"I got a question for you, sunshine," Metal's face was inches from Lopez when he finally cornered him in the cages alone.
The younger man had the good sense to back up until his back bumped into the rear of his cage. Metal smiled wolfishly when Lopez's hand fumbled for a weapon behind his back.
Wouldn't do him any good.
"What- what question is that?" Lopez answered, clearly working hard at keeping his composure.
"Are you deaf?"
"N-no?"
"Are you dumb? Cause you sure seem to be-"
"Metal, I don't understand-"
"Come near Jess like that again, and I promise they will never find the body. You hear me?"
"W-what is this- is this about the other day at the café?!" Lopez held up both hands, losing color considerably, "I was just saying hi, ok? And I took the hint, I left!"
"Yeah? And what were you doing there anyway?"
"It's a free country?! I don't know, I just saw it and heard Sonny mention to Brock they have good coffee and-"
Damn the brat was convincing. If Jess wasn't creeped out by him, Metal would be tempted to believe him completely and let up. But no. This wasn't going to happen again.
"I want believe you, Lopez, but it's a little hard to hear past all that bullshit and that little part you left out about how you scared the shit out of her by saying, and I quote, 'it was a bad one'. Ring any bells?"
"Oh, fuck-"
"Yeah. Oh fuck is right."
"Look. I screwed up! I thought I should just give her the heads up, I didn't know that-"
Metal's glower deepened and Lopez's adams apple bobbed.
"It won't happen again," The boy whispered.
"Damn straight it won't."
"How do I fix this."
"You're gonna start by cleaning every inch of this floor. With a toothbrush. Then you clean every single pair of boots. And after that I'm gonna have you wash Sonny's socks. By hand. Then you're gonna address me as 'sir' and you are going to do whatever workout I tell you to do for the foreseeable future. Then, and only then, if I'm satisfied you get in the ring with me and we settle all this once and for all. You got that, kid ?"
Lopez nodded, "Yes, sir."
Metal pulled back and sneered, "You got a lot of boot licking to do, Lopez. Make Jess cry ever again…and it's over."
"Got it…sir."
Hucking a good gob of spit on the floor, Metal growled, "Clean that up."
And then he walked away.
Outside in the parking lot, Clay caught up to him.
"Did you talk to him?"
"None of your concern, kid. Leave it alone and play nice in the sandbox with the other kids." Metal growled, not in the mood for any more team drama.
"So you talked to him." Clay was undeterred, smiling even as he stayed in stride with him. "I hope he shit himself."
Metal didn't answer, but Clay knew him well enough now to read the silence.
"Thank you."
"Didn't do it for you, blondie."
"Didn't think you did. Just glad he got what was coming to him after upsetting and creeping out Jess."
"It's handled. Let it go and figure out a way to work with the guy because he's staying for now."
"I just don't see-"
"Clay?" Metal rounded on him and gave him a hard stare. "Leave it. Get your head out of your ass and be a professional. Play your cards right, play nice and you'll be here a hell of a lot longer than him."
Sobering, Clay nodded once and shouldered his bag more comfortably, "Ok. See ya later."
Something about the way the kid said it didn't sit well with him, so just as he turned, Metal growled in a softer tone, "If there's something you actually need to talk about? You know where to find me. Just give me a few hours of sleep first."
"Thanks, big guy."
A tiny, boyish smile slipped onto Clay's face and for a second Metal felt old. Well. Older than he usually did.
Jason needed to get that damn surgery. Team therapist did not suit him long term.
"Jess! There's someone here to see you!" Melony called through the door that lead from the dog play area to the front.
Sitting up from where she's been letting a pile of puppies take a nap in her lap, Jess wondered who it could be. Part of her did and didn't hope it was Pauline. They hadn't spoken since the fight two days ago and Jess was more than a little devastated about it.
It had always been her and Pauline. Right from preschool. They'd fought before, sure! They were often more like sisters than best friends, but this? This was different. This felt like the end of something and Jess couldn't bare it.
Maybe she'd come to apologize.
Jess slipped out of the play area she was in charge of that day and headed up the hall to the front.
But it wasn't Pauline.
Trevor turned when she opened the door, still talking to Melony, but his eyes crinkled when he saw her. He held up Luna's leash along with a coffee from the tray he brought and what looked like a box of her favorite pastries.
