Steady Breaths

Haven POV- Sometimes your heart and mind need more time.

Tuesday, December 17,  3:40pm

"Bye Haven. " June calls out softly.

"Bye. Text me whenever you want. I have no life." Ellcee says. I smile back at her barley holding in  a laugh. I'd found out at lunch she'd been grounded for three days and hearing her rant was one of the highlights of my day.

"Bye, baby!" Harley shouts, just loud enough for another person to glance over. My entire face goes red.  I can hear Ellcee and Emilio immediately telling him off. I look over my shoulder and catch Harley's eye, offering him a quick wink. His jaw falls for a moment and then he throws his fist in the air as a victory just so the other three would look at him and try to figure out what I had done. My grin widened as I kept walking. I covered my mouth to stifle the laugh. Surprisingly, even with the uneven number I hadn't felt left out once.

"See you tomorrow, Have." Emilio put in. I waved and looked down at the small white paper in my hand. My content mood vanished like the paper was the wind that blew out the birthday candle. I wouldn't have these friends for long and I doubt I would be allowed to go back to Manhattan where my chosen family is.

I glanced around the parking lot. Very few kids walked or biked and non took public transport even though the city had it. Most drove themselves with  trendy sports cars or got picked up in professional looking limos. I guess all limos look professional. Even those pink ones people rent for prom. 

Eventually I saw the license plate  I was looking for. I needed to get home fast. I wanted to pack quickly and then have some time to myself. Prepare. Relax if I was lucky. Gather myself.

I glanced left and right before making my way to the car. The driver came around to my side of the car and opened the back left door from. I looked up to say thank you but froze as I meet stone gray eyes. His rusty brown hair and beard was styled the same way. Same jawline.

His birthmark on the side of his forehead instead revealed its's original form. The fresh bleeding cut. I'd never seen the cut healed and until then I would never heal. My gaze was frozen on his features, after a moment his warm smile turned sickeningly sweet.

This time I would run. I forced all my energy to my legs, and feeling dazed and exhausted I ran till my knees gave out. The space around me was blurry, even as I slowed down. I collapsed onto the pavement. I re-positioned myself with my legs pulled to my chest.

I don't know how long I sat there for. I had to go over the image in my head a dozen times before finally convincing myself I was a traumatized idiot. It wasn't him. It wasn't him. Nelson had fairly generic features. But those grey eyes. The way he manipulated his face expressions were better than any actor I've ever seen.

It wasn't him. I knew that. And with that thought I finally let the tears brimming my eyes fall silently down my cheeks, taking the memory of the encounter with them with it. At least for the rest of the day. It would come back to haunt me later but I couldn't waste all my tears in it.

"Hey baby." A voice spoke with a slight slur. I snapped my head in their direction, four boys. Maybe Rain's age. Three of them are all looking at me the same way. The fourth is a little more hesitant.  I stumble to my feet but there's already someone behind me. A couple of them take a step closer. They're walking straight, not wobbling. They're not that drunk. That scares me more. 

"Leave me alone."

"Don't be so defensive princess. It's not ladylike." One guy laughs, obviously amused with his own comment.  Another guy joins in, saying something about my body that makes my nails dig into my skin. 

Then one steps forwards. I step back but now I'm closer to the other guy. The first guy reaches out, it feels like it's in slow motion but somehow I'm still to weak and dumb to know how to defend myself.  His hand brushes against my chest. I jerk away as far as I can get and find the eyes of the guy that seemed a bit more hesitant.  

Blue eyes. Dirty blond hair. Average features. There's something close to guilt in his eyes. He blinks then turns away. I thought I was done for but then he turned back to me and then looked to one of the other guys. 

"Come on Brady. She's just a kid. Let her go. Don't you want to go early to that party. There's girls there that actually want to kiss you. " He spoke, emphasizing the want but he kept his tone light like he was just teasing his friend. I mouthed a thank you and he nodded without looking at me. I turned my full attention to the guy he called Brady. I couldn't read his expression. He opened his mouth to speak he but didn't get the chance. 

"Boys go or I'm calling the police. I won't need to anyways do you know who's sister that is. Take a closer glance at her and see who she looks like. I'm sure they'd pay me a bunch of money to give them your names." I feel the boys eyes on me again. They look confused at first but then they go wide with realization.

"You don't even know our names!" One shouts. He can't stop the fear from leaking into his voice.

The man pulls up the sleeve of his brown navy blue trench coat to check his watch while he starts listing. His hat matches his coat. "Pierce Renolds, Brayden Th..."

"Okay. Okay while leave right now." The man gives them a nod of permission and they're fifty feet away before I can even analyze my thoughts. My head is for some reason stuck on if I really look that much like my brothers. A defense mechanism, hiding away the scary stuff.

"Haven Rossi, right?" The man says giving me what's supposed to be a friendly smile.

"umm...yeah. Thanks." He used my mother's maiden name. Leandro went by it sometimes.

"I'm supposed to bring you home."

"Okay. Yeah." I mumble. But something's throwing me off about him. He has a slight accent. It's not Italian and it only comes up on certain letters. Either he's trying to hide it or that's how it's always been. But my gut was telling me the first. " I think I'll walk." I told him. Not taking my eyes off his face.

"That's not an option sweetheart. Your brothers would kill me if you had to make it home on your own." It wasn't the response I was looking for. It was the way his accent had come out on the first word since my response had surprised him. Why would he try to hide an accent? I remembered what my brothers had said about rivals in their business. I decided to trust my gut. That's when I sprinted. I glanced back once. He was shaking his head lightly and had a soft smile on his face and a look in his eye that said 'see you next time sweetheart'. He wasn't chasing me.

***

I thanked one of the workers as I got off the metro. That's what they called subways here. I hadn't been on one since New York. Then I pulled my hood farther over my face.  The city was huge and I wasn't quite sure what stop to get off but one of them was the shopping center. I was sure I could find my way back from there. Leandro was gonna kill me. My phone had died hours ago. I forgot to charge it last night and it just got tossed between a pillow and the mattress on my bed. 

I finally found the road to the house. It's a long road. I can see the forest in the distance.  There's a lot of stores, a few apartment buildings and some mansions at the start but after the bend it just stops. Even the sidewalk.  I didn't stop to question it and just started walking faster.  The gates opened when I was within twenty feet of the house. I didn't glance at the guards this time and didn't look back. I was still shaky from the earlier encounters. But if I was gonna get yelled at I wasn't gonna do it as a sobbing mess that didn't have a voice.

The second my foot pressed against the floor the figure standing under the archway between the foyer and the living room abruptly ended his conversation and turned to face me. Switching from Italian to English.

"Haven. Iris. Talon. Where the hell have you been!" Leandro. 

(word count; 1510)