dogwood

At what point was he gonna give in and just compel the argument out of her when she got herself into one of these states? The temptation had been there from the first time he’d done it, but every single time it’d sodding come to it he’d chickened out. He had to be tapped to be making life this much harder for himself to protect Krista from having to go through having parts of her stripped away again. It would’ve been for her own sodding good, but she could never take that as an answer. What Krista wanted she got, or they ended up like this, with her stomping out, pissed at him for not giving in to her hissy fit, and him left alone with his temper simmering so hard he’d nearly snapped the damn tie in two. In the end he’d tossed the thing over his shoulder and left it draped there over the end of the bed like the noose he’d be slipping his neck into later.

For her own good, he hadn’t told Krista about the deal he’d made with Pierre. She wasn’t gonna get it through her empty little head that sometimes you had to work with your enemy – something he was only doing it because it’d been the one way he’d seen to get her and her memories back. Krista would just see him buddying up with the people who’d taken and tortured her. He’d felt every single one of those memories slamming back into her as her memories had been handed back. The relief that had followed it too and he wouldn’t do that to her.

It wasn’t like he wanted to go to this bloody thing anyway. Mal shoved his arms into his coat, casting one last look around the room before he went out. Should he leave a note for her, in case she came back and pitched another fit because he wasn’t sitting there on the bed, eyes full of tears and his hands wringing in his lap, waiting for her? It might stave off another argument for all of two minutes, but he knew Krista on what felt like an almost cellular level now and she wasn’t gonna drop him not wanting to take her to some flashy party full of toffee-nosed twats any more than she had him trying to have Kitty as a little amuse bouche while he waited for her to get back.

Mal dumped his phone onto the passenger seat as he drove towards the hotel. Of course, he was later than he’d promised – and not just because of the argument with Krista. He didn’t wanna come off as too eager to work with the frog and his shrew of a wife again. The Doc wasn’t warm and cuddly, but that had always been part of the appeal. He didn’t need to act like they were family. Each one of them was expendable, if they screwed up they’d just get replaced, but with the others, it had been like he was meant to have some emotional connection with them all.

He scoffed as he stepped out of the car and dangled the keys in front of the parking skivvy’s nose. Leaving the car down the block – or down a couple – might’ve made for a quicker get away, but it would’ve looked fishier. Worse still, if Krista had gone to somewhere on the square to drink to his untimely death with Kitty there was too good a chance they’d spot it.

By the time he swanned in the door the place was already full up. Dresses glittered under the lights, blokes who were definitely punching above their weight drifting around with women on their arms, probably trying to prove just how big their wallets were – second only to their egos, everything else was worm sized. He drifted through ‘em, feeling a little like the barnacle stuck to the arse end of an expensive yacht. He hadn’t entirely lied to Krista, if Pierre hadn’t pushed for this, he wouldn’t have been caught undead here.

Narrowing his eyes, Mal scanned the crowd, looking for the pair of them. They were probably done up the nines, Pierre showing off his wife to all the other arseholes in here. The two of them would sweep up soon, smug smiles on their faces, glasses of champagne or some of the nibbles clutched in their free hands. Ready to lord him crawling back over him. He snagged a glass of champagne – entirely overrated if you asked him – from one of the trays and sipped from it, knowing he’d be tempted to take the glass to someone’s face (probably one of theirs) before the night was over.

Slowly his shoulders relaxed under his jacket, his mouth curling into something that approached a smile at some of the pricks. Half of them were probably looking down their noses at him as he strolled away, but he didn’t care. He could put a finger on any of them later and soon they’d be begging him for a little leniency – that none of them were gonna get.

Where the hell were there? Mal puffed out a breath, pausing by the Christmas tree. If they stood him up he wasn’t gonna be best fucking pleased. He was scowling at one of the crystal ornaments hanging from the thing – probably real crystal too and worth a pretty penny, if you were desperate enough to nick ‘em. The glass in his hand rang as he tapped it against the star, both were fucking real and champagne splashed out of the glass and onto his fingers as someone yanked at his sleeve.

