Happy Wednesday guys :)
Not gonna say much in this Authors Note just, thanks for your continuing support and welcome to new readers - yes, we are still collecting new readers. Almost up to 300 reviews! That's truly awesome.
Big thanks as usual to cjgwilliams, you continue to coax more out of me when I think I can't give any more.
And so on to Chapter 26...
Chapter 26.
Four glanced through the partially open door of a room he had never entered, almost passing by it completely until he heard Tris's bright laughter coming from within, compelling him to stop and find his girlfriend.
He pushed the door completely open to see Tris sitting on a couch extremely close to some guy Four had never seen before, and he resisted the jealousy that rose in his chest.
"Hey," he said, breaking into their conversation, and he was rewarded with a bright smile from Tris.
"Four," she sprung up from the couch and bounced over to him, her arms swinging around his neck as she pulled him into a kiss.
After she moved away, she turned in his arms to face her friend Matthew.
"Matthew, this is Four," she introduced.
"Ah, the man who stole my girl," Matthew smiled to Four.
Four swung his head from Tris to Matthew, wondering if this scrawny guy was the past lover he had heard so much about.
"Matthew, we've talked about this," Tris reprimanded, her voice teasing as she rolled her eyes at her friend's declaration.
Matthew sighed dramatically. "A guy can dream, Prior."
Tris ignored him as she looked back to Four before introducing him to one of her oldest friends, a grin forming on her lips at his perplexed expression about the exchange he just witnessed. "Four, this is Matthew, my best friend in the whole world."
"I thought that was Caleb?" Four asked, clearly confused.
"Caleb is my brother," Tris explained, waving her hand at the thought of her sibling. "Matthew is my friend."
"Which trumps brother," Matthew beamed.
Four offered Matthew his hand. "Well, boyfriend trumps brother and best friend," he returned snidely, wrapping his arm tightly around Tris's waist and holding her close.
Matthew's eyebrow rose at Four's statement and the almost growl in his voice, his eyes swinging to Tris in question at the man's obvious show of protectiveness.
Tris dismissed Four's choice of words with a nonchalant wave of her hand, and Matthew eased noticeably.
"We need to talk, Tris," Four announced seriously.
"Oh, I don't like the sound of that," Tris grumbled before moving back to the couch and tossing her body down onto it.
She watched as Four shifted his weight between his feet, obviously not comfortable with what he had to say. This went on for a few moments, and Tris's imagination got the better of her as she realized what this might be.
"Are you breaking up with me?" she asked him sitting straighter on the couch, disbelief apparent in her voice, and a little outrage, too. She felt a bubble of anger start to build within her, her thoughts running wild. How could be want to break up with her? She was practically the perfect girlfriend, wasn't she? If you ignored the fact she was emotionally stunted and had a history that was less than ideal, that was.
"What?" Four exclaimed in surprise. "Don't be crazy, Blondie."
"It's just, I've started a lot of conversations with the whole, 'we need to talk,' thing and none of them ended well. Well, for the guy, at least."
"No, Tris. I'm not breaking up with you," he answered seriously, though inside he was smiling at her reaction. At least she was admitting there was a relationship between them that could break. That had to mean something. His feeling of insecurity when it came to them churned within him, but he pushed it down deep, having other concerns more pressing at the moment. "I need to talk about what happened the other day."
"Hey, that was not my fault. How was I supposed to know you can't bend that way?"
Four had to chuckle at her statement, his mind flashing back to that moment, and a large, dopey grin forming on his lips. "Most people can't bend that way, baby."
"I can," Tris returned with a smirk.
"Yes, you can," Four responded evenly, his tone light.
"Guys, you do know I'm still here, right?" Matthew interrupted them.
Four's eyes widened, and he turned to Matthew, only just remembering they weren't alone in this large room he had never seen before. It was obviously a music room, exquisitely decorated and containing instruments he had never heard anyone play.
"Sorry."
Matthew smiled, thinking he might actually like this guy.
"So, Tris. We really need to talk," Four said again.
"Okay, so talk."
