Nothing to Lose, Chapter 16
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it ain't mine.
Title: Nothing to Lose
Chapter: I'm So Afraid, 16/?
Rating: NC-17 for language.
Fandom: Riddick
Summary: Jack and Riddick have it out, and she finally learns why he left.
The club was packed, the lights were dim, and the music was angry and loud enough to cause Jack physical pain. It was just what the doctor ordered. She downed another shot of something (she didn’t know what it was, just asked the bartender for the strongest drink they had) and slammed the now empty glass onto the bar, signaling for another one.
She lit up a smoke and gave the barman a nod of appreciation when he handed her the drink. Jack bobbed her head in time with the music and tried to forget about the look on Riddick’s face when he’d seen her near naked body.
Normally she’d be dancing and trying to lose herself in the pulsing rhythm, but she knew she couldn’t let go tonight. There was too much at risk, and she couldn’t afford to make a mistake. She laughed bitterly as she downed another shot. She hated being practical.
Half an hour later, she was doing her best to ignore the looks some sleazebag at the end of the bar was sending her way. He wasn’t taking a hint, so she turned the other way on her barstool.
She watched him get up and come sit next to her out of the corner of her eye. She let out a low groan.
“So,” he schmoozed, “what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”
Jack didn’t face him as she answered. “Trying to drink alone, but you’re kinda ruining it for me. So do me a favor and take a hike.”
“Oh-ho, the kitten has claws. Is that any way to treat a man who wants to buy you a drink?”
“You can buy me all the drinks you want, but that doesn’t mean it’ll get you any further,” she ground out.
“Now now, don’t be like that sweetheart. I’m just tryin’ to be friendly. My name’s Cal, what’s yours?”
Jack turned to face him and gave him a saccharine smile as she took a drag on her cig. “Mary Sue.”
“Well now, Mary Sue, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said as he rested his hand on her thigh.
Jack was about to tell him off, when she suddenly felt a strong presence behind her and a heavy arm draped over her shoulders, pulling her closer so she could be hear him over the music. “Hey baby, sorry I’m late.” Riddick’s warm breath tickled her ear. She had to fight the urge to pull away from him, and instead turned her head to see her reflection in his glasses.
“It’s okay baby, I know you’re worth it.” She struggled to keep the charade going. She needed señor sleaze ball to leave her alone. And right now, it looked like Riddick was the only thing that was going to do it.
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Riddick wasn’t sure what made him do it. After he’d read Jack’s note, he’d taken a hasty shower and thrown on some random clothes, and went out in search of her, intent on making sure she stayed out of trouble. And wouldn’t you know it, it seemed that trouble had found her.
He walked into the club and quickly found her at the bar fending off some would-be-rapist. Perfect. Without even thinking, he sauntered over to her and slid an arm around her, and greeted her. He was relieved to find her playing along.
But the chump still wasn’t leaving. He just kept eyeing Jack and Riddick, trying to figure out if he could work this situation to his advantage. While he was busy weighing his odds, Riddick turned to Jack and asked, “Can I have a smoke, babe?”
Jack raised her eyebrows momentarily, which caused Riddick to squeeze her shoulder, reminding her of the game they were playing. She quickly nodded in understanding, and gave him a coy smile.
As her free hand reached for her pack on the bar, Riddick reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could complete the action. Confused, she raised her eyebrows at him. He only smiled and shook his head as his other hand reached for hers.
He wrapped his fingers over her cigarette-laden hand, brought it to his mouth, and made a great show of taking one long and languorous drag from the cig as it rested between her fingers. Riddick felt Jack release an involuntary shudder as his lips brushed across her skin. Then, turning back to Cal, Riddick blew the smoke into his face.
The man coughed and sputtered, making Riddick smile and Jack stifle her laughter. But Cal was outraged.
“Just what the fuck is your problem, man?” he shouted. “I was talkin’ to the lady first. I got dibbs, so back the fuck off!”
Jack felt Riddick tense behind her. Not good.
“Easy Cal,” she told him. “You don’t mess around with the man in shades.” She watched as he puffed himself up, ready to let his frustration and embarrassment on Riddick. She needed to end this now. Smiling sweetly, she reached out with one hand to touch his arm, while her other went behind her to Riddick, letting him know she had this under control.
“Listen sweetie, I’m gonna be in town for a few days, I’m sure we could do something later. Let me give you the address where I’m staying. Do you have a pen?” She felt Riddick stiffen behind her, and squeezed his thigh, telling him to back off.
