Love Struck Eternal
Chapter 14 - Still just a kid.
Sam's POV, Later that night.
A week in this new country and I've already made more money doing one job then I did doing ten in Iraq. It was even easier. At least physically it was. I was still trying to come to terms with how close I came to getting myself killed by that thug. If I didn't have my dad's balls and that gun…...I'd probably be a corpse.
With my bag of money sitting down next to Mocha at the edge of the bed, I took a moment to go through my phone. I missed a few phone calls, but a few of which were from my dad. The others being from people like Teddy and his parents. Those of which I wanted to return before my night ended.
"Knock! Knock!"
My eyes shot up to see the door open. In walked Rosco who looked more or less relaxed and collected after whatever he was out doing these days. With a bag of his own in his right hand; he asked me as he entered to close the door behind him.
"Hey. How was your day? Do anything productive?"
Mocha went over to greet him as I remained laid out on the bed with my phone in my hands, but I managed to keep leveled as I replied to his concerns.
"We can call it that. How was yours?"
Coming over to sit down on the edge of the bed, the big tiger replied.
"Stressful."
I heard his response but I was focused on my phone. However in about a minute or so the tiger reached in to grab the rim of my hat with his right mitt. I looked back up at him as he pulled it off and gave me this soft smile.
"What?" I asked him in confusion as I watched him put my hat on to wonder.
"You talk to your parents today?"
"No." I replied as I chuckled and sat up to snag back my hat from his big head. The tiger just allowed me to grab it from him and once I had it back on did I ask him back.
"Why does that matter to you?"
"It doesn't. But you need people to talk to right? Ain't no way you got friends here already."
"Excuse me? Hahah." I laughed at his smartass assumption which got him to fire back a moment after.
"Nothing tiger. You tired?
Shifting my focus back to myself I replied.
"Yeah."
"Good. Let's get some sleep and tomorrow we can go out and do something for a change."
"Is that your way of saying you want to go out on a date?" I asked him with another chuckle as I laid back down to hear him reply.
"It doesn't have to be. But it'll be good to get out of this apartment for a day. Maybe we can go look around at some of the schools around here. Maybe you'll find one that suits your needs. I heard from a fellow I ran into earlier at the track that there is a really high end tech school somewhere downtown. I think it's called Morrisville Academy."
Nodding my head once I informed him.
"I've done a fair amount of research for your information. While you were out looking for work, I already wrote out a few options I looked into. And your right. There is a school called Morrisville Academy. It's not high end just so you know. It's more like "middle of the road" end."
Rosco gave me a quick laugh back as I knew well about what I was talking about. Morrisville was an option, but with a full ride scholarship I didn't want to waste it on just any school. If there was a better option in this city I'd find it by visiting them first. What I needed was somewhere that offered me courses I wanted to take. My goals were to take courses in mechanical engineering, biology, computer science, neuroscience, a chemistry course, and maybe a course in nuclear engineering. I had high goals to obtain and I knew I could handle the work. But a lot of this was because I wanted to advance in this project of mine. I could figure out viper venom without this knowledge, but hopefully when I started to learn other concepts and learn other ways of handling the material, I could advance the drug far beyond what even my expectations could hope it could turn out to be.
Raptor's POV.
I couldn't bring myself to sleep over the course of the last few days. Peek was delayed in his mission to check up on my daughter and currently I knew the man known as Rosco was being targeted by a handful of lone contractors. The only thing going for him was the location. The states were hard to operate in, but I knew well enough not to take that for the word of god that he might not get my daughter killed if she is with him. I didn't want to know why, I just wanted her to be safe. Even if she did hate me. But that could never happen if she was part of his work in robbing our military. She'll get dragged into something far worse and that's a world I never wanted her to enter.
Oh but you look at me and know of what I am and ask why I'm not making a break for her at this very moment? I can't. I'm not strong enough to go that distance. Even with my practice I knew I could never make it. But why not just get on a plane and do it the normal way? Again that's because I can't. I had so much going on here at the house with Zeta; I knew if I ran off to get Sam I'd just be making things worse. The only person who could do anything was Peek and…...and Marcus.
"You called?" I heard his voice ring off behind me at thought of his mere name. Upon looking back to the basement's couch, I found the fox in question sitting there with his arms resting on his knees as he sat up to stare at me with two easy eyes. Now I had a lot on my mind when it came to this man, but I've learned over the years to just accept matters I have no place in. Yet this once I asked him.
