest of the materials. You emptied the bowl of slightly bloody water into the sink before reaching into the freezer, pulling out an ice pack.

“Put this on your eye.” You instructed, and Mitch obeyed. “I can’t do much about the split lip, it’ll heal on its own. Same thing with your ribs. You might want to tell your boss that you can’t go into the field for a few weeks,”

He cursed, knowing Irene was going to kill him when he went into work tomorrow. With the pause in conversation, Mitch got the chance to take in your apartment. It was small, sure, but quaint. Slightly mismatched furniture littering the living room, some boxes placed along the floor. “How long have you been living here?”

“Maybe a month?” You guessed. “That’s something else I forgot to tell you about Josh. After we broke up and I kicked him out, he wouldn’t give up on trying to get me back. I had to block every connection he had to me. I changed my number, made new social media accounts, changed the locks, everything. Eventually, I just decided to move. I’m actually a little surprised it took him this long to find me again.”

“That sounds a little too close to stalking,” Mitch commented. “Maybe you should bring it to the cops. See if they can do anything about it.”

The suggestion threw you for a loop. You’d never thought about it like that. Nodding, you said, “I’ll see what I can do tomorrow. Thanks, Mitch. For everything.”

“I should be thanking you.” He laughed. “I mean, you stitched me up, I got to beat up a shitty guy, and I met a cute girl all in under two hours.”

Your cheeks burned as you laughed with him. “Even after patching you up, I still feel bad. Do you need anything else? Anything at all?”

“Well,” Mitch suggested. “You could go for a coffee with me on Saturday? If- you know, if you want to, that is.”

You smiled, watching him nervously play with his fingers. “I’d love to, Mitch.” You told him. “I’d like to know more about the guy that saved my ass today.”

Mitch smiled, the nervous weight lifting from his chest. “Okay. 11 sound good?”

“Yeah. I’ll meet you at the bar. I think I saw a nice place a few blocks down from it.”

All Mitch could do was smile and nod. If he had known that helping strangers would result in dates with amazing women, he would’ve lended a hand more often.

Forever taglist: @simonsbluee @reeseswritings @just-here-to-escape-reality @mazerunnerrose @theboldandthebootyful @miraclesoflove @queen-asteria04

Mitch Rapp taglist: open!

“I’m not ill.” You muttered, stirring at the tea in your mug gently, and Mitch only snorted in response, your eyes narrowing on him as you turned to look at him. “I’m not.”

“Sure, sure.” He nodded, leaning back against the counter, raising his one mug to his lips as you tapped the spoon against the edge, before placing it down on the counter. You hummed, the sound cracking a little as you did, and he smirked into his cup, you could tell by the crinkle at the sides of his eyes. “So, you’re drinking what exactly?”

“Uh, tea.” You smiled falsely, picking up your mug possessively and snatching it closer to yourself when he leaned over to take a look inside, and you shot him a false glare. “With lemon. And a little honey. And no tea.”

“So, you’re having hot honey and lemon?” He grinned, eyebrows raising once again as he teased you, and you scoffed, sitting down at the counter. Sniffling as quietly as you could, Mitch nudged the tissues over to you from the end of the counter, and you ignored the gesture, because ignoring it made you hope your threatening sickness would go away. “You know, nobody would blame you if you just took a day off. Or a few. You work hard.”

“Oh, and let you keep working, so you get an edge on me?” Taking a sip of your drink, you winced, the hot water already hard for you to swallow as the back of your throat had begun to swell up, even without the added heat you were hoping would soothe it. “I don’t think so, Rapp. I want to hold my reputation here.”

“I think you’ll be able to cling onto it, anyway. Besides, isn’t it our reputation? We’re supposed to be a team.” He pouted falsely, legs carrying him across the took, sitting next to you on the stool at the counter, and you huffed. Everything had already seemed exhausting today, simply getting up and getting yourself ready had been a chore. Leaning over, you rested your cheek against his shoulder, sighing as the muscles flexed a little under your face, face slipping to rest closer on his chest as his arm wrapped around your shoulder.

Your cheeks warmed a little, the smell of cologne leaking off of him, but it wasn’t fresh. No, this was a subtle smell, the special aftershave that he reserved only for days when he knew he wasn’t going to sweat it all straight off on a day of training, but it tended to linger for days. You allowed yourself a few more minutes, his fingers smoothing up and down your arm softly, a comforting act that you wanted to sink right into, and let yourself remain in all day, all week, or for however long he would have you.

“I seriously think you should go back to bed.”

“I seriously think I should go for my run.” You scoffed, the moment cracking as you refused to let the tickle in the back of your throat become anything more than that. You were an assassin, you were a badass, you didn’t get sick. A slight chill wasn’t going to bring you down, if a bullet didn’t, then the flu wouldn’t either.

“You’re going to go for a run? Is that about proving that you’re not sick?” You stuck your tongue out at him, the stretch of the muscle pulling on your sore throat, and as you pushed yourself up from the counter, taking a final large chug of your herbal remedy. Standing up and letting the ache in your knees fade away, you stretched them out a little, a few subtle movements on the spot as you tried to break action back into stuff muscles.

“No, I’m going for a run to stay in shape.” Lifting your arms up and over your head, your neck rolled from side to side, a series of loud clicks sounding out, and your jaw dropped a little at the unexpected noise. His brows rose, and you shook your head at him. “It doesn’t mean anything. I probably just slept funny.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Uh-huh.” You mocked him, rolling your shoulders and he simply watched you, twisting a little more in his seat. The first of the recruits were filing in, eyes still lidded with sleep as two began to clatter with pots and pans, the dull throbbing headache you’d woken with not feeling comforted by the sounds, and you huffed. “You and me. Sparring, later. It’s been weeks, and you’re probably getting rusty.”

“I’m getting rusty at sparring like you’re getting sick.”

“I don’t like you very much.” Your eyes narrowed on him, stepping backwards in two large reverse lunges, stretching out the muscles of your thighs as you did, and Mitch hid his chuckle in his coffee.

“Tight yoga pants. Nice.” The voice wasn’t Mitch’s, and it certainly wasn’t Stan’s, and he would never make a comment like that either. Standing up straight, fast as a bolt of lightning, your head whipped around. The ache seemed to be gone, the flaming heat of embarrassment coating your cheeks once again. You gaped, staring between the recruits who’s eyes were now wide, gripping his cup, halfway to his mouth, and he seemed frozen. “I, uh-”

“‘I- uh-’ shut up. You just earned yourself extra laps.” You scoffed, and the recruit only nodded, waling away in fast steps as the one cooking eggs at the stove snickered at his friend’s embarrassment. Turning back to Mitch, your brows still risen high and your lips parted, Mitch only shrugged, but there was a frown sitting on his face now.

“He’s not wrong.” His eyes scanned down you, frown becoming a teasing smirk once again, and you grabbed your phone from the counter, tucking it securely into the pocket on your hip once you’d untangled the wires of your headphones. “Nice.”

“You’re a pig, and I hate you. I’m leaving.”

“Enjoy your run.” He waved, standing up himself, long enough to dispose of the rest of his coffee in the sink and place his mug there, clearing yours away. The sight was the last you caught of him and the two earliest recruits, before turning your back. The sun had already come up, an early rising morning but the air was still holding a chill. It was enough to make you shover once the door was open, but soon enough, once your feet started pounding the dirt and you started to sweat, it’d be perfectly temperate.

Recruits were milling around the place, already, beginning to wake up into their mornings and get ready for a day of training. You remembered being one of them, setting your alarm for half an hour before the sun ever rose just so you’d be able to get a little privacy at the showers. You and one other had been the only women in your group when you’d arrived, and she’d dropped out only a few weeks in, unable to take the pressure.

It was the same time you’d met Mitch. One year later, arguing before the sun ever came up over the horizon as he arrived halfway through the recruitment group year, over who was going to get to shower first.

You didn’t miss the queues you were seeing now, steam rising up from inside of the building as the men and women huddled outside, towels over their arms and wash-bags in their hands.

The farm had always been beautiful in the mornings, there were times on your days off that you’d gotten up early enough just to sit on the porch and watch the sunrise, coming over the tops of tall trees and spilling golden light over the countryside. Despite everything that happened here, and everything that it made people into, it was still beautiful. There was something unnerving about the contrast, seeing the beauty a place could hold but the horrors it had seen.

The rooms were marred, the pathways were scared, and hidden behind every beauty was a tragic tale, that all brought forth the serene obliviousness of the rest of the world.

The trail you were following faded away into the woods, and once you knew that you’d finally cleared the sights of everyone else, that you were alone for one of the fleeting moments you were ever able to grasp. The trees were shadowing overhead, a degree lower than the open air of the rising sun, and your brisk walk came to a steady stop. The rapid and beating drum of your running playlist was beating away in your eardrums, a lower volume than usual as not to aggravate your headache, which only seemed to be getting worse instead of going away.

Now, you took time to really stretch. Every muscle was aching and sore, the same way you felt when you had worked a long day in the ring with recruits trying to teach them the unpredictability of sparring, or how you felt on the plane after returning from an assignment which had given you a real beating. The only issue was, when you felt like this, you usually ended up with a friend. Slumped out on the couch with Mitch, who felt equally as crappy, and you had a buddy to sulk with.

Now, you simply felt like you were falling behind, like you were going to be left in the dust. Everything you had worked so hard to prove about being here, about demanding respect from the same male recruits who felt it appropriate to make comments about your yoga pants or your sport bras or the way you threw a punch was going to be undone. You hated the feeling of falling behind, and getting sick just wasn’t an option.

Your hands were on your hips, and you were stretching weakly, legs flexing up behind your back as you stared at the trail ahead. Four miles, all around, through the bumpy and uneven countryside, marked with the fences and bands painted to guide you. Your usual route, and yet suddenly it was feeling overly daunting.

Chasing the thoughts away, you set off, starting the journey with a slow jog as you forced yourself to pick up the pace, building up to a speedy run as you broke into your exercise for the day. Your heart was pounding, deep breaths that filled your lungs to the maximum with the clean country air, and you were already feeling better as you left the farm further and further behind. The way you felt was exhilarating, a thrill you were constantly chasing, bursting through you and lighting up every nerve.