Cal searched himself for a pen but came up empty. “I’m sorry Mary Sue; I don’t have one on me.”
It took every ounce of self-control Riddick had not to laugh at the assumed name Jack had given him. But he filed it away for future reference.
“That’s okay sweetie, I got it covered,” Jack said as she reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a tube of lipstick. She took the top off and grabbed the man’s hand as she wrote down a false address. “There you go. Be sure to stop by and see me tomorrow, okay.” She jumped off the stool and put the rest of her belongings back into her pockets. Then turned around and signaled the barman, paid for her drinks, and grabbed Riddick’s arm as they made their way to the door giving Cal one last flirtatious wave before they moved.
As soon as they were hidden in the crowd, Jack stopped and turned to look at Cal, who was now crowing over the address written on his hand. “What the hell was that about Jack?” Riddick growled in her ear.
Smile in place, Jack stood on her tiptoes and leaned into him. “Wait for it.” She looked back at Cal sitting smugly at the bar. Riddick followed her gaze and watched in amazement as he started to surreptitiously scratch his hand where Jack had written on it.
Soon the scratching spread from the back of his hand to his forearm. Then his shoulder, his chest, his neck, and when it reached his face, he fell off the stool and began writhing on the floor of the club. His fingers desperately trying to scratch an itch he couldn’t reach.
Riddick looked down at Jack’s face, which was lit up with unholy amusement. Feeling his gaze on her, she took the tube of the offending lipstick from her pocket, her eyes never leaving Cal.
“Kiss Me Cayenne,” she said with a cryptic smile, then turned and walked out the door. Riddick stayed for a little while longer and watched the dirt bag roll around on the floor, crying for help. Then headed back to the ship, wondering what exactly Jack would try to do to him if she got pissed enough. He almost looked forward to it.
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The next two days passed without incident. Jack went out to get supplies and she and Riddick carefully avoided each other. She was still pissed and hurt, and he didn’t know what to do to make it right. Jack would only cook enough for her, leaving Riddick to fend for himself, and they each made sure to be where the other was not.
Jack wasn’t sleeping, which meant that Riddick wasn’t either. She stayed up all night watching movies, or playing a game on her computer. She kept the volume relatively low, but Riddick could still here the voices coming from her room. If I hear, the words ‘Get over here’ or ‘flawless victory’ one more time…
Things didn’t improve once they were on the move again. It was late at night on their first day out again when Jack decided to do something. She heard Riddick fumbling around in the bathroom. Good. That should give me just enough time to prepare.
Jack threw open her closet and rummaged around until she found what she was looking for. She’d never had a chance to wear it, but now seemed like the perfect time. Next, she pulled out a plain grey t-shirt and looked through her desk for a black marker. Finding one, she did a small victory dance and set her plan into motion.
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Riddick didn’t want to leave the sanctuary of the bathroom. Things just kept getting more and more uncomfortable around Jack. He wanted to try to fix things with her, but he wasn’t sure how. And he wasn’t sure he could take another sleepless night. He really didn’t see how she could do it. It was obvious she was used to not sleeping, but it was really taking its toll on him.
He paused at the door and listened for any sounds of her. It sounded like she was in her room. Good. If I time it just right, we won’t even see each other. He stepped out into the hallway and was almost at the couch when she came out of her room…covered head to toe in a burka. It was the last straw. “Godammit Jack, that’s not what I fuckin’ meant and you know that!” his voice echoed off the walls of her small ship.
“What Riddick,” she snapped as she approached him. “I thought this was what you wanted, right? You wanted me covered up didn’t you?” her voice was dripping with ice and sarcasm.
“Jack’s too hideous to look at, so she has to stay covered, right Riddick? Well FUCK YOU!” She was yelling nose to nose with him now, in his face. She knew she was provoking the beast, but it felt so damn good to let everything out, she couldn’t stop.
“I know my scars are ugly, and I know they look painful. Newsflash asshole, they were! But over time, I came to think of them as my marks of courage. When I have a bad day, I just run a finger down one of them and I remember, if I can survive this, then I can survive anything.” She took a deep breath. “Then you came back.”
Her voice got lower, but everything else about her remained tense and fierce. “You waltz back into my life and look at me like I’m the most disgusting thing you’ve ever seen. And in one minute, you manage to destroy all of that!” Her breath was coming in short huffs and she was vibrating with rage, but Riddick remained as stoic as ever.
