His Quest for Raine

Calling Kristin Out

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Peter

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Peter sulked his shoulders forward, dropping his head to his chest as he regarded the girl. 

It hurt, honestly, to see her again. Here, in his place. His safe space. Far from everyone that ridiculed him. Far from the truth as it was… but at least not even the guards bothered him here. 

And then she came. 

She had to though, right?

She had to leave him on the side of the road in the mess they were in. She had to run from him while he turned to look for his sister. She… she… she… he grumbled in his thoughts. His frame curled around the counter somewhat, as if it was the only thing holding him up now. 

He hates the way she calls for him now, how all of a sudden after all these years she’s looking for him. Why couldn’t she do that before? If he really meant anything to her at all, why wouldn’t she have told him then? Or if she didn’t, why did she pretend she did? Why did she let him so close to her and let him feel like they could have been something?

“Peter, I…” Kristin trailed. “Something happened today,” she pushed out. 

“What happened?” he asked snidely as he looked up to open a cabinet just above him.

His eyes roved the contents, landing on a clear bottle of tequila, which didn’t do the trick when she was gone and certainly wouldn’t be strong enough while she was here in his rumpus room. His eyes then darted to a tall brown bottle of whisky figuring he may be able to get over this vision before she left as he reached up to fist the neck of it. He then pulled it down, clunking the edge of the bottle loudly on the surface to make her jump, but not hard enough to break it.

He heard her breath leave her with a shiver clearly present. He did still affect her. She was watching him, he swallowed despite his dry mouth, at the thought. 

“I…” she replied, unsure of herself. 

Peter had enough of her choking on her words, the breathy replies were so distracting. It brought back too many hopeful memories. Ones that he couldn’t have. Ones that she should have given to him willingly for as well as he treated her and so he began to answer for her. 

“What? It took you ten years to realize what I was to you and now you’re back looking for me? Is that it sweetheart?” he shot at her. 

He expected a slap or a message of hatred to let him know how much he despised him for what he said, instead he heard the faint sound of a sniff, and the way she cleared her throat to end it. 

What did he do?

Kristin wrestled with her bag, removed some paper by the sound of it, and because he hadn’t turned to her yet, he couldn’t truly be sure as to what it actually was. If they were documents claiming he had done her wrong in some way, he would have her removed, never able to find him again. He didn’t need some…

Kristin sounded as though she stood and was ready to walk whatever she had to him, stalling his thoughts. Peter couldn’t be sure as to how he would respond to her if she got any closer to him, if he would drop his sorrows and reach out for her as he used to all those years ago. 

He wouldn’t though, he told himself. They weren’t a couple. They never had a chance. Not like that… 

“Today a black bird flew into the window at Just Beans. Before that, I thought I saw Raine form out of a cloud and then this appeared in my notes,” Kristin babbled. 

Peter chuckled, then poured his drink finally. Distaste for the words loading up on his tongue, the response imminent and testing its ability to ruin her just as she ruined him

He could hear her in the background of his thoughts, continuing on about something that she clearly made up to get into see him again, but the goddamn fact that she pulled Raine into it made his blood boil. 

“No…” was all he could get out. 

The sound of it reverberated within his chest, within the space around him…

“No, no… no,” he continued. 

Kristin stopped by then, actually hearing him, he thought anyway, and that was when he let her have it. 

“You do NOT get to come into MY house and talk about seeing MY sister, as if she just appeared!” Peter roared. 

He turned slowly to finally look at her. He took in the way she was dressed from her feet to her head, as if he was just seeing her for the first time. Kristin wasn’t ever a pristine girl, but she was clearly affected by the times. She wore her sneakers, double laced to keep them on he assumed. Her black leggings had seen better days, or maybe just today. He’d have to find out if his men dropped her, not that he cared… he rolled his eyes at himself. She hid herself, however under a dark purple sweatshirt with a large grey U with a yellow phoenix behind it being the only thing that really stood out…besides her hair. The moment his eyes traveled over her face, he immediately ignored connecting with her eyes, wanting to know what the hell she did to her hair. 

It was dark, he thought, pausing at the patch she missed. 

How did she miss that?

Part of him wanted to ask but the other part of him knew getting close would be the end of his resolve. He needed her out… now.

Peter took a step towards her without his bottle and his empty glass. It would have been better to have one or the other but with the way he felt, he just couldn’t put his head around throwing that now priceless bottle at the girl he spent all year chasing. 

No… no…

He’d deal with this in a more civilized way, with his words, pointed ones that would strike her down just for the sake of doing it. 

“What did you think you were going to get, coming down here?”

 He took another step forward and adjusted himself just to see if her gaze would dip to where his hands moved. 

They did… 

Interesting. 

“Ya know, I heard what ya said, up there in my garage,” he said, wiping the corner of his mouth so that he wouldn’t slur his speech with his next message. He c****d his head to the side, then added, “You had me fooled enough to bring you in; keep ya safe from what’s out there and all…” he drawled. 

He watched how she clutched her purse to her, unsure of him now. She looked at him though. Not just in his eyes or at the ground. She surveyed everything, his whole form, for what he wondered, but slid his other foot to a stop next to his left. 

“Ya kind of left me expecting an apology,” he said, cutting her off as she began to speak. 

Something inside of him wanted to hear how she would talk her way out of that one, but deep down, he felt his message needed to be heard. Kristin brought up Raine, who hasn’t been seen since the incident, and needed to be put in her place. 

“But then you go running your mouth about my sister, my sister, as if I haven’t been searching for her this whole time and you think I want to listen to you sell this to me? You? Someone I’m risking my location and well being to take in… you?”

He expected it to hurt her more than it hurt him but truth be told, he wasn’t sure just how deeply he cut her, if at all. Peter watched Kristin bite her lip and nod. 

“I deserved that,” she answered hoarsely. “I deserve a lot more than that, actually, but if you’re done and actually still give a damn about your sister, you might want to listen rather than attack me over a love life I didn’t think I deserved.”