You felt so much better, and so you picked up the speed. Less than a mile in and you were already beginning to fill like yourself. There was a stinging in the back of your throat that came from the deep and panting breaths of a good run, and there was an ache in your body as you pounded away, treading uneven ground as you trained. There was a layer of sweat on your skin as you worked, breaking yourself into the day, and leaving behind whatever funk you had somehow managed to wake up in.

Every step felt liberating, and every breath felt refreshing. The shock of cold air in your lungs was like dropping straight into a bucket of ice water, enough to wake anyway up and shake them out of a sleepy haze.

Soon, the one-mile marker was on the horizon, every step taking you closer and closer, the trees melting into a green blur as you went, getting closer and closer to the tall marker that signified your progress so far. You were so close, everything in your sights was set on it, a point to prove to yourself, as well as everyone else, and then, everything as a new kind of blur.

Your leg cramped, the exertion obviously too much, and the sudden gasp you took in as the pain shot all the way up to your hip and all the way down to your ankle wasn’t refreshing at all, it was painful, like sandpaper on your throat. As you tumbled, your arm got caught beneath you, another painful and loud popping coming from your shoulder as it was pressed during your roll, much like the unhealthy sounds that your stiff neck had made that morning.

It wasn’t until you were laying in the dirt, slightly off the rack in the leaves and the twigs and the bugs that you realised what had happened, staring up at the green shades in the canopy as you processed the incident. Everything hurt, there was a stick digging into your lower back, and your head was still spinning. The throbbing behind your eyes had only gotten worse, specks of sunlight flittering between the leaves were now irritating to your eyes and so you screwed them shut, letting go the breath you’d held onto as a groan.

Maybe the soreness in your throat was from swelling, because as you pressed at it now, there was tenderness around your tonsils and under your jaw that made you wince as you pressed at it.

And, okay, maybe the ache in your body and the heavy panting was the exertion of your body trying to heal itself back up, when you’d clearly ended up run-down in some way. It was probably the stupid recruits all sharing a cold and passing it onto you. Or, maybe, it had been falling into a fountain during a firefight in Verona two weeks ago. It was really an unknown.

So, that meant that the sweat you felt wasn’t from your run at all, but instead, it was sticky and uncomfortable and clammy, and now it was making the dry and flaky mud of the forest floor stick to you as lay a mile out from the farm, utterly exhausted, filled with pain and barely able to stand back up, twigs and leaves digging into your lower back.

Alright, so, you were sick. Fuck.

It was a while before you gained the motivation to move again. Laying there, on the forest floor, openly considering the consequences o just becoming a part of the woodland scenery, before the aching you had subsided enough to allow you to find your feet once again. The jerk of your fall and the effort you’d put into the run had come to form big regrets. The sun was higher in the sky now, you weren’t sure how long had passed but it felt like an eternity, and you still had a mile to trek back just to get to the farmhouse.

Your feet were dragging against the floor, the adrenaline completely drained away, now simply leaving you to feel not only the exertion of the run and the fall, but also the general aches and pains that came with being sick. Several recruits passed you by on your way, your cheeks warming further each time at the assortment of odd looks, smirks, or both that you received as they took in your defeated state, and your slow walk along the edge of the trail in the wrong direction.

When the clearing in the trees became apparent and the open fields of the farm were back within your vision, which seemed like it was starting to grow blurry, you could already hear the ruckus of the day. Gunshots made you flinch as your head throbbed, target practice taking place off the edge of the tree on the other side, and you were more than glad you weren’t assigned to that detail today.

Your legs were barely able to hold you as you dragged yourself up the three steps of the porch, supporting all of your body weight on the bannister as you climbed. By the time you had the door open, the couch was looking more and more appealing, and your eyes focused right on it. You didn’t even bother to kick off your shoes, dropping straight down onto the couch, yet another groan leaving you as you took the weight off of your stressed joints and pained muscles.

“Oh, pumpkin,” You jumped, the deep and raspy voice you hadn't expected to hear was close, booted footsteps on the creaky hardwood floors, and you rolled your head to the side. Fluffy brown hair that was almost black in this lighting, and bright eyes, a smirk on his face, quickly falling away when he took a moment to scan his eyes over you. “Jeez, what happened?”

“I fell.” You pouted sadly, and he mocked the expression, leaning over for a second to pick a twig out of your hair and drop it to the floor, and you sighed as you watched it go, staring at the piece of wood laying on the floor. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you’re sick, so I sent my group to go and do a run. Twice. Then find Stan.” Sitting up a little further against the cushions instead of being slumped, Mitch handed you a warm mug, steam still curling out of the top. Floating on the top of the clear water was a slice of lemon, and your lips curled up at the sides.

“So, you were just waiting for me to come back? If you say I told you so, I’ll kick you.”

“I told you so.” He grinned, jumping backwards out of the way as you reared your leg up at his ankles, stubborn despite the pain you had, and he chuckled at the scoff you gave off. Blowing at the steam on the top of the mug, he took a seat on the arm of the couch, nimble fingers raising up to tuck loose threads of hair behind your ear. “Besides, we’re a team, and if you’re not feeling so good, I gotta’ take care of you. That’s the deal, remember?”

“That’s the deal when I get stabbed, or something. It’s just a cold, I can take of myself.” You sipped at the edge of the mug, hot liquid almost burning as it went down, but the honey within soothed your throat, even if it was a little too sweet.

“Yeah, well, I like taking care of you. In all forms.” Your cheeks warmed again, and you blamed it on the steam still billowing up into your face, letting the mug linger on your lips a second longer than necessary as you tried to think of a response. The silence filled in, and he took the initiative, continuing to speak anyway as he broke the building tension. “I do prefer it when you don’t get stabbed, though.”

“Yeah. I prefer that too.”

He snorted, letting you take another sip of your drink, before he was standing up once again. As soon as it was lowered from your lips, he plucked it from you, placing it down on the side and ignoring your protests, offering two large hands out to you instead. “C’mon, let's get you cleaned up. Stan will have your head if you get dirt on his new cushions.”

Slipping your hands into his, you knew he was right, and you let him pull you to your feet, taking a lot of your weight from you as his arm slipped around your waist once you were steady. You considered fighting it, you considered being stubborn again, but there was no judgment with Mitch. You didn’t have to prove you were good enough or hold up a reputation, he appreciate you for everything you had, and that was what made you such good partners.

So, you sank into it, resting against his side and folding against him, taking slow steps in tow with his own, eyes fluttering a little in exhaustion, and he guided you along. It wasn’t a route you didn’t know, you could do this walk blindfolded, but you were more concerned about tripping again. Your ankle and arm were still sore, you were pretty sure something - or multiple somethings - were bleeding, and you just wanted to get back into bed. Your nose was getting more and more blocked, sniffling becoming the norm as you struggled to breathe that way, and the tickle in your throat was becoming more like a nagging pain.

He reached above the door, the location of your key during the day, knowing you all too well, and unlocking it. The perks of not being a recruit and sticking around the farm meant a private cabin and a private bath, no more queueing up rain or shine just to wash off.

Navigating you straight through to the bathroom, he sat you down atop the counter, quick hands tight against your hips to lift you, and with your mind not quite working at its usual capacity, you couldn't stop the gasp you let out as he did. One you would usually be able to hide. It only made him smirk as he turned away.

Twisting on the taps at the bath, you watched him plug the tub, before turning to rifle through the medicine cabinet over your sink. “You know, it’s rude to go through a ladies private things.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t really think there’s anything in here you’ve got hidden from me.” He pulled back with your eyebrow pencil, his brows shooting up a little as he stared at it, and then at you. “Except maybe this. I thought your eyebrows just, y’know, did that.”

“I tint them now.” You teased, and he nodded, face still the portrayal of curiosity, before putting the pencil back inside. The tinkling and crinkling of various bottles and packets continued, before he found what he was looking for, a victorious cheer under his breath, and he pulled back with it. Steam was beginning to curl up into the room, fling the air with moisture, and the wet heat was already starting to make it easier to breathe.

As though he had read your mind, Mitch sealed shut the bathroom door, making sure the steam was locked inside, making your bathroom into a makeshift sauna, before uncapping the bottle he had located. Sprinkling a few droplets into the bathwater that was building, the somewhat minty smell of olbas oil began to drift around the room.

“I forgot I had that,” You let your head fall back, eyes sliding closed, and you finally had a chance to take in a deep breath, lungs expanding more than they had all day as the varied essential oil blend began to soak into the air. Your airways were already feeling clearer, and the warmth was helping to soothe your muscles and joints, enough so that you were able to use your toes to kick off your shoes, flexing your toes and wiggling them inside of your socks. “I could just sit here all day, this is so nice.”

You had lost your filter entirely, every thought you had was threatening to spill from your mouth, and you had to clamp your lips shut to resist that urge. “That would be nice, but we still need to get you cleaned up.” Mitch chuckled at the groan that you let out, and you raised your head just enough to watch him switch on the cold tap, cooling the bathtub down as it was almost filled, with nothing but boiling hot water. “How’s your head?”

“Pounding. Feels like my eyes are gonna’ pop out.” He winced at the somewhat graphic description, before turning back to the cabinet, and producing a box you did remember owning. You popped out two of the tablets, taking them with a sip of water from the cup beside your sink, and hoping they’d kick in soon.

Your eyes had fluttered shut once again, the squeaking of your taps as they were shut off and the silence that replace the sound of running water was only a momentary break. A burst of sweet-smelling bath bubbles that you recognised, and the swishing of Mitch’s hand within the water to mix it. When you peeled your eyes open again, it was with a snap, Mitch’s hands sitting on your waist, one normal and one a lot warmer, damp from the water, inching your shirt up a little until his fingertips were brushing bare skin.

“What are you doing?” your voice was a cracked whisper, and you were too shy to care, your heart beating erratically inside your chest as his thighs pressed to your knees.

