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Haunted by the Past - Chapter 15 - Trust and Violence
By: RampageSports Date: February 29, 2016, 9:08 am
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Author's Note: The Spenser, Hawk and Susan Silverman characters
belong to mystery novelist Robert B. Parker. Mr. Parker is one
of my favorite authors, and his work is a major influence on the
the way I write. Whether I even come close to mimicking his
style is open to considerable debate, but I have chosen to use
his characters in this story as something of an homage. My goal
is to handle them as lightly as possible and to maintain them as
Mr. Parker created them. Any failure on that front is
completely my own.
[hr]
Haunted by the Past - Chapter 15 - Trust and Violence
When I came out with the donuts the next day, Taylor was the one
posted in front of my door. She selected a powdered jelly to go
with her coffee.
"You know you're perpetuating a stereotype," she said.
"No, I'm offering you donuts," I said. "You can put it back, if
you're worried it may be besmirching your reputation."
She took a bite out of the donut and said, "Awww, too late. It
wouldn't be polite to put it back half eaten like that."
Jordan and Brown arrived quickly — as I suspected they would —
and the prior day's routine was repeated.
This time, Hawk wasn't in the lobby when I arrived. I found he
and Danni chatting in her office, instead. I couldn't hear what
they were saying, but I could see his mouth moving as I
approached.
At one point, I swear I even saw his teeth appear... like maybe
he smiled or something.
Nah... couldn't be.
The conversation ended as I walked up.
"Mizz Richelle," Hawk said with a little nod.
"Mr. Hawk," I replied.
That didn't even earn me a smirk as he made his way back to his
post in the lobby.
I raised an eyebrow as I watched him go, then turned to Danni.
"So, how was last night?" I asked, the eyebrow still raised.
She had her breakfast and coffee set out on the desk in front of
her.
"Fine," she said.
I waited for more details, but it soon became obvious they
weren't forthcoming.
"You seem to be getting over your earlier reluctance regarding
Hawk," I said.
She nodded thoughtfully.
"He came in for coffee last night," she said.
"You invited him in?"
She shrugged slightly and said, "It's cold out there."
She didn't seem all that concerned with the look of amazement on
my face.
"That's quite a turn around from yesterday's conversation," I
said.
Another shrug.
"I took your advice and looked deeper," she said. "He is far
more than he appears."
"I don't believe I advised you to invite him in."
"Were we supposed to stand outside and freeze?"
Truth is, I don't know why I found this development so shocking.
This was typical Danni... choosing to go straight at what was
bothering her, instead of waiting around for the problem to
solve itself.
But, still...
"What did you guys talk about?" I asked.
"None of your business."
"Ohhh, really?" I teased.
"Shut up," she said dismissively.
"What? If you're going to play it all mysterious, then you
leave me no option but to draw my own conclusions."
"That's a good idea," she said. "It's always worked out so well
for you, in the past."
"Uh huh," I said absently. "Did he stay inside?"
"I invited him to, but he declined."
I eyed her expectantly.
"What? I just figured the closer he was, the better."
"Closer," I said. "Sure."
"Shut up," she said again.
"It's just nice to see the two of you getting along so well."
"Yeah, well. Like I said... he's more interesting than he
appears."
I wondered just what they'd discussed, and what stories Hawk
might have told her.
I suspected there were still a lot of interesting things about
him that he had not been willing to share.
Fun as it was, I passed on the opportunity to needle her
further. I could see I was pushing up to the point where mild
annoyance would become full blown aggravation.
And, besides... Hawk and Danni? Nah... couldn't be.
"Whaddya got on your plate today?" I asked.
She looked down at her breakfast and said, "It's a buttered
bagel."
My eyelids dropped to half-mast.
"That's not really what I meant."
She shrugged again, and a small smile played on her face.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," she said. "I work with Mandy
this morning, then Steph and I are going to meet about the new
rookies. See if we need to adjust anything there."
"How are things going with the youth movement, by the way?"
Olivia Holt and Dove Cameron are something of an experiment for
RSI. Though relationships have formed and gelled up and down
the roster, this is our first experience with bringing in a pair
of fighters whose friendship was born elsewhere. A few weeks
later, we added Zendaya Coleman to the mix, and suddenly a new
generation had begun for our little family. With their vibrance
and youthful vitality, they've definitely brought something new
to the table. Now, if I could only decipher a word they were
saying, I might better understand what that something was.
"They're... interesting," Danni said.
"Interesting can mean a lot of different things. Captivating,
odd, amusing, exciting..."
"In this case, it means all of them."
She glanced down at the appointment calendar on her desk.
"I have a phone meeting with Sophia about the joint training
after lunch, and then back for round two with Mandy."
"Got time for a little workout this evening?" I asked.
She smiled. We both loved our private sparring sessions, and it
had been too long since we'd had one.
"Sounds like a plan."
I nodded, then headed into my own office.
First order of business was to check in with Spenser.
"Not much to report," he said through the phone, "but I should
know more by tomorrow."
"Something happening I should know about?"
"I'm not learning much by just watching," he said, "so, after
the club closes, I am planning to commit a minor criminal act."
I didn't have to be a master detective to understand what he
meant. He was planning to break into the club.
"In other words, the answer is no," I said.
"Correct."
The rest of the day passed without incident, and Danni and I
managed to keep the sparring session we'd agreed to. Turned
out, we both needed it badly.
We punished each other brutally. Punches, takedowns, mat
work... anyone watching would have thought we hated each other.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Why we did this to each other is something that has to be
experienced to truly understand.
This was our release... our physical escape from life itself.
