𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

Ezra Holmes

I stood outside Raya's room like a freak. I wanted to ask her if she was okay after the mission we had, and to see if the skin where the bullet had pierced her skin was doing all right, but Archie beat me to it first, leaving me standing outside her bedroom, roaming in the hallway instead.

I couldn't help but to perk my ears up at their conversation to hear what they were talking about.

"I called the Red Devils." Archie said. "They're coming on Friday to collect the crates."

There was silence for a few beats before I heard Raya's voice. "Wow, they're eager to get the goods." She said. "They don't wait at all."

"The Red Devils hasn't gotten a stash in a while so I think they really are eager to get something in again." There was rustling, telling me that Archie might have sat down onto her bed. "I thought you would've hung them by now."

I stood still, frowning at his words. Could have hung what by now? 

I stood closer to the door, wanting to hear Raya's reply, and to find out what Archie was referring to.

There was a sigh coming from Raya, and I could just picture her dark eyebrows pulling together. "I don't know if I can hang them by myself, to be honest." There was a slight pause, and I could hear the pain in her voice. It was the first real emotion I have ever heard coming from her other than pure disgust toward me. "My dad and I used to hang them, before he..." Another pause. "...you know."

"I can help you hang them?" Archie suggested. "It doesn't look so complicated. I'm sure I can hang a few strips of the lights."

Ah. He referred to the LED lights I saw lying on her desk the other day.

These LED lights really must have meant so much to her if it made her so vulnerable and emotional.

"It's fine, Archie." I heard Raya say, and then I heard footsteps. There was rustling again. "I don't want to trouble you with something as stupid as hanging LED lights on my walls. We have better things to do and you know it."

I heard something being thrown into the trashcan.

"It's not stupid at all, Ray." Archie said to her. "Bear..." Archie sighs, and I heard slight hesitation in his tone. "Bear told me that the nightmares have been getting worse and worse, without the lights."

My frown only deepened. 

I didn't know Raya struggled with nightmares.

"Bear should just mind his own fucking business!" Raya snapped.

"You know we're just worried about you and Bear meant well when he told me." Archie said. "I don't like it when one of my own has been struggling." The way Archie said it made it sound like how a father would talk to their daughter. And I guess in a way he was like a father to her.

"I'm sorry." Raya said, her voice dropping to a slight whisper. "And yes... I have been struggling without the lights, but if I can go eight years without them, I can go another few years, Archie. I don't need stupid LED lights to help me sleep better at nights."

"It's okay if you need them, Raya. I'll put them on for you. Just say the word and I'll do it for you in a heartbeat."

"No, it's fine. I just have to learn how to cope without them. I have for eight years, I can do it for longer."

"Okay then." Archie says, getting up from her bed by the sounds of it. "But if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me."

I quickly made my way down the hall, careful not to let any of them know that I eavesdropped. I slipped into my own bedroom, pulling the door closed just slightly until I heard Archie passing my room, and then, not long after, Raya as well. I heard her footsteps descending the staircase.

Even though I was here for one thing and one thing only, I couldn't help but feel guilty after hearing how much Raya has been struggling without the LED lights. I shouldn't care so much, but I also cared about something so much that it pained me just to think about it, so I knew how Raya felt. The LED lights were clearly important to her, so I was going to hang them for her.

I won't tell her that it was me who hung them, though.

No.

For now, I would make her believe that it was Archie.

I left my room, and went to hers.

I looked at the box of LED lights lying in the trashcan, and take them out.

I looked at the box of LED lights now in my hands, and a frown marred my face. I couldn't believe that something so... earthly... could mean so much to the girl who always acted tough and unbothered around others. When I first met her, I thought that there was nothing else other than her own gang that she could possibly care about, but I was wrong on so many levels.

It seems like the infamous Raya St Claire had a heart after all, a very small one at that.

I take the long strip of LED lights out of the small cardboard box, and started to go to work.

After I was done hanging the LED lights to the best of my abilities, I quickly did a test to see if they worked. I was a hit man, for fuck's sake, not a bloody electrician, but as I turned them on, I couldn't help but feel satisfaction. It worked, and they didn't blow up like I expected them to.

I smiled to myself, and kept the LED lights lit as I left her bedroom.

• • •

I find Raya training in the yard. She was busy shooting crossbow bolts at a foam target, and to my utter surprise, she didn't miss a single one. Every bolt she fired toward the target hit the bull's eye, or at least very close to it. She had fantastic aim, and that was something else I didn't quite expect from her. She just keeps surprising and surprising me each and every single day.

But her hitting the bolts close to the bull's eye wasn't the only thing that caught my attention.

Her black bra was visible through the fabric of her drenched shirt. As I stood there in the rain, watching her, I felt something stir inside me. The rain continues to pour down, but I barely notice it now. I could only focus on Raya, and Raya only. I walked toward her, my eyes locked on her.

"Is there anything you can't do around here?" I asked her, grinning as I fought the urge to look down, toward her bra that was visible through her shirt. "First you roundhouse kick a punching back like it weighs nothing at all, and then you manage to wooden carry a crate heavier than Bear all by yourself, and now you never miss the bull's eye, once." I nodded at her in approval.

As we stand in the pouring rain, I can feel the heat from Raya's body radiating through the space between us, as if she was a furnace. My heart races as I look at her, unable to tear my eyes away.