“Helping you.” His tone was equally as soft, but a lot sweeter and more assured, inching your top up a little higher for you. Raising your arms, you let him peel the material away, throwing it to the hamper in the corner, and your skin rose with goosebumps under his gaze. One hand skimmed down to your ankle, lifting your leg so that he could peel off the sock on your foot, repeating the action on the other side, and you swallowed thickly, hoping he couldn't sense your nervousness. “Relax, sweetheart. You’re all stiff.”

Busted.

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. I mean, we’re partners, and we’ve been on a lot of undercover assignments together. In fact, I’ve seen a lot more than this, before.” He smirked to end his sentence, lifting your arms to sit on his shoulders as his hands went back to your waist.

You never registered him lifting you from the counter, your mind was too busy spinning wildly, thinking back through every case you’d ever worked together. As his fingers hooked into the edge of your yoga pants, tugging them down and away from your underwear carefully, your hands followed his shoulders, balancing yourself down until he was peeling them from your ankles, and standing back to his full height.

It clicked, you knew exactly what he meant, and splotches of heat began to blossom all over your face and chest, every inch of skin that was exposed. The coloured lights of the strip club, the eight-inch heels that had clicked your feet and left you with blisters for weeks, the smell of tobacco and weed and the overly scented cologne Mitch had worn. The taste of sticky cheap lipstick and body glitter-

“You said you didn’t see anything that night!”

“Well, I lied!” His outburst was just as abrupt as your own, pink forming on his pale cheeks to match your own flushed feeling, but he was much better at dealing with it. “I saw, like, a lot. Pretty much everything. But, I don’t want you to feel embarrassed around me.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a little bit late for that now.” You turned your back on him, but let him offer his hand, stepping over the edge of the tub and into the water, sinking down until you were seated with your back against the edge of the tub, eyes sinking shut once again. You heard him move, taking a seat beside the edge of the bathtub, but not before he had grabbed the cup from beside the sink.

Filling it up with water as his hand dunked in beside your leg, he mumbled a warning, your eyes closing, and a second later, he was tipping warm water over your head, soaking your hair and washing away the dirt that had been beginning to grow itchy on your skin.

You let yourself be encompassed by the quiet, not having the strength or the will to break the moment just yet. Selfishly, you wanted to milk it. You anted this attention, you wanted this intimacy, and you anted it all with him, so you were allowing yourself these few moments, as his fingers worked through your hair, humming a sing under his breath and rinsing out the shampoo and conditioner, to relish in how it felt to be doted on by Mitch Rapp.

He helped you to clean your hair, and handed you a sponge full of body wash to clean yourself down with slowly, simply brushing back your hair from your face and sitting beside you, until the water was growing cold and you were no longer comfortable. With a reach of your arms, he helped you from the tub, and he helped to dry you down. Averting his eyes but not without making a joke, so that you could wrap the towel around yourself.

Through the closed bathroom door, heat and steam escaping as the water drained, letting cold sink in to fill the absence of warmth, he handed you a fresh set of fluffy pyjamas. When you were dressed in the cosy items, hair combed and dried, and skin cared for, he was sitting on your bed, jumping up to his feet when you emerged.

His shoes were toed off, you noticed them now sitting beside the bedroom door, and he had pulled the curtains closed, A fresh glass of water from the kitchen was on your bedside table, and he had already folded the sheets back to expose the mattress that was practically screaming your name.

“Y’know, I figured you’d have left by now.”

“Where am I gonna’ go, huh? I got nowhere more important to be than right here.” His voice was sweet and words sweeter, and the question you’d been dying to ask but had resisted for fear of breaking the moment just couldn't be held back any longer.

“Why are you taking such good care of me, Mitch? It’s just a cold.”

He smiled, the kind of rare smile he only ever wore when it was the two of you, alone, and even then, it was saved for special occasions. You didn’t know that this qualified as one. Stepping closer, he brushed the hair from your face, pressing a kiss to your forehead, and you leaned into him. As he moved to rest his cheek against the top of his head, the scrape of his stubble along your skin made you shiver, and you wrapped your arms loosely around him as you were awarded a hug. “Gotta’ take care of my girl. It’s my job.”

He had lingered for a while before finally speaking, and your breath was shaky as you released it, squeezing him a little tighter as his hand smoothed up and down your back, before letting him go, long enough to pull back, and catch his seemingly nervous gaze. “That’s a boyfriend’s job.”

Instead of the panic, or fear, or laughter, or anything else you’d expected, he gave you a bright smile, like he knew something you didn’t and he couldn't wait to share it with you. It was the same face he got when he wanted to show you a cute video he found online, or when he brought you back a souvenir from assignments you didn’t go on with him, or when it was a sunny day that you both had off, and you had fun plans already booked. “I know we haven’t exactly put a label on it, but there’s no pretending. We both know we’re a lot more than just partners and friends. You’re like my better half, my best friend, and you take up, like, ninety percent of my thoughts.”

You leaned forwards, resting your forehead against the tip of his nose, and his hands were still sitting on your waist, squeezing lightly as you tried to process your thoughts. Deep down, somewhere, you’d always known it was true. He didn’t exactly hide how he felt, Mitch may be a hard-ass on the outside but he had a heart of gold and nothing but love to give on the inside, and you weren’t exactly shocked by his words.

“Your silence is a ‘wow, you’re totally right, Mitch’ kind of silence and not an ‘I’ve been playing with you this whole time, dumbass’ kind, right?”

You laughed, nodding against him lightly and he gave a breathy laugh in relief, cuddling closer to him until your chin could hook over his shoulder. “You know, it’s not official until you make a move.”

“Yeah, well, later I’ll make you some soup, and when you feel better, we’ll talk about that move.” He shuffled, pulling you back toward the bed, and letting you clamber under the sheets. He followed, crawling in beside you as his head found a place beside yours on the pillow, and you were unable to help the smile on your lips. “I’ll take you to dinner, somewhere nice, not the farmhouse surrounded by recruits. I’ll get you flowers and everything.”

“That sounds nice.”

He let you get closer, arm slung over your waist, and your eyes closed, embracing yourself in his warmth. “Yeah, and afterwards, I’ll bring you home and blow your mind. I like to think I could make you feel real good.”

The two of you have actually known each other since you were little. Being royalty of neighbouring kingdoms and your parents liking each other instead of being rivals, pushed you together, but you two had never liked each other. Well, that’s not entirely true. When you were little you were the best of friends, but when you were teenagers, that friendship had turned to dust. For some reason the two of you just didn’t click anymore. Every time you talked it turned into some sort of argument or disagreement, which only made the hatred you had for each other grow. 

Maybe it just wasn’t destined to be.

✧─── ｡ﾟ★: .✦ . :★. ───✧

You were walking through the rose pergolas to go to your favorite spot, with Mitch right behind you, when he decided to speak up, and ask the question you realized you didn't quite have the answer for. “Why do you hate me so much?” He looked straight ahead, your gaze not leaving the roses either. “I don't hate you, I despise you.” Your answer made Mitch scoff, and he rolled his eyes. He was expecting an answer like that, yet he hoped for a proper conversation. 

As the two of you walked past a little pond where you loved to sit at and walked up the steps to the lookout spot, you heard him mumble something under his breath. “This is the stupidest thing I've ever had to do. I don’t even want to marry you..” You turned around and looked him straight in the eye. “Can you stop moaning? Just so you know, I'm doing this for my kingdom. If the choice was up to me, I would not have suggested marrying you,” When Mitch was just about to answer, you interrupted him. 

“Your brother though, he is quite the gentleman. Nothing like you.” You whisked your hair over your shoulder, turned around and walked away towards the edge of the little lookout spot. A proud smile tugging at the corners of your lips.

For a moment it was silent. Only the chirping of birds, splashing water from a fountain and the soft sounds of the village you were looking over were able to be heard. That was until your peaceful atmosphere was rudely interrupted, again, by the last voice you wanted to hear.

“If you adore my brother so much, why don't you marry him? He’s more husband-material anyway.” He suddenly stood behind you, and you froze at his voice, not realizing he’d followed your tail. If it weren’t for the focus on the splashing water and sounds of chirping birds, you were sure you would've heard him strutting behind you. “Maybe he’d grant you every wish you desire, princess.” The arrogance was clearly evident in his tone, and you didn’t even have to look over your shoulder to know he crossed his arms like his usual moody form. The nickname wasn’t new for you either, he usually called you that, wanting to let you know you were spoiled, but you didn’t seem to care. You were a princess after all.

You let out a deep sigh, inhaling scents of the nature around you before turning around slowly. “Dear Mitch, that’s not how marriages work for people like us, unfortunately.” You could practically hear him roll his eyes. 

Before he could say anything more though, you decided it was enough, so you walked away and circled around his body. Mitch shot question marks your way as you paraded around him but he didn’t follow this time. Instead he just watched as you made your way back to the palace. “Lovely talk as usual!” He yelled at you and you turned your head while still walking away. “I wish it was, yet it really wasn’t. Goodbye future husband.” You grinned as your head turned back around, hair dangling with every step you took, and you wish you could see his face right now. Calling him future husband probably upsetted and annoyed him, but you knew there was no way both your parents would call off the engagement. You knew he didn’t have a choice, and you didn’t have one either.

✧─── ｡ﾟ★: .✦ . :★. ───✧

The next day arrived sooner than expected, unfortunately. Yesterday when Mitch annoyed the shit out of you and made sure you knew he did not want to marry you, was actually not as bad as you thought it was. Well, aside from the constant bickering. But after all the engagement shit you’d had in the past couple of weeks, that day was actually a day where you were able to relax. 

That didn’t count for this day, though. Today was the day that you, Mitch and both of your parents had to make all the agreements and plans for the future, most essentially the benefits of this marriage for both kingdoms. The kings and queens were set on the fact that you two were going to marry, with or without your approval. And since you two have known each other since you were kids, they thought you two could profit from the marriage as well. Little did they know...