Some of the weight on her shoulders lifted and Jess managed to smile genuinely as she walked up to take Luna and accept the coffee.
"Hey, Luna! Look who it is?!" Trevor said to the dog, who was already dancing around and trying oh so hard to be a good girl and sit.
"Luna's favorite person!" Melony sang, cooing at the dog lovingly.
"I heard I got the order right last time!" Trevor said as he held out the coffee to Jess, smiling now.
"You did!" Jess accepted it and relaxed when the comforting smell of the drink reached her senses. "Thank you! I really needed this today!"
Something sharpened in Trevor's mild manner and he tilted his head to the side, considering her carefully as he asked, "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Jess knew how tired she looked and her cheeks got hot as she studied her coffee's lid.
"Anything I can help with?" Trevor asked meaningfully, and a little quieter, as if he were purposely excluding Melony now from the conversation.
Shaking her head, Jess fought back tears and forced another smile, saying, "Nope! But, um, if your still taking care of Luna tomorrow morning, do you think she could meet up with Reisa at the dog park? I didn't get her out as much yesterday as I wanted to and she's pretty pent up."
"Of course!" Trevor's lighter demeanor was glossed over with that same alertness as he started to back for the door slowly. "Shoot me a text and we'll figure out the details!"
"Thank you!"
"You got it! Have a good day, Jess! Melony?"
"See you later, Bailey! Thanks for the treats!"
"Aw, anything for you ladies!" Trevor reached the door and bumped it open with his elbow. "See ya!"
"Bye!" Jess waved, watching him go and feeling just a hair better than when she came up here. Once he was gone, she poked through the pastry box, saying, "He's so nice! Bringing us in treats and stuff!"
Melony gave an impatient groan and threw her hands in the air before saying, "Jess. You know he likes you, right?!"
Jess blinked at her boss.
"Who?"
The other woman stared at her like she had rocks in her head.
"Bailey!"
"What?" Jess snorted at the idea, taking a bit of her blueberry Danish. "No, he doesn't!"
"Seriously? He goes out of his way to do things for you and always brings you the things you like best," Melony said, very matter of fact.
Squinted at her, Jess made a face and insisted, "He's like that for everyone!"
"Not like he is with you! He's been bring us stuff ever since Luna started coming here, and he's only recently started to bring those pasteries."
Brushing the thoughts off before she could get any wrong ideas or read into it the same way Melony was, Jess rolled her eyes and said, "I think you're seeing things."
Melony raised her eyebrows.
"I'm really not."
Giving a nervous laugh, Jess shook her head and stressed, "No. I really think you are. He's just like that with everyone! Have you met him? He's the nicest guy I've met and he just remembers things about people, that's all. He genuinely cares about everyone and he knows my brothers, so like, yeah, it probably just seems like he likes me because we know each other outside of this context. That's all."
Melony looked like she wanted to say something more and decided against it, shaking her head softly and smiling.
"Alright. I must be mistaken."
Reassuring herself that yes, her boss must be seeing things, Jess tried to shake off the initial shock of even considering the idea. There was absolutely no way Trevor liked her.
At all.
By the time Jess came through the door, Metal had already taken the dogs to the park and Bruno for a run. With the way Reisa was on the walk and how she did zoomies around the house, bouncing off the back of the couch five to six times before he even got the leash on her, he figured it hadn't been a great couple days for Jess.
"You're back early!" Jess's pale face lit up when she got in the door and saw him.
"Yeah. Got things wrapped up pretty quick. It was an easy one."
"Good! I'm glad!" Dumping her bag by the door and kicking off her shoes, Jess made her way into the kitchen.
"Uh huh. How was your day?" He asked, following her and taking a seat at the counter.
"It was good." There was an odd note in her tone. "I mean, as good as it ever can be. It got better after Trevor showed up to drop Luna off and had coffee and pastries for the rest of us."
"Well, wasn't that nice of him." Metal commented casually, noting the way Jess's mood had shifted again at the mention of Trevor. She was smiling a little now.
"Right? Thank you! He is really nice! And then Melony was like 'I think Bailey likes you' and I'm like- geez you got it all wrong!" Jess gave a little laugh as she opened the fridge and held it open with her toe. "Like, can you imagine? A guy like Trevor first of all even considering someone as messed up as me but also, like, me not noticing that he was interested ?"