She folds her arms across her chest after placing the crossbow underneath her arm. She had a frown between her eyes as she looked back at me. She doesn't say anything. She just looks at me.

My eyes betray me, and they drift down to her chest where her lace bra was visible through her thin and wet crop top.

I fought a grin as I met her gaze again.

"Where exactly are you going with this, newbie?" She asks, speaking for the first time since I joined her.

I ran my fingers through my wet hair, looking at her. "I'm just impressed, that's all."

"Is that so?"

I hummed. "You never fail to impress me, princess."

"Can you do better?" She asks, taking out the crossbow from her arms and extending it to give it to me.

"I don't use crossbows. I use guns." I then take out my gun from the waistband of my pants. I aim it at the foam target, and pulled the trigger once I had my eyes set on what I wanted to shoot.

The bullet pierces the foam target, directly in the middle of the bull's eye.

"Well, well, newcomer..." She smirks, clapping her hands together. "You have great aim indeed."

"Why does it feel like there's a 'but' in that?"

"But can you do the same with a knife, newcomer?" She asks. "On the target beside the one you just manhandled?"

"I just told you that I specialize in guns." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, I know what you said." She said, handing me a knife. "But what happens if you don't have a gun on you? You need to know how to use a knife just as efficiently or you can kiss your ass goodbye."

"You got a fair point there." I said, putting my gun where it was.

"So, are you going to try with a knife?"

I reached my hand out towards her and take her knife from her extended hand. I examined the blade resting in the palm of my hand. It was a small knife, but when close in range, you can do some real damage to the person on the receiving end. "Nice." I whispered before I positioned myself, as if I was getting ready to throw the knife toward the target she told me to aim at.

Before I could throw the knife, Raya stops me.

"You have to feel relaxed." She said, her warm breath fanning the back of my neck. "You also have to relax your wrist and stand up straighter. And then," she uses her foot to nudge mine so that it was slightly positioned slightly behind my left one, "stand like this." She then chuckles. "You're stance is shit."

I stood at the foam target, knife in hand. My eyes were fixed on the target, my mind racing with thoughts of perfection. I didn't want to miss, not while she was standing so close to me, but I had another thing coming. I couldn't focus on anything else but her close proximity, and the fact that she was standing behind me with her clothes completely and utterly drenched. The mere thought of her being so close to me left me feeling weak and vulnerable, like she had some kind of power over me.

It was impossible for me to deny the attraction I felt towards her, and I could punch myself for it. I wasn't here to fall in love. I was here to do a bloody job. I know I shouldn't feel this way about her, but I can't deny that I have feelings for her. No matter how much I try to push them away, they just keep coming and coming back.

This job was going to be impossible to complete if my feelings keep getting in the way.

I gripped the knife in my hand, my eyes fixed on the target. I lifted my arm, took aim, and threw the knife with all my might. It was a perfect shot, except for one thing: as the knife flew through the air, I felt a sudden distraction. My attention shifted, and in an instant, the knife missed its mark and ended up in the mud pool in front of the target. "Well," I said, trying to mask my frustration, "I guess I can use the excuse that I was a little... well, distracted..." I looked at her.

She knew damn well why I was distracted.

"Distraction can get you killed, newcomer."

"The only thing getting killed right now, princess, is my ability to focus on anything else but you."

She opened and closed her mouth, unable to form words.

I couldn't help but smirk as I waited for her to respond.

"Focus, newcomer. This is serious." She finally said after she cleared her throat.

"I was being serious." I said without missing a beat. "I can't focus right now when you're this soaking wet. I can see everything underneath that tank top of yours, and when you showed me how to stand correctly, well, you don't need to know the rest."

"Seduction can get you killed too." She continued. "Your enemy might be a woman and she'd seduce you until the right moment strikes to plunge a blade, or bullet, right through your chest."

I licked my lips, seeing her walking toward the target to pick up the knife lying in the mud. She then walks back toward me, and stops directly in front of me. I noticed that there was an eyelash on her cheek. I slowly reached out and wiped a stray eyelash from her cheek, my fingers moving gently across her soft, pale skin.

Our eyes locked, and time seemed to stand still. The world around us melted away, and in that moment, it was just the two of us. I could feel my heart racing, and my breath caught in my throat. I wanted to pull her closer, to feel the warmth of her body, and the beat of her heart against mine. But I decided against it when I reminded myself why I was here in the first place.

She breaks our moment first by clearing her throat, and stepping back. "I don't like being touched."

"You just had an eyelash on your cheek." I said, smirking at her flustered state. "A thank you would be appreciated, princess."

"I don't do 'thank yous'... but you impressed me when you shot the bull's eye away with a single shot, so thank you. I'm also going to let this one touch slide today, but if you ever touch me again, I will slice your finger off with the same knife I'm training you with. Got it, newcomer?"

The smirk didn't disappear from my face. If anything, it only widened. "Got it, princess."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi besties. I haven't written an author's note in quite a while, but I decided that I wanted to do one with the new bonus chapter. I want to thank you guys for... well... everything. The support shown on not only TNC, but my other books too, has made me so incredibly grateful for all of you. And now, I'm on my way to reach 3OOK with not one, but two of my books including this one.

I love and appreciate you guys so much, and I hope you enjoyed the bonus chapter!

Much love, Dee M. Crawford.