The hours of sitting still in a room and not actually having a say in any of the things your parents were discussing, was the most dreadful experience of your life. And you weren’t being dramatic. Even Mitch had the same bored and unamused look on his face as you had. At least there’s one thing both of you could agree on.

It wasn’t a surprise you immediately went back to your favorite spot in the garden, just to stare at mother nature. The sunlight that shone through the leaves, shone bright on your face and you sighed. You could stay here forever. 

“Figured you’d be here.” A voice said from a distance away and your eyes snapped open. You felt irritation fuel, something that just happened automatically whenever you would hear his voice. 

“Why on earth would you require my presence, it’s not like I require yours.” He simply ignored you and rolled his eyes. He then walked a little closer, standing next to you, and leaned against the railing as well. It’s funny that you two were in almost the exact same spot as yesterday.

“Let me try that again, differently.” He cleared his throat. “Nice weather isn’t it? It explains why you’re here again.”

“Yeah, the same weather when I was in the embrace of a liar.”

He chuckled. “Good one. Did you make that up just now or do you have a whole book with lame insults?” You didn’t respond and instead, closed your eyes again. “What do you want? Figured you want to be as far away as possible from me, considering we spent hours in each other’s presence. Get to the point.”

You could feel Mitch's eyes on the back of your head. If he would look any longer, you might say he’d burn holes. He coughed, sounds of paper filling the air, and you didn't even notice the papers he had brought with him. You frowned, turning to look at him and he grabbed something from his pocket - a feather and a bottle of ink.

“I think we should go over our own conditions for this marriage. I think it's only fair that we ourselves also have some, besides the ones that our parents made.” Before you could say anything he already opened the little bottle and grabbed the feather. “Alright, I guess.”

 He stood next to you and looked out over the village, feather in hand as the paper lay on the cement railing. You looked over at him, his fluffy, brown hair moving as his arm moved, to write the title. Knowing you shouldn't look that long, your eyes wanted to move away to a tree or sky, but the longer you looked, the more you felt drawn to him. You didn't want to admit it, but the hatred you once had towards him did fade a little over the past years. The anger that was within you was still present, but not as boiling as it used to be. His voice just reminded you of the same voice that told you pretty lies. 

“So, condition number one,” he cleared his throat, your eyes still glued to his face. “No inappropriate touching. This thing stays professional.” You managed to snort out a laugh, cackling as the man beside you stopped his movements of his hand on the paper, and gave you an unamused glance. 

“Why would you make a rule about that? Scared you're going to fall for me after we share the bed?” You mocked him while you leaned against the railing with your side. Even though the old times were gone, it still brought joy to poke fun at him. It was almost as if nothing changed. Almost.

“Not scared, I just know you.” He cocked his head with a sly smirk.

That’s true, he did know you, maybe even a little too well. Something that wasn’t in your favor, but you managed to play it cool. “Don’t worry, it ain’t gonna happen soon.”

“Alright, well, looks like you can’t take this seriously as usual, so we’ll just continue this another time.” He laid the paper down on the railing, with the bottle of ink on top. He put his hands in the pockets of his pants and you stood there in silence. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“No.”

“Alright, I’m still gonna ask it. You better give me an answer this time, Y/N.”

“Should I?”

“Well, you kinda owe it to me”

“Owe it to you? I owe you nothing, Mitch."

“I just don't understand why you hate me. I don’t remember what went wrong between us. And would falling in love with me be so terrible?” 

“Don’t know. Don’t want to talk about it.” You managed to muster, but he wasn't pleased with that answer. And as you tried to walk away, he managed to grab your arm. He didn’t apply too much pressure, but it was still strong enough so you could not pry out of his grip.

“I know you know. You say you despise me, yet something draws you to me. And I also know that somewhere along the line, you stopped hating me. Maybe you never hated me, maybe you just convinced yourself you did. You just try to bolt off every time I try to talk it out.” 

You looked at him, staying silent. You didn’t want to admit it, but maybe he was right. Maybe you did overreact on the ‘hating you’ part, but you did have a valid reason if you really had to explain yourself.

“Look, I know you never stopped caring. It’s not like you. And in the meantime while you try to convince me you don’t, know that I'll always care about you, even when you think I don't. I know I haven’t always been the most endearing, but I have no clue what I did wrong for you to hate me so much. As much as I want to hate you too, I can’t. I could never hate you.”

“Don’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“This,” you pointed between Mitch and yourself. “Please just, don’t.”

“Why?” He looked at you with pleading eyes. Silently begging you to tell him.

“Why?” You repeated after him, but with a tone that made sure he knew that you couldn’t believe that he didn’t know what he did. 

“Y/N…Tell me why. For god’s sake, we’re getting married! Aren’t we supposed to work on the issues we have with each other now before it’s too late?”

“Fine,” You took a deep breath and looked at the ground. Honestly you were just tired. Tired of holding a grudge against him, even though what he did nearly broke you.“The royal ball, 6 years ago.”

“Yeah? What’s with it?”

“When we were kids, we made a pact. remember?” Mitch was quiet for a few seconds, inhaling and exhaling deeply.

“yeah.”

“We promised we’d be together forever, soulmates for life...”

“...Then at that ball, when we were 17, I saw you with her, dancing with her. Kissing her cheek like you always did to me. Curling her hair around your finger and holding her close. I wasn’t jealous at first, I would always be happy for you, but you chose the one girl that made me feel like I was worth nothing, and you knew. You fucking knew. Yet you chose her.”

“I wanted to ignore you, hate you for a few days. Perhaps a few weeks, let you come to me to talk about that night, but you acted like nothing happened. Something just grew inside me, eating me up. Hatred formed like a fireball in the pit of my stomach. Those few weeks turned into months, and those months turned into years.” You let out a dry laugh, done with explaining the moment that hurt you for the rest of your life.

He looked at you with big eyes. “Y/N…” He sighed, empathy evident in his voice. “At that time there were some complications between our kingdoms. Of course I wanted to dance with you that night. I was supposed to dance with you, but my dad wanted me to have other options if the issues between our parents couldn’t be fixed. I didn’t want to do it, but you know how my father is. My intention was never to hurt you, I’m sorry...”

You stared at him. No expression evident on your face. You were processing everything he just said. It wasn’t his fault, if maybe you had just talked to him this would never have happened. “I’m so sorry, Mitch. I- I didn’t know...I’ve been so cruel to you for these past years and every time you tried to talk I just walked away-”

“-I know, it’s okay. Even though we never talked it out until now, we found a way to fix it.” He opened his arms and embraced you in a hug. You missed his hugs so much. His warm, loving and tight hugs. It felt like the world around you disappeared for a moment and the only people who were there were you. “Mitch?” “Yes?” “I guess falling in love with you wouldn’t be so terrible.” He let go of you with a genuine smile plastered on his face. For a moment you just looked at each other in silence, before you decided to break it.

“So, what about our own conditions for this marriage?”

“To hell with it” 

Jake moved even closer; his chest pressed hard against yours. “You’re staying right here, with me. I’m not going anywhere,”

Feeling as though you had nothing left to lose, you jerked your head forward, ramming it up into his nose. Jake yelled out, stumbling back clutching his nose, blood dripping through his fingers. Your eyes went wide for a split second before you bolted, running down the stairs, through the kitchen and out the back door. You weren’t sure what to do or where you were going to go, but right now the adrenaline coursing through your veins wasn’t concerned about a plan. All you were concerned about was getting away.

A loud clap came roaring through the air, followed by an extreme pain tearing through your side. A loud shriek echoed, and for a split second you turned to see if anyone was hurt before realizing the screams and cries were your own. The starry sky above you began to blur away, voices shouting around you that began to blur together with your vision. Eventually a face came into your view, but by that point you were too far gone.

Now you were in darkness.

Falling…falling…falling…

*

*

You jerked awake, sitting up in your bed. Your hand remained clamped onto your side while you gasped for air. You tried your best to remember what your Dr. Hanson had said to you, but her words died in your head, feeling frustratingly out of reach.

After a few painstakingly long minutes, your gasps turned into deeper breaths. Your eyes glanced around the room, taking in your new surrounds. You went through a mantra in your head ‘This isn’t Jake’s house in Los Angles. This is your apartment that he cannot get into. He’s currently in jail, and he cannot hurt you.’ You repeated that to yourself a few more times until it truly stuck in your head.

Tentatively, you touched the scar on your left side, feeling the raised mark against your skin. You said your last mantra out loud, “It was only a dream…”

Knowing sleep wouldn’t come back to you, you got up and stretched. Picking at your fingers, you glanced at the clock. 4:58. You smiled a little to yourself. Dr. Hanson would be proud of you for sleeping in an hour longer than last week, though she’ll be disappointed you couldn’t get a night without nightmares. That thought killed your mood slightly as you got up and made your way to the kitchen.

Your apartment was small, with only one bedroom since you didn’t know anyone who would come to see you. The living room and kitchen were connected, and you had a lovely little porch outside of the living room on the third floor of your apartment building. There wasn’t much to your apartment since Jake made sure you didn’t have many possessions anymore, but you were proud of it, nonetheless.

You settled on the couch, flicking through different channels on your bulky TV until you found a show that was mind numbing enough for you to watch. The thought of eating crossed your mind for a split second before you shook it from your mind. You weren’t hungry, you never were in the mornings anymore.

Besides, after your session today you go to the coffee shop down the street, and that would be a lot of your calories for the day.

Instead, you sat there watching the screen, but your eyes and ears weren’t really focusing on it. You just needed the noise to distract you from hearing Jake’s voice ringing in your head. Or maybe by now it was your own voice. Quite honestly, you couldn’t tell the difference anymore.

You blinked and apparently now the sun was up. You blinked rapidly a few more times and rubbed your eyes together. A surge of panic raced through you as you checked the time before immediately sighing and seeing that it was only 8:28 now. You still had about another hour before you had to leave. Since you had the time, you decided to shower before heading over to Dr. Hanson’s office. You walked into the bathroom and clicked the lock on the door. Even though you lived by yourself you always locked the door. You didn’t think you could relax without it. Turning on the water, you stepped out of your clothes and made sure it was a slightly too hot temperature before stepping in.

