Chapter 15: Something's not quite right
Rocket knew that Tia said she was a lover of football but seeing the way she cheered when the team scored or argued with a referee's decision made it clear that she was a football frantic, she was even able to give one of Jamie's team mates – Mia- some advice on how to dodge one of the defenders that she was having trouble getting past. It was also clear to Rocket that his family loved her and who won't she was: kind, friendly and ... prefect. It also seemed that Sonny and his father had come to a temporary peace with Tia around them but he saw when Tia was looking in a different direction or distracted, they would have a silent stare war with each other. But what they didn't know was that even though Tia couldn't see them she could still feel the tension between the two men and had asked Rocket what they were doing when she wasn't looking. However, at the moment everything was going alright. The whole family was here, including Tia, Sonny and Mia (who was Jamie's best friend when they were both in nappies so she could be included as family) and also Samuel who was Jamie's rival/best friend, it was quite an odd relationship but a solid one nevertheless; a bit like Aarch and his best friend Artegor. Rocket smiled at the scene in front of him, he missed being with his family when he was on missions and it was times like this that he thought about taking his dads advice and resign from his job but he knew that he needed to fight to keep moments like this alive; whether his dad agreed with it or not.
"Mama, can I have an ice-cream?" Samantha asked, seconds after she had swallowed the last of her double bacon cheese burger. Rocket looked at her in surprise, sometimes he forget that even though she and Hayley are quite slim and small; they ate like pigs.
"No Samantha you just had a burger." Auntie Aduim replied. A giant ham burger, Rocket thought silently to himself but then Samantha put on one of her cute puppy dog face which is really hard to say no. With a sigh Aduim nodded in agreement to Samantha's request, sending Samantha into claps of joy.
"Come on Tia, you can have an ice-cream as well." She smiled, before Tia had a chance to protest Samantha grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the ice-cream stand. Rocket laughed at the scene before him. Tia was too kind to refuse Samantha's offer because he knew that Tia was more of a chocolate fan then an ice-cream one. He rested his head on his arm as he examined the young woman picking out an ice-cream with his youngest cousin. She was the complete opposite of Mei, while Mei had a stunning face and god-like curves Tia had her own gifts. Tia face was soft and sweet, her eyes being her most attractive feature, her body was slim and petit with small breast but well placed curves around her thighs and killer legs; this had not gone unnoticed by the other men who had turned to stare at her, making Rocket want to punch them all in the face.
"Rocket, Rocket..." Hearing his name Rocket shook himself out of his day dream and turned to the people on the table. Crap, he thought, as a deep blush appeared on his cheeks when Rocket noticed everyone was staring at him with funny expressions on their faces. He had been caught staring; now he had to prepare himself for endless humiliation he was going to have to face when he was alone with his family. A loud giggle turned his attention again to his little cousin skipping back with Tia trailing behind her, trying to smoother her laughter with one hand and balancing the ice-cream in the other. Which she was doing pretty well, until a total idiot -who wasn't looking where he was going- fell right into Tia, covering herself in her own chocolate ice-cream. Rocket was beside Tia in seconds, placing a hand under her arm and carefully helped her up, while also giving the guy evils at the same time.
"Are you alright Tia?" Rocket asked her when he had finished staring the guy down in front of him.
"I'm alright." Tia answered, looking down at her now chocolate covered body. Rocket couldn't help but let a dirty thought run through his head when he consider a way of cleaning off the chocolate. Thankfully, his mother came to the rescue and ushered Tia into the ladies toilets.
Odd as it might sound Tia was kind of enjoying the pampering session that she was getting from Keira. She felt like she was in a spa of something when she learnt against the wall and let Rockets mum carefully sponge the chocolate away from her face. It was nice to be relaxed and not humiliated like she had been five minutes ago when that guy bumped into and made herself be splattered by her own ice-cream. She was thankful that Keira had stolen her away from the eyes of strangers.
"I'm afraid that's the best I can do Tia." Keira admitted in defeat. Tia opened her eyes and stared at her reflection, it was not as bad as it had been before but she still felt a bit worried when she walked back out there and Rocket would see her.