"Do you have a death wish?"
Keeping himself where he was, he replied carefully so not to trigger me further.
"I don't know what to tell you Raptor. It wasn't my idea. It was hers."
Standing up aggressively to point at him, I growled out.
"You don't show your face for well over a decade to her and the first time you do she decides to stab me in the back by screwing around with you of all people?"
"It wasn't my intention. I just had a feeling something was going wrong and swung in to see what was happening. She was alone in the middle of the fucking desert in a sandstorm. What was I supposed to do? Ignore her?"
"I made it clear to you a long time ago to leave my family alone. We had a deal."
"Well I'm sorry, but try to look at this from where I'm sitting."
"You're sitting in a place that I can easily attack. So I recommend you leave my sight right now."
Giving me this weird glare back, Marcus stood up to question.
"And do what? Watch as you two fall apart further? I can help."
"I don't want your help. I can handle my daughter myself." I informed him as he instantly fired back.
"Are you sure about that? Your faith is resting in that bird's hands and what happens if this just gets worse? You have no alternatives."
"Leave!" I ordered him as I turned back to face my bar.
Marcus was at a loss for what to say and just when I thought he was going to leave he said to me calmly.
"What will take Peek days, I can find out in the course of ten minutes. You know it too. Just let me help you Raptor. I owe you this at the very least."
I gave his statement some thought. Enough thought to even consider it. However I soon rejected his offer and said back to him with enough passion behind my words to shut him up.
"You owe me yes, but I'm serious about this. Leave my family in my own hands. When I need you I'll be sure you know. But Sam…..she's all I got Marcus. She's everything I've fought to get. I found a way to get to this point now and I'll find a way again. Sam is but a child. She's a child but I know she isn't anything near as dumb as I was at her age. She isn't out on the other side of the planet trying to kill people. She isn't trying to entice another war between two countries. She isn't trying to get herself hurt. She's out there simply to just….to just…...to just get away from me?"
Zeta's POV.
I sat atop the basement stairs with my arms wrapped around my legs and my head peeked out in the direction of my boyfriend's voice. A voice that crumbled into pieces as he came to that realization. From down the stairs I heard him mumble what followed up as a question. To Marcus? I don't think so. I think he was asking himself this and all I could do was sit here in silence and cry softly.
"To get away from me?"
"Hey….? Raptor?" Marcus muttered as I soon heard muffled tears from the man I personally knew I hurt.
Wiping my eyes, I stood up and very slowly proceeded down the stairs. What I found was Raptor sitting on the ground between the two bar stools with his back pressed to the bar itself. His head in his hands and Marcus knelt down before his side. The fox looked back at me with an equally upset face but said no words. By the time I reached the bottom Raptor looked up at me to ask.
"Did she leave to get away from me?"
I was biting my tongue. I couldn't muster the words to answer him. I felt so fucking bad and he knew it. He knew that and what the answer would be even if I could somehow say it. A tear rolled down his face as he accepted my silence and soon enough asked himself while looking out into the void of what must have been his sheer emotion.
"What do I do? How do I fix this? I love my daughter. I love her so fucking much I didn't mean for my emotion to get in the way of that. I didn't!"
"I know you didn't." I tried to tell him to give him a sense of support as he looked to Marcus to ask.
"Am I a bad father?"
Marcus shook his head but kept to himself as I took a step closer to state.
"No. You're a good father. You are. Raptor?"
He didn't dare look at me again. Instead he looked back to his hands to say to himself in a loss for where he was now that he had been taken this far down his pit of personal sorrow.
"Good enough to keep you from sleeping with another man? Good enough to bring myself any sort of comfort? Good enough to bring my daughter home where she belongs? No. If I was things would be different. Things wouldn't have happened and things would have been better. Instead I…...I fucked up. I fucked up."
"I think we all fucked up." Marcus swiftly interjected to him with a hand to the shoulder. Raptor remained staring at the ground as I cried.
"I'm sorry."
He wouldn't look at me. He gave no reaction to my apology and that drove me over the line to cry out a moment later.
"I'm so sorry!"
Peek's POV, Two days later, Los Angeles.
It took more time than I wanted for this to take, but here I was in Los Angeles standing outside what I would hope to be Sam's apartment.