Showering was another way for you to shut out your past trauma and memories, and perhaps it wasn’t healthy, but right now you didn’t know how else you could deal with Jake’s pounding in your head, and there wasn’t anyone you were close to anymore who could tell you that this was wrong, other than Dr. Hanson. All you wanted was a moment of peace, so you’d spend way too long just standing in the water, letting it wash over your skin before rushing through washing your hair and body and hopping out.

Unfortunately, the shower took a little longer than you thought it would, and by the time you got out, changing into a plain white t-shirt with leggings and tennis shoes, it was already 9:42. You should’ve left 12 minutes ago.

Your eyes widened at the clock while your heart began to race. Fuck, fuck, fuck! You thought to yourself miserably and you ran out the door. You didn’t want to seem like a freak, so you instead walked a little faster than normal as you made your way to Dr. Hanson’s office. Thankfully, you still arrived by 8:56, four minutes early. You still felt the familiar pool of guilt in your stomach as you sat down and waited for Dr. Hanson to call you back.

You bounced your knee while looking down and picking at your fingers, opening the barely healed scabs that were around them. You glanced up at the secretary Trevor, who didn’t meet your eye as he was typing away at his laptop, looking over all the therapists’ schedules for the day.

You looked over to your right to see someone else sitting, his leg crossed over with his foot resting against his knee. His dark hair was a little on the longer side, but the look suited him well, along with the dark wash jeans and black t-shirt that clung to him well. A few moles scattered across his face; some you couldn’t see quite as well beneath the stubble he had. You couldn’t help but feel like he was out of place; he looked completely at ease, slouching in his chair while he read one of the community magazines they offered. He looked like everyone else, someone who didn’t have nearly as many fucked up problems as you did.

You had seen him here a few times, showing up every other Sunday, and while he spoke warmly to everyone he’s interacted with (Trevor), but he looks like he just keeps to himself. Still, he looked so calm to you. It’d be nice to have that in your life.

His golden eyes flicked up to yours, making eye contact with you. You jumped and immediately casted your eyes down to your fingers, resuming your picking. It’s impolite to stare, Jake’s voice echoed in your head. And he was right. Your head began to pound. Rude, rude, rude, RUDE!

“Y/n?”

Your head snapped up at Trevor’s voice, meeting his gaze. He smiled politely at you. “Dr. Hanson’s waiting for you. You can go right in.”

You nodded and mumbled a thanks under your breath and you gathered yourself up and wait past Trevor’s desk. You could feel the other man’s eyes on you, but you refused to acknowledge him.

You sat in Dr. Hanson’s office, adjusting yourself left and right, continuing to bounce your leg. Her office was rather small, nothing super extravagate. It was painted a pale blue, with her desk turned to face the large window. On the sides were bookshelves, which were filled with different classical reads you recognized. In the far corner was a cat tower, where Herbert was sleeping lazily, and in the center laid a rug with two couches on it, one of which you were sitting in. You crossed your legs politely, and you kept your head low, keeping your gaze down at your hands, which picking at the skin around your fingernails.

“Y/n? Did you hear me?”

Your head snapped up; eyes wide. Fuck. You were definitely not paying attention.

“Um…I-I’m sorry, Dr. Hanson” you mumbled, casting your eyes back down and sinking further into your chair.

“It’s alright, I simply made the observation that you hadn’t been working on what we discussed this past week.”

Double fuck. She’d asked you to work on not picking at the skin around your fingers, and you had agreed that it was something you needed and would work on. In all honestly, you had completely forgotten about it; you were really wrapped up in doing your own thing and just trying to survive.

You contemplated lying, but that didn’t work out too well last week. Not that Dr. Hanson got angry with you; she never seemed to ever get mad with you. Disappointed, maybe, but never mad, and now that you thought about it, she never even seemed disappointed either.

You forced yourself to make eye contact, something else she had asked you to work on that you never did. “No, I haven’t. I’m really sorry.” You said, voice raised to be slightly above the mumble you usually went with nowadays.

Dr. Hanson took notice and smiled at you encouragingly. “That’s okay. Would you feel comfortable trying again next week? Or should we adjust a our strategy?”

You shook your head. “No, I want to try again. I really just forgot about it, Dr. Hanson, but I want to try and focus on it this week. If that doesn’t work, then we can try something else. I want to try and get better.”

“I know it’s hard for you to see, but you already are doing better than before. It’s small, yes, and it may not feel like something worth feeling proud over, but I can assure you it absolutely is. How’s your routine been doing, for example,” Dr. Hanson asked while scribbling something down in her notebook.

“Really well,” you answered. And it was. Until you heard Dr. Hanson say so, you just now realize that your routine had been something you greatly improved on. Until you thought about your nightmares, suddenly a pit fell through to your stomach. “Um…I’m not too sure you’ll like my routine…” you lowered your voice as you spoke.

“Would you mind telling me anyways?”

You shook your head. “No, I don’t mind. Um…so I still have nightmares every night. It’s never the same incident, unless it’s…that night. Um, so I’ll usually wake up around 3:30 to 4:30. Somewhere in there. Um, then I’ll make a cup of coffee…but Decaf. I only have regular coffee on Sundays, so I’ll just watch TV until around 7:00, then I’ll shower and get ready for work which starts at 9:00, and then 4:00 I’ll go home and take a walk for about an hour or so. Then I’ll dinner and then I’ll…try to sleep,” you finished with a nod.

Dr. Hanson was nodding along, a smile on her face as she happily took notes while you spook. When she finished, she looked up at you. “What do you usually do on weekends?”

“Um…well nothing. Just watch TV, maybe read something. On Sundays I come see you and then go to this little coffee shop down the street, but other than that I don’t do anything,” you said, and honestly even reading was a small lie. You used to read a lot, almost five books a week. But after this past year, you honestly couldn’t remember the last time you read a book.

Dr. Hanson gave you a questioning look but decided against saying anything. “Can I ask a nudge question?” she asked.

Nudge and push questions. Nudges were topics that for you were uncomfortable to talk about but wouldn’t be panic attack inducing. It was mostly the “after-effects” of your and Jake’s relationship. Pushes were scarier and were questions specifically about what he did during your relationships. When you had first started out with therapy, you struggled to open up and it was awkward, and a little tense. However, once you developed this nudge and push system, it made your sessions go much smoother, especially if you weren’t ready to talk about certain things.

You took a deep breath and nodded, “I’m ready,” you answered.

“Can you tell me what your nightmares were about this week? If any of them are pushes, you don’t have to talk about them,”

Herbert had woken and was moving up on the couch and into your lap, so you were petting him as you thought it over. “Can I keep them brief?” you asked, a slight waver in your voice.

“Of course, whatever you feel comfortable with,” Dr. Hanson smiled at you encouragingly.

“Okay, well, most of them were from…that night. That’s usually when I would wake up, too. One of them was the day he locked me in the closet, only he never lets me out and I slowly shrivel away, and the last one was when we first met. Everyone was giving him weird looks, but I didn’t know what was wrong. Then he tore off his face and turned into a demon, and everyone was laughing at me…” Herbert cuddled into you closer, his big green eyes looking at you expectedly. It took you a second to realize you’d stopped petting him.

“Do you believe that dreams have any significance to your daily life?”

Nope, you thought. “I haven’t given it much thought.”

“Well, some might say in your latest dream, the one where Jake is a demon, that you blame yourself for not seeing it the signs sooner, and that everyone around you was able to see through it immediately. Would that have some semblance to real life at all?”

Whoops. You sighed. “…but it is true. I didn’t see it.”

“Y/n, a lot of people didn’t see it. Jake had a job, normal friends, and you both had neighbors that you regularly interacted. All of them didn’t see what was happening either. Do you blame them as well?”

“No, but-“

“Then it’s not your fault either. I know it’ll take some time for you to fully see this, but you were manipulated and groomed. This happens to people all over the world, and it’s no one’s fault but the person who did this to you, and you’ve been building your life back.”

Tears were lining your eyes now. “But-but I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything. I don’t feel better, and somehow even though he’s gone, I don’t feel free from him,” you blinked, and the tears fell.

“It’ll take time. Lots of time. Two years is a long relationship to undo, and it’ll be very hard I won’t lie, but you’re a strong girl. A survivor. You can get through this, I know it.” Dr. Hanson was able to say it with such confidence that you almost believed it.

Glancing at the clock, you realized 50 minutes had passed. Somehow, it still shocked you how much time flew by during these sessions.

“One last thing before we call it a day, sound good?”

“Okay,” you wiped your tears from your face.

Dr. Hanson handed you a tissue before continuing, “How about your job? You’ve been doing that for about two months now, and I haven’t heard you talk about it much.”

“Oh, it’s going good. I mostly just answer phones and organize people’s schedules. It’s a simple job, but I’ve been liking it a lot.”

“Have you made any friends?” Slowly, you shook your head. You barely spoke to anyone outside of the mandatory meetings to go over their upcoming week.

“Okay, are you up for another task to work on? You don’t have to accomplish it this week if you don’t want to, but maybe something to keep in mind, okay?” you nodded for her to continue. She smiled and said, “Make a friend. Maybe someone to join you at your coffee shop? Or someone to grab lunch with on Saturdays. You’ve been living here for almost three months, so make some roots; someone to talk to other than me. Give it some thought for me, okay?”

Herbert jumped off you, signaling the end of your session. You sat there for a moment. Another person scared you. Right now, you had your safe little bubble with you and Dr. Hanson. Anyone else was untrustworthy. What if they were like Jake?

Still, you knew it was unrealistic to shut everyone out, and if you were being honest, it’s been lonely. “…okay. I-I’ll try,” you said slowly.

Dr. Hanson smiled brightly at you while finishing up her notes. When she was done, she’d bid you a good day, and you left her office.

Walking down the street, you started thinking it over a bit more. You hadn’t even thought about starting over your life or making new friends. Thinking it over, you realized that’s probably why Dr. Hanson was pushing you to get a job in the first place. 

