Deals With the Devil

Ice Cream Please!

After watching an amazing horror movie, Beth begged Seth to get ice cream. She begged him all the way to the limo and for the first few minutes of the drive. That was, until Truman decided to cut in.

“Seeing as you are not a king tonight, Seth, I am going to take the two of you to get ice cream,” Truman said, directing a smile toward Beth. “No date is a good date without ice cream.”

Seth glared at his friend while Beth smiled broadly. Truman drove them to a little ice cream parlor that sold homemade ice cream. While the couple ate their ice cream and watched the sunset, Truman drove around the town to run some errands. He returned moments before the two finished their ice cream. They never knew he was gone.

“What are all of these boxes for?” Beth asked as she tried to climb into the limo.

“That’s our food for the next week or two,” Truman explained before returning to his seat as the driver. “I tried to save some room for you two, but you might need to share a seat.”

“I can sit on the floor,” Beth suggested once she realized there wasn’t going to be enough room for them to have their own seats. “I don’t mind.”

“Trust me. You will mind sitting on the floor while Truman is driving. Just look at those boxes,” Seth said, motioning to the large, leaning stacks of boxes. “One sharp turn and everything will come crashing down on you. You’d be better off sitting on my lap.”

Glancing at the precariously stacked boxes, Beth finally agreed. Sitting on Seth’s lap should be okay, and he had made her feel safe for the whole date. And it wasn’t like Beth didn’t have a knife of two…

“I don’t bite,” Seth teased, his easygoing smile making another appearance. “I promise.”

“You never know. Even the most kind-hearted creatures can bite,” Beth said softly. “You’re just lucky that I trust you more than I trust these boxes.”

Beth sat down with the kind of grace a cat would be proud of. But even if she had all the grace in the world at her disposal, the skirt of her dress would have still slid up that little bit. And, when they started to move, Seth, innocently enough, rested his hands on her thighs, brushing against her skin.

“You’re little hero can’t save you now,” he growled as his hands rested beside her thighs, brushing against her skin-

“Beth?” Seth asked, pulling her from the flashback. He reached over to turn up the heat. “Beth? Are you cold?”

To him, that was the only logical explanation for her shivering body. He couldn’t feel how quickly her heart was racing, nor the way that her chest was so tight that she was struggling to breathe. It wasn’t until he turned her head and saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes that he thought any different.

“Beth?” Seth asked again, a pit of fear growing in his gut like it had many years ago. “Are- are you okay?”

After a few moments of silence, Beth spoke slowly and softly. “I- I think I’m better now.”

“Could you help me understand what happened?” Seth asked softly, his hand still resting on her chin. “So that this doesn’t happen again.”

“It was an anxiety attack,” Beth replied softly. “I also had a flashback to a time I have tried to forget.”

“I’m sorry, Beth.”

She waved it off. “It’s fine. That’s why I decided to stay with Molly’s family and why I learned to wield a weapon. I don’t want to be at the mercy of anyone else ever again.”

A few minutes later, Truman stopped the limo and opened the door for the couple saying, “Alright you two. This is your stop.”

Beth quickly stood up, smoothing out her skirt. Seth followed her out of the limo, smiling when he saw her hand resting on her hip, almost as if she was reaching for the comfort of her dagger. He didn’t know that she had a dagger hidden near her hip.

The two horses waited in the stable where Seth had tied them up earlier that evening. Once again, Seth helped Beth into the saddle. Their ride back to the compound was surrounded by silence. Neither one expected the night to end the way it had; neither could decide if it had been a good or a bad date. Seth was worried that Beth would always be afraid of him. Beth was worried that Seth would read into things more than he should.

As the two of them reached Beth’s door, they slowed to a stop.

“Can I make one last deal with you tonight?” Seth asked, turning to Beth. “But it’s okay if you say no.”

“What is your deal?”

“I will three of your weapons, one of which will be your beloved dagger if you allow me to call you Adira. It suits you so much more than the name Beth.”

“You know what? I’ll agree to your deal,” Beth replied with a hint of a smile. “It’s time for me to stop hiding who I was and run from my past.”

Seth held out his hand to officiate the deal, but Beth just shook her head. Before Seth could say a word, Beth lightly kissed his lips.

“Now the deal has been sealed,” Beth said with a smirk. “Good night, Seth. I’ll see you in the morning.”

With that, she spun on her heel and slipped into her room, leaving Seth standing outside in shock.