Belladonna Post Chapter Nine (Patreon)

The knock was familiar.  She always did give a bit of a lighter touch to her welcoming than others that appeared at his door.  Rising from where he had been trying to sleep in vain, Reese opened the old cottage door with a creak.  Belladonna stood on the other side with a bottle in hand.

“Thought we could share a drink,” she said, holding up the bourbon. It was Reese’s favorite. She always had impeccable taste.

Stepping aside, he motioned for her to come in. She looked out of place in his derelict home, what with her sheer lace and crimson hair and manicured nails.  She had certainly come far in the world

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked, shutting the door and heading towards the kitchen. He was sure he had some bread and cheese around here somewhere.  She ate very little these days but she usually partook in the process while drinking with him.

“I came to talk about your wayward bird.” Her tone was guarded.

“What he’d do now?”

Taking the tumblers from the top shelf, Belladonna blew the dust off of them before rolling her eyes and running them under some water.  Decorum. It was the only reason he kept those particular glasses.  Belladonna liked to be a lady for the first two drinks before the two of them ended up just drinking straight from the bottle.

“He flew the proverbial coup,” she said.  Pouring four fingers worth, she handed him his glass. Reese looked at it contemplatively, feeling a small pang of regret shoot through him.

“Not surprising.  He was only going to be able to last for a short time here.  Fucker ran straight to a place that Odin had already set up shop.” He swallowed the tumbler in full.  “Boy deserves more than what this hellhole has to offer anyway.”
Belladonna refilled the glass, along with her own.  When Reese raised a brow at her, she shrugged. “I was there.”

“How bad?”  No one could hear her here. Reese had taken great pains through the years of keeping this cottage safe. After everything with Elias, he had wanted to move, to burn this home to the ground, but he had never been able to bring himself to destroy this particular memory.

Leaning against the counter, Belladonna shook her head. “I do not envy the choices that were made tonight.  I also wonder just when I became so heartless that I didn’t step in and have an opinion over such a wretched display.”

Reese laughed. “You’re not heartless, Bella.  You have more heart than most I know. You just also know how to protect it.”

She side eyed him. “That is not a good trait to have, I am starting to believe.”  Because, like Reese, she protected her heart. Yet here the two of them were. Alone.

They migrated towards the living room. Towards the old brown leather sofa’s that were cracked with age. Belladonna sat on one end, kicking off her heels and tucking her feet beneath her, while Reese sprawled out on the other side, resting his boots on the table.

“That all you came here tonight for? Commiseration about a man you hardly knew?”

“Would there be another reason?”

Reese grinned, gold capped tooth glinting in the low light of the room.  “You’re close, aren’t you.”

“There are a great many things I have in motion, Reese, you will have to be a tad bit more specific.”

“I don’t think I do.”

Huffing, Belladonna stared at the bottom of her empty glass before tossing it aside and grabbing at the bottle. Reese roared in laughter as she took a long swig of it, fingers wrapped around the neck and holding it close.

“Should have brought a second one tonight,” he commented. “You seem a tad stressed.”
“I feel disquiet,” she said, as if the word itself was vile.  “After everything with Caliban I went to go relieve some stress. Had a wonderful evening with someone I know. I thought if I could put myself in control, give pleasure, I would feel okay again. It would get the nervous energy out.  If anything it has made me even more wrought with anxiety and I wish it to go away.”

Reese leaned forward, grabbing the bottle from her. She glared at him as he did so.  “When you making your move?”

“A few days from now.”

He nodded, already planning his part in it all. “Send word. I’ll patrol the streets that night. Make sure you got nothing coming your way.”

“You do not have to do that.”

“Given the bullshit rules, this is going to be the last time you and I see each other again,” he said. He tried to keep the pain over that little fact from his voice but knew it shined through.  “I’ll absolutely do this for my daughter.”

The sentiment made her smile.  “You need to stop calling me that.  It hurts Gabriel.”

“If it hurts Gabriel he can come over here and tell me himself. Besides, you were supposed to be my daughter-in-law.”

It was Belladonna’s turn to laugh. “I was never going to marry that man and you know it. Don’t go rewriting history like that.”

“Fine. I wished it.”

“If wishes were horses…”

“That is such a fucked up saying. Who wants a bunch of fucking horses around?”

“Ranchers.” At the confused expression on his face, she took the opportunity to steal back the bottle. It was more than halfway empty now. “I am sorry about Caliban.”  Belladonna hadn’t known him other than in passing. But the fear she saw on his face tonight was only a look she wished upon her enemies.

“Yeah,” Reese said. “Me too.” Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he hugged her close. The weight of her head fell on his shoulder, staying there as she gave a stiff sigh.  He could feel her swallowing reflexively. Belladonna Malady did not cry. Neither did Reese.  It was an understanding they had.  “You don’t have to do this, kiddo,” he told her gently.

“The only thing stopping me from doing this is you,” she said. Her weekly dinner and drinks with Reese. And the presence of one other. One she wished more than anything would not be harmed.  If she could, she would be keeping them from the top of the tower.

“You’re sweet,” Reese said. “And a liar.”

“Learned from the best.”

Dropping a kiss to the crown of her head, he then shoved her off. “Come on. Let’s get drunk and cause mischief in the market for Gabriel. He’s been entirely too serious lately.”

Belladonna laughed, wiping her eyes as Reese gave her a few minutes. Almost there. Almost done.  Just a little bit more time and for the first time since she had come to the market, she would no longer be someone else's pawn.

She just hoped that a certain life would not blink out in the process.