Four looked between Tris and Matthew. "I think it's better we talk alone."
"Matthew is okay, Four. We can talk in front of him."
"As long as it has nothing to do with your sex life," Matthew added in, just for clarification. "Because there are some things I just don't need to know about."
"Well, not a whole lot to talk about then," Tris grinned as she leaned over to Matthew and stage-whispered conspiratorially. "We have a LOT of sex."
"Tris, you forget that I know you. This information is nothing new to me," Matthew quipped.
Tris beamed as she turned to Four, ready for anything he had to tell her.
"It's about what we found the other day," Four informed her evasively before adding for clarification, "At the house."
"Oh," Tris whispered, her voice taking on a somber tone immediately as her mind was invaded with images of the girl and that day.
"What?" Matthew asked looking between the two.
"A dead body was found at my old house," Tris told him without actually looking at him, shrugging her shoulders lightly as she stared off into space.
"What!" Matthew repeated, louder this time.
"I don't think anyone else should know, Tris," Four said. "The fewer, the better."
"Matthew was the one who found me," Tris provided simply.
"He found you?" Four asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
Tris's eyes locked with his, needing him to understand without her actually saying the words.
Four shifted his eyes to Matthew to see the other man looking intently at Tris. The look of concern was evident on Matthew's face and when he finally lifted them to meet Four's, he clarified, "I was the first one to enter the house after her parent's murder, when she was unconscious."
Four looked sharply at the scrawny man. "Wow." His eyes narrowed in contemplation. This could actually be a break for them.
"Not the words I would choose but… yeah," Matthew mumbled.
"Will you be able to look at some crime scene photos for me?" Four probed.
"Hers?" Matthew asked, pointing at Tris. "Because I really don't want to go there again."
"No," Four shook his head immediately, not wanting to put his girlfriend's best friend through that kind of trauma. "We'd want you to look at the new crime scene. I need to know how identical it is to the original."
"Okay," Matthew answered hesitantly, less than thrilled at that prospect.
"What did you need to talk about?" Tris asked Four, reminding his of his urgency to find her before he got sidetracked.
"The girl," he told her, reluctance evident in his voice. "The contacts were clean. Which makes us think the perp put them in."
"So he made her wear contacts the same color as my eyes," Tris stated, bile rising in her throat.
"That's just… wrong," Matthew added.
"Tris," Four started, his voice taking on a soft tone. "I wish you would consider getting out of the country for a while. Take a nice vacation somewhere, relax and be pampered."
"I second that," Matthew nodded his approval. "Seriously, Pix, you don't need to be around this."
"Pix?" Four asked.
"Pixie," Tris snorted with a shrug of her shoulder, glad Matthew could always make her smile, even in moments like these where she was forced to relive the horrors she had once experienced. "It's a pet name of sorts."
"And the fact when you were little, you told everyone you were gonna be Tinkerbell when you grew up," Matthew added, earning a snort of laughter from both Four and Tris at the ridiculousness of that thought.
An image of Tris dancing around in a green dress and fairy wings erupting into Four's mind, and he was transported back in time to his childhood.
"Will you be my P'ta?" a tiny Tris asked him.
"I'm not Peter Pan, I'm Spiderman," was his gruff reply, and he ran off down the hallway, shooting imaginary webs from his wrist. When he reached the end of the long corridor, he turned back.
Even with the distance between them, he could still see the tears welling in her eyes and her bottom lip trembling slightly.
He sighed, and then retraced his steps.
"Do you have pixie-dust?"
Tris nodded, a huge smile forming on her face as her chubby hand dove into a pouch tied around her waist. She carefully pulled it out again threw it into the air, green glitter flying everywhere and fluttering to the hardwood floor around them.
"Well, come on. Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning."
And he grabbed her hand, and the two of them ran down the hallway giggling.
"Four?"
"Huh?" Four shook his head, his eyes focusing on the grown-up Tris.
"You kinda spaced out there," she grinned.
"Sorry, just remembered something."
Tris shot him a quizzical look.