“Nothing to say big bad?” She waited for him to say something, anything. But nothing happened. Trying to keep her tears in check, she tore off the burka in splintered, jerky movements. “I guess I was a fool to think you cared about me.”
As she turned to march away from him, Riddick saw where she had written on the back of her shirt. He walked towards her and reached her in two strides, grabbing her arm and twisting her so that he could get a better look at it. But it was too dark in the hallway to make it out clearly.
He hauled her into her bedroom and barked out an order, “Lights 100 percent!” Once the lights had reached their designated level, he spun her around and smoothed her shirt under his hands.
She had drawn a picture of a knife between the shoulder blades, and written on the hilt ‘Riddick was here.’ He whirled her once again to face him and slammed her back up against the wall. “Is that supposed to be funny Jack? Is it?” he roared. “’Cause I’m not laughin!.”
Her eyes widened in shock and he could smell the fear radiating off her. But she just stared him down, wisely keeping her mouth shut.
“You think I don’t care? You think I don’t fucking care?”
“Well what the hell am I supposed to think Riddick? You leave and come back, only to turn around and leave again. Telling me I’m a loose end, some unfinished business, what the hell? I’m sick and tired of your pushing and pulling. Make up your mind!”
He let out an indescribable sound of frustration and punched the wall next to Jack's head. She flinched when she saw his fist coming towards her, and felt the vibrations from the wall next to her as his fist made contact, leaving a ringing in her ears.
“You wanna know why I left, Jack? Fine, I’ll tell you. It was partially to keep you safe, but that’s not all of it.” His voice was pitched dangerously low and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “Lights fifteen percent,” he called out and ripped off his glasses. His mercurial gaze boring a hole into her.
“Before I met you, my whole life was about one thing. Survival. And you know how I survived as long as I did?” He paused and took a deep breath. Jack swallowed nervously and kept her eyes even with his.
“When I was growing up, someone once told me, that in order to survive; you had to be a man without fear. And to be a man without fear, you had to be a man with nothing to lose. My whole life I lived by that philosophy, ‘till you Jack. Somehow, you managed to worm yourself into my life and made me care about you. After I met you, I had something to lose, and therefore, something to fear.”
Jack’s sharp intake of breath drew his attention to her mouth, and he subconsciously drew closer to her near quivering form. “I couldn’t do that Jack. I couldn’t go from having nothing in the world to be afraid of, to spending all my time worried about keeping you safe. I couldn’t go from having nothing, to having everything. So yeah, I ran. It’s not pretty, and I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth.”
He brought his hands to her sides and began moving them up and down, his fingers grazing the fabric on her back.
“And I don’t think you’re disgusting Jack,” he leaned his head forward and spoke into her neck. It was a ploy to keep from looking into her all seeing emerald eyes. “But every time I look at your back, I see how I’ve failed you. I see what I’ve done to you, and it tears me up inside.”
A few wayward tears managed to escape from her eyes at his words, but she couldn’t brush them away. She was trapped, and for once in her life, she didn’t mind.
“Riddick,” she whispered.
He slowly pulled his head back to look at her.
“Riddick I…I want you to know, that I never blamed you for what happened to me.” His body pulled away from hers ever so slightly, but it gave her just enough room to tentatively bring her hands to the sides of his neck.
“It doesn’t matter,” he growled.
“Yes, it does. And you shouldn’t blame yourself either. It was Toombs who did this to me, not you.” Her hands crept up his neck until she reached his jaw, and he instinctively pulled her closer to him. “Remember that when we find out what his game is.”
Jack could see the guilt, the frustration and the anger behind his eyes, and it made her heart break. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into the shelter of her arms.
Riddick didn’t move for a moment, but then he let himself be drawn in by Jack’s warmth. Holding her as if his life depended on it. “I’m so sorry this all happened to you, Jack. I’m gonna make bastard Toombs pay.”
She smiled at the menace in his voice, glad that it was no longer directed at her. “I know you will big bad. I know you will.”
Pleased that they had finally laid some issues to rest, her soul felt lighter. This must be what if felt like when Atlas shrugged. Jack pulled back from Riddick and wiped the stray tears from her eyes. “Wanna watch a movie? I’ll let you pick it out.”
Riddick chuckled at the pleading look in her eyes, and let out a sigh of relief that she was willing to let things slip back into their comfortable routine. He nodded and followed Jack back into the den, popping in a horror disc before he joined her on the couch.
She hesitated before she leaned against him, but her courage was rewarded as he covered them both with the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch.