I was wearing a clean pair of black jeans, brown boots, and a bright blue full hoodie with one of my favorite bands on the front of it. On the back were all their live concert dates. The only thing wrong about wearing this was that the dates were all a few years expired. Regardless, I wore it anyway. Under it I had a small ballistic vest strapped onto the front of the undershirt I dawned and nearest my back I had my gun just in case. Taking one deep breath, I raised my hand and knocked on the door.
"Okay…..just try not to seem awkward. She's not expecting to see you. She loves you. You're her uncle. Her favorite uncle. Yeah…...the favorite. Okay…..here we go."
Timing my words, I heard the door unlock and just as fate intended I was soon staring into the stunned eyes of my niece. Dressed more or less in what I was wearing. Apart from her hoodie being about a band. In fact it looked like a school or something. She still had on her signature hat and without either of us saying a word I just smiled and muttered through white teeth.
"Boo."
The young wolf flung herself out the door and into my arms with such embrace it felt like she mustn't have seen me for years. However with that in mind she didn't say anything even after she had me in a headlock. It drew my attention away from happiness when I heard her voice mumble through what could be nothing other than tears.
"What are you doing here?"
I had to pull back from her, but enough so that I could see her face. She was fucking crying and that alone broke my heart to see. Losing my own smile and getting serious I replied.
"I heard from your parents that you made a break for somewhere other than home. You know I didn't expect this right?" I asked her as a joke which thankfully got her to smile and start laughing. Keeping the matter light, I asked her.
"What happened?"
Sam just hugged me again before urging me softly.
"Come inside."
"Okay." I replied as she let me go and held the door for me to enter her small apartment. Inside I instantly saw the presence of another person living here. Clothes that I knew weren't hers were piled in the corner all neatly folded up and cleaned. My quick eyes however then noticed two M.E.A.F bags that were nearest a small desk that was towards the living room. Sam walked me into her small kitchen to ask.
"Do you want something to drink? I have some pretty…..?"
"Braf! Braf!"
My eyes lit up when I heard Mocha calling for us over by the bed that was the furthest thing away from the front door. She came jumping right on down to greet me and of course I got down with her to smile and start petting her head.
"Hey baby. So good to see you. You like the new place?"
"Braf!" She replied as I stood back up to look at Sam who attempted to add onto the conversation.
"She's been really good so far with the new environment. I think….?"
"Sam?" I cut her off sadly. Hearing her name being called like that forced her to react. She went back to being just as depressed as when she held me in her arms. However this time I wasn't going to ask anymore questions. I just wanted an answer. In time she said to me quietly from feet away.
"I had to go. I had too."
"But why? You broke your mother's heart Samantha. Your dad? I know you don't want to talk about him after that fight you got into back then, but he hasn't slept since you left. Your mother and him are fighting constantly now about who fucked up where and what to do now that you're gone and I know you don't wanna see it, but they're relationship is at risk because of all this. You could have talked to someone."
"Like who?! You had to go back home to your family! Uncle Char can barely get away from that fucking office! My aunt Pepper!? My mother's sister and her idiotic soon to be husband!?
I had to shut my mouth and focus my attention on not saying more. I wanted her to get this all out because in the end this trip was to understand her mental standpoint right now. Even if it upset me to hear something I wasn't entirely okay with it.
"My mom!? She does everything she can to help me see my dreams but when it came to my future she had to stand by him and let him keep my future limited till he thought I was mature enough to handle the responsibility! That's fucking bullshit! I earned the scholarship Peek! He has no right to tell me I can't move on with my education!"
"I don't not agree with you Sam." I informed her which instantly got the young wolf to snap back at me with teeth bared.
"Then why the hell are you here!? If you agreed, you wouldn't be here checking up on me for no goddamn reason! My dad put you up to this! I know he did! So don't fucking lie and say he didn't!"
Snapping out of my calm mindset, I raised my tone and shouted back.
"And so what if he did!? What the fuck does that change about this situation Sam!?"
Samantha never once heard me raise my voice like that at her. She backed down from her strong stance and lowered her ears slightly. It was a signal that I had her guard lowered, so I took my chance and said to her bluntly.
"Your dad asked me to come see if you were okay in this new world. Your mother may not be getting along with him but this she asked for too. I know you keep in touch with her and that's good, but your dad wanted to be sure. If anything was out of place he wants me to let him know so he can try and help you."