"I'll tell ya later," he smirked.
"So," Matthew interrupted them again, smacking his hands together. "Do you need any help packing?"
"I'm not leaving," Tris told them both. "I'm not running away. I never have before, and I won't start now."
"Tris," Four returned sternly.
"No, Four," Tris cut in her anger building. "This animal killed my family. He… he…" She shook her head, unable to say anymore.
"I just want you to be safe, Blondie. I don't want him to hurt you again." Her gung ho way of dealing with the fact there was someone out there who could very well be the guy who tortured her all those years before was getting old. Why couldn't she, just for once, let him do what he did best: Protect the innocent.
"I'd like to see him try," Tris scoffed. "I am not the same girl I was back then. I'm stronger and more deadly than he can ever imagine. And I am going to bring him down."
Four could see the resolve in her eyes, and he knew there was no way he could get her to leave the country until all this was over. That didn't mean he wasn't going to try. His shoulders tightened and he drew in a breath to begin arguing.
"Tris, why can't you let someone else take care of you," he asked, his eyes intent on her.
"I don't need anyone to take care of me. Have you not been listening to what I just said? I won't run and hide," she argued.
"I'm not asking you to hide…," he shot back
"Yes, you are," she interrupted. "You want, both of you want me to leave the country and leave this shit to someone else to deal with. I can't do that, Four, why can't you understand that?"
"And why can't you understand my need to keep you safe?" He knew his voice was rising but he couldn't stop his anger at her singlemindedness. Why couldn't she see she meant everything to him and if something happened, something he could have prevented, then he wouldn't be able to live with himself?
"I don't need you to keep me safe, I can do that on my own," she retorted just as loudly.
Matthew simply stood, watching them argue back and forth, liking Four more and more. This man wasn't someone to just rollover at Tris's demand and Matthew grinned, knowing Tris had finally met her match.
"Okay, with that decided, let me see the crime scene photos, and I'll tell you want I know," Matthew interjected, noticing Tris's determination and Four's stubbornness and knowing nothing good could come of their arguing. It seemed they were both as stubborn as the other. "I could help with research and shit like that. That's what I do."
"Matthew loves research. He really does. He keeps it under his mattress with his K-Y," Tris quipped, grateful her friend had interrupted. She didn't want to argue with Four, least of all about this situation.
"You are incredibly strange sometimes. Ya know that, right?" Matthew told her, his expression serious, glad to steer the conversation in another direction.
"Says the guy who still has his collection of Star Wars action figures," she returned glibly.
"Hey, they are vintage and will be worth a fortune someday."
"Man, you really have vintage Star Wars stuff?" Four asked him, his interest in Matthew's collection apparent from his tone. Matthew was clearly trying to defuse the tension between he and Tris, and Four decided to go along with it.
"My collection is legendary," Matthew smiled.
Tris shook her head, knowing she had lost the conversation, but she at least convinced Four that she would not run and hide from the pervert who was still out there.
"Okay, I'm gonna let you boys bond," she said, standing from her seat and giving Four a fleeting kiss. "I have a ton of work to do since I was abducted yesterday and forced to have fun."
And she swept from the room, leaving the two men standing, chatting about Star Wars, the finesse of a light saber and something about a Millennium Falcon!
…
Later in the day, Tris was heading toward one of the many rooms she could work from, her laptop and notepad in hand, ready to look over some emails George sent over and a few proposals she need to read before work on Monday. Her day off with her friends had been great, but now she needed to catch up on the important stuff that needed to be done.
"Tris," a familiar voice called, and she stopped in her tracks, whispering a silent prayer before slowly turning around.
Peter Hayes was a handsome man, his green eyes hypnotic, and his strong features so easy on the eyes. Tris could see how she was attracted to this man so long ago, what heterosexual woman wouldn't be? She felt a twinge of regret in her stomach. Not over ending their relationship, she knew that had been the right thing to do, but they'd had some great times and maybe she could have handled the situation a little better.