Therapists are sneaky…

That wasn’t true. They just point out obvious information and guide you through. It’s not her fault that your oblivious to it.

Turning the corner, you walked into The Roasted Bean. Sunday’s were popular, and today wasn’t an exception. You were about seven people back with everyone else buzzing around the shop, but you didn’t mind; it’s not like you were doing anything anyways. Besides, there were always tables available somehow.

Ben always worked Sundays, so he had gotten to know you briefly, or at least he knew your name. “Hey y/n, what would you like?” he asked warmly.

“Small iced caramel latte with whipped cream and a caramel drizzle please,” It was your usual order, but sometimes you liked to shake it up. Ben nodded at you before quickly going over to make your drink while you stepped aside. You started picking at your fingers, then quickly closed your fists, instead opting to fiddle with your wallet strap instead.

“Y/n?” Ben called, pushing your drink across the counter. You gave him a small smile, grabbing the drink from him. You turned to go to your usually spot to sit down and enjoy your coffee, but found a couple sitting there already. You fumbled for a moment and realized there weren’t any empty seats left.

You took in deep breaths, thinking over your options. You didn’t want to go back to your apartment, you would just lay in front of the TV again, and the park was a far walk from here, so by the time you would get there your coffee would be finished. You scanned the bakery again, hoping to find an empty seat when something caught your eye.

The man from the lobby was sitting at the far corner table, sipping on his coffee while reading a book. You weren’t sure how he found the peace to do that in a coffee shop. Like before, he looked relaxed and calm, something you were still drawn to. Taking another look over, you saw no one else sitting by themselves.

Dr. Hanson’s words echoed through your head. Make a friend.

Your legs were moving before you registered it, walking over to the man. Before you could think of a way to grab his attention, his eyes were already focused on you. They weren’t cold; they had a cautious undertone beneath the warm amber hues.

Still, he smiled at you softly, closing his book.

“Hi,” you said, wincing slightly as the stiffness in your tone.

“Hey, can I help you?” he responded evenly, keeping a pleasant smile on his face, but you could see him stiffen with you, though you had a feeling it was for different reasons.

“Um…” Fuck, this was a lot harder than you thought. “So-well-okay, I usually come to this coffee shop every Sunday and sit over there,” you jerked your thumb in the general direction of your usual spot. “And I usually sit by myself, but there isn’t open seats…and I guess I could you know go outside…or um go home, but I’m still pretty new here, so I was hoping I could sit with you for today?” You shuffled back and forth on your feet, flashing the man a quick smile.

He stared at you for a moment, still analyzing you. “Why me?”

You blushed. You didn’t really have a good answer for that. “Oh, well…I’ve seen you around before, and you seem to be pretty calm and…friendly…or at least able to tolerate someone while they drank coffee and talked about the weather,”

The man still didn’t say anything, his gaze hardened slightly. You were starting to think this was all a big mistake, but before you could open your mouth and apologize, he spoke. “Okay,” he said slowly, still not trusting you. “you can sit here.” He gave you another small smile.

It took you a moment to register what he said before you smiled back, settling down in the seat across from him.

For a few minutes, the two of you sat there uncomfortably, sipping your coffee. Maybe this was a bad idea. He probably changed his mind about you and now thinks you’re too odd to have as friend. I should just leave… As you went to make up an excuse, he spoke up. “What’s your name? I should probably know you a little better if we’re gonna sit together so it’s not like I’m talking to a brick wall.”

You giggled at his comment, “My name’s y/n y/l/n. What’s yours?”

“Mitch. Mitch Rapp.” You nodded, repeating the name to yourself under your breath. “How long ago did you move here?”

“Oh, I’ve only been here for a few months now,” you said.

“Ah, so that’s why I only just now saw you at O’Neil offices,” Mitch said smoothly.

You raised an eyebrow at him, “O’Neil?”

“O’Neil offices yeah, for therapy?”

Your eyes widened; your stomach dropped as you flicked your eyes down.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable…” Mitch said softly as he gave you a worried look.

“No, no its fine it’s just…I always thought you weren’t supposed to talk about it…” you said, lowering your voice as you talked.

“Oh no, not at all,” Mitch visible relaxed. “I mean, it’s about whatever you feel comfortable with, so if you’d like I’d never bring it up again, but you don’t have to think about it like it’s a bad thing that you’re going or something that you have to keep a secret. It’s for you, and for whatever reasons you’re going.”

“How long have you been going?”

“A little over a year now,” he said. “I, uh, probably should’ve started awhile ago, but better late than never.” Mitch took another long drink of his coffee.

“So…it gets easier?” you asked, voice small.

“Eventually. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of patience. I’m not even where I want to be, but you know, it’s about setting goals for yourself, and you’re always adding and changing them, no matter how big or small they are. My biggest goal right now is to one day look back and see just how far I’ve come, you know?”

You smiled at him. “That…that sounds like a great goal to have,” you said. “I might steal it from you,”

Mitch laughed, and it confused you for a moment before you realized he laughed at the joke you made. It’s been so long since you had any friends you had forgotten what it felt like. You decided to be brave for a moment, “Um, what kind of coffee is that? I’ve always been a big coffee fan and love trying new ones,” You both smiled at each other.

You two stayed in that coffee shop for a while, talking about little things. To some, it may have seemed like a meaningless conversation, but for the both of you, it meant everything. For you, it was another step in taking back your life and placing roots in a place that maybe one day you could call home. And though you didn’t know it, Mitch was opening up to you slowly in a way he hadn’t done with anyone else in a long time. It felt like a positive step, for both of you.

Mitch’s sense of humor was darker than you expected, but so was yours, especially after everything that happened. You laughed and smile more in the short time with Mitch than you have in the past two years of your life. Maybe longer. It felt easy and comfortable, like perhaps you two have known each other your whole lives.

After a particularly long set of giggles, you finally managed to ask, “So, what do you do for a living?”

“Oh, I’m a CIA consultant,” Mitch answered, twirling the now empty coffee cup in his hands.

Your eyebrows shot up, “Holy shit! That’s really impressive,” and you truly thought that. Normally, someone with a violent job like that terrified you, but for some reason, you weren’t scared of Mitch.

“Yeah. A while back I used to work in a Special Forces part of the CIA, and I’m sorry but I can’t tell much more about it, but we would travel a lot and would be involved in the more serious cases. I can’t go into too much detail for obvious reasons, but it kept me distracted. I…had gotten into it for the wrong reasons, so after a few years of doing it I just felt…really empty. And I hated that. I guess you could say my passion for going out into the field had died down. It didn’t satisfy me anymore, and I wasn’t getting…what I wanted out of it. So, I moved to the desk job version of it. Now, I’d only go in the field if it was extremely serious, but they haven’t used me yet. After I moved to that desk job, I started going to therapy. Now here I am,” He gestured to the café you were in. He shifted in his seat, “I, uh, haven’t, told many people that…”

You blushed, before settling on another bold move. You reached out your hand, “Um…can I?” Mitch nodded, holding his hand out to you. You grabbed it and squeezed it gently. “I’m…I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to tell me. And I get that, you know…the empty feeling…”

If you were really honest, this was the first time you had felt something in a long time. Even if it was just the start of your friendship.

Mitch squeezed your hand back, and you two left it like that on the table. The back of your said that this wasn’t something friends do, but you weren’t really listening to it. Instead, you two sat that, not saying another but not needing to. You could tell that Mitch was holding something back, but you couldn’t blame him. It’s not like you were being an open book yourself.

“What about you?” Mitch asked.

“Well, right now, I’m a secretary at the office down the street. I hope one day I could save enough money to go back to school, so I can finish my degree and become an elementary teacher,” your brain caught up to you, and you realized that you hadn’t told anyone about that dream, not even Dr. Hanson. Your heart quickened just a little bit. Why do I trust him so much? He’s a bigshot CIA member, he probably thinks that’s stupid…

However, Mitch smiled genuinely at you. “I can see that for you,” he said simply.

“R-really?”

“Yeah. I can read people pretty well, and I can just tell by looking at you that it’s something you’re passionate about, and you’d be really good at it,”

Happy tears sprung in your eyes, but you quickly blinked them away. Dr. Hanson always said she thought you were strong and brave, but somehow you wouldn’t believe her simply because she was your doctor. She was supposed to hype you up and say those things. But hearing that from someone you felt you had made a genuine connection with? It was something you hadn’t heard in a while, and it made you feel that maybe your dreams weren’t worthless after all.

“Thank you for saying that, Mitch. It…means a lot,”

“Meant every word, and I’m an extremely honest person. I promise I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,” Mitch took a glance at his watch. “Do you live far from here? I would love to keep talking but I have a phone meeting at three that I can’t miss.”

You raised an eyebrow, fishing out your phone, “Three? But it’s only-“ you cut yourself off. It was 2:33. “We’ve been here for three hours?” you exclaimed.

Mitch chuckled, “Yep. Time flies, right? I can walk you to your apartment building, if you don’t mind. Do you live far?”

“Oh, just around the corner,”

You two left the coffee shop, still making some small talk to each other until you arrived outside the apartment building. Mitch turned to you, another soft smile on his face.

“I had a good time. We should do this again.”

“Absolutely! I had a wonderful time,” you said. And it was true, you did.

“Can I have your number then? I’d love to meet up for coffee next Sunday again,” Mitch was pulling out his phone.

“Oh, of course yeah!” you said happily, pulling out your phone. Your mood faltered slightly when you looked at the four pitiful contacts you had in your phone: Dr. Hanson’s number for emergencies, your boss’s number, your landlord’s number, and the only number Jake could never get you to delete.

Mom

You stared at your mother’s contact screen of the two of you together, big grins on your faces while the two of you had been vacationing in Rome. Your mom was always your biggest supporter, and you would never forgive yourself for the things you said to her that night.

Quickly, you pressed the ‘Create A New Contact’ button, looking up at Mitch. If he saw the contact list, he didn’t say anything, which you were grateful for. The two of you exchanged numbers.

