Unforeseen Dives – VIIIa – A Sword Overhead

<< VIIb – A Loony Out Of The Bin

Relief washed over me when Ryan nodded. He still looked outside but I knew he was listening in on our conversation and our thoughts. Wayne looked at him for a confirmation when I said and thought he was right. Ryan’s nod triggered a lot of happiness in the psychopath too.
“I knew it!” Wayne cheered. He dived forward to hug me. “They said it would be easier to just break you. But I told them ‘Not Cassidy. She’ll never give up. But once she understands, she’ll join us.’ They didn’t listen and yet…” His voice drowned in hysterical laughter.
Wayne pulled back only to charge again. He kissed me with the lust of a desperate man. Misunderstood and lonely. He kissed me like a man who spent years surrounded by white cushioned walls. Who spent years away from all warmth. I responded as best as I could to sell off my intentions to join him. In a way, I felt for him but the kiss wasn’t any less of an attack. Passion was hard to summon for someone who had you tortured and still had you tied to a chair. At least, for me it was.
And there was Ryan and the non-reader staring at us to increase the awkwardness of the whole thing.
“My wife hates me, you know.” He said when he pulled back. He began to untie me. “She pretends she’s glad to see me when we’re around people but she set up a separate bedroom for me. She blames me for it all.” His sadness softened a part of me. Had his wife truly welcomed him in after the years of isolation, would he still be the loving man I knew? “I could understand why she cheated while I was inside but…”
The last of my bond fell to the ground. Wayne returned to his chair. Tears ran down his cheeks. I focused on them, forced myself to feel sorry for him, to forget all of what he had become, all he did to me and feel tenderness. Any element that could bring a love simile to my heart deserved to be cherished; it was the only way I could keep fooling Ryan.
I stood up and covered the three steps that separated me from Wayne. I gently forced his arms open and sat on his lap. His eyes glued themselves to my face, sparkling with hope and love. I put my arms around him and rested my head in the curve of his neck. Wayne sighed and closed his arms on my waist.
“She was wrong to do that. I’m sorry you had to go through this alone.” I ran my hands through his hair. His hold tightened.
“It’s okay. She won’t get away with it much longer. We’re leveling that reader neighborhood tomorrow.”
I flinched. I hated myself for it seconds later. But it was too late. Ryan grabbed my feet and pulled me right out of Wayne’s embrace and onto the floor. My head banged heavily on the wood. It took me a few seconds to gather my senses and attempt to resist. By then, it was already too late; Ryan had me pinned to the ground.
“Educated guess,” the non-reader said, towering over me, “your lady-friend doesn’t agree with you blowing up two hundred people.”
Wayne looked saddened but he hadn’t move to stop Ryan. Nor did he kept the non-reader from kicking my exposed flank.
“Wait,” I mumbled once the yelp and the pain receded. “You cannot judge me on one fleeting thought.” My anger and tears, though fuelled by something other than the sting of mistrust, resonated with Wayne enough to draw his attention to me. In his eyes, I read that should I actually have been lying to him, my death by his hand would be worse than what I endured so far. But he didn’t want me to be lying.
“Look.” I breathed deeply to gather my thoughts and tried to move out from under Ryan but he wouldn’t let me. At least, he didn’t beam horrors straight into my mind. “I understand why you’re doing this. I do.” Wayne’s expression softened. “That doesn’t mean I’m suddenly at ease with the idea of killing people.”
Wayne dropped to the floor, inches from my head. He seized my face between his hands, searching my eyes for the truth as if Ryan wasn’t enough for him to be appeased. What I said wasn’t a lie. Wayne kissed my forehead.
“Of course,” he murmured. “You need time to adapt.”
“Not good enough.” The non-reader hammered. I noticed the Blue Tooth transmitter on his ear. “The partners still disagree with your initiative.”
So Wayne really was challenged on his plans about me. I didn’t know a lot about the balance of power within his organization but, apparently, he was outnumbered.
“Oh love!” He breathed. His tone hardened to address Ryan. “Get off of her.”
My captor growled but Wayne matched every ounce of rage. Ryan slowly released me. Wayne sat me up and closed the protective cage of his arms around me.
“I trust you,” he whispered. He trailed kisses along my cheeks to dry my tears. “But such an ambitious plan cannot be accomplished by a person alone. My partners need proof.”  He kissed me tenderly. “I cannot let you have the time you need.”
I did my best not to buckle again but a little part of me complained and Ryan stiffened. My reaction mirrored his. My uneasiness travelled through telepathic channels to the elusive partners and their response took the way back to the non-reader’s ear.
“Test her,” he ordered. Wayne’s eyes narrowed at him and softened when he turned back to me.
“We won’t stop the show for her but there’s no need to push her further. She’s suffered enough already.” He smoothened my hair and held me closer.
“Not an option.” The non-reader insisted. Wayne sighed. “They have precise instruction for me to execute and you are to stay out of the way.”
Wayne kissed me again and released his hold on me. Though I knew he was a monster, I preferred to be protected by him than to face whatever the partners had planned by myself.
When the cabin door’s opened, I cringed.

VIIIb – A Sword Overhead>>