Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and comment on the last chapter. Here is the next one. I hope you all enjoy it. I don't own Divergent and all military-related mistakes are mine. Happy Reading!
To Jane S- I'm glad you are enjoying the story, and that you chose mine when you were looking for another one to read. I worked hard researching the military stuff.
Chapter 18: The Awakening
My phone rings, interrupting my reading. Leaving me, sitting on the couch, staring at a wall, imagining an intense scene between the two main characters, Stella and Damon, but instead of it being them, it is Tobias and me. I move to pick up my phone, my heartbeat picks up speed, thinking it might be Peter for a short second, but then I see Caleb's face fill the screen.
"Hey," I answer, a smile on my face.
"Hey, baby sister." He says, and I can hear how happy he is in that moment.
"Any reason that you are calling?" I ask, suspiciously.
"Can't a brother, just call to check up on his sister?"
"I guess."
"I'm so happy that you are finally away from Peter. You have no idea how much stress that takes off of me." He whispers. "I was worried for your safety."
"Me too. What are you up to? Shouldn't you be at work?" I ask, looking at the clock, as I hear him reply, "I'm on my lunch break." Caleb and I spend his whole lunch break, talking like old times. Our conversation drifts from old memories of when our parents were alive, to when we were younger, to him telling me about his date with Cara. I giggle when I hear his voice turn light and lovey as he mentions Cara. I ask, "Are you in love, Caleb?"
"No. It is too early in our relationship to be in love. I barely even know the girl."
"Speaking of which, you never told me much about Cara. How did you guys meet? You told me that you asked her out after work, one day. Does she work with you at the FBI?
"Sort of, she works as a photographer, and we met one day when she left her camera bag on my desk by accident." He mumbles through the phone at me.
"What does that mean, sort of a photographer? Caleb, no one leaves their bag on a desk by accident. Unless they are trying to drop a hint."
"I can't tell you if she is a photographer or not. It's a secret."
"Fine, you keep your secrets." I grin, even though he can't see me. I am happy that he is happy. "So what did you do on your date? Where did you go?" I ask as Caleb tells me about his first date with Cara, I encourage him to ask her out again.
Our conversation turns to Four and me. Caleb seems happy for me, but he seems leery of our situation. He warns me to be careful, not wanting to see me hurt again or in another bad living situation. I brush off his big brother comments as I hang up the phone, knowing in my heart, that Tobias would never hurt me as Peter once did.
When Tobias comes home that night, he pulls me to him. His fingers intertwining with mine. He kisses my forehead lovingly. He has a look in his eye that I wish that I could read. "Is everything okay?" I ask, wanting, needing, to know that he is okay, to be okay myself. He doesn't look it, by the look on his face. He pulls me to the couch as he asks, "Can I take you somewhere tonight?"
"Sure, like on a date?" I ask, trying to lighten the mood. "Wait, are you asking me out on another date? The guy who says he doesn't flirt?"
"I don't flirt, and If you want to call where I am taking you to, a date. Then, I guess you get to go out twice with me in one week." He grins at me. His smile trying to cover something that he is hiding.
"Okay. Whatever you say, Tobias." I whisper, rolling my eyes at him.
He smirks at me as he moves from the couch, moving into the bedroom to change from his uniform into regular clothes. I'm still sitting in the same place where he left me when he returns. My mind, having gotten the better of me, since he left to change, taking me to a dark place. He places his hand out into the air as if to be a life preserver, pulling me from the recesses of my mind. I stare at his hand, wondering if I should take it. The words slip out of my mouth before I can even stop them, "Are you tired of me? Are you taking me back to Peter because I am good for nothing?"
As soon as I hear my words fall flat in the air between Tobias and me, my eyes drop to the floor. I can hear the lie. Tobias looks horrified as he hears my words. His face morphs from happy to angry as he replies, "Are you serious, right now? I will never, for as long as I live, allow Peter to ever, lay another hand on you. What do I need to do to make you see that you are a good person?"
"I know that. I know, I am a good person, and that I am not good for nothing."