Metal was watching her move about the kitchen with absolutely no expression and he said blandly, "Oh, yeah for sure. Can't see that happening at all."
"Exactly! He's just a really nice guy and he's like that with everyone!" Jess said as she dumped milk onto her cereal, completely missing the sarcasm in his voice.
Metal let it go with pain. Instead, unable to help himself because he seriously wanted to know just how far in denial she was, he said,
"So just out of curiosity, what would you do if he did like you?"
"In an alternate universe?" Jess asked around her spoon. "I don't know…I haven't ever thought about it! Why torture yourself with entertaining thoughts of something that will never happen?"
Interesting wording. Metal tried not to laugh.
"Do you like him?" He asked, curious if she would give a true answer.
"What?!"
Metal shrugged. "Just a question."
Jess blinked at him as if he were stupid.
"Why would I let myself like someone who I'll never get to be with? I'm pretty mean to myself but I'm not a sadist, Scott!"
Scott gave her another long, expressionless look before shaking his head and muttering, "Nope. Naima can deal with you."
"What did I do?!" Jess held her hands out, bowl in one hand and spoon in the other, clearly indignant.
"Nothing," He grumbled, eyeing the cereal with distaste. "Eat your snack."
Jess huffed and muttered with a half injured tone, "I feel attacked. At least I'm eating!"
Yet again, Metal internally groaned at the way the girl completely missed the point of his earlier words. Really. This was a Naima problem. Not his. He wasn't going to get involved.
At all.
Ever.
Probably.
Well, maybe not at least until Bailey actually asked her out. Then he'd get involved.
"You know, at least it's not just Nutella from the jar!"
"That is true." Metal relented, lowering himself to the floor so he could play with Reisa and hide his exasperation.
"Though I came home and I couldn't find a single jar and I know I had one earlier today."
"Hm."
"Do you know anything about that?"
"Nope."
Jess's head poked around the corner of the counter and she narrowed her eyes at him on the floor with her dog on his chest.
"Are you full of shit?"
Metal smiled and growled, "Might be. Did you look in high places?"
"Why would-" Jess groaned and grabbed a chair, dragging it over to the fridge so she could reach the cupboard above it. "I hate it when you do this!"
Chuckling, Metal said, "And you fall for it every time."
"Just because I'm short doesn't mean you get to take advantage of it!"
"It was out on the counter. I just put it away!"
"What's got you in such a good mood anyway!" Jess grumbled as she tried to reach her precious Nutella. He grinned when she still couldn't reach. He'd put it in the back on the highest shelf. "Oh for- Help?! Please!?"
"Your cereal is getting soggy."
"Oh for-" Jess put her face in her hands and drew a long, deep breath. "I'm actually really fragile today. Can you please get it down and let me eat?"
Metal hummed and rolled up off the floor. That wasn't good.
"What's goin on?" He asked more seriously as he reached past her on the tips of his toes and easily grabbed the jar out, setting it on the counter where he found it.
Jess was quiet as she shoveled more food into her mouth, still standing on the chair and staring out the window.
"Come on." Metal reached out and slipped a careful hand under her elbow. "Come down from there and talk to me. What's going on?"
Letting him help her down so she didn't spill her bowl, Jess's lower lip started to quiver and he mentally swore.
"Pauline and I had a fight." Jess told him in a low voice.
"What about?"
"I don't even really know. She-she wasn't really acting like herself and we both said some stuff and haven't talked since."
Metal groaned inside. Not more interpersonal drama. He really should just quit his job now and become a therapist.
"Walk me through it. What happened."
"We were hanging out, and then she wanted to go out to a club and I said no and then she got all mad at me and started saying things like I think I'm too good for her now and that I'm never there for her anymore and I yelled at her and left!"
Face twisting, because he personally hadn't loved the carelessness of the girl who reminded him too much of himself at that age, Metal shrugged, "Sounds like a her problem cause I know you're a good friend to her and you've had a shit ton going on. If she can't see that, then maybe she's not as good a friend as she thinks she is."
"I guess." Something in Jess deflated and she frowned at the floor.