Her quasi-relationship with Peter had started out as a fuck-buddies kinda thing, a way of releasing built up energy and unwinding after an exhilarating mission, but Peter had wanted more and she had refused him time and time again to make their relationship more permanent. But then she found herself at a particular low point, her emotions whacked-out and she had turned back to Peter, seeming to give into him and they became something more than friends with benefits.
Eventually, she had tired of Peter and called off their situation completely and Peter had taken it hard. For weeks he had refused to accept they were over and things had been pretty intense in the house for a while.
But, they'd had some great times together. He seemed to really understand her and what she thought of as the darkness inside her, he had a wicked sense of humor, and he was certainly one of the more attentive lovers she'd had, and her biggest regret was that she'd hurt him.
Although his actions after they had split sometimes made it hard for that regret to surface.
"Hey Peter," she smiled easily as he moved closer to her. He leaned in to kiss her, and Tris turned her head just in time to avoid his lips meeting hers, and he kissed her cheek instead.
He looked confused when she pulled away.
Tris sighed before explaining sadly. "We've talked about the kissing, Peter."
"Sorry," he smirked, his expression showing he was anything but. "Couldn't help myself."
"Well, you are gonna have to stop," Tris returned sternly, deciding she didn't want to have this conversation anymore before turning to continue down the hallway to find a room to work in.
"Aren't you gonna ask how the mission went?" Peter asked following her.
Tris sighed, indulging him in that moment for reasons she couldn't grasp. "How did the mission go?"
"It was awesome, though I have to say, we're lucky that I'm still alive, Sexy."
"Don't call me that," Tris exclaimed, spinning back around to face him, her eyes now a blazing green.
"Whoa, easy there, babe," Peter answered, holding his hands up to her.
"Peter, just stop. We broke up, remember? You can't keep calling me those pet names after all this time."
"What?" he asked daftly. "So are you and Vladimir still hot and heavy? To be honest, I thought you'd be over him by now, and I mean that in a completely non-sexual way."
"This has nothing to do with Dimi," she answered as she turned, spotting an empty room where she could work, and suddenly wishing she hadn't sent Four off to bond with Matthew. She could use some of his hyper-protectiveness of her right now, especially since she didn't want to be having this conversation – now or ever.
"No?" Peter queried as he followed her in, closing the door behind him. "So, are you still doing him or not?"
Tris placed her laptop and notepad down on the walnut desk, sighing deeply before meeting his eyes, annoyance apparent in hers.
"No, Peter," she snapped. "Dimi and I are no longer together."
Peter chuckled a little. "I knew it wouldn't last long. He wasn't someone who could handle you long-term."
"Handle me?" Tris echoed with disgust.
"Sure, babe," he continued easily, not acknowledging the anger in her voice. "We both know it takes a certain kind of man to keep up with you."
Tris looked up at him and laughed. "Well, obviously, you weren't the one to handle me, either."
"Oh babe. I did a whole lot of handling, and you know it," he returned confidently.
Tris stopped organizing her work materials and sat down. "Stop calling me babe. I'm not your Babe anymore."
"But you could be again," Peter pleaded, clearly not ashamed that he was begging her as he continued. "Come on, Tris, we were good together."
"We were good together," she admitted, "but the relationship ran its course. Move on, Peter. I have."
"What! To Vladimir?" He scorned.
"Initially, yes," Tris answered, narrowing her eyes at him before a sudden smile graced her lips at her next statement. "I have a new boyfriend now."
Her revelation had the response she'd hoped for. Peter recoiled slightly at her words and Tris felt a little gloat of happiness within her. As much as Peter knew what to say to hurt her, she knew exactly how he would feel about her having a man in her life she'd labelled as her boyfriend.
"Boyfriend?" Peter squeaked out. It was the very word she intentionally never used in relation to him.
"Yes, and you are going to leave him alone and not get all possessive and shit like you did with Dimi. Because he will kick your ass," she finished with a grin.
Peter huffed in disgust. "Oh, he can try."
"And he will succeed," she gloated, not even trying to keep the bite out of her voice as she responded to his arrogance.