Spinning on the spot, he was ready to bury the glass in Pierre or Lena’s face if they’d been the one yanking at him like some pestering child. It sagged in his hand as Krista snapped at him instead. Surrounded by the scruff of his beard, Mal’s lips pressed together. He switched the glass to his other hand, grabbing her elbow to try and pull her away from the nosy bastards now staring at them all. ”What I said wasn’t to be repeated to ‘em,” he muttered. ”I would’ve had plenty of fun with you tonight if you hadn’t started makin’ a fuss about this thin’.”

”Krista…” he started through gritted teeth. It wasn’t no fucking good here, not with her already on the verge of full melt down. Gripping her arm he started to draw her away towards one of the doors that led discretely away from the party space, probably somewhere they weren’t meant to be. Fuck ‘em, he could go wherever he wanted in this town. As soon as they were out of sight of the snooty bastards who’d probably try and break it up he was pulling Krista close.

”Did you ever think about why I wasn’t gonna turn up ‘ere? Or why I’m ‘ere now? It’s all about how I didn’t do what you wanted the first time, wasn’t it? Why’ve you always gotta do the opposite of what I ask ya to?” He puffed out a breath, a burn at the back of his eyes warning him that full meltdown was probably still on the way. ”Do you remember what happened the last time we had a barney about somethin’?” Was he a knob for throwing that back in her face? Absolutely, but with Pierre and Lena probably walking across the floor towards them now, he needed to put a stop to this and get Krista out of here fast.

Tagged: KRISTA MAY * Word Count: 1258

Mal pressed his lips together, biting back the truth as she shouted at him. Telling her the truth – I was always planning to, just not with you, love – would send her nuclear. It wouldn’t just bring Pierre and Lena rushing over to witness his public downfall, it’d put every other set of eyes on them too. The only thing that’d kept him safe over the last couple of centuries was keeping his head down. They’d failed to do that in San Francisco and look at what had happened there. Telling Krista that this was all to keep her safe might soften the fire in her, but it was also likely to have something he didn’t want overheard squeaking out of her mouth at full volume too. ”I might’ve.” Mal puffed. ”A man can change his mind, Krista. Nothin’s ever set in stone.” Except for when she got an idea rattling around in her head like a trapped pebble. Those baseless thoughts could last until she was old and grey.

Planning on shaking it loose, or at least distracting her from it, he started pulling her out of the ball room. Thank God she hadn’t decided to hold onto the doorway, digging in her nails and screeching like a sodding banshee. That look on his face told him he wasn’t entirely out of hot water yet, but he’d take the scalding in private if it meant both of them were safe here. One of these days something fucking devastating would happen again and for a few days after Krista might remember just what the cost of her behaviour could be. Maybe that time it would even stick, cause it definitely hadn’t the first time.

Tucked away like this there was no one to see the tears gathering in Krista’s eyes or the faint shimmer of them that glittered in his own thanks to the connection between the two of them. One look at her and they’d have all started to think he was the possible violent problem in this relationship. Mal narrowed his eyes, not responding to her first stuttered question, the one where her thoughts were obviously only half formed. ”Didn’t I?” he asked lightly. ”I didn’t suggest you shouldn’t come ‘ere either, eh?” Not that she would’ve heard that with her mind so set on going. And there it was, her admission that he had, but she couldn’t muster up a reason why he would’ve done, other than he was fucking around again. For Christ’s sake.

The tears would’ve had him compelling her to stop crying right back at the very start of all of this, when taking some pretty young thing home from Campbell’s had resulted in the two of them being tied together. Now they brought on a little ache in his chest, one that had an apology trying to bubble up, when for once he hadn’t been doing a fucking thing wrong. Brows hitching, Mal tipped his head back towards the party. ”You saw her out there, did ya? Cause I didn’t. I haven’t seen her since that video got made, but you don’t trust me, do ya love? I said no so that means I’m up to somethin’ that’s just made to hurt ya.” As though this wasn’t the absolute opposite.

That bubble of discomfort in his chest popped at Krista’s question – her brain had obviously started to catch up to what he’d said – and he had to swallow back a laugh that would’ve ignited her temper again. ”An argument,” he grumbled. ”It’s got nothin’ to do with that giant purple abomination, Krista.” As though that mattered at this point. An argument was what he’d ended up with because as per usual Krista hadn’t listened. She still wasn’t listening, only now she was doing it somewhere far more public than his hotel room. That didn’t mean he couldn’t distract her though.