"Jess, sometimes we just grow past old friends, and it sucks, but it's normal. She's suck in the past, you're working to move forward." Metal pulled her into a hug. "It's not a bad thing, pips."
"What am I supposed to do? I don't even know if she wants to talk to me and I'm scared to reach out."
"So don't. She picked the fight. Let her be the one to reach out if she wants to fix it. If not, maybe it's better this way if she's just bringing more upset than help in your life right now."
"I guess so." Squeezing back, Jess pulled away. She was clearly not happy still.
Having said his piece, Metal figured if she wanted to talk more about it she would so he waited for her to finish her food. Then when she didn't continue he asked, "Are you good?"
"No. But it's ok. Just a lot on my mind. I think I'm still processing it all. I'll be fine."
"You know where to find me if you need me."
"I do."
Hating that downcast, depressed look on her face, Metal decided to brighten things a little.
"I had another chat with Lopez."
That got her attention. Her head snapped up and that gloomy expression sharpened with interest.
"You did? Why?"
"Clay mentioned something about him upsetting you the other day, so I had a conversation with him." Metal smirked when her little brain started to read between the lines.
"Did you do the thing that everyone keeps telling me you do but I've never seen?"
"Murder Metal? Yup."
A genuine smile broke her face and Jess did a tiny dance.
"Yes! Thank you!"
"He's got a grave with his name on it if he upsets you again and he's got a lot of groveling to do."
Jess's brightness dimmed and she chewed the inside of her cheek.
"But, wait. I thought you said that there was a lot of drama on the team right now…isn't this going to add to it?"
"Maybe. Maybe it'll fix some of it. Makes me feel better anyway. Once I get him in the ring, it'll be over. Promise."
Eyes going big, Jess nearly choked on her water.
"You're going to beat him up!"
"Maybe a little." Metal grinned at the growing concern. "Maybe a lot. Who knows. We will see how good a boy he's been."
"I kinda feel bad now…I mean, I don't like him and he kinda creeped me out with the whole showing up unexpectedly but I don't, Scott. I don't think I meant for him to-"
"Aww, don't you worry your head about it." Metal brushed her concern off gently and headed to put on some sports. "It's a team problem now. Out of your hands."
What he didn't say was that her insight was accurate. He was risking stirring up a tad more drama himself by doing this. But still. No one messed with Jess on his watch. Ever.
Another day passed and Jess still hadn't heard from Pauline. The heaviness in her heart made it hard to concentrate and all she wanted to do now was sleep to avoid thinking about it.
With how rambunctious Reisa was and how bad she was feeling, Jess knew it wasn't a good idea to stay inside too much right now. She might never go out again if she did that. So she messaged Trevor since Scott was at work and asked if he was around to do a playdate for Luna and Reisa.
He was.
"How you doing today, Jess?" Trevor asked as she came out the door with Bruno and Reisa.
"Hi! I'm good!" Jess lied, letting the lead go loose so Luna and Reisa could briefly say hi.
"That's great!" Trevor smiled through tired lines on his own face and Jess briefly thought he seemed as tired as she felt right now. "Ready to go?"
"Yup!" She fell into step next to him and they headed toward the park. "Where you working?"
"Yeah, last night. I got called in."
Heart sinking, Jess immediately started to apologize, "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have bothered you! You probably need sleep."
"Sleep?" Trevor smiled and shrugged a little. "Nah. I'll sleep when I'm dead. Besides, Luna was ready to get going when you messaged me so it was a win win. Less work getting her sillies out."
"Well, thank you. I appreciate it!"
"Anytime!" Trevor switched sides with her when Luna nearly yanked his arm out of his socket to smell a really good smell. "So did your day get better the other day?"
Jess smiled at the thought of warm coffee and tasty treats.
"Yeah, it did a bit! Someone dropped off coffee and pastries for us at work, so that was pretty great. Ended up being a hectic afternoon, so it was much needed."
A wide grin wrinkled his eyes, chasing away how tired he looked before. "Good! Glad someone looks after all of you!"
Jess's pocket buzzed and she looked at the message.
Scott.
"Do you need to take that?" Trevor asked, tall enough to see but not looking.
"No. It's just Scott. Got called in late last night and is spinning up now. He won't be home for a bit."
"They're sure keeping busy."
"Yeah. And Jason isn't happy about it.'
