22. Unholy Confessions
"Hi, Dora," Red Hood said. "It's been a while."
Dora stood rooted to the spot, her jaw clenched.
Reilly looked back and forth between Dora and Red Hood, surprised and confused. "Wait, you already know each other?"
"Yeah, we do," Red Hood told him, but he never looked away from Dora. He smiled a little.
Dora didn't return it.
Jessie, sensing the tension, walked over to Reilly and whispered something into his ear. His eyebrows perked up, then furrowed. Whatever Jessie said to him, it got his attention and he took it seriously. He gave Red Hood and Dora a long hard look, then gave Jessie a nod.
"Alright, guys, clear out," Reilly ordered the bikers. "The president has private business to conduct."
After a brief pause, the men erupted with laughter, but they obeyed the order. As they left, one patted Red Hood on the shoulder, teasing him. Another whistled at Dora. Dora felt heat rising in her face and chest. Reilly noticed her condition and chastised the bikers in Spanish, smacking one on the head and herding them out faster.
Jessie squeezed Dora's arm softly and gave her a knowing, supportive look. Dora thanked her with a nod, and she left as well.
The door slammed shut, leaving Dora and Red Hood alone in the garage.
They stood silent for several moments, just looking at each other.
Dora wished she could see his eyes, so she could get a better read on him, but he was wearing that little red mask again. His dark hair was long and tousled—he obviously hadn't cut it since they last saw each other... what, a month ago? Fuck, it felt longer than that. There was a light peppering of stubble on his jawline too. He stood there in his boots, fatigues, and tight t-shirt, with a wrench in his grease-stained hands, looking rugged and gritty.
Damn it, Dora cursed to herself. He looked good enough to eat. What was it about men and fixing things that worked her up?
Red Hood finally broke the stand-off. He tossed his tools on a workbench. "It's good to see you," he said, walking to a sink by the wall.
Dora had no idea how to respond. She didn't want to admit it felt good to see him—despite the fact that, five minutes ago, her heart wasn't humming like an overcharged engine. Thankfully, the fuzzy feelings in her chest were background noise to the screeching annoyance in her head. What the fuck did he just say? 'Good to see me?'
"Is it?" Dora finally said, her tone dripping with pith. "Why..." She was so frustrated, she couldn't finish the sentence. Why... so many fucking things...
"Why haven't I come to see you sooner?" Red Hood finished for her. He washed his hands in the sink.
"Or call, or text..." she finished, anger, hurt, and frustration rising, fueling her words. "You run a fucking biker gang and a god damn brothel. You have dozens of people working for you, and there was no way you could've reached out to me? You left me hanging! Literally! I had no idea what to think! I had no idea why you left in the middle of..."
She couldn't finish. Memories of that night stung too badly.
Red Hood dried his hands. "Holly walked in—"
"But why didn't you come back?" Dora yelled, ashamed at how desperate she sounded. To explain... to finish all those delicious things you were doing to me...
"Look, Dora, I'm sorry." Red Hood reached out to her and Dora didn't stop him. He rubbed her shoulders softly, trying to be comforting. "After what happened between us... I kinda freaked out."
Dora didn't have sleeves. The skin-on-skin contact was electrifying, giving her goosebumps. His touch wasn't helping; it was bringing it all back. She wanted to be angry at him, not hungry for him.
"I was drunk, and I said some things..." Red Hood lowered his head, shaking it. "I did some things..."
Dora glared up at him, pushing him away. "You mean things you regret? You didn't mean any of those things you said to me? Did to me?"
That hurt. Bad. Tears filled Dora's eyes as her chest bloomed with fire.
She slapped him—hard.
The smack echoed throughout the garage. Red Hood didn't look surprised, but his cheek was reddening and his jaw was clenched.
"You didn't mean to kiss me?" Dora shouted at him, anger rising.
She closed her fist and punched him in the face, solid. "Undress me?"
Her knuckles stung, but she swung again.
But Red Hood caught her fist, within an inch from his face. His nostrils flared, breathing hard.
Dora tried to pull her hand away, but he was too strong. His touch, his soft breath on her face made her tingle in places she was ashamed of.
Dora growled, "Almost fuck me?"
Red Hood loosened his grip on her hand, and kissed her sore knuckles. "No, actually, I did. I meant everything." A shudder passed through his body. He touched Dora's chin and caressed her jaw. "That's what scared me. How honest I was being with you. How much of myself I let loose that night. I..." He touched his mask. "I never let anybody in like that. I've never shown anyone my whole face... at least not since becoming... this. Not since becoming Red Hood."