"I don't want his help." Sam barked back at me as I kept on my pressure by slightly lifting back up my commanding tone of voice.
"You're a smart girl Sam. I have no doubts in your maturity. I never once had doubts about seeing you leave the middle east. I was inches away from telling your dad I couldn't do this. It goes against what I believe in. But….?"
I raised a hand up. My right hand in fact. Her eyes looked right at it as I stuck out my pointer finger till it was out in front of me and aimed at the ceiling. I began to nod my head and as I formed the sentence to come; I took a step towards her to say.
"But there is a matter I need to solve here Sam. So please don't lie to me. You know I can't handle being lied to."
My eyes for a moment went to the clothes in the corner of the room. Sam saw my attention shift and stiffened up as I asked her.
"Who else lives here with you?"
"What?" She questioned as I again asked her the same thing.
"Who else lives here? Those aren't your clothes. Too big. And Sam…..? Where did you get those bags?"
Her eyes widened as I must have entered the point of no return with her. Her mouth struggled to solve the problem in front of her. With no answer forming, I took a step towards the desk where the duffel bags were. Almost as fast as my body moved, she begged me.
"Don't! Please, don't touch them!"
I didn't stop moving. In fact I got close enough to pick one of them up from off the floor. I didn't dare open it. I just simply lifted it up into my arms to approach her. Sam again hesitated as I put it in her hands to ask.
"What are you doing Sam?"
"I'm not….?" Cutting her off, I muttered with some disappointment.
"You're doing something you should know better than to do. You can't hide this away. Not while I'm here with you. I'm not some idiot and thanks to your dad I have a lot of reasons to be worried about what you're mixed up in. I'm not going to assume a thing. I want you to tell me the truth, but first please try to understand. If you're involved in what I think you're involved in. Then it's safe for me to let you know now that you won't be allowed to step foot back into the middle east. Even with your dad being who he is; there just won't be any other options for you Sam."
The wolf's eyes were lost to my words. I think because she for once was really considering the outcome that could come from her actions. Yet I couldn't be sure. I still had to see what was in that bag, but I wasn't going to force it myself without a good reason. I had faith she could trust me with whatever it was that was going on.
Now after a moment or two more, I went forward to beg her.
"If you're in trouble…...please tell me. I need to know. No matter what it is, your father has promised you're safety. You will not be punished. He's made the arrangements. I swear to you. There is still time to make this better."
I watched her close as she slowly shifted and turned for the bed. She left me standing here in silence. As she reached the bed with Mocha at her feet, Sam put down the bag on top of the bed and asked me carefully.
"What does he think I've done? You came here knowing something that you aren't telling me uncle. What is it?"
I gave the idea of being that direct some thought, but it took too long for her. Instead she looked back at me to order with a firm tone.
"What is it? Tell me. Why are you really here?"
With my eyes going to the bag, I replied slowly so she could clearly understand each word that left my mouth.
"Cameras at the airport saw you leaving the middle east with a man who made off with the M.E.A.F's viper venom stockpile. The venom, the research data revolving around it, and more than a fair amount of the ingredients used to make it. Stolen directly from Zandro's pocket and the same man who they think is holding up with you now. And judging by the state of the place…..I can see why they think that way."
Sam was giving me only her left eye. Her body faced the bag on the bed but her head turned just enough to watch me as I took a step closer to where she was. With her attention clearly drawn, I added.
"Zandro and your dad have reason to believe all that venom was made off within two duffel bags. Two bags Sam…..two bags like these."
Sam didn't give me any reaction as I reached her side. Once there I put a hand on her arm to say to her with care.
"You have no idea what kind of trouble that man who stole from the M.E.A.F is in now that he's been identified. People like Zandro will take action to see his head and retrieve the stolen equipment."
"Nothing has happened yet." She said back to me. Shaking my head I informed her.
"That's because you're involved. If you weren't; this guy would have already been taken down or in. But because your role is yet to be understood, your father has kept Zandro and other bad men at bay. At least until he knows what's going on. Sam?"
The girl and I were so laser focused on one another, I almost forgot where I was when I asked her bluntly.
"What's in the bag?"
Her eyes looked down to it as I asked and without wasting time she moved a hand over to unzip the sides. I pulled my hand off her arm as she showed me what I feared it held. My eyes rested on so many cases of venom I nearly coughed on my own spit. However I looked back at my niece to state to her.
