02-04-2019, 07:46 PM
Ivan laughed away her comment and took a sip of his vodka. There we go. That's more like it. His eye followed Claire's retreating form. Damn, but that dress hugged her curves. Peachy indeed.
He felt a brief twinge of guilt and looked away. Old habits and all that. He met Sara's eye briefly, though not embarressed. "If I was gonna die from internal bleeding, it'd have happened already. This was from last week."
The bruises were darker, blues, blacks and yellows, mostly because of the dead blood under the skin. That's how it always was, truth be told. You looked the worst when actually you were pretty much close to mended. Oh, there was some residual soreness in his joints- points of contact where fists and head slammed into shoulders or ribs or chest. Those would last a bit longer.
He laughed. "This is all just leftovers, now."
And she told her story. Enough of it that his foot went to the ground and he leaned forward intently as he listened. Yep. Trapped. His voice dropped low- like super low- and he spoke quietly. "They good to you around here? Pressure you or the other girls into anything?"
Gone was any playfulnesss, just intense sincerity. "I'm a cop. My job is to help people. You just let me know and I'll...." His voice trailed off. The Syndicate. Yun Kao. He tamped down the flare of anger. He needed to be smart about them.
"You just let me know. I'll look out for you." he said finally.
Absently, he answered her question. "Two younger sisters and two younger brothers. I look out for them." The other gave him pause. "I just wanted to fight, is all. I guess. To feel alive. In control maybe."
Dumb. It sounded dumb. His face lit up. "And then I met my daughter. Didn't even know she existed. God, I must'a looked a fright to her. But... yeah. It was nice. So no more fighting pits for me."
He may still have to fight. And he would likely come away looking worse than now. But it wouldn't be some temper tantrum either.
He felt a brief twinge of guilt and looked away. Old habits and all that. He met Sara's eye briefly, though not embarressed. "If I was gonna die from internal bleeding, it'd have happened already. This was from last week."
The bruises were darker, blues, blacks and yellows, mostly because of the dead blood under the skin. That's how it always was, truth be told. You looked the worst when actually you were pretty much close to mended. Oh, there was some residual soreness in his joints- points of contact where fists and head slammed into shoulders or ribs or chest. Those would last a bit longer.
He laughed. "This is all just leftovers, now."
And she told her story. Enough of it that his foot went to the ground and he leaned forward intently as he listened. Yep. Trapped. His voice dropped low- like super low- and he spoke quietly. "They good to you around here? Pressure you or the other girls into anything?"
Gone was any playfulnesss, just intense sincerity. "I'm a cop. My job is to help people. You just let me know and I'll...." His voice trailed off. The Syndicate. Yun Kao. He tamped down the flare of anger. He needed to be smart about them.
"You just let me know. I'll look out for you." he said finally.
Absently, he answered her question. "Two younger sisters and two younger brothers. I look out for them." The other gave him pause. "I just wanted to fight, is all. I guess. To feel alive. In control maybe."
Dumb. It sounded dumb. His face lit up. "And then I met my daughter. Didn't even know she existed. God, I must'a looked a fright to her. But... yeah. It was nice. So no more fighting pits for me."
He may still have to fight. And he would likely come away looking worse than now. But it wouldn't be some temper tantrum either.