"You may know that, but do you believe it? Because I believe it, Tris, with all of my heart. It is why you were worried about your brother when you couldn't get a hold of him, and even though, I have never seen you in action as a nurse, I am sure you are a great nurse as well. You care about your patients. It is why you wanted to get back to the hospital so quickly, even though you have barely begun to heal yourself. Now, I never want to hear you ever say that you aren't a good person, or good for nothing again. I especially, don't want you to mention Peter again."
"Okay," I whisper, trying to see myself through Tobias's eyes as I take his hand, wondering where we are going as he drags me out the door to his truck. He is silent as he starts his truck. He drives the truck through base, slowly.
"Where are we going?" I ask, again.
"When I came home from my mission yesterday, and you nearly butter knifed me to death, I couldn't get the look of your face out of my head all day, of how scared you looked. I never want you to be that scared ever again. When you are home alone, I want you to know you are safe. I need you to know how to defend yourself in a world that seems to get worse by the day. I am going to teach you how to shoot, but you need to promise me something."
"Huh."
"That you won't shoot me by accident when I walk through the door at night." He smirks at me.
"I would never shoot you." I grin at him, as we pull up to a concrete building in the middle of nowhere. Tobias intertwines his fingers with mine. As we walk into the building, the sound of gunfire can be heard bouncing off the walls as soon as he opens the door. He leads me to a stall with the gun. Before giving me my muffs, to go over my ears, he gives me a questioning look, asking me if I am comfortable doing this. I shake my head, yes. He places the gun on the table. His long fingers point at the different parts of the gun. He shows me how to work the safety, how to load and unload the bullets from the chamber. Then he shows me how to stand as he presses his finger against the trigger, pointing the gun at the paper in the distance, the bullet flies out of the barrel of the gun into the paper. "You wanna try?" He asks as he hands me the gun.
The metal of the gun is cool in my hand and it is heavier than I thought it would be. I try to stand the exact way that Tobias stood with my knees apart. I look through the pointer, as he told me to, and look at the white paper in the distance. My mind imagining, it is Peter standing there smugly. I press the trigger, letting the bullet fly out of the barrel, missing the paper, completely. The buck of the gun nearly sends me onto the floor. Tobias catches me in his arms "fuck," I mumble as I feel a slight adrenal rush go through my system.
"You okay?" Tobias asks.
"I wanna try again," I say immediately, loving the rush.
"Okay," Tobias says as he helps me, positioning me on the matt. When his hand touches my stomach, I feel an electrical current, go through me. I take a deep, sharp, intake of breath. Tobias smiles, sheepishly at me as he says, "Sorry," quickly.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong," I whisper. Tobias lets me attempt to shoot the gun two more times, but the buck of the gun is too much. He catches me each and every time. Each time, Tobias resets me. I feel the electrical current running between him and me. He smiles at me with a carefree smile, one that I wish I could bottle for a rainy day. When Tobias sees me getting frustrated after five missed attempts at shooting the gun, he catches me. This time, he fixes me, but he doesn't move out from behind me. He whispers into my ear, his hand resting on my stomach, his breath tickling my neck. My mind going to places it shouldn't be going at that moment with a gun in my hand. "Take a deep breath, put your finger on the trigger, and on your exhale, pull the trigger." I do as he instructs me to do, and this time. I hit the target in the chest. "Kill shot." He whispers. Pride in his voice. "Try again." His voice, soft.
I send another four bullets through the same hole, imagining Peter standing before me taunting me. This time, the gun doesn't move me at all. "Great job. I'm proud of you." Tobias whispers, as he gently takes the gun from my fingertips. He locks the safety, then touches my chin, lifting it, my eyes meet his eyes as he leans to kiss me. The smell of metal, gunpowder, and the sound of gunfire disappears as Tobias takes over my world for a few moments.
The next day is the five-kilometer color run we are doing with Zeke and his wife, Shauna. When Tobias drives us off base, I realize, it is my first time I have left base since I came to live with Tobias. Zeke and Tobias are wearing similar expressions when at registration they are handed white t-shirts with neon green sunglasses. Zeke groans as he says "Shauna, you better love me for doing this."
"Of course Zekey Bear. You are helping to make the world a happier and healthier place." She smiles as she puts on her hot pink sunglasses.