"You could be in a fuck ton of trouble holding onto this much product Samantha. You have any idea?"
The girl looked away from me as I slowly sighed and took another look inside the bag. During which Sam informed me.
"The other one has all the ingredients and the research data."
My eyes went back up to her and without thought I asked her.
"What the hell are you doing with this guy Sam?"
"I can't tell you." She replied back which got me to now question her motives. Unsure now of how to feel, I changed my question by asking her as calmly as I could.
"How did you meet?"
Again she replied.
"I can't tell you that."
I just nodded my head. I knew she was hiding something but I wasn't going to get anywhere interrogating her. My objective was to simply locate the gear and check in with her dad once I had answers to his concerns.
Zipping up the bag before saying another word, I looked back at my niece as she made a slow turn for the desk. As she had her back towards me, I said to her bluntly.
"You're looking at twenty years in prison Sam. Do you know that?"
She just nodded once as I saw her lean over her backpack which was in the middle of the desk she hovered by. Her right hand held itself within the main compartment and her left held the edge of the desk. She looked like she was in deep thought and that I could understand. So gently I reached into my pocket to pull out my cell phone. As I got the call ready, she asked me.
"Who are you calling?"
Before hitting the dial button, I replied.
"Your dad."
"Why?" She then wondered as I shook my head out of confusion to respond back with.
"Because I don't know what to do now. You won't say anything to me, and I know I can't force you to come back home. So I need to ask him what he wants me to do about this."
She nodded again with her back towards me and shortly after; I hit dial and waited for Raptor to answer. In seconds he did and asked me.
"Hey Peek. What's going on?"
With my eyes going back to the bag that was on the bed, I replied.
"I'm with Sam. She's okay, but I don't know what to do."
His voice went serious as he asked me.
"What do you know?"
Looking back at his daughter I replied.
"The gear is here. Both bags. Rosco is absent."
"What about Sam?"
"She won't tell me what's going on and I don't know what to do now."
"Can you put me on speaker?" Raptor then wondered as I calmly nodded to myself and replied.
"You're on."
Sam didn't budge as her dad called out to her.
"Sam? Can you hear me hun?"
She didn't respond, so I had to.
"She can."
Raptor took a second to understand what was happening but once he did he asked her.
"What's going on? I need to understand what's happening with you. Why are you with Rosco? He's a criminal."
Sam again ignored him. Raptor of course upped his game by informing her calmly.
"Sam, I can't help you if I don't know the truth and with things looking the way they are you could be facing the end of your life here in the middle east. Please answer me baby. I'm sorry for what happened between us. I swear to you I am. I'm not mad at you. I'm not upset. Just please for the love of god talk to me; if not your uncle there."
Sam didn't respond. Her eyes left mine and went back to her desk. Her father on the other hand went on to ask her.
"Do you know what kind of danger you're in being with this guy Samantha?"
Sam didn't answer yet again. She was leaving both me and her father to guess. Accepting her silence, I asked Raptor.
"What should I do here man?"
Raptor took a moment, but when he was ready he replied.
"That depends on my daughter. Sam? I can help you. I will help you. Your mother will not find out about this. You don't have to talk to me about why this happened, but there needs to be some kind of foundation set before we go any further."
I came up behind Sam to put my phone out in front of her so she couldn't help but listen. This was very important and she couldn't afford to ignore her dad at this moment.
"I'm not going to interrogate you. You're doing this for reasons only you can understand. You don't wanna tell us what's going on with you? Then don't. But I need you to understand something. The people who are going to be coming for you friend Rosco? Those people are nothing more than deranged contractors. They could care less who they hurt and I can promise you, if you're around when they show up they will kill you too."
Sam's eyes for a moment looked over at me as her dad went on.
"I don't know who. I don't know when. All I know is you won't be given a chance to argue. You'll die and I can't just let you do that. You're my daughter and I'm not going to lose you this way. So…..you need to get away from him. You need to go and do not look back. Do you hear me? Samantha?"
"Yeah." She replied as I nodded my head towards her response.
"Please Sam. You need to trust me on this. I can't lose you more than I already have. But there is still the matter of the venom in your possession. Your uncle needs to take it. I can keep your name cleared if it all comes back home. Otherwise I don't know what I'll tell Zandro."
"You mean this is a choice?" Sam questioned as I listened to her father reply.