"At least I'll have something to eat later if I get hungry." Tia tried to joke, earning a small grin from the older woman. Tia smiled back, fiddling with the towel in her hand. She felt so mad with herself for not watching what was going on around her. A sudden warm presence on her shoulder made her look up to see Keira's hand on her shoulder.
"I wouldn't worry about him thinking anything bad; he's already head over heels about you." She smiled, causing Tia to turn ten different shades of red.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Tia mutter but knew it was no use since she was playing with her hair and that was a clear sign that she was nervous or confused by what Keira said. The old woman only smile and didn't say anything more, obviously this girl was shy like Rocket and in her own time would admit her feelings to him. A knock on the door broke their concentration and looked to see the door open and Aduim come in.
"Hey, just came to see if you're alright." She smiled sweetly; causing Tia to smile as well, everyone in Rockets family was so nice.
"I'm alright thank you." Tia answered politely, popping herself off the side she had been sitting on and stood up.
"Well I am glad to hear that, Rockets outside worrying himself to death about you." Aduim laughed at her young nephew's interest in the young girl that seemed to catch everyone's heart when she walked past them.
"We'll be out in a few moments." Keira said, handing Tia a comb so she could brush her hair. Aduim nodded and left to tell the men the news.
"Jamie and Tia sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love..."
"Shut up man!" Jamie interrupted Samuel's bad singing, while blushing harder and harder at his friend's chants. It was quite clear that Rocket wasn't the only one in his family that was caught up in Tia charms, whether she knew it or not. All the men (except Rocket because he was too busy thinking about Tia) were doing their best to hide the laughter but they couldn't stop there smiles spreading wide across their faces. The sound of a door opening and closing caught Rockets attention for some reason. He didn't know why by his instincts suddenly kicked in. Turning himself a little towards the door, he saw a dark figure wearing a baseball cap and glasses, obviously trying to keep a low profile, sit at the table next to them and took out a newspaper. Turning to Sonny, he noticed that Sonny had also sensed something off about the man.
"Tia's fine she'll be out of the bathroom in the moment." Auntie Aduim voice broke mine and Sonny's silent commutation with each other. A small smile spread across my face to know Tia was ok. A black blur out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I saw the figure by the table walk in the direction of the toilets. I looked back at Sonny to see that he was calmly sipping tea but with his other hand under he sent me a message 'take him out' I gave him a silent nod and made an excuse towards the bathroom.
"See good as new, well almost." Keira joked at that state Tia was in, she still had chocolate stains on her t-shirt but they were less recognisable and at least her face was clean ad her hair neat. Tia also laughed at Keira's joke because she had to agree with the statement.
"Come quietly or the old lady dies." A voice grunted by the doorway. We slowly turned to see a tall man with a baseball cap covering his face holding a gun out towards Keira. Protective instinct took over and Tia instantly stood in between Keira and the gun. If she was right then this guy would want to bring her alive to Bleylock, so their fore wouldn't want to harm her; at least that was what Tia was hoping for. She could hear Keira muttering stuff in her ear such as things like was she crazy or something like that but nevertheless my plan worked because the man seemed to be fazed by my leap of courage and was trying to figure out a new plan when suddenly he went crashing towards the floor with Rocket on top of him. He quickly disarmed the man and cuffed the villain's hands behind his back; he only did the last bit out of precaution because the guy was now laying unconsisince on the floor. Looking up at us he sent us a quick smile before getting off the men.
"Are you two alright?" He asked, Tia gave a quick nod then turned to Rocket's mother who looked a little shocked but nodded also. "You tow best get back to everyone else while I hand this guy to the authorities." Tia and Keira nodded to his order and walked past him towards the door. "Oh and mum, don't tell dad about this." Keira turned to give him a confused look but nodded to his request, obviously to numb to respond verbally. Before they left Rocket shot another small smile at Tia, while they left him to dispose of the man that had just threatened to kill his mother.