"Oh?"
"Well-" Jess hesitated, stopping herself only just in time because it was so dang easy to just tell Trevor anything. "He's got something he has to do before he can go back as Bravo 1."
"Ah. And I'm guessing he's putting it off?"
"Big time."
"Must be a surgery." Trevor commented confidently.
"How'd you know?"
"It's always the things they can't control that gets them." Trevor told her with a grim half smile and a knowing look in his expressive brown eyes.
"You sound like you know something about that," Jess mused.
He scratched his chin a little, drawing Jess's eyes to the motion. He'd just shaved and she noticed for the first time the subtle scars peppering his jawline near his right ear and traveling up until she fully realized the light scar through his right eyebrow too. They were old scars and she was struck by how weird it was; she never noticed them before.
"I was military once," Trevor told her, his mouth that usually smiled easily thinning into a firm line. "And I come from a long line of military folks."
"I guess that's right." Jess murmured, feeling like she'd said something wrong.
In seconds Trevor's easy smile came back and he sighed a little ruefully, "What I mean is my mom, my dad, my grandpa, my brothers, my sister, my uncles and my aunt…every single one of them is career military. Hell, half are even decorated officers. I know how they think. I was one of them once upon a time."
"Wow." Jess was stunned. She knew his brother had been in basic with Brock, but she didn't know his whole family was the same career path. Except him. "That must be rough."
"It makes for some interesting family Christmas's, I'll grant you that," Trevor laughed a little. "They ride me pretty hard, but most of them at least respected my decision to step away and do something different."
"And the others?"
Trevor shrugged, "We just don't talk about it and it's all good. Super healthy. I'd rather have it out with them and agree to disagree rather than pretend nothing is wrong, but at least they're still talking to me."
Jess stayed quiet, thinking about that and how it weirdly related to what was going on with her and Pauline.
"Anyway, enough about my family sob story," Trevor gently bumped her arm with his elbow. "What's going on?"
"What?" Jess tried to play dumb and failed miserably.
"You just got real quiet on me and you look like you might cry, Jess. If you want to talk, I'm a good listener."
Giving in, because she really needed a less biased opinion, Jess heaved a shuddering sigh and said, "Pauline and I had a bit of a falling out."
"She's your bestie, right?" Trevor squinted at the sky, trying to remember. "At the barn?"
"Yeah, the one who you've mostly only ever met while she's drunk." Jess shivered in the cold of the day. It almost felt like it might snow a bit.
"Ah. Yeah, I think I know the one." Light amused might flickered and he stuffed his hands in his pockets while shaking his shaggy head of hair. "So what happened?"
"Well, I've been a little distant, I guess and, she's hurt by it, but instead of just saying that she went off on me about how I'm not the same person I used to be, and how I'm a snob now and think I'm better than her, and that I don't care about her, and stuff like that. And it all started with me not wanting to pick up food from a new sushi place because I- I just have a really hard time going to new places right now with- well- everything, you know?"
"Makes perfect sense!" Trevor told her, face growing serious and thoughtful as she spoke. "So she was mad at you about that? Why does she think you're a snob?"
"I didn't want to get drunk."
"Fair enough. I'm assuming you said no pretty firmly then?"
"Yeah. Then she started piling on all this other stuff because- well," Jess stopped as they came to the park to let the dogs off leash. "Now she isn't talking to me because I yelled at her about the whole 'being kidnapped and trauma' stuff."
"You guys have a lot of history?"
"A lot. LIke, most of our lives! We're practically sisters rather than friends at this point and it's really-" Jess broke off, struggling to control the sudden flood of emotion that rose over the idea of never talking to her friend again. She blinked hard, swearing to herself she wasn't going to break down and cry in front of poor Trevor. "It's really hard. I hate being at odds with people I care about and this? This is awful and I don't know what to do."
"I feel that." Trevor drew a long breath of his own, studying the leash he was fiddling with in between watching the dogs run. "Good buddy of mine, well, I actually just cut ties because of some bullshit he was involved in that I couldn't stomach and had to report him for. He went to prison. Not easy to do and even harder to accept that someone you thought you knew isn't that person anymore."
"I'm sorry," Jess murmured, meaning every word. "That must have been awful!"
