Assassin X

Alex

Spending so much time with Raven had really caused a stir in Alex’s life. Some ways that were great, some that were making a mess of his thoughts and his life.

Raven wasn’t any ordinary girl, she was different, and not just because she was an assassin. Putting that aside, once Alex had gotten to know her and learn about her, he was amazed to find what he saw in her.

She loved to read, everything she could get her hands on. There was a bookshelf in her apartment that was covered in piles of books, no spare space left. And they weren’t just sitting there for decoration, she’d read them. All of them. Many of them more than once.

When Raven had any down time, he was sure to find her with a dog-eared copy of a book in her hands, lounging on her couch or her plush leather recliner that Alex liked to relax in when he was over spending time with her. She could curl up and read for hours, lost in characters and words. Reading wasn’t something that Alex really got into, not unless sports articles counted, but for some reason he really liked that Raven read.

One of his favorite things to do was to pluck a book off of her shelf, and have her tell him all about her favorite part. Often she would flip open to her favorite passage and read the words aloud for him, making them come to life. When she had her books; that was the only time Raven truly let her guard down and let herself just…be.

Alex loved that side of her.

He enjoyed being with her and dating her so much that it was easy to forget the truth about her. It was easy to forget she was a mission, that she was a killer he was trying to catch. But in the time he spent with her, and the days he spent texting back and forth, learning everything he could about Raven, he was absolutely certain that he wanted to find a way to help her instead of arrest her.

She wasn’t giving him any information about who she was and what she did in the dark of the night, but she had started to talk enough about herself that he knew she wasn’t entirely to blame for what she’d done. He was certain she’d done some awful things and Alex wasn’t even sure if he wanted to hear them, but he was also becoming more certain that “Papa,” wasn’t her father. Or any relation for that matter.

Captain had been digging around about Papa and who he might be, and there were some theories, some big mafia kingpins that would want to take over the city, and they were all being looked into. Assuming Papa was the one who was taking care of Raven, and assuming he was her “boss” in this killer scenario, then it stood to reason that the man had money and means to be taking care of his team of killers this way.

Most leaders of the mafia did have money so that didn’t narrow the search much, but it was at least something to go on. Though that argument wasn’t making Captain happy in the least bit.

And Alex couldn’t blame him, it shouldn’t make him happy. He should actually have pulled Alex off the job with Raven completely considering how little information he was getting. But somehow, Alex had been able to pull a rabbit out of the proverbial hat and convince Captain that he was indeed getting somewhere with her.

She just needed some tender care, someone to open her up, she wasn’t going to give in overnight. Captain seemed to understand that but Alex knew he was getting impatient.

Alex was running out of ideas though on how to get her to open up. If she didn’t then not only would he fail Captain but he’d fail Raven too. If he couldn’t find a way to solve all of this then Raven was going to be locked up for the rest of her life and Alex couldn’t let that happen.

He was falling for her, too hard to have her put away, too hard to never get to kiss those soft lips again or smell that sweet scent. I hadn’t been in her life long, but I couldn’t picture her no longer in mine.

As he walked home, food and wine in hand to give them a nice and relaxing evening together, he thought for probably the millionth time since he began getting close to Raven about telling her the truth.

If he just told her everything, especially the part about wanting to help her and keep her safe from what the world, or a judge may do to her, then she may be willing to talk to him. If she knew someone was on her side, someone who was going to help her instead of hurt her, then that could change everything.

But it could also take everything away from him, she may take herself away from Alex. Go hide, run away which is something she is so good at, he may never see her again. Or she could get caught by someone else and then there will be nothing he could do about it.

Telling her had the advantage of being able to help her, not telling her has the advantage that he can stay in this little bubble with her for just a while longer.

When he returned to the house he let his inner debate, which he find himself in all too often when it came to Raven, fall away and he was just happy to be back to her apartment. Alex’s stomach had been grumbling the entire time he was out getting food and there is nothing more he wanted than to devour the food.

Well, he’d like to be able to devour Raven, so sexy she didn’t even realize it. The way she would flick her hair away from her eyes, the little glint of her nose ring, those soft and smooth legs that could drive a man insane picturing them wrapped tightly around him, and the fact that she didn’t see any of those things at all.

