"Dude, you've been giving that kid the evil eye all night," Christian says leaning beside me against the mirrored wall.
As the students of our final classes for the night work in pairs on striking and defense postures I realize I have been staring at the same young man since he's arrived.
"You've got your angry face on, man. Not to mention your defensive arm cross. What's up?"
"That kid, the one with the tattoo on his arm, his name is Charlie isn't it?" I ask without looking away from my target.
I feel like I'm on stakeout as a cop all over again.
"Yup," Christian says. "That's the kid with the strong grip from yesterday," he tells me, rubbing at his shoulder from the memory. "What's your beef with the him? You look like you're ready to pull one of your own special moves on him to kill him."
I tell him the complete story of why Rose had taken off yesterday.
"Son of a bitch," he mutters, mirroring my pose as we both glare at the guy from across the room sparring with a man two times his size and winning. I could only imagine what he's be able to do to girl who was already afraid of him. "Why didn't you tell me this last night?"
"It was late and I thought that I should keep a handle on biases with the students we have here. I thought I'd be able to handle it but now that he's here and I actually see him-"
"You want to kick his face in."
I wouldn't say that exactly but knowing who he's friends with and knowing that he scared Rose and how many others he's scared only makes me want to hug him. Around the neck. With my bare hands. Until he stops breathing.
"We have a right to not provide service and or turn people away that we refuse to teach," he reminds me.
"I know but I'd rather have someone like him here where I can keep an eye on him than out there."
"Good point. That's why you're the boss and I'm your dutiful employee who intends to keep a watchful eye on our new favorite student," he says returning to manage his class.
For a full thirty minutes I stare almost unblinkingly at every move Charlie makes. He's been here for a while but he's part of the class that helps manage and build muscle so I'd never come into much contact with him myself.
From my spot on the wall, I give my own class instructions on what lessons to practice all without really looking away from Charlie.
"Hey," Rose says startling me.
I finally manage to look away to see her beside me leaning next to me against the wall. "I finished up. You have a few new students who apparently want to take your classes because I'm here," she tells me.
"Really?"
Her cheeks are flushed a light red and she nods. "There were messages and a few calls just a few minutes ago from people who heard I came here apparently."
"Sounds like you're good for business."
She smiles, tucking stray hairs behind her ears.
As quickly as I made her smile though it falls as she looks past me to where Charlie is. Christian's class is coming to a close and a few people are packing their stuff up to leave while Christian talks to a group of other people. As some of the people are leaving I hear a lot of noise and flashes of light from outside but I can't really see what's going and I figure Christian will take care of it and look into it.
The commotion outside isn't what Rose is focusing on though.
There, leaning against the mirrors on that end of the wall if Charlie drinking water and staring at her.
His mouth pulls up to a slight one side smirk and he winks.
That's pretty much enough reason for me to hurt him.
Generally, I'm careful to keep my emotions in check. It's something I learned as a kid when I had to deal with my dad and the daily abuse he dished out. It came in handy when I was a cop because it meant that criminals didn't work me up into doing something that I'd regret later. Keeping calm has always been something I'm known for, something I've managed the majority of my life.
Looking at Charlie, I'm having a bit of trouble remembering how to do that at the moment.
I take a step away from the mirrored wall toward him but something holds me back. When I look to see what it is, it's Rose's hand on my arm, so small and light as a feather I barely feel it there.
"He's just trying to get a rise out of me, make me freak out and break down."
She's trying to keep me from doing something that'll only cause more bad than good but her voice isn't as strong as she'd probably like it to be. Her eyes are locked on Charlie unblinking waiting to see what he'll do next.
I remind myself that doing anything to drive him away and out of sight won't help matters.
"We should get you out of here and home."
She shakes her head finally looking up at me. "I'm not leaving before he does. I don't want to give him the satisfaction of scaring me again."
"I'm glad you're being strong but you have nothing to prove to him."
Before Rose can say anything in response Charlie appears right in front of us, his gym back in hand and smiling.
Behind him across the room Christian is looking to see what's going on but I signal for him to stay put. He nods and then turns to see what the sudden commotion outside is about as then noise and the lights grow louder.
"You know what that's about, don't you Rosie?" he asks directing his full attention onto Rose while gesturing to the doors leading outside where a small group has gathered.
She's frozen stiff beside me but holds her ground, her lips shut tight into an angry line.
"Why don't you fill us in," I say to him hoping to get his attention off of her and onto me. He shifts his focus to me and takes a small step back realizing just how much bigger I am than him. Not much but enough.
"Dimitri Belikov right?" He emphasizes my last name as if noting that I'm most likely related to Victoria. "As long as I've been here I've only ever really met you once." He says it all without any indicators of politeness. He says it more like he's taking notice that I'm a potential blocker for him to get to Rose and affect her in any way.
"And you're Charlie if I'm not mistaken," I reply. "How do you know Rose?" I ask playing like I'm none the wiser to everything going on with Rose and Adrian and everyone involved.
"From school. We use to run in the same social circle," he answers looking back at Rose. "I didn't know she came here until recently."
"Yeah well in case you haven't hear she'd been having a hard time lately. She came here to deal with everything that's going on and she can't really do that if she's being distracted by old friends. So I think it's best of you kept your distance."