"I don't know your reasons for leaving home with Rosco to begin with. For all I know Zandro might be right when he thinks it was your idea to make off with all that venom in the first place. For what? Sam I don't care to know. You're my daughter. We all make mistakes, but because of who I am and what I've done for my country; I can spare you this one time. Like I said, your mother will not know about this. She won't find out and we don't ever have to bring this up again so long as you listen to me. If you hand the gear over it'll look a lot better for you when I go to Zandro and your uncle Char to clear this up. Trust me it will. I can't promise you anything if you don't."
San's eyes left mine now and went back to her bag. Mocha was between us watching as Raptor then asked her.
"What's it going to be Sam? Please think about this. Be smart. Be the girl I know you are. Please."
"Sam?" I muttered from behind as she took more than a few seconds to nod her head and reply.
"Fine. Take it back. Take it all back. I…...just go."
Both Raptor and I went silent for a few seconds, but after, her father said to her carefully.
"Thank you Samantha, but I need to be sure. Peek? Please search the rest of the apartment. Make sure you're not leaving anything behind."
Sam again lowered her gaze as I put down the phone on top of the desk in front of her. Very softly I grabbed her shoulder and gently informed her.
"I need to pat you down Sam. I'm sorry."
She didn't move. I just settled for that and got myself to work on checking her body. Apart from her wallet and her phone, I found nothing else. Then I decided to look at her backpack which she still had her right hand inside of. Not thinking much of it, I touched her wrist to whisper.
"I need to check Sam. Please."
She didn't move so I had to reach in and grab her hand. My mind shifted gears as I felt she was holding onto something. Not fighting me, I dragged her hand out to see what came out in her grip was a gun. With my eyes widening I felt my mind reach a standstill and grow cold. Once I managed to look back up I found her eyes staring right back at mine. I even began to shake before hearing her dad ask from the safety of his end of the line.
"How's it looking Peek?"
I couldn't find my tongue as my hand still held hers. She was giving me this look that I had never seen before in my life. She was caught somewhere in the middle of anger and tears. However to me it seemed like she was contemplating more than just her emotions leading up to this moment. With my voice nearly gone from my body, I managed to whisper to her in confusion.
"Sam?"
The wolf held the gun under my own hand with such power I questioned letting her go. In fact all I could do at this moment was beg in the same quiet voice.
"Please let go."
Her dad couldn't hear me and thanks to that I think she listened. Her hand eased up and very slowly I slipped her gun away and into my own set of hands. It was then I replied to her dad.
"Nothing yet."
Raptor remained silent as I couldn't help but lose my focus and keep my eyes on Sam as I searched the rest of the room. Once I was positive there wasn't anything hiding around the apartment, I approached her to take back my phone and tell her dad who waited patently.
"It's clean."
Sam now turned fully around to face me as I still held her gun. The air in the room was so cold I struggled to listen as Raptor ordered me.
"Okay. I need you to move that gear out of the country as soon as you can. How copy?"
"I'll have it coming your way within the hour. But…...what about Sam?"
The girl and I weren't looking away from one another as her dad took a second to think. After he had his thoughts collected he asked me.
"Is there any chance you can help her find a new place for now? She can't stay there in that apartment."
"Sam?" I said back to her as she finally looked away from me to nod her head.
Taking that as a positive response, I replied.
"I'll figure something out."
Now as to be expected, Raptor proceeded to ask his daughter.
"Sam, do you need money? Just enough to get you out of there and moved into something better?"
Shaking her head she replied.
"No. I don't need any more help from you. Just stop talking."
Raptor had to be biting his tongue, but he was keeping himself together as he then ordered me.
"Fine. Peek? Get her out of there. Call me back once you're settled. Sam? This is the last time. Please focus on yourself. You have nothing stopping you from pursuing your goals. Take advantage of that and your scholarship and put all that anger into something better. Something you want to do with your life."
Sam didn't say a word back as her dad finished up by begging her afterwards.
"And please keep in touch. You don't have to with me, but please talk to your mother from time to time. She loves you more than anything in this world. You can lose a dad, but you can't afford to lose your mother. Trust me on that. If you ever need anything though….I'm not going anywhere. I love you Samantha. Keep out of trouble now. Peek? You can hang up. We'll talk later."
And just like that I hung up the line and put my phone back in my pants. My other hand still held her gun however and now that the room was ours; I asked her seriously out of concern for what could have just happened.
"Why do you have this? What were you thinking just then?"