Tobias rolls his eyes behind his neon green sunglasses as he says "Zekey Bear, huh? I like that one!"
Zeke groans, "Tris, what's a nickname that Four has?"
"He doesn't have any."
"You two are lame." I hear a voice behind me, a shiver goes down my spine at the sound of the male voice. "You look good, Tris. Haven't seen you in a while. I'm sure Peter will be will be most interested in knowing that you are here."
"Drew, leave Tris alone." A girl says, who is standing in front of me. "Peter said, he would deal with her on his own. You promised me today was our day. No work today. Hi Tris." A brown-haired girl with a shoulder-length wavy bob, waves at me who has blue eyes. I recognize her immediately as Molly, Drew's girlfriend.
A feeling of dread takes hold of my stomach. I feel like the earth is falling out from beneath my feet. I turn to see a red-headed, blue-eyed Drew standing there looking at me with an evil smirk playing on his lips. Shit! Peter is going to know where the hell I am! Slowly, I hear, "Tris, Tris, Tris. Are you okay?" Tobias asks as he pulls me to the starting line.
The color race is a blast, I forget all about Drew and Molly behind us. Every kilometer, Tobias and I are doused in a different color. As much as Tobias groaned about not wanting to participate, he has a smile on his face in this untimed race, and he is laughing much of the way, taunting Zeke and me, trying to make us keep up with him. By the time, Tobias and I cross the finish line, we are covered head to toe in different colors. When we do cross the finish line, I jump onto Tobias's back with excitement, pulling his chin back towards me, and kiss him quickly. His soft lips keep my mind off Molly, Peter, and Drew. But, all too soon, my mind is reeling again about what Drew said before the race started.
At the end of the race, there is a huge party with more color throws, vendors, dancing, and photos. Shauna and I pull Tobias and Zeke into the middle of more color throws, where we are all doused with even more colors. Tobias and I take a photo together to commemorate our fun day. Tobias grins at me as he says, "There is no way, we are getting into the truck like this?"
"And how are we getting home?" I ask, wondering what he is planning. This man always seems to be up to something. "You wanna skinny dip?" He asks sarcastically.
"No." I giggle as he pulls me outside of the vendors and the music, there is a dock that leads into the ocean. Tobias grins at me then he grins at Zeke, then grabs my hand as Zeke grabs Shauna's hand. "No!" I squeal as Tobias takes off running with me, as he yells, "Yes!" pulling me along with him. He jumps off the dock into the ice-cold ocean water with me. When I resurface I look around for Tobias, but he is nowhere to be seen above the water.
"Tobias!" I yell "Tobias!" I yell again, starting to panic, having flashbacks to a similar moment of when Sam pretended to drown when we were in high school in the school swimming pool, trying to get me to jump into the pool with him, one day, after his swim practice that I had been watching. I feel hands wrap around my waist as someone grabs a hold of me, and Tobias surfaces next to me. "You scared me!" I say, panicking. He laughs, a grin playing on his lips. "I'm fine, nothing's going to keep me away from you."
"You idiot!" I push him back under the water as he pulls me under with him, he comes back up, grinning at me. He grabs my shoulders, pulling me closer to him, my hands go around his neck caressing it, and I didn't want him to pull away from me. His eyes stare at my lips, then stare into mine. His lips meet mine as his tongue runs along my bottom lip. I breathe heavily as our tongues graze each other as we lose ourselves in the kiss, the hot friction between us, almost becoming unbearable even with the cold ocean water surrounding us. His fingers move lightly down my sides, hooking onto my legs, moving them to rest on his hips as he deepens the kiss. As we kiss, I realize that I am in love with him, and the idea hits me like a brick building, making me terrified. I can't love him. It is too soon. I can't love him yet, right? He will end up hurt or worse, dead. When we end the kiss from lack of oxygen, our foreheads resting on one another, our breaths mixing together, our eyes staring into one another, his eyes staring at me with gentle concern. His eyes promising me things that I never thought I would ever want in this life with anyone. I don't know how to feel at that moment.