“Okay, I’ll text you alright?” Mitch said, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“I’d like that,” you said with a smile.

Mitch stepped towards you and wrapped his arms around you in a hug. You froze for a second, unsure of what to do before melting into it, wrapping your arms around his neck. This feels nice, you thought, and you could’ve stayed like that for the rest of day.

Instead, Mitch pulled back, placing a gentle kiss on your forehead that caused your heart to flutter in a good way.

“See you around,” Mitch said, stepping away and giving you a wave.

“Bye!” you waved back at him as he turned around and walked in the opposite direction. You stood there for a moment, watching him leave before you entered your building.

Walking through your apartment door, you realized a few things: 1. You were still smiling from the hug Mitch gave you. 2. On the walk home, you two had held hands then too, and 3. In the entire time you were talking to Mitch, you hadn’t picked your fingers once.

         “I didn’t have enough time to get a costume.” he said lamely as he shrugged his shoulders.

         “I told you to pick one out of the options I gave you and you never did.” she said and Mitch felt his heart stutter when he saw the pout on her lips directed at him.

         “Baby girl, I know but I don’t like dressing up. I think it’s silly.” he explained softly trying to get her to not be upset with him. He watched her stand from where she had sat on the bed to put on her little boots. She threw her arms out wide to her sides and his eyes narrowed on her costume clad body. He felt his chest tighten significantly as well as his pants began to tighten. She was dressed as a witch with a short black and purple dress that covered just enough to not be considered scandalous. But the sheer panty hose she had put on that had spider webs and spiders sewn into them showed off quite a bit of her skin for his eyes to feast on. 

         “Do you think my costume is silly?” she asked exasperatedly already knowing the answer was no. Mitch walked into the room slowly moving towards her while she watched with a waiting look on her face. When he stood in front of her his hands twitched as his sides wanting to touch and pull her into him.

         “You know I don’t. I find it rather sexy on you.” he said seductively and she rolled her eyes at him as she shook her head.

         “You could’ve been just as sexy in your own costume.” she huffed out and Mitch finally wrapped his arms low around her hips stepping as close to her as he possibly could.

         “Not the same thing and you know it.” he said softly. “What do you say we skip the party and just celebrate in here together.” he suggested quietly and she laughed sarcastically at him before pulling away slightly with a look of exasperation.

         “We’re the ones hosting the party dumbass. We can’t skip our own party.” she teased him as she tried to move away from him. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around her, not letting her get away too far.

         “But baby girl, you look so good in this costume. It’d look even better on our floor.” he husked out into her ear making her shiver against him but she scoffed and shoved him away.

         “Nice try Rapp. I’m ditching my party that I spent weeks planning just because you wanna get some.” she snipped at him with a smirk crawling across her face. She leaned up and pressed her lips to his. Pulling back quickly so that he couldn’t deepen the kiss she smirked again. “You can wait.” she whispered against his lips and then stepped out of his arms. Mitch groaned loudly from behind her and then called out as she stepped out of their room.

         “You’re the devil and I’m gonna make you pay for that later.”

 ---

           Music played through the apartment and neighbors and party guests all mingled in happy chatter as they ate, drank and danced. Mitch was standing near the snack table you had made him set up for the party hours ago and his eyes hadn’t left your figure as you moved about the apartment greeting and catching up with people.

         “You know if you stare harder she might just combust into flames.” came a soft sweet sarcastic voice. Mitch turned to face the elderly woman standing next to him and he rolled his eyes at her. 

         “Don’t you have some other neighbor to go bother Mrs. Norris?” he asked sarcastically with a grin sent her way. She grinned back at him and shook her head.

         “You do know I expect a special mention at your wedding for setting the two of you up.” she teased him and he barked out a laugh.

         “Oh so that really was your plan all along wasn’t it?” he asked through his happy grin.

         “You bet your ass it was.” she quipped back to him and he smiled widely and warmly at her words.

         “Well I’ll see what I can do but it’s all up to her. She’s gotta say yes first.” he replied. He watched as the elderly woman’s eyes widened and then a bright happy grin fell over her lips.

         “So you’re planning on asking her?” she asked curiously. Mitch shrugged his shoulders as his eyes darted over to her still across the room from him. His fingers itched to get a hold of her and never let her go.

         “Eventually, but not for a while longer. I’d like to enjoy living in sin with her for a bit.” he teased and the elderly woman slapped her hand into his chest making him grunt.

         “Don’t make her wait too long. I’d like to see grandbabies eventually.” she said cryptically.

         “They wouldn’t even be your grandkids.” he said with a furrow of his eyebrows as he jerked his head to look at her again.

         “I’d be the surrogate grandma.” she explained and he scoffed, shaking his head at her words.

         “I should thank you though for sending her into my life. Probably the best meddling you’ve ever done so far.” he said slightly in awe of her handiwork. She grinned over at him and then her eyes widened a little at something over his shoulder.

         “Oh there’s that man that came looking for you awhile back when you were in her apartment.” she said softly, her tone full of affection. Turning from the elderly woman Mitch spotted Hurley entering the apartment dressed up as Dracula. Groaning softly he threw his head back in aggravation and heard Mrs. Norris chuckled next to him. “Looks like even he could dress up for the party. Makes you look bad.”

         Mitch gritted his teeth and began to walk over to his superior who spotted him when he was a few feet from him. The shit eating grin that creeped along his face made Mitch’s fingers itch to punch it away.

         “Where’s your costume Rapp?” he asked loudly in a fake Transylvanian accent. Mitch rolled his eyes at the man and shook his head. “You look like an idiot without a costume for your own party.” 

         “I told him the same thing.” came her voice and Mitch turned his head to her as she sidled up to his side while wrapping an arm around his waist and sliding a hand along his stomach. He loved it when she got close to him like this especially in front of others too. It made his heart flutter in his chest like a butterfly and that made his pulse race.

         “Smart woman.” Hurley responded and she laughed brightly into the air. “You look good as a witch.” Mitch scowled at the older man who held his hands up in mock surrender. “Not like that Rapp. It was just a compliment.” 

         “Go compliment your partner in crime.” Mitch grunted out to the man and watched as a smirk graced his lips again. With a nod of his head Hurley was moving around the two of them and heading towards Mrs. Norris who was still at the snack table. 

         “You didn’t have to be rude, he is a guest you know.” she said softly with a shake of her head. 

         “Unfortunately.” he said gripped out and she laughed again at his surliness. “Why can’t we just head into the bedroom for a little bit of down time?” he asked softly as he leaned over to press his lips to her ear.

         “Mitch, I told you later once everyone leaves. I don’t want anyone thinking we ditched because you can’t keep it in your pants.” she husked out to him. He groaned low in his throat and she smirked softly at his antics. “If you behave I promise I’ll let you fuck me in the costume.” she whispered softly against his lips as she pressed a kiss to his mouth. He growled again and tried to grab onto her but she danced out of his range quickly with a wicked grin on her lips.

 ---

           Finally as he held the door open for the last guest he bid them farewell and then slammed the door harshly after they had stepped out of the apartment. Whirling around he spotted her bending over to pick up a dropped cup. Growling low in his throat he stalked towards her and wrapped her up in his arms from behind easily lifting her off the ground making her squeal in surprise.

         “Mitch! Put me down!” she cried out to him as he began walking towards the bedroom.

         “Absolutely not. You’ve kept me waiting all night for this baby girl. Now it’s time to pay up.” he said easily as he walked into the bedroom and threw her onto the bed watching her body bounce slightly on the mattress.

         “But Mitch we gotta clean up.” she tried to protest and was shifting towards the edge of the bed away from him. He lunged forward and grabbed her around her ankles and dragged her across the bed back towards him. 

         “Tomorrow, I promise we’ll clean tomorrow.” he husked out as he began pulling off the little boots that she had worn with her costume tonight. “But right now I need you baby girl. Please” he pleaded with her as his hands crawled up her legs. 

         “Shit, alright.” she gasped out as his hands traveled up under her skirt and caught the waistband of her stockings. Dragging them slowly down her legs she laughed delighted when her legs got stuck in them and he tried to pull them off her legs. “Jesus Mitch, go easy or they’ll-” just then a loud ripping noise rang through the air and she looked at him exasperatedly.

         “I’m sorry I’ll buy you new ones I swear.” he apologized quickly before ripping them completely off her body. The panty hose fluttered to the floor and Mitch didn’t bother wasting any more time as he landed on top of her caging her in against the bed with his forearms pressed against the mattress below her. “Hey there, come here often?” he teased and she snorted out a laugh from underneath him.

         “Keep it up with the cheesiness and I’ll gladly leave.” she teased back after she stopped laughing. He pressed his hips into hers making her gasp out and arch against him.

         “You wouldn’t dare.” he husked out to her watching as her head flung back and her neck was presented to him. Pressing wet languid kisses to her neck he felt her pulse throbbing against his lips.

         “No I wouldn’t.” she gasped out as her hands came up to card through his hair pressing him closer to her neck. Mitch quickly leaned up so that he could undo his jeans and slip them down to his knees. Stroking his hard cock in his hand he smirked as he slid it against her core, her slick coating him in her arousal. She groaned softly when he continued to tease her like that until she spoke up. “You’ve been waiting all this time and now you wanna tease?” she huffed out exasperated and he smirked down at her.

         “Someone sounds impatient.” he teased.

         “I’ll still leave.” she grunted out and Mitch slid slowly into her making her arch up gasping for air.

         “Liar.” he husked out as he leant forward and pressed kisses to her neck. Her hands came up and grasped at his shoulders.

         “Please, Mitch please.” she pleads with him and he sets a pace that’s hard and deep. His hands grip at her costume as he thrusts into her.

         “Fuck you look so good in this.” he grunts out as one of his hands slides the top of her dress down under her breasts so he can watch them bounce as he fucks into her. Leaning over her he groans before his lips capture one of her nipples sucking on it harshly. Her body is arching and writhing underneath him as the two of them move in this dance that they’ve created. Her gasps are answered by his moans. Her hands grip and grasp while his slide and graze.