"And you couldn't have let me know that sooner?" Dora pushed him away. She wasn't going to let him work his broody sexy mojo on her again.
Red Hood stumbled back, bumping into a workbench. He was angry now. "I was busy!"
"Doing what?" Dora spat back.
"My mission!" Red Hood wheeled in frustration and slammed the drawer of a tool chest closed.
"Mission? You mean setting up a brothel and taking over a biker gang? Running guns and drugs? Killing people and blowing up buildings?"
"You try it sometime, see how quick and easy it is!" Red Hood shouted. "I needed a foothold in order to get things done, in order to take down Black Mask and make sure he stays down. Killing a bunch of gang bosses and their lieutenants sends a message, sure, but crime isn't a snake, Dora. It doesn't die when you cut off its head. Crime is a god damn hydra. Cut off one head, and fucking two grow back." He thrust his finger in the general direction of the warehouse. "When you usurp the throne, you need soldiers to enforce the new regime."
Dora stared at him up and down, taking in the combat boots and bloused fatigues. She noticed how much he looked like a militant revolutionary... a guerilla...
A terrorist.
Is this who she was in bed with? Was this the leader of the organization she had joined?
Dora shook her head. She couldn't let herself get distracted. He was avoiding the issue.
"Okay, I get that but," Dora said, "it's been over a month. In all that time, you couldn't find five minutes to see, let alone call me? Do you know how confused I felt? What kind of douchebag ghosts someone like that?"
Red Hood ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, yeah, I was avoiding you, I admit that. But I was confused too. I needed to get my head together, make sure I was ready to take that leap with you. So I put it off a day... and another, and then another, and... now here we are. A month later."
Dora rolled her eyes. Typical man. Avoiding commitment. "So then after all that that time, you decided to steal my fucking car?" She went to the passenger side of the Impala, reached through the window, and pulled something out of the glove compartment. She stomped back around to Red Hood and held out the object. "Do you have any idea how much this car means to me?"
It was a photo.
A photo of Dora and her father leaning against the car, smiling brightly for the camera. She was holding up her first driver's license.
"I do actually," Red Hood said. Gently, he took the photo and put it on the dashboard.
"If you knew how much it meant to me, how come you stole it? What gives you the right?"
Red Hood idly kicked the car's tire, a new one, fitted on a new wheel. "Fixing it up was supposed to be an apology gift." He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. "My men were supposed to let you know they were taking it, but I guess they're not used to asking permission when picking up a car to chop."
Dora was caught off guard. "So this..." she pointed at her car. "Was supposed to be a gift? Some kind of demented romantic gesture?"
"Demented? Fuck no, but... I knew you'd be mad at me for ghosting you. I wanted to show you how sorry I was." He looked at her and waited for her to lock eyes with him. "I wanted to show you how much I care about you."
Dora shook her head. "By buying me off? I'm not one of your hookers, Red Hood!"
"No! Don't you understand? I did this to show you I'm all in, that I care about the things you care about. I know how much you love your bar, so I helped fixed it, helped get you out from under. I could tell how much you appreciated that. So then I decided to help fix this too. To show you how committed I am to us."
Dora stumbled, trying to follow his clunky logic. If put that way... it was actually kind of sweet of him. The intention, if not the gesture. How often does a guy fix your things without being told to? Her heart fluttered for a second.
But she recovered. "But there is no us. People keep asking me what's going on between us and I have no idea what to fucking tell them."
Red Hood tilted his head. Dora could tell his eyebrow was arched under the mask. "You told people?"
Dora shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Holly told people."
Red Hood scoffed. "Fucking knew it... but... when people ask about us... what do you want to tell them?"
Dora froze. "I want... I want them to leave me alone. Our relationship is none of their business."
"So," Red Hood smiled, "we have a relationship?"
"What? No..." Dora felt her face heat up. "But everyone... my friends, your people... the cops. They can tell that you..."
"That I what?"
Dora gulped. "... I don't know… like me."
"The cops picked up on it, huh?" Red Hood said, rubbing the stubble on his chin.
"Some detectivese. They wanted me to flip on you." She was too afraid to mention Batman.
"They're right." He took a step toward her. "Where there's smoke, there's fire. It's hard to hide this torch I'm carrying for you. Us being together is dangerous. Depending on who catches us, it could mean prison… or death."
"What are you saying?" Dora asked. Serenading her with metaphors wasn't going to work. Right?
