Inside, the noise was overwhelming. Most of the occupants were drunk. Shouting, spilling drinks halfway to their mouth, threatening each other, stumbling with every step they took. He was surprised more of them hadn’t been kicked out yet. It took a minute but he spotted Clara at the bar.
He was relieved at first, until he saw the man next to her who was grabbing her thigh and leaning into her. How dare he. Carver didn’t have a chance to think through the anger before he reached them. His fist collided with the man’s face, as though of its own volition. He didn’t even feel the collision.
Clara shrieked, and he couldn’t tell if it was part of her act or if it was real shock. The man clutched his bruised cheek, but before Carver could say anything else, two men grabbed his arms and were pulling him towards the door. “Don’t come back!” They yelled at him as they pushed him into the street.
He stumbled, regaining his footing after a few steps. Stunned, he stood there not even sure what had happened. Had he hit that man? That wasn’t a usual response for him. As theadrenaline faded, his knuckles smarted, and he realized that he had, in fact, decked someone. In an attempt to protect Clara. Crap. This wouldn’t end well for him. So much for avoiding a fight with Clara. He groaned.
A few minutes later, Clara found him. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t. I thought that would have been apparent. I was trying to protect you.”
“We’ve been over this. I don’t need your protection. Why can’t you get that into your stupid ass head?”
“That man was touching you!” He defended himself, motioning towards the bar.
Clara looked around, noticing the people filing back and forth and grabbed his arm. She hauled him into a nearby alley. “That man was giving me exactly what I wanted.” He raised his eyebrows, anger flaring even deeper, “Not like that!” She sputtered, “I was getting information for our assignment. He was about to take me to the labs and show me the creatures they’ve created. A personal tour, with information on how they created the creatures. Do you know how much that would have helped with our plotting?” She hissed, seething at him as she stood way too close.
His heart dropped, “I didn’t know,” he whispered.
“I didn’t like him touching me, but I was putting up with it for the sake of information. The assignment comes first, that’s all it was. You ruined our chance of getting access to the labs in a non forceful way. All because of your stupid,stupidjealousy.”
“I’m not jealous.” She shoved him into the wall, and he grunted even though it didn’t hurt.
“Sure. You decked him because you’re not jealous. Don’t lie to me, Carver. You preach about how we need to trust each other. Assignment first. Follow the rules. But you break them at every turn.” The street light behind her provided an almost halo.Her silhouette forceful and perfect as she continued to glare at him.
“I didn’t mean to.” He had nothing real to say. No apology could fix this.
“That makes it even worse.”
She was breathing hard, the argument having worked her up. “Okay,” Carver exhaled, trying to figure out how to put all of the pieces back together. “None of this changes what our assignment is.”
“Just makes it more difficult to complete the assignment,” she muttered, but didn’t continue when he glared at her.
“We need to come back to the assignment.” He inhaled deeply, letting his breath out all at once. “We’ve gotten off track. We have to go back to following the rules.”
“We never should have left them to begin with,” anger still coated her voice but he chose to ignore it.
“We have to act like a couple for the sake of the assignment, but when we’re not in front of people we go back to our usual cold exteriors. Agreed?”
She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “Agreed.”
“I’m sorry,” he forced out. He knew he owed her the words, but he didn’t want to offer them.
“Okay.” The venom was gone from her tone, and he allowed himself a slight smile.
“Should we go back then? Maybe eat something and see if we can come up with a plan since you destroyed mine?” She kept her tone light, but he felt the accusation all the same. She hadn’t truly forgiven him, and he couldn’t expect her to.
He ignored the burning desire to defend himself, knowing it wouldn’t matter. “Marsh might have some better insights on the city anyway.” He agreed.
“I’m sure she does.”
He heard all of the sarcasm in her tone. “Why do you dislike her so much?”
“Who said I dislike her?” Clara asked as they reached the door to the bookstore.
Carver folded his arms, refusing to go inside until this was resolved. “Your tone suggested a great dislike for her.”
“I don’t dislike her.” Carver raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue, “I just have a suspicion that she will be more of a distraction for you than a help for our mission.”