Nodding solemnly, Trevor said grimly, "I had a good support system to see me through it. You'll get through it too, Jess, if it takes a turn you don't want. You have lots of great people around you."
"I told Scott."
"What did he say?"
"Said maybe I should just cut ties with her and be done with it."
Trevor hummed and glanced at her. "And what do you want to do?"
"I don't know. Scott had some good points but-" Jess scuffed the ground with her heel. "Part of me kinda wonders if- if what if she's right."
Without looking from the ground, Jess could sense Trevor turning to face her more fully.
"Right about what?" he asked.
"That I do defer to whatever Scott and the others tell me to do or not do and that I've just traded one group of people who influenced my movements to dictate my life for another."
"Does it feel like that?"
Jess wasn't sure what she'd expected Trevor to say, but that question was not it.
"No."
"Did it feel like that when you lived at home with your mom?"
"Yes."
"Always?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Did it feel like that when you lived with your friends?"
Thinking, Jess looked for a good way to explain it.
"Sometimes. I needed them. A lot. I would have been homeless without them honestly probably would have starved the one year. So I just did whatever they pressured me to do, mostly. Like, I didn't do things I really really didn't want to do, but I ended up DDing for them at some sketchy places and I hated it, plus looking back Stacy and Pauline did kinda bully me a bit and put me down sometimes. That was more Stacy when she was feeling mean. Zoe was great! She was never mean!"
"So, let me ask you this." Trevor scanned the park, mildly alert as the dogs took off around a tree and back. "When the guys give their opinions, do you feel like you have to take them or they won't put up with you anymore?"
"No. I just…their opinions still matter, alot . And I need them. I- I can't stand the thought or idea of facing this world anymore without them! So yeah, I don't want to piss them off! I don't want to be at odds or have an argument with them." Jess flushed, embarrassed by how pathetic she sounded.
"I get that." Trevor was free of judgment and it helped the sting in her hot cheeks. "My brother's opinions matter a lot to me too. Hard to get away from that. I think what I'm more asking is this; is it the end of the world if you don't do what they think you should, and do you feel like you can do the opposite if you choose to?"
Jess thought about it for a minute before saying, "I think so, I mean, I think I can do what I want and they would still support me. They just won't hide what they think though and that's hard. Really hard. I'm such a friggin people pleaser!"
Trevor smiled at her a little and said kindly, "I know. That's not the point. You just proved yourself that the situation you're in isn't what Pauline says it is. If anything it's better because you can recognize the ways those guys can and do heavily influence you. Personally I think external influence is a good thing and extremely helpful in acquiring skills you don't have or need to improve on to be the person you want to be. It's only a problem when you can't think for yourself, and Jess? You absolutely think for yourself."
"So what do you think I should do about Pauline?" Jess blurted, ignoring the irony of what Trevor just said and her response to it.
Trevor's serious demeanor faded and his mild, easy going stance returned. "You've got a big heart and a good head on your shoulders, Jess. I think you already know what you want to do, and it doesn't matter what I think."
They went quiet as the dogs went for a zoomie past them and Jess considered his words some more.
Did she know what she wanted to do?
Yeah. Yeah she did. She wanted to text Pauline, but Scott's voice kept saying not to.
"She came all the way out here with me and stuck by me my whole life when I felt like I had no one else to stand with me."
Trevor didn't answer, but he made eye contact so she knew he was listening.
"I wouldn't have made it without her. That much is true. And she didn't have to come with me, but she did. But she'd never held that over me before, and I never felt I owed her…well, I thought I didn't. Maybe I did. Maybe I do. I don't know. Regardless, I am grateful! Is that such a bad thing? And I love her! She's my sister and I don't want to lose her over whatever the hell this is! I Scott and Trent especially don't really like her, but they don't know her like I do! Cutting ties isn't the answer here."
Again, in the face of her passionate and animated words, Trevor remained silent. He left no room for her to speculate what he thought past the warmth in his eyes and the tiny up turn of his mouth.
"Maybe I do know what I want to do." She sighed, pulling out her phone and finding Pauline's number.
Trevor just smiled and crouched down to pat Reisa, saying, "You see that, Reisa? She didn't even need my help!"
Feeling lighter and encouraged enough to not be scared about what could happen, Jess texted Pauline.
~Hey. Can we talk?~