"I take it he's here?" Peter grumbled as he flopped into couch in front of the desk watching Tris open her laptop.
Tris nodded and switched the machine on. "He's been with The Dauntless for some months now."
"And you are calling him your boyfriend? That was quick. We dated for almost a year, and I never got that honorary title."
"Well, that must tell you something, don't ya think?"
She looked at Peter. "I'm serious, Peter, leave Four alone."
"Four. I think I met him earlier."
"Tall, brooding, devastatingly handsome," she described while smiling, not looking up from the work that appeared on her laptop.
"Well, that describes me. How about the new guy?" Peter smirked to her.
"Whatever," Tris dismissed his high opinion of himself, though she knew Peter was just as good-looking as Four was. However, Four had something Peter didn't – humility.
"Look," Tris started, "what we had was great, but it ran its course. I'm sorry that it obviously meant more to you than me."
Peter ignored Tris's words and grinned. "When this is over, we should have angry sex. That's the best."
"Why are you not listening to me?" Tris said with frustration. "I'm tired of having this same conversation with you over and over again."
Peter looked at Tris, his face serious and his eyes holding hers.
"You can pretend all you want, Tris. But sooner or later, you're gonna have to face up to who you really are."
"And who is that?" she asked.
"A sad, lonely, little girl who's scared of having any true feelings or commitments. Scared of putting herself out there because she's afraid that the minute she feels love or allows someone to love her, they will be taken away."
"What's wrong with that?" she returned, her voice seeming to have lost its strength, terrified that what he said was true because that's how she felt at times. Again, she regretted that Peter knew her so well. Knew the demons within her, the ones she battled with regularly.
"You are missing out on life," Peter answered.
"I hardly think that," Tris scoffed.
"Tris, screwing random guys is not living… maybe living in the moment but what's that gonna get you twenty years down the line? Nothing. You will just have The Dauntless and nothing else. We both know you don't want to end up like your uncle."
"I won't end up like my uncle," Tris ground out through her teeth. "Four is different. I…"
Peter laughed. "Don't tell me you love him?"
Tris looked down at the desk in front of her and swiped away invisible dust with her hand while pondering his question.
"Come on," Peter cried in disbelief, his voice rising in anger. "We both know you are incapable of that emotional shit. You don't know how to love beyond the physical kind. And ya know what? When he's had enough of your insecurities and hang-ups, you'll come running back to me. Just like you did before when you got scared everyone you knew was living their life and you would be left by yourself."
"You can be a real bastard, ya know?" Tris spat out, knowing his words were true. Her insecurities of being alone had the clincher of why she had returned to Peter after saying they would never be more than fuck buddies.
"Yeah, and you're a bitch," Peter returned harshly.
"But I'm not your bitch," she paused before smiling.
"Yeah, well I feel sorry for this Four guy because sooner or later, you will rip his heart out and stomp all over it."
With that statement, he turned on his heel and stormed over to the door. He pulled it open roughly, finding Christina on the other side, about to enter.
"Hey!" she called out in disgust. "Watch where you're going."
"Oh look, it's bitch number two," Peter said sarcastically.
"Oh look, it's the leader of the peckerheads," Christina retorted.
Peter continued out of the room and down the hallway.
Christina turned when she heard Tris exhale loudly.
"You okay, babe?" she asked.
"Yeah," Tris answered quietly.
"You sure? I could hear the yelling out in the corridor."
"He won't stop calling me babe," Tris said with irritation as she fell back into her chair, running a hand through her coiffed blonde hair in exasperation at Peter's reaction to her.
"Babe? I call you babe," Christina stated.
"Yeah, but you know it's different when girls call their friends babe. When he calls me babe it's more of an I wanna nail you babe," Tris explained.
"Well, he has been known to do that," Christina pointed out.
"You're not helping."
"Sorry. That bastard." Christina grinned. "Better?"
Tris offered her a weak smile. "Thanks." She rested her head on the back of the large office chair, grateful for the soft cushioning. "Why is he so hung up on this?" she asked her friend. "It's been eight months since I ended things!"