I tried to put as many indicators in my words that he should back off and that this wasn't a fight he wanted to start. It seemed to work for a moment as he took me and the stance I was in completely. After a moment he offered a regular arrogant charmer's smile.
"Well I am sorry to hear you're having such a hard time," he says to Rose, "and I also hate to tell you that the reporters outside might make 'dealing with everything going on' just as hard as I would."
Reporters. Lots of them. Now that I know what the commotion outside blocking some of the students from easily leaving is about I can see the flashing cameras and through a crack in the blinds of one of the windows I see a few reporters just waiting for someone, Rose, to leave.
"What are they doing here?" Rose murmurs looking toward the noise and lights as more people push past and leave.
"Life's full of surprises," he says stepping away from us and heading out the front doors where flashing lights and reporters full of questions await.
Watching him go, I realize just how tight my fist is clenched and how much I was ready to hit him. It wouldn't do any good but it would feel good. It'd feel great to strike at someone who is close enough to the reason my sister, Rose, and so many others are suffering.
"No one's supposed to know it's me," Rose whispers.
A few of the students walking out look back Rose realizing who she is. One woman is already headed toward us ready to approach her when luckily Christian intervenes.
"Let's go."
I maneuver her back into the office and shut the door blocking out anyone else who wants to get near her. After today, this is the last thing she needs. She's had enough people notice her and tell her what she's doing is brave for one day.
"A case as big as this one is becoming, there are leaks people who give information to the press. Not to mention that the town already had an idea of what was going on. The story just became bigger with the police involved," I tell her as she leans against the edge of the desk tugging at her hair.
"You think maybe Charlie had something to do with it?" she asks as I go around the room making sure the blinds are closed. "He seemed to know they were already there without even really looking."
"He could've tipped them off," I agreed. "He seems like the type of guy to do Adrian's bidding. Having the press around will put more pressure on you. Since the press already caught hold of the story, Adrian and Mayor Ivashkov could've just used this to their benefit, make you feel so stressed out by the press and Charlie's threats that you'll drop the entire case," I reasoned.
"I'm not going to do that," she says firmly, more to herself than me.
I'm proud of her for not letting Charlie get to her tonight. "I'm glad."
It's quiet while I stretch and flex the hand I'd been ready to hit with and Rose watches.
After a minute or two she laughs softly, humorlessly, "I don't understand it." She wipes at the corner of her suddenly moist eyes.
"Don't understand what?" I ask leaning against the desk flexing my hand, the one I'd been ready to hit Charlie with.
She shakes her head looking directly at me and I realize it's the first time she's done so. I feel the intensity of her brown eyed gaze full on.
"You care about me."
It's such a sudden but obvious statement that it throws me off for a second. "Yes I do."
"But you're just some guy I met less than a month ago and you care enough to want to risk everything to protect me from someone you thought was hurting me," she says glancing at the hand I'm flexing probably having taken notice of how close I was to hitting him.
"Sometimes things happen where people end up having to know each other quickly."
"But my mother..." Her sentence trails off for a second as she swipes at the tears again before giving up just letting them fall freely. "My mother, someone I've known my entire life can't stand to be near me for more than a second but you were ready to fight Charlie to protect me. You really genuinely care, I can see it in your eyes. I saw it when you went after Charlie but my mother can't even stand to look at me for too long without feeling...revolted and disgusted."
Rose's words and hurt are a reflection of everything I use to feel when my father looked at any of his kids, like we were something he couldn't bare to look at for too long without hitting...which he did. I understand so I know how much she's hurting right now. I reach for her hand and pull her up, holding her close the way I wish someone did for me before Yeva came to live with us when my mother was too battered and bruised to do it her self. It's been a long while since I've hugged anyone like this. It's a good feeling, having someone warm and close, a feeling I'm sure Rose and I can both use and appreciate.
"No one should ever feel that one of their parents can't stand to look at them."
I wanted to assure her the same way Stan had, that Rose's mother would come around eventually but I couldn't. The truth was none of us knew what was going to happen next. Everyday my certainty that all of this would turn out alright is fading.
Rose sobbed, her face resting in the crook of the arm I had wrapped around her to hold her head close. My other arm was around her waist holding the one hand that wasn't clenching to my side.
It should've felt like an awkward embrace but it didn't.
It felt as natural as her touch from before to keep me from approaching Charlie; as if she was saying that she's there to keep me a little grounded too and from making choices I wouldn't be proud of later.
It felt real.
Full of emotion and real.
"You're never alone. No matter what, you're never alone." She had to know that and when she nodded against my chest, I knew she did.
I gave her hand a squeeze. "Feel that? I'm here, okay? Don't ever forget, I'm here."
She nodded again and hugged me a little tighter than I thought her capable of.
I found myself stroking my fingers through her hair and before I knew it moments passed and Rose was calming down. She sniffed a few times and I leaned to grab a tissue from the drawer in my desk. She took it giving me a gentle smile and wiping the remnants of her tears off her face.
"You're going to be okay," I said for certainty, more for my benefit than her own. If I didn't at least try to hold on to the idea that a good outcome is certain, who would? She tried to manage a meek smile looking up at me gratefully. I gently tugged the wild strands of hair back from her face that stuck to her face from the tears.
And then...