"Leave." She ordered me which got me to chuckle and question.
"What?"
"Leave. You've already ruined enough for me."
"Sam?" I mumbled in disbelief as my eyes looked back down at the gun. During which she said to me.
"I don't need your help. I got the fucking message. I'll find my own way forward. I don't want you holding my hand. Now please…..just fucking go."
"Your dad wants me to be sure you get….?"
"I'll get somewhere safe!" She growled at me mid sentence.
"You are about as deaf as my dad. I got the message. I know what I gotta do. I'll find somewhere to go for tonight and I'll figure something out after that, okay?"
I didn't know what to say. My only concern now was this weapon and her safety. Both of which I said something about next.
"You're gonna be alone Sam. I don't have to just leave you here to deal with it all yourself. Let me help you. That was the plan before everything went to shit back home. I was gonna watch out for you. I was gonna train…..?"
"I don't want your help!" She now shouted at me which got Mocha to bark out at her owner.
"Braf! Braf!"
Sam was mad. Enough so that I saw the venom enter her eyes as she ordered me.
"Leave the gun. That's mine and you can't tell me otherwise. Here."
Reaching under her desk, Sam picked up the second back and tossed it at me. I couldn't grab it with packed hands so it just hit me and then the ground. At which point Sam growled.
"Just take it and get the hell out of my life. I don't wanna see you again. You're just like my father."
It hurt hearing that. I didn't agree one bit, but she wasn't in a place where I could question her further. So very calmly I nodded my head and tossed her gun onto the nearby bed. Her eyes never left me as I bent down to pick up the second bag. Once it was in my other hand I said to her softly.
"Okay…...I'll…..I'll go. But please Samantha, listen to your pops. You can't go through your life alone. You need people and much like him I'm not going anywhere. You hate me now, but maybe one day you'll need me. And you'll be glad I'm not like all those who came before. I don't believe your hate. You're letting all that emotion take you again. You're just saying shit. One day you'll see that and understand why I'm not taking this personally. I love you. Please….call me sometime. I'll bullshit something to your dad next time I talk to him, but promise me you're gonna get away from Rosco before someone else comes to collect."
With Sam looking away from me she replied.
"I promise. Now…..now leave. Please."
I wasn't satisfied but I knew where I would be headed if I pushed her anymore. So I just buckled myself up and made a slow pace to the exit. Mocha watched from in between Sam's legs as I opened it and made my way back outside.
Sam's POV.
My world was shattered again. The plan I thought I had, the hopes I came up with, and the effort I put forward was now all wasted thanks to Peek and my father. They just can't help but interfere with my life. Now I was left without purpose and with enough anger to punch my desk. I made a noticeable dent in it's steel top and decided to turn around to lock the door. Once I did I went back to the middle of the room to start thinking to myself about what I'd do now.
Moments became minutes. Minutes became hours and before I knew it Rosco was already home. Covered in a small amount of dirt and looking about as tired as the moment he left this morning. He thankfully didn't notice the missing bags, but did pick up on my attitude as I was sitting on the bed with my gun resting on my lap. He put down his jacket before asking me curiously enough.
"How was your day? Everything okay?"
Nodding my head I replied.
"I'm fine. Everything is fine. I'm just…..I'm just overwhelmed."
"About what?" He then wondered as he came over to sit next to me.
Looking over into his eyes I replied.
"Everything."
Taking that as my answer, the Bengal tiger soon suggested.
"I'd try to focus on what's most important. Don't tackle every problem at once. We checked those schools out. Any idea which one you'll take up? I think you need to find something to do and maybe going back to school will be just what you need."
Shaking my head I replied sadly enough.
"It's not that simple. This is my whole future I'm talking about."
Rosco wasn't really in the mood to discuss this subject much further. I caught on when he urged me while standing back up.
"You have time. Just take it and think it all over. I need to get a shower. That cool?"
Nodding I replied.
"Yeah. I think I'm just gonna head to sleep. I'm sorry if I'm not up when you get out to say goodnight."
Smiling the tiger poked my hat to urge me.
"Don't be sorry. Just say it now."
"Goodnight." I chuckled back as he also joined in on the laughter. Once he was done he went to the bathroom and began his work, leaving me alone with Mocha who jumped up next to me to get settled in for the night. I put the gun under my pillow before deciding to close my eyes for the day.
mT Shadow.