A/N: I know this took like forever and a day, but here it is, Chapter 7!
Wolf's Daughter27- don't worry, Tyler will get his just desserts.
ShakespeareActressVamp- I agree I like having both sides of their POV, but I worry the story is getting tedious. So I'm going to work on a way to get them both in there without it taking a retelling of the chapter in the other's POV. And yes Zane was in her head while she was with Tyler. However, I'm not going to say anymore because that would ruin the climax in about 2 or 3 chapters.
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Blood Oath
Chapter 7: Just a Walk in the Park
Zane's POV
Riley walked out of her room an hour later, her ginger hair back to its usual straightness. She wore faded dark blue skinny jeans, a tight plain black shirt, and bright blue converse, with a big black headband. Also, black makeup ringed her eyes, shaded with bright blue eyeliner.
"I'm ready" she said cheerfully
"Great, lets go" I answered and stood from the couch where I'd been relaxing.
"You could have turned on the TV or something,"
"No I don't watch much television"
"Oh alright, well never mind then." She replied and headed for the door.
I followed grabbing an umbrella for her, throwing on my black trench coat and hat, keeping the gloves in my pocket just in case.
"We don't need that," she pointed at the umbrella "It's just cloud cover"
"Consider it a precaution. I like to be prepared for anything." I answered, and when she looked up at me her eyes got real wide, but after a moment seemed to sparkle when a small laugh escaped her lips.
"Wow, 'cuse you don't look shady or anything… it's a little frightening." She laughed, but I could feel from her that it made her feel safe. Pride swelled my chest. I led her to the door and we began walking.
"So where to?" I asked
"Umm… how about the park across the street?"
"The park it is." I frowned, hearing her reasoning behind it.
'Well I need to work off all that food, so it's the best place to go.'
I had hoped there was more to it than that.
We began our walk around the park, and I let myself get lost in thought 'How am I going help her regain her confidence?' In the silence Riley let her mind wander going on and on about how this was such a bad idea. It was so awkward! I couldn't help but chuckle, she worried too much, seconded guessed herself too often, and the truth was she was perfect. It was adorable the way her face would scrunch up when she was thinking too hard.
We went and sat on a park bench, and stared out across the pond to the other side. Almost instantly, the sky darkened, and water trickled down. It hit the pond forming perfect circles. I popped the umbrella open and held it over her.
'Why thank you, now I'm glad you brought it." She giggled and searched for something to talk about.
"So, tell me something about yourself?" she asked hesitantly.
"Well, what would you like to know?" I asked back
"Everything…" she blurted out, a blush crossed her cheeks "Let's play the question game." She suggested
"Alright, you start." I offered
"Okay, real basic. Last name?"
"Trace," I answered "favorite color?" I played along. I could get any of this information simply by tapping her mind, but I liked it better for her to tell me of her own free will.
"Ooh I really like that, Zane Trace." She giggled "and peacock blue"
"Getting technical, aren't we." I joked
"Well it's specific," she retorted defensively.
"Whatever… so why did you choose the park?"
"… h, hey it was my turn."
"You get two next round."
"No. I plead the fifth." She stated firmly, but her mind wandered 'I really don't want to bring up Tyler and this weight issue thing again… oh who the hell am I kidding…I did it because it's the most neutral place I can think of. I like the idea of going out on a date with him… but he can't know that.' She thought.
She was fighting this so hard; her attraction was inevitable because we had already begun the bond. Again I felt sorry for her, she never had a say in the matter. What had started as innocent flirting, and then making out, took away her freedom.
I often worried how upset she'd be when she found out… I was going to have to tell her soon, the bond was too powerful, especially for only having the first phase completed; it shocked even me.
"…m sorry…"her apology broke me from the trance "I shouldn't have snapped like that it was a simple question. I'm just not use to this whole socializing thing anymore." She answered, sick with herself.
"Hey don't worry about it. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, I completely understand. Besides, you've trained yourself to hold your tongue, and practiced it for so long, that you've forgotten how to open up. That'll take time." I felt sorry for her once again, and wondered what I could do to help.
However, the weather had other plans. The rain began to lighten up, and the sky to lighten. I cleared my throat to get Riley's attention, seeing as how she was lost pondering what I just told her.