"Is that a rhetorical question?" Christina returned, kneeling on the couch in front of the desk and leaning forward, resting her arms on the back and looking at Tris.
"Relationships break down all the time," Tris continued without acknowledging Christina' question. "It's a fact of life."
"Yeah, but there is always one relationship that makes it, ya know? The one relationship that involves marriage, babies, and matching walkers. And Peter… he wanted that with you."
"He knew from the beginning that it wasn't that serious," Tris admitted.
"Maybe not at first, but it turned into something more," Christina argued. At Tris's skeptical look, she added. "Well, for him anyway."
"I thought you were supposed to be on my side," Tris huffed.
"I'm always on your side, babe," Christina smiled. "What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know," Tris moaned before she stood. "He needs to get over it. Move on. I'm tired of this every time he comes home. It's not like he's hasn't been with anyone since me. I asked Matthew. So why does he refuse to let go?"
"I can't answer that for you. I would say give it time, but that doesn't seem to be working."
Tris paced with frustration. "God, he makes me so angry sometimes."
She stopped by a window which looked out across an expanse of green grass. She could see a group of the guys playing an impromptu game of football in the late afternoon sun.
Right in the middle of the action was Four, and Tris smiled as she watched him sprint across the yard, stretching out and catching a ball before receiving high-fives from his teammates.
"Whatcha looking at?" Christina asked and she climbed off the couch to join Tris at the window. "Oh, men at play. There is nothing more stimulating, don't ya think?"
"Yeah, there is definitely something to be said about a hot and sweaty man," Tris smirked.
The two girls watched as Four caught the ball again and turned, running in the opposite direction with Zeke, Will, and Uriah hot on his trail.
"Your sleeping buddy does not stand a chance against my man," Tris gloated.
"Yeah, well, just wait until Will hits his stride. He's a bit of a slow starter," Christina retorted with a grin.
"Too much information, babe," Tris laughed, holding her hand up in a stopping motion.
"I was actually talking about football, Tris. You need to get your mind out the gutter."
"There is nothing wrong with getting down and dirty," Tris retorted.
"Amen to that sister," Christina, and they high-fived each other.
They shifted their gazes out the window again, each with their own thoughts as they watched the guys continuing their game.
"Wanna go play cheerleaders?" Christina asked, nodding her head out to the guys.
Tris looked back to her laptop and notepad on the desk.
"What the hell. Let's go."
…
Tris and Christina were actually relaxing more than cheerleading in the bright afternoon sunshine. That was until Marlene and Tori joined them, and then the girls began making up silly cheers to urge the guys on during their friendly game of football.
This only seemed to distract the guys from playing, and soon, the girls found themselves dragged out onto the 'field' to join the game.
"Tris's not allowed on the same team as Four," Will said straight away.
"Why not?" Tris pouted, moving to stand next to Four, who wrapped his arm around her shoulder automatically and gave her a squeeze.
"Because Divergents against the rest of us is totally unfair and against the rules," Christina answered with a smile.
"Whose rules?" Tris demanded, her hands on her hips.
"My rules," Christina returned, stepping forward to face off with Tris, a smirk on her face.
"Bitch showdown," Uriah grinned, his head swiveling between the two, and there was an audible groan from most of the crowd while they watched the two women with rapt attention, curious to see what happened next.
Tris narrowed her eyes at Christina, and when the other girl wriggled her eyebrows back, Tris smiled.
"Fine," she agreed and turned on her heel, walking in the opposite direction and pulling Will with her.
"Did Christina just win?" Zeke asked, bewildered while watching the retreating figure of Tris as she whispered something to Will.
"Nope," Caleb smirked. "Tris gave in, which means there's something in it for Tris."
The group split into two teams, Christina and Marlene joining Four, Caleb, and Matthew, while Tris and Tori joined Zeke, Uriah, and Will.
Zeke called his team into a huddle. "They have a strong team over there," he told them. "Tori, you concentrate on Matthew."
