A very loud bang seemed to ease her up abruptly and she groaned as her head pounded. Her mouth was dry and her stomach empty.
She sat up painfully and after looking to the side she spotted and indent of a body in the bed and another empty glass.
He had been asleep beside her. She frowned at the thought of the set up. The ordeal of trusting this man was irking her but at the same time she felt she didn't have a choice.
Willow Quinn never backed out of any mission she set herself.
Checking the clock she saw it was 2am.
She had been asleep since 5 pm and was as groggy as possible.
Having no sleep left in her, she moved out of bed and down the errie dimly lit hall and down the staircase where she heard grunts of pain and a muffled voice.
Moving closer towards the door she peeked in a saw a man beating the lights out of someone.
Frozen at the scene. Looked like an interogation, a torturous one.
"Hey babe." A voice spoke and Willow's hand flew to her chest as she turned around.
"Don't scare me!" She whispered
And suddenly her eyes moved to his collarbone and down his exposed torso. Every inch was etched in elaborate tattoos. From skills, to campuses and anchors, she couldn't help but wonder about the meaning of his tattoos - if they had meaning to begin with.
Her eyes flew back to his face when he crossed his arms over his chest with a smirk on his face as he watched her.
"Go ahead. You can ask." He says in a low cool voice
"Okay. Uhm do any of your tattoos have meaning? Like it's all connected - you have skulls, bones right? Then metals - clockwork, an engine...a gun..." She recounts as her fingers hovers over and about his torso, "...and several boats and ship related trinkets - are you a Titanic fan?" She pouts
"Ha! No. I'm really not." He shakes his head
"Are all your tattoos a statement of some sort?"
"Of course they are."
He stared at her and she pressed her lips into a fine line, "Are you gonna tell me about them?"
"Well they all relate to my life and likes and interests. Nothing much to know."
She nodded, "Well they're beautiful."
"Beautiful?"
She smiles once more as her initial question comes up
"Where were you?"
"I had been asleep but something came up and I woke up - we're taking care of it." He tilted his head to the door where the two voices were whispering urgently in what sounded like a heated argument.
"So you guys' interogation occurs...shirtless?" Willow laughed
"Don't you know? First rule of gang business is to be insanely hot?"
I don't doubt that, Willow thought. That was until her eyes landed on his wound.
Her first instinct led her to place her hand agaunst his navel as she examined the area, "We need some alcohol for this. Does it still hurt?"
"No." He flexed his muscles and she looked up at him. The skin around and close to the wound was warm and soft as she pressed up against it.
"I'm not expecting you to be trying to suck up the pain, I'm asking as your doctor, Jungwoo, Does it hurt in any way?"
"Ace. It's Ace." He exhaled loudly
"Why won't you let me call you Jungwoo that's your name anyway isn't it?" She frowned
"Like I said it's my legal name. But not my name. It has absolutely nothing to do with what I represent."
"Are you sure? I know power is in a name but you could simply mark your own name."
"My name already belongs elsewhere Willow, not here."
"So in the hospital? You only use the name when you are maimed and need saving?" She mused lightly, but her light expression fell cold as she watched his expression grow hollow.
"Okay...uhm," she breathed as she fiddled with her fingers, "Does it? Hurt I mean, does it hurt?"
To her relief he simply twitched as he casually responded, "Only when I move."
She smiled, "Great, so some alcohol will do."
She hears footsteps behind her and Ace immediately steps in front of her, completely blocking her from sight as a man walks up to him, "He won't talk."
He sighed as leaned against the door opposite the two.
"Fine then. Get Terry to help you on this." Ace orders
There was silence as Willow stared at the man from behind Ace who then raised his eyebrows at her presence
"This the girl Jared was going on about?" The guy laughed
"Damn. That kid's got a big mouth on him." Ace grumbled
"Hey there." He said and she stepped out beside Ace
"Hi." She said as she stared at him as he eyed her :closely
"Anyway." He gave Ace a nod as he sent back into the room and walked out, with the wounded man over his shoulder who was now too weak to function.
"Fix him up - don't let him suffer much." Ace said with a pat on the young man's shoulder as he left
"What was that about?"
"That's Bris, he's one of the guys."
"In Citadel?"
"Uh huh. Now come on, I have a first aid kit in here, you'll find everything you need in it."
Just then her stomach gave a loud rumble and she clutched it, "Dude." She whined
"Yeah you missed dinner, I left stuff for you though, it's in the microwave."
And immediately she heated up her food. After some proding about she found some wine to go with her steak and potatoes.
And he returned to find her wining and dining.
"I see you found some wine." He commented placing his first aid kit down as he sat opposite her.
"I fed you for several days, unreservedly buddy."
"Yes. Yes go ahead."
He stared at her as she ate and she grew uncomfortable and felt the urge to laugh.
"Are you not used to girls?" She taunted
He smiled and glanced at her food and she playfully picked up a piece of meat with her fingers and waved it in his face.
And rising to the challaged he leaned over. Unable to retrieve her hand, Willow just watched him as he languidly ran the tip of his pierced tongue over his lips before taking the piece of meat in his plump puckered lips - his eyes never leaving hers as she began to turn a warm shade of pink.
Just as he began rubbing his tongue across her fingers she immediately jerked away, leaving him in fits of laughter.
"Perv." She frowned as she attempted to cool down with a sip of the cold wine.
"That's Titus' wine by the way."
"He has good taste." She commented, "But he's always so mean it's impossible to warm up to him."
"You don't know Titus."
"Yeah but he's rude."
"Anyway you'll have to explain why you drank his wine."
"Fine."
"And you have to explain why you're after Javelin."
She stared at him.
"If you won't, you'll have to leave this place by tomorrow morning."
"Have you no respect for privacy?"
"I do. But I need to help you, I can't do that without detail."
"Okay. Fine."
The next sentence took Ace by surprise, "Because I want to kill them."
He blinked as he set his hands on the countertop
"Now Willo-"
"I want to kill their family. Just like they did mine."