"Hmm?" she murmured, shaking the fog from her brain.
"Why don't we head back now?" I promptly suggested
"Oh but we've hardly been here an hour," she pouted
"Yes," she had to go and pout, damn it all "but I think it would be best if we left now and came back some other time." She opened her mouth to reply, but let out a high pitch shriek instead.
My fangs flared out defensively, my pupils constricted as I looked about for the cause. However, upon seeing the ball of fluff attacking her legs I let them retract and composed myself.
"Moses! What are you doing here?" she giggled, and scooped the dog up in her arms, and let it lick her face.
"Riley? Is that you?" A male's voice asked from behind us. Riley turned to face him first.
"Oh my god, Jason, how are you?" she smiled, but it was guarded.
"I've been… well. And how about you? I haven't really seen you since high school." He commented
"Well I've been around," she shot back defensively
"Yeah, with Tyler… and speaking of him, where is he? I'm surprised he let you out without…" he sneered
Riley cut him off "Tyler is out of the picture, so please don't mention him anymore." At this Jason's face lit up, and his thought went to sleazy places. She noticed, the look and quickly added "Oh sorry, how rude of me. Zane this is Jason, Jason, Zane." She leaned into me and I held her shoulder as a supportive gesture.
"Oh I see," Jason's eyes narrowed; Riley noticed, much to her displeasure.
"Ri, don't you think we should be getting home?" I offered
"Yeah, probably. She yah Jay." She put Moses down, waved, and promptly walked away.
"Thank you for getting me out of there. He'd always been jealous of Tyler, and now…well… I'm sorry, he seems to have gotten the wrong impression," she apologized; like I minded.
"It's fine. Let people think what they want, I don't care."
"Good attitude; fuck people, I do what I want." She laughed a loud, her laugh like a bell.
We made it back to her house with moments to spare.
"So I guess you'll be going home now" she assumed, but was clearly disappointed.
"Not unless you want me to," I assured
"Well… not really, so come on in." she beamed, and I smiled back stepping inside. I instantly went to the living room and shut the large drapes across the floor –to- ceiling windows; that would hurt…
"What was that for?" she asked confused, but I just gave her the 'you don't want to know' look.
"Oh…kay…" she agreed and came to sit near me on the couch.
We spent the remainder of the day talking about ourselves. I found how much I enjoyed hearing her tell me things, rather than probing into her mind. From then on I vowed I would stay out, unless direly necessary.
"So what do you do for a living?" she asked, and that threw me off guard. How to word this one?
"Well you could say I help people."
"So like a social services worker?"
"Not exactly, but it's complicated…" She stared at me, a calculating look crossing her face. I was curious to know what was going on in there; my mind involuntarily reached out to hers, but I tried to hold it back. It was so much harder to hold your mind back from your bond, than to let things flow freely. I only caught a few words; odd, shady, sweet, and trust.
"So what about you?"
"Huh?" she brought herself back to the present.
"What do you do for a living?"
"I just started at the local clinic as their Radiologist's Assistant."
"Very nice… And what does that mean exactly?" I asked, feeling dumb, but her smile made my worries disappear
"I can assist the Radiologist by signing off on paperwork, or reading scans. I'm also trained on all the machinery. My favorite though is sonography."
"And why's that?" she had me intrigued.
"Because I love seeing all the new mom's come in, and watch their faces as they catch a first glimpse of their new baby, and then continue to watch them grow." She looked as if she were off in a different place
"So you want to be a mother then?"
"What?" she jerked back, eyes hard.
"No, I didn't mean it like that… just that well… you looked so happy while talking about it." I stammered quickly; damn she kept me on my toes.
"Oh alright, I'm sorry" she apologized "But no I don't. I knew from the time I was a teenager that kids weren't in my future… See I have this condition, I can't have children."
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry." Shit had I know that I wouldn't have asked, how did I not know that? Okay, personal thoughts ban, lifted.
"No it's alright I've accepted it, and I've moved on." The smile on her face returned, but it didn't shine the way t usually did.
Quickly she changed the subject to my favorite ice-cream, and I knew I screwed up real bad. Still, she let me stay, and we talked until after dusk.
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A/N: Alright, I wasn't really confidant with the way this chapter started out, but I think it got better as it went. Anyway, tell me what you think.