We're both competitive by nature, and we are exponentially more
so when we're competing with each other. I despise losing the
way I despise traffic jams, Monday mornings and waking up two
minutes before my alarm goes off... but this was not about
beating her. It was about giving her every ounce of what I had,
and drawing out everything she had. And doing that right
required a delicate balance.
We both knew we were safe with each other. Strange to say when
you're talking about a physical contest where the goal is
literally to break the other person, but it was never a wildly
violent affair for us. We weren't out to destroy each other.
We were out to push each other. To test ourselves to our limits
and beyond. Though neither of us could trust herself to know
when to quit, we could each trust the other to know when to
stop. Prior to that moment, we knew that every inch... every
second... would be a battle.
Danni knew that no matter how hard she hit me... no matter how
badly she might exhaust me on the mats... I would come back and
fight for that next inch if I could. And I knew that if I
couldn't, she would stop me from trying.
Tonight's war ended the same way they all do — with both of us
sprawled out on the canvas, too exhausted to move. We stayed
that way for a long time, staring up into the lights while we
gathered the strength we'd need to get back up. After a few
minutes, I rolled over and clawed my way to where we'd clipped
our water bottles to the outside of the cage. Experience had
taught us to use the tall, slim variety that could fit through
the mesh. Practice had taught us how to work it through without
dropping it. Because nothing is as deflating as watching your
water bottle roll away, just when you need it most.
I slid hers through and looked her way.
"Hey," I called over.
She didn't even sit up. She just rolled her head up so the
crown was touching the mat and looked at me upside down.
That was good enough for me, and I tossed the water bottle in
her direction.
"Sh*t!" she yelled as she scrambled to get in position to catch
it, which she did.
She shot me a look.
"Hey, you know the rule," I said.
Our tradition was that, once eye contact is made, the thrower is
free to proceed. If Danni had missed and let the bottle hit her
in the head, that was her problem.
That rule might seem a little callous, but I was okay with it.
After all, she was the one who set the precedent when she damn
near killed me after our first spar.
I retrieved my own bottle, then leaned against the fence and
drank as if I hadn't had water in days. Danni finished a long
pull of her own, then slid her way over to where I was.
"Been too long," she said.
She was soaked with sweat. Her skin was coated with it, and
rivulets ran freely down her face and throat. It stained both
her top and her shorts, and her hair was plastered to her neck.
There was a mark on her face where I'd caught her with a
particularly nasty cross, and there was fresh bruising on her
right side from a pair of knees I was quite proud of.
"Way too long," I agreed.
I didn't need a mirror to tell me I looked as bad as she did, if
not worse. I had a bruise of my own where her foot had landed
untouched, and my arms and chest were heavy from the exertion of
fending her off on the ground.
We sat in silence for quite a while, both exhausted and hurt.
That was the feeling we were yearning for when we started, and
we took our time enjoying what we'd earned.
You don't have to say it. We know we're strange.
"You ever wonder if maybe we're doing this wrong?" she asked,
breaking the reverie.
"You mean like maybe I should hit you more, and get hit less?"
"No, not this. We do this just fine," she said. "It's just...
I don't know."
Her words sort of drifted away like she'd somehow forgotten she
was talking.
"You okay?" I asked. "I hit you harder than I thought I did, or
what?"
She gave a little laugh and gently shook her head.
"Nah. I just... thinking too much, I guess."
A week or so ago, her life had been humming along just fine.
Now, she was traveling around with a bodyguard to protect her
from a sociopath she'd never even met who had tried to kill me
years ago.
I could see how those circumstances might inspire a little
excess thought.
"This isn't going to last forever," I said.
"Any news on that?" she asked.
"Not so far. But I have the feeling we'll know something
tomorrow."
[hr]
Character Reference
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Richelle_100x120.jpg
Name: Richelle Winterfeld
Nickname(s):
Background: Owner of the RSI stable, former underground fighter
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Danni_100x120.jpg
Name: Danneel Harris
Nickname(s): Danni
Background: RSI stable leader, reigning DEF welterweight
champion
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Stephanie_100x120.jpg
Name: Stephanie McMahon
Nickname(s): Steph
Background: RSI's fighter development coordinator, former SCQ
super heavyweight champion
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMY3g3N1hJLWpleG8[/img]
Name: Sophia Bush
Nickname(s): Sophs
Background: Danni's close friend, Dragon's Den stable leader,
DEF welterweight competitor
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMGpJdTNkc1RnSHc[/img]
Name: Amanda Seyfried
Nickname(s): Mandy
Background: ESL welterweight contender
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMGp0Y09TVXo4Rlk[/img]
Name: Olivia Holt
Nickname(s): Liv, Little Lindy Bunchy Booty
Background: FAC bantamweight contender
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMbUdYRUVzQ24xUHc[/img]
Name: Dove Cameron
Nickname(s):
Background: FAC bantamweight contender
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMWVDSHFLVHN4QlU[/img]
Name: Zendaya Coleman
Nickname(s): Z, Daya, ZayZay, Z-Day, Zenduzzi
Background: FAC middleweight contender
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMTWlVa0RtSHRqdlE[/img]
Name: Patrick O'Rourke
Nickname(s):
Background: Major with the New Jersey State Police, family
friend of Richelle's
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMVVZyNWhTVnVrMzA[/img]
Name: Meghan Taylor
Nickname(s):
Background: New Jersey State Police Detective, works for Major
O'Rourke
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMUlRZaFhJQjBuQnc[/img]
Name: Gavin Brown
Nickname(s):
Background: New Jersey State Police Trooper, works for Major
O'Rourke
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMS1lDYndNak9hbHM[/img]
Name: Vince Jordan
Nickname(s):
Background: New Jersey State Police Trooper, works for Major
O'Rourke
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