Tori nodded, shifting her eyes over to the other team's huddle and the tall man clutching the football, thinking the best way to take him down was by the legs.
"Uriah, you stay on Caleb," Zeke instructed.
Uriah nodded.
Zeke looked to Tris and Will.
"Will, you take Marlene. She can be crafty."
"Sure thing, boss," Will grinned, though slightly miffed he didn't get Christina to cover.
"Tris," Zeke started and when she lifted her eyebrow to him, he smiled, shaking his head and resisting the urge to chuckle, knowing he would be the one to take on Christina. "Do whatever you are gonna do." At Tris's grin he added, "Just don't hurt Four too much. Remember, he's my partner just as much as he's yours."
"Oh, threesome," Tris giggled.
When Uriah began to cough, Will smacked him on the back, chuckling at Tris's choice of words and Uriah's reaction.
"Okay, break." And the group split apart and into position.
Tris smirked to Four when she squared up in front of him.
"I might have guessed Zeke would be too chicken shit to go against me," he said her, a half smile on his face. "You are going down, Prior."
"Bring it on, Eaton," was her reply.
Matthew snapped the ball to Caleb who scurried back with it, looking and waiting for one of his team to get clear.
Zeke shook his head when he saw Tris tackle Four, her full weight behind her as she brought him to the ground and landed hard on top of him, a wide grin on her face. The pair was oblivious to the rest of the team players as they rolled on the grass, Four eventually standing and running in the opposite direction looking for the ball, Tris hot on his tail.
Zeke intercepted a throw from Caleb to Marlene and quickly tossed the ball to Will, only to be caught mid-air by Caleb again and the other agent started for the end zone.
"Tris!" Zeke called, knowing he had no chance of catching the older Prior, finally getting the blonde's attention.
She turned from Four and set off after Caleb. She almost reached him before she was tackled from behind by Four.
Zeke grinned at that. Finally, someone who was not afraid to take the girl down.
Four laughed out as he brought Tris down, turning as they tumbled to the ground so he would land first.
Tris grunted against him, her hands automatically covering his arms around her waist as they rolled. "You cheated," she huffed out as she heard his team cheer as Caleb scored.
"I did not," he replied in disbelief. Tris lifted her hand from his arms and wove her fingers into his hair as she lay back against his front on the grass. She turned her head, tugging gently on his hair and placed a soft kiss against his neck, and his arms slackened at the feel of her lips on his skin.
She was instantly up and running back to her team, turning as she went and grinning back to him.
The next several plays all went the same way, Four and Tris intent on bringing the other down whilst the rest played the game around them.
A half hour later and Caleb called it. He was fed up of watching his sister roll around the ground with her boyfriend in the name of sport.
Four smirked to Tris as he helped her from the ground. "This is your fault, ya know."
"How can it possibly be my fault?" she retorted as they moved to stand with the rest of the players.
"Just because," he grinned. He turned to the rest of the group and asked, "Who won?"
"We did," Caleb beamed.
"No way, Prior," Will butted in. "We won!"
"Dream on, Lawson," Matthew laughed.
"I would call it even," a new voice called, and the whole group turned to look up onto the terrace that ran the length of the back of the house.
"Shit," Christina whispered, her head turning back slowly to Tris.
"This should be fun," Caleb gloated.
Four looked on as eight heads turned to look at him, watching for his reaction.
"What?" he asked, his eyes flashing up to the man on the terrace. He recognized him as the guy who was talking to Caleb earlier that day.
"Come on, Four," Tris said pulling on his hand, "Let's go for a walk."
"Who is that?" Four asked, though he let Tris pull him in the other direction.
"Nobody," Tris answered quickly.
"Tris?"
"Bear, please," Tris whined. She looked behind her to see Peter smirking.
Tris knew she needed to talk to Four about Peter. She could hardly keep the relationship to herself with the guy living in the same house.
"Let's just go for a walk, Four, and then we'll talk," Tris pleaded.
Four looked back at the figure watching the two of them, a smug look on his face and then he turned and let Tris drag him off.
…