"I'm saying we need to be more careful, but. . . they can't stop me."
"Stop you from doing what?"
"You're worth the risk, Dora." Without warning, Red Hood kissed her.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in deeper.
Surprised and offended at his nerve, Dora fought him, trying to push him away and worm out of his embrace. But he was so strong, and he wouldn't let go...
His hands were strong.
And his arms were warm.
And his body was hard.
And his lips felt so good.
And the words he had said echoed in her head.
They can 't stop me. You're worth the risk.
Something inside her woke up, and it was hungry, and it wasn't smart enough to make sense of their stupid little argument.
She kissed him back, prying open his lips with hers.
He let her lead and loosened his hold on her, only for Dora to grab him instead. She cupped his face and kissed him harder, biting his lip, plunging her tongue into his mouth. She was so angry, so frustrated... In so many ways.
How dare he tease her like that? How dare he make her lust for him, and then disappear?
Dora wondered if it was possible to be so mad at a person, you could kiss them to death. Poison Ivy had figured it out, maybe she could too.
Apparently Red Hood didn't like Dora leading this dance, so he pushed her against the car, groping her waist and ass hard. Dora could tell by the way he was kissing her, holding her, and pressing against her that he was as starved for her touch as she was for his.
Red Hood was an idiot for keeping them apart.
Damn right, he better be sorry.
Damn right, he better give her what he took away.
Damn right, he better finish what he fucking started.
The pressure was mounting between them and it needed release. Maybe after that, they could think straight.
While wrestling Red Hood's lips with her own, Dora fumbled behind her back, feeling for the car's door handle. She couldn't find it, but he did.
He shoved the door open and they tumbled into the backseat. Red Hood wedged his hips between her legs, and she locked her ankles behind him. He pressed his groin against hers, sending a little pulse of bliss into her that forced a moan out of her mouth, making her break the kiss.
She took the opportunity to breathe, and look at Red Hood.
He stared back at her through his mask, breathing heavily.
This was too familiar.
They had been here before.
Dora unlocked her ankles and pushed him away. "Wait..." Somehow, sense came back and reined in the lusty little demon that had possessed her the last few minutes. "We're not doing this again. Not like this."
Red Hood lay on top of her, breathing heavy, long hair tousled over his face. He didn't say anything, but he knew what she was talking about.
"If you care about me so much, why haven't you shown me your face? Or told me your real name?"
Red Hood shimmied off of her, and pulled his hair back. "I'm—was afraid you wouldn't give me a chance to prove how much I care about you... if you knew who I really was."
Dora digested those words.
Did that mean he had something to hide? Something about his identity that he was ashamed of? Showing her his face and telling her his name wouldn't change everything he did the past few months.
Would it?
"You're not worried about that now?" Dora asked carefully.
Red Hood rubbed her cheek with his thumb. "Actually, more than ever."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know what I'd do if I lost my chance with you."
Dora sat up a little. He kept saying that. "Why me? What's so special or different about me? You've only known me a few months. We've only seen each other a handful of times."
"Because you've always been special to me, Dora." Red Hood took several deep breaths. "Since we were kids."
Dora gawked. What did that mean?
"I've never loved anyone else," Red Hood said.
After a moment's hesitation, he reached up and slowly peeled off his mask.
His eyes were blue—so pale, they looked gray.
His eyes were the missing piece of the puzzle.
Those were eyes Dora knew, eyes she never thought she would see again.
"It's me, Dora."
She couldn't believe it. She was dreaming.
She was looking at a ghost.
With the last breath in her chest, Dora whispered, "Jason."
Notes
Okay, be honest in the comments, guys. Which of you guessed that Dora knew Jason before he was Red Hood? Who picked up the hints I was dropping?
I want to take this moment to remind you guys that while I cherish the canon, I do take liberties with it. So far you may have already noticed that I'm stretching the timeline. In the comics, the events of the Under the Hood arc probably lasted no more than two months. My story will obviously take longer than that. It's already been four months or so since Red Hood first appeared. Also, as you'll see in the coming chapters, I had to retcon Jason's backstory a moderate amount to make Dora fit into it. The bullet points are all the same, just the details in between are a little different. I hope you like it.
Last, the chapter title references one of my favorite songs by Avenged Sevenfold, "Unholy Confessions." It's an old fan favorite that's sadly being phased out of their sets, probably because their new fans don't like screaming... but the lyrics mirror themes at play in this chapter. If you guys listened to any of the other songs that inspire the story, you might already know I love screaming.
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