She was too quiet, too tentative, to know how amazing she really was. Though he tried his best to tell her, and he would love one day if she’d let him show her.

He opened the door to her apartment, having snagged her keys before he left so he didn’t have to knock when he came back.

Raven was sitting on the couch, her back turned toward him and she stiffened when he closed the door behind him.

“I hope you’re hungry because I got a lot of food here and it all smells amazing. I’m starving so let’s eat!”

Alex set everything on the table and went to get the plates and glasses from the cupboards. Normally Raven would have had all of this already set out, and she would have turned and greeted him with the flash of her smile, but nothing was on the table and she hadn’t turned around at all.

Possible that she was absorbed in a book but…

“Raven? Is everything ok?” he asked.

Something in the air didn’t feel right, something felt off.

“I think you should go,” he heard her whisper from the couch. But he couldn’t possibly have heard her right could he?

“What do you mean I should go? I just got here.”

She didn’t turn around but she just repeated her words, nothing more. No explanation, nothing at all. Just that he should leave.

He stepped towards her but his footsteps cause her to scooch even farther along on the couch, away from him.

“Did I do something?” he asked her.

“We can’t see each other anymore.”

Raven didn’t leave anything open for discussion but there was no way he was walking out of the door without her giving him a reason.

“No way Raven, I’m not just walking out the door. Tell me what is going on!” he demanded.

Suddenly she jumped form the couch and whirled around to stare at him. He didn’t see anything of the Raven that he’d been getting to know and instead there was anger etched into every part of her face. It was the closest to the cold-blooded killer that he’d ever seen from her.

“You are a liar,” she sneered at him.

His eyes widened at her words, shocked she would say something like that to him. Not that it wasn’t true, he was a liar, and a big one to her. Other than the story of his dad and bits of his family, he’d lied to her about pretty much everything else in his life.

But who was she to say something like that considering her entire life was based on her lies?

“I don’t think I’m the only liar in this relationship,” he spat back at her.

She smiled, something wicked that Alex didn’t like. “You’re right about that. But at least we both know that now don’t we.”

The way she emphasized the word both, it was clear that she’d found out the truth about him. She knew that he was well aware of the truth about her.

The sudden hit of reality felt like a slap to his face. Where did they go from there? Did he arrest her on the spot? It would be a fight, a tousle, and he didn’t want to get into that with her. The thought of even slapping those cold metal cuffs on her small wrists made him sick.

“Raven you have to understand…”

“The only thing I have to understand is that you’re nothing of what you say you are. And you need to leave my apartment right now.”

He didn’t know what to say to her. His mouth opened but no words comes out. Should he apologize for lying? Call her out for doing the same? Should they just say the words, talk about the truth that was sitting like a bubble in between them? But if they say those words, if they both confess, then that would mean that something had to happen next.

He would be forced to arrest her, she’d be forced to have to kill him.

Instead he walk toward the door and place my hand on the handle.

“Hey, before you go,” she called to me. There was such anger in her voice, such hatred, that he wasn’t sure he wanted to turn around. But I knew it could be the last time he saw her and he couldn’t resist one last chance to see her face.

When Alex turned back around she tossed his cellphone at him.

“You’re probably going to want that,” she said.

He caught it and opened it to see a message still open on my screen.

It was from Captain.

That’s how she found out.

“I’m sorry,” it’s the only thing he can say.

He turned and left the apartment, and it wasn’t until he halfway down in the elevator that he even realized he didn’t know what he just said he was sorry for. Was he sorry that she saw the message? Was he sorry that I got caught? Was he sorry that he hurt her? Or was he sorry for what was bound to happen next?

It was too hard to tell.

Maybe he was just sorry for all of it, everything all at once.

But he knew the thing he was sorry for most in his own heart was that he wasn’t going to ever get to see Raven again. That option was gone and even though he’d only known her a short time, he could already feel the loss settling into me.

He spent the night waiting for his phone to go off, just one little message that gave him any bit of hope. But it stayed silent all night long.