"Tris, I-" He starts to say, but his sentence is interrupted with "Hey lovebirds!" Zeke shouts "We're going home." I wave as Tobias motions over his shoulder to leave us alone. I swim away from him, back to the dock, breaking the moment between us. I need time to process the fact that I like him more than I should in the short amount of time that I have known him for. I don't normally fall this fast for someone.
My head is spinning as I try to work through my thoughts as we walk back to the truck. He holds my hand, rubbing the back of my knuckles with his thumb. I notice a person sitting on the hood of his truck, and I feel like hiding behind him when I see who it is. "Peter." Tobias hisses, "We should call the cops on you!"
"Eaton, you done kidnapping my girlfriend, yet?"
"She isn't your anything. I'm pretty sure your relationship ended the moment you beat her." Tobias says deadly to Peter.
"She is mine! Not yours, Eaton!" Peter sneers at both Tobias and me as he eyes us both with malice. I shiver, feeling exposed to him.
"Really, I thought the fact that Tris hasn't been at home with you for weeks, would be a big indicator to you that your relationship is over, Peter," Tobias says sternly.
"Tris, baby. I miss you. I love you. Come home with me. I'm sorry about what I did. I lost control for one little moment. It won't happen again, I promise." Peter says sadly, batting his eyes at me, trying to make me feel bad, sorry for him, to try to take him back.
Tobias squeezes my hand reassuringly as I look Peter in the eye, and say "Peter, even if you were the last man on the planet, I wouldn't go back to you. Why would I go back to a man, who beat me, tried to assault me? Do you think I am crazy? I deserve better than that!"
Peter throws his bottle of beer on the ground as he says "Fine Beatrice, you had your chance to come back willingly with me. Now, I will take you by force."
"Get off my truck." Tobias yells "You aren't taking her anywhere. You will need to go through me first." Tobias's stance changing to one of intimidation as he stares at Peter, through narrowed eyes. I notice Tobias's other fist is clenched shut, ready for a fight as Peter walks away, and as Peter does walk away, he says, "I'll see you and your brother around, Tris."
Tobias is radiating anger as he punches his accelerator driving back to base, and my thoughts are going in every which direction. "Who the hell does he think he is?" He grumbles to himself.
"It's fine," I say as I reach over to touch his arm, and he shoots me an angry look.
"Tris, he threatened you. We need to report him to the police so that way he can be arrested. The cops said after you were beaten nearly to death they were going to issue a warrant for his arrest. Why hasn't that son of a bitch been arrested?"
I laugh. Tobias looks at me like I have lost my mind. "Tobias, he owns the police. He is part of the mob. Haven't I told you that before? His grandfather is the head of the mob, his grandfather doesn't get caught because he is also the chief of police. Why do you think Peter, is out walking around after he beat me? Did you think mommy and daddy bailed him out?"
"I don't know. I expected the damn cops to do their jobs, not be dirty. I guess," Tobias says, running his fingers through his hair with frustration. "Fine, we can't trust the police to deal with him. Then what are we going to do? I'm not going to leave you out as bait."
"We aren't going to do anything. We are going to live our lives as if Peter doesn't exist." I whisper, knowing that that is exactly what is going to happen, hopefully, because Peter always wins in everything. He always has since he was a kid, that is why he drove away my one other male friend, Sam, in college because he was jealous of our friendship. I smile, thinking about Sam's letter turning up in my mailbox one day, and how we have been writing letters back and forth secretly ever since without Peter's knowledge.
He smiles at me as he says "You are beautiful, but Peter does exist in this world, Tris. We need to do something, even if it is only a little something."
"I'm a mess, I'm not beautiful, clearly you need your vision to be checked. I look like a drowned rat." I say, giggling, ignoring the part about Peter being alive in this world.
"Nope. I've got twenty-twenty corrected vision, the last time it was checked. Today was a perfect day. There is only one thing that I would have changed about it." He says, glancing at me from his aviators.
"What's that?"
"That all the powder paint got washed out of your hair. I thought you looked badass with pink and blue hair."
I shake my head, laughing at his silliness, turning up the radio talking about the wildfires raging in Southern California, wondering if Tobias and I are really going to be able to live in a world Peter free.
Please review and let me know what you thought. Do you think Peter is going to try something especially now that he threatened Tris? Next update will be up on the weekend on January 19.