Life wasn’t fair, but Krista hadn’t spent hundreds of years learning that over and over again. Mal hissed out a sigh and reached up to grab her wrist, his other hand going to the back of her neck to help guide her in. He nudged her back towards the wall, trying to corral her. ”You want me to go home now? I end up doin’ just what you wanted and it’s still not right. What do you want right now Krista? You want me to admit it’s all me and make it up to ya?” He knew what he wanted, but talking Krista around to it was another thing entirely. He tried to paste on an apologetic look since taking her back to the night she’d almost died hadn’t sodding worked. Mal pressed his lips gently to her forehead as though he could calm her with a kiss. His mouth trailed down to her temple, then the high line of one cheekbone. Come on love, short circuit for me again.

Tagged: KRISTA MAY * Word Count: 816

Being surgeon’s mate didn’t mean he hadn’t gotten up close and personal with live ammunition at times. As a kid on board the ship he’d been roped in as a powder monkey when he’d still been short enough to bolt easily between the decks. You learned not to go near the fuses or the business end of the cannons if you wanted to live to see the next battle. You’d scuttle away from the fuses as they popped and fizzed. Looking at Krista now, Mal figure he was looking at one. Krista had already sputtered violently and now he was on the brink of her blowing up in his face.

Driven by suspicion – and quite rightly so, although he coulda done without this being the time Krista engaged her brain enough to realise just how dodgy what he was up to was – she didn’t believe a sodding word out of his mouth. She skipped right over him suggesting she didn’t come here tonight, to him having arranged some secret rendezvous with the professor here. Of course that was still playing in her mind, probably on some endless loop in her memory, giving her all the proof she needed that he was a cheating arsehole.

”I’m always the one with secrets,” Mal bitched. He puffed out his cheeks, then scowled down at her. His hand came up to try and catch hers, to stop her finger drilling him in the chest again. ”Oi. Not everythin’s a conspiracy Krista. You blew somethin’ from my past out of proportion before and almost got yourself kicked out of school. Now I’m actin’ all suspicious again. You don’t think they’ll kick you out of ‘ere if you go and create a scene?” The owner, snooty dick that he was, might end up doing that, but the more likely result was gonna be Pierre and Lena muscling their way back here to stick their noses in.

Picturing their hands on her, Krista screaming in fear again, he went for his sure fire way of trying to diffuse the situation. Suspicion would melt out of her eyes, leaving that blissed out look he always loved to see in its place. Since the first time he’d taken her home, Krista had developed a back bone, but right in front of it was still a heart he’d held in his greedy little hands from that moment. She could threaten to tear it free all she liked, still wasn’t gonna happen when he had the power to make her melt with a kiss.

He drew her hand down to his chest, trapping it between them so he could let go and graze his down over her hip. Soothing little touches meant to calm the flames. Of course, he wasn’t lucky enough for that. Mal had to swallow a sigh as she shifted away from him, putting her face out of range for the second. That frown was back on her face. ”I’m sorry. That good enough love? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you up front that I wanted to come.” It was weak at best, but the S word had slipped out all the same. Hadn’t exactly burned his throat to do it, but that kid in him who hadn’t seen anything wrong with kicking the shit out of a stuck up midshipman hated it all the same. He wasn’t wrong to try and protect her.

Mal dropped his head another inch, his lips pressing together. This wasn’t gonna end until he said something. Maybe that’d be what get her running home in the end, the idea that her kidnappers were gonna show up here and he was shielding her from what he was being forced to do.

The hand that had fallen to her hip rose up again, cupping her cheek lightly. His thumb settled just under her lower lip, brushing featherlight against her skin. ”Alright, love, there is a reason,” he puffed. ”I was tryin’ to protect ya. It’s why I didn’t want you ‘ere in the first place. They’re coming.” Whether Krista was quick witted enough to pick up on who they were wasn’t guaranteed. ”You don’t wanna see the people who took ya again, do ya? I couldn’t bear losin’ you again. It’s safer at home, eh. I’ll come back in a little while and make it all up to ya. That sounds better, don’t it?” He didn’t have to tell her how he was helping them pick people out of the crowds at things like this, what they were gonna do to them. Surely him standing between her and the people who’d kidnapped her, terrified her and erased him from her brain would be enough.

Tagged: KRISTA MAY * Word Count: 780