Baiken felt her heart race, what pain? She has no fear of pain, what could he be talking about that made him kick against this much?
"Have you ever loved a man?" He started.
"No"
"So you never felt love?"
"I loved my mother"
"That's different"
"How different can it be!?" She asked rising her voice.
"You love your mother, yes, obviously, but the love I'm talking about is so strong you wouldn't be here with me, if you loved that person"
She blew air through her lips "It sounds superficial"
"Antoinette, wasn't a bitch who came to get revenge for her fallen boyfriend, she was my childhood sweetheart, sort of, I was on the streets yes but we knew about each other, and when I turned 18 we started seeing each other as more than just friends"
'So he loved her...' Baiken asked herself, feeling like a second in line now, she somehow felt she needed to be better than this Antoinette then.
"Her father was a fantastic old man, the only place I could get a free meal ticket, and eat good food atleast once a week, was at Antoinette's house, that way we could still see each other and I can also get good food... I said that twice... We even lied together saying I'm a firefighter, she even got me a firefighter uniform to keep fooling him.
We didn't do it because we wanted to, I was good for Antoinette, and I promised her I'll make it, and I'll give her a good life, all her dad needed to know was that I wasn't a cage fighter..."
He looked up and wove, the reception man came and sat down with them, Zander cut his story short and Baiken suddenly felt angry for the interruption.
"The name's Otis" He said greeting Zander with a hand.
"Zander, the lady is Baiken"
The barman brought another three beers as Zander ordered and the two men clinked the bottles.
"Just what the docker ordered hey?" Otis said.
"Definitely, so tell me, any strange fellas come by lately?" Zander asked, Baiken saw him take to that beer meticulously, it made her look at her own drink, she took a deep gulp but just couldn't drink it that quick, on top of that, her head was starting to spin for some reason.
"Strange fellas?" Otis asked.
"Yeah, suit and tie type?"
"Nah, I pay careful attention, no such guys"
"Good, this girl over here is quite a trouble magnet"
"I am not!"
Zander laughed barely taking her seriously, the two men converced on, Baiken saw they really didn't pay much attention to her. Zander's questions did involve info gathering here and there, but Otis was denying anything suspicious.
By the time the entire table was almost stacked with empty beer bottles and glasses, Otis called it a night and greeted them.
Baiken watched Zander as they now sat alone, her bottle of cider was still half, she felt that spin in her head to her a disturbance more than anything.
"You barely touched it?" He asked.
"It makes my head spin"
"That's the idea..."
She didn't like his tone, his head was also not properly straight on his neck, that spin she felt, he must have it tenfold considering the little space there was left on the table.
"Why should you make your head spin and lose focus? What if we get attacked again?" She asked.
"We won't get attacked here, the alcohol is to relax"
She frowned "I don't need to be spin headed to relax?"
"Oh, yeah I remember, well you know where the room is, I'm still going to be a while so head up and relax all you want" he said twitching a finger.
She felt insulted by that gesture "How dare you?"
"What? You said it yourself in the plane?"
"What is wrong with you!? You're not, normal?"
"This is me relaxing, if you don't like it then leave me"
Baiken watched him shocked, this alcohol he speaks of, turned him into, a bastard.
"What's wrong?" He asked seeing her face.
"I can't believe this, you're the complete opposite of the man you where, you're a rude bastard"
He only shrugged making her fold her arms.
"What about that story? You were about to get to a point when Otis sat down?"
"I don't feel like finishing it" he said and drank the last of a beer.
She didn't know how to respond, should she be worried?
"Baiken go to the room if you don't like seeing me like this"
"I don't like seeing you like this! You're right!"
"Ok then? Fuck off!"
She flinched, then left him fueled with anger.
Zander watched her pace off then ordered a bottle of whiskey, maybe this was a way he could cut his ties with her, make her dislike him...
Flashes of Antoinette's final expression came into his mind and he basically grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the waitress, the cap couldn't come off quick enough.
Those eyes, the blood, the sorrow... He drank more.
"You ok sir?" The waitress asked.
"I am, tell the barman send the tab to my room"
"W, will do" she cautiously said as he stood up.
He staggered, grabbed at the step rails and held himself up, a margin between the alcohol working and knocking him out, between those two somewhere these images starts appearing in his vision, he started to feel like an idiot for not at least heading to his house to get his medication before he took off to Edinburgh.
He made it to the top, but it was a scramble of faces, voices, images of his past, that sway of his head not knowing up or down... He's starting to consider it now.
He first took a another sip of the whiskey before reaching the door, he tried being quiet when he saw the lights were off, but it was impossible with his stumbling, yet he didn't hear Baiken out the dark.
He gathered his posture for a second, reminiscing those blue eyes in their last moment, still tearing when she fell, his hands full of her blood, she meant to say something more but he... Cut her too quick.
Baiken lied still under the blankets, her eyes on this shadow of the man he once was, that stuff he drank was to her better knowledge evil, her eyes blinked away from the bottle to see Zander reach for something behind him, he stood next to his bed on the opposite side of her placement in the room.
He brought it forward, she heard that 'chik-click'
Her mind always memorised the noise of danger, be it the call of an animal, the voice of a human, or that noise, the clicks of the steal workings in a pistol.
Where did he find it!? What is he going to do with it!? She felt her body go hot with adrenaline.