         “Fuck! Yes right there.” she gasps out suddenly when Mitch thrusts in deeply. “Oh oh, yes right there.” He knows he’s hitting all her right spots as she arcs underneath him. Suddenly he feels her walls clamp down around him and he groans loudly throwing his head back, she’s so tight around him he can’t take it. He thrusts once more into her tight core and finds his release. He huffs softly and falls to the side of her with panting breaths. She pats his naked ass and he huffs out a laugh.

         “What did I say about getting cocky?” he asks once he turns his head to look at her.

“Can’t help it when you look like a truck hit you after your orgasm.” she quips back and he groans out a chuckle. She laughs lightly as she rolls towards him and kisses his cheek. “I love you Mitch Rapp.” she coos at him and he grins sleepily.

A soft grin pulling the corners of my mouth up as I went up towards the entrance and requested a table for four people. The streets nearby were a bit narrow, making it a bit quieter on that side of town since not many vehicles were driving by and given the early hours of the morning there weren't a lot of people nearby. Just a few occupying tables inside and a few others on their everyday strolls it seemed. Following the lady towards the table, I thanked her softly before taking a seat.

I was certain my friends would be here in a matter of minutes since the time we agreed on was approaching. Taking a look around, I noticed a dark haired male who didn’t appear to be Italian and I wondered if he was on vacation for the same reasons as myself. He had such an intense look in his eyes and he seemed to be focused more on his surroundings than the flaky croissant barely touched on his plate which was a shame because it looked rather delicious. He took a sip from the coffee cup in front of him and I decided I should mind my own business, turning my eyes back to my own surroundings.

As the waitress approached my table, I ordered a cappuccino and a croissant since I was inspired by the male across the street from me. When she left my view, I was a bit shocked to see him standing only a few inches away from where I was sitting. Eyebrows rose in confusion, hoping that my obvious staring didn’t encourage him to confront me. I wasn’t exactly the best in confrontational situations. Even though it seemed like he came over to share a few words, his eyes were scanning directly behind me.

In that moment though, I couldn’t help but notice how soft his features were. The honey brown eyes were striking enough but the several freckles that covered his face were very attractive. The way his tongue grazed his bottom lip ever so slightly and how his lips looked soft and rather inviting. He’s incredibly handsome and anyone would be able to notice that.

“Hi, sorry. I don’t normally do this but I’m Mitch. I saw you eyeing my croissant and I thought I should come and offer it to you.”

He laughed and it was a bit deeper than I would have guessed but the words were enough to crack a smile across my lips. I knew I shouldn’t have kept looking for as long as I did. A soft shade of red covered my cheeks as I avoided eye contact at first.

“Lucky for you I ordered my own, so you don’t have to share. Thanks for the offer though, Mitch. I’m Y/N.”

Just like that, the dynamic of this conversation switched as I heard tires screeching against the pavement behind me and I noticed his eyes widen. I nearly feared looking in the direction of his eyes because I didn’t want to see whatever was causing such a look on his features now. He looked panicked and uncertain. A feeling I was beginning to mirror as he tried to step closer to me, whispering in a low tone towards my ear.

“You need to run, Y/N. Please.”

I could see the seriousness in his eyes but that still didn’t take away the obvious shock my body felt as I was frozen to the chair. I didn’t understand what I was supposed to be running from. What the fuck was happening?

I dared to turn my head around to see what he saw but quickly my mouth was covered by a rather large hand. Then it felt like several arms were wrapping along my waist, using all their force collectively to remove me from the chair. I let my eyes fall on Mitch, who mouthed that he wouldn’t let anything happen to me but it was too late for that. What if he was a part of this somehow and decided to back out at the last minute and that’s why he suggested I run? Anything was possible at this point.

Regardless of how little I knew him or trusted him, it didn’t stop me from shouting his name against the stranger’s hand. Somehow hoping that one yell would save me from whatever my fate was about to be. I could feel the tears building up in my eyes and I truly never felt this scared in my entire life. I began digging my nails into the arms that had me by the waist and I tried to bite at the hand holding my mouth but nothing seemed to make a difference. Whoever this was had it planned out thoroughly and this wasn’t a battle I could fight on my own but that wouldn’t stop me from trying.

“No — no. NO! Fuck.”

I heard his voice echo in the streets as my body was thrown into the back of a dark colored van, one that didn’t have a single marking that would make it stand out amongst the others. That’s when the true panic set in, it’s in that moment of realizing he wouldn’t know where or how to find me. There were no other witnesses besides him and who am I to trust a person I didn’t really know.

Seconds later there was a soft cloth being thrown over my head and now any chance I had of watching the streets to gain some sense of where I was being taken was hopeless. Although I could feel the tears daring to fall, it wasn’t the time for it. I had to start thinking of a plan if I wanted to survive. Another set of hands were holding mine as some sort of rope was used to tie them together against the small of my back.

“Don’t let her move.”

I heard a deep voice say and I nearly winced at the tone. None of this added up. I didn’t know anyone here and it’s not like I ever involved myself in situations for it to lead up to this.

“What are we going to do about Mitch, boss? No way he’s going to let us just take off with his girl.”

His girl. They thought I was some sort of pawn in their game against Mitch but they had it all wrong. I didn’t even know who he was until about five minutes ago. I should have spoken up and let them know that taking me wasn’t going to benefit whatever plan they had but I said nothing. I knew it wasn’t in my best interest to speak because I still had no idea what these men were capable of. Feeling the van come to a sudden halt, it gave me a good indication that whatever our final destination was hadn’t been too far from where I was taken.

“You fucking idiot. That was the point of all this. We are setting the trap to take down Rapp once and for all.”

I swallowed the rather large lump beginning to form in my throat. I hardly knew this Mitch but I still didn’t want their plan to work — no one deserved to die except for these two idiots who can’t even kidnap the right girl. Hearing the slight crack of doors opening, I knew it was time to be moved to a new location now. Feeling the tug along my tied hands, one of the men began to guide me out of the van.

“Jump.”

He demanded as I trusted that the ground would be underneath me as I hopped out of the van, landing in a rather awkward stance as he jerked my hands and forced me to walk straight ahead. The cold air felt nice and for a second, I was able to breathe without having that heavy feeling in my chest but it quickly disappeared as the other kicked at the back of my calf to let me know I needed to hurry up. I must have been in public view and they needed to hide me. Fast.

The only sounds I heard was other people talking and slamming of car doors, nothing that would help me gain direction on where I was. We entered a building and I could only tell when the wind stopped touching the small bits of skin I had revealed. I had to hold onto the fact that I wasn’t going to be killed until at least Mitch showed up, since I was the bait or that’s what they thought at least.

“Take her over there.”

The male stated while pushing me towards another person in the room, now they had control over where my body was to end up next. In the distance, I heard what sounded like chains being rattled and an uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Suddenly the cloth was pulled off my head and the light from inside the building caused my eyes to squint, it was too bright after all the darkness I had surrounding me.

Glancing at the room around me, I saw nothing but a broken down vehicle that was separated into parts in the right corner. A bunch of windows that clearly had stones thrown through them, a somewhat large door that made her believe this used to be some kind of garage for a car mechanic shop and at least five other men crowding the space around her. It smelt old, wet, and like no one had cleaned the inside of this place for months.

I let out soft cough before a guy rather tall in size walked behind me, he began working on the ropes holding my hands together but I was stupid to even think he was doing that to let me be free. Instead he used that same material to bind my feet together, while leaning towards some of the chains hanging down from the ceiling. I shut my eyes for a moment, thinking if there was any way I could get myself out of this but it was me against five other people. It was fucking impossible.

I couldn’t be stupid about this otherwise I’d get myself killed in a matter of seconds. I heard a key being turned in a lock and the sound of it popping open sent chills down my spine. He grabbed for my wrist and for a second I went to pull it away but ultimately let him have his way. It wasn’t the time to fight right now and I had to stop that natural reaction from happening. He brought the metal and cold cuffs to my skin, latching it out both of my wrists and it immediately caused my arms to rest above my head.

It definitely felt like my shoulders were being popped out of the place, given how tight of a pull the chains were causing. Out of nowhere, the contact of a rather firm fist came down on my cheeks and hit directly on the bone. I whimpered quite loudly and those tears from earlier had no choice but to fall now.

“What the fuck was that —- “

It didn’t matter what I had to say because they didn’t want to hear a single word unless they asked for it and they made that obvious by coming in contact with my face once again. Basically hitting my cheek in the exact same spot. Fuck.

“Now that is my turn to speak — where the fuck is Mitch?”

Oh, fuck. Come on. I had absolutely no idea how to answer that, given I didn’t know a single thing about Mitch except for his first name and what he looked like. They were going to think I was lying if I said I didn’t know him but what else was I supposed to do?

“You better talk, bitch.”

Another person in the room demanded but I didn’t bother making eye contact, instead I focused on a greased stained spot on the floor. Just as I separated my lips to say a few words, I was cut off by someone’s boot kicking the side of my abdomen and I gasped for the little bit of air I had left. How the fuck did they want me to talk from a blow like that? Now I was starting to get pissed off — more than before.

“I don’t know a goddamn thing about Mitch and if you were smart, you’d already know that you got the wrong fucking girl.”

I managed to cough out the words since the pain in my side was beginning to rise rather quickly. It felt like my skin was on fire.

“Let me ask you again. Where the fuck is Mitch Rapp?”

I shut my eyes momentarily but this time when they opened, I decided to look at that motherfucker right in his dead and dark eyes. 

“I. Don’t. Know.”

I witnessed his partially tattooed hand lift up in the air, making it accessible to use as a weapon against another part of my body but the sound of a door suddenly slamming open behind where I was chained up caused silence amongst everyone. A few of the men went towards the disturbance but the noise of a gun clicking forward, singling that it was fully loaded stopped the actions of everyone in the room.

I began to worry that someone else was here to use me as pawn in their game but hearing a somewhat familiar voice left me with mixed feelings. Was he actually here to do the saving or to finish the job these men had started?

“Well, would you look at that? I’m right here.”