Jack was out in ten minutes, and Riddick laughed to himself at her ability to sleep in at the midst of all the faux screaming and dying. He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer before he followed her into oblivion.
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When he woke up the next morning, Jack was missing from his side. He smelled food and guessed she was in the galley making breakfast. A quick look at the clock on the vid player made him amend that thought. Or dinner.
Riddick looked down to pull the blanket off him when something caught his eye. On top, laid one of his shirts, and it looked like she’d attacked it with her black marker as well. It was the same drawing that was on her shirt; except the shiv was over where his heart would be instead of the back, and the hilt read, ‘Jack was here.’
He shook his head at her audacity, but felt a grin spread across his face all the same. He absent-mindedly traced his finger over her name when he heard her call out.
“You want bacon or sausage Riddick?”
“Both.”
Chapter 17
Title: Nothing to Lose
Chapter: I'm So Afraid, 16/?
Rating: NC-17 for language.
Fandom: Riddick
Summary: Jack and Riddick have it out, and she finally learns why he left.
The club was packed, the lights were dim, and the music was angry and loud enough to cause Jack physical pain. It was just what the doctor ordered. She downed another shot of something (she didn’t know what it was, just asked the bartender for the strongest drink they had) and slammed the now empty glass onto the bar, signaling for another one.
She lit up a smoke and gave the barman a nod of appreciation when he handed her the drink. Jack bobbed her head in time with the music and tried to forget about the look on Riddick’s face when he’d seen her near naked body.
Normally she’d be dancing and trying to lose herself in the pulsing rhythm, but she knew she couldn’t let go tonight. There was too much at risk, and she couldn’t afford to make a mistake. She laughed bitterly as she downed another shot. She hated being practical.
Half an hour later, she was doing her best to ignore the looks some sleazebag at the end of the bar was sending her way. He wasn’t taking a hint, so she turned the other way on her barstool.
She watched him get up and come sit next to her out of the corner of her eye. She let out a low groan.
“So,” he schmoozed, “what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”
Jack didn’t face him as she answered. “Trying to drink alone, but you’re kinda ruining it for me. So do me a favor and take a hike.”
“Oh-ho, the kitten has claws. Is that any way to treat a man who wants to buy you a drink?”
“You can buy me all the drinks you want, but that doesn’t mean it’ll get you any further,” she ground out.
“Now now, don’t be like that sweetheart. I’m just tryin’ to be friendly. My name’s Cal, what’s yours?”
Jack turned to face him and gave him a saccharine smile as she took a drag on her cig. “Mary Sue.”
“Well now, Mary Sue, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said as he rested his hand on her thigh.
Jack was about to tell him off, when she suddenly felt a strong presence behind her and a heavy arm draped over her shoulders, pulling her closer so she could be hear him over the music. “Hey baby, sorry I’m late.” Riddick’s warm breath tickled her ear. She had to fight the urge to pull away from him, and instead turned her head to see her reflection in his glasses.
“It’s okay baby, I know you’re worth it.” She struggled to keep the charade going. She needed señor sleaze ball to leave her alone. And right now, it looked like Riddick was the only thing that was going to do it.
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Riddick wasn’t sure what made him do it. After he’d read Jack’s note, he’d taken a hasty shower and thrown on some random clothes, and went out in search of her, intent on making sure she stayed out of trouble. And wouldn’t you know it, it seemed that trouble had found her.
He walked into the club and quickly found her at the bar fending off some would-be-rapist. Perfect. Without even thinking, he sauntered over to her and slid an arm around her, and greeted her. He was relieved to find her playing along.
But the chump still wasn’t leaving. He just kept eyeing Jack and Riddick, trying to figure out if he could work this situation to his advantage. While he was busy weighing his odds, Riddick turned to Jack and asked, “Can I have a smoke, babe?”
Jack raised her eyebrows momentarily, which caused Riddick to squeeze her shoulder, reminding her of the game they were playing. She quickly nodded in understanding, and gave him a coy smile.
As her free hand reached for her pack on the bar, Riddick reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could complete the action. Confused, she raised her eyebrows at him. He only smiled and shook his head as his other hand reached for hers.
He wrapped his fingers over her cigarette-laden hand, brought it to his mouth, and made a great show of taking one long and languorous drag from the cig as it rested between her fingers. Riddick felt Jack release an involuntary shudder as his lips brushed across her skin. Then, turning back to Cal, Riddick blew the smoke into his face.
The man coughed and sputtered, making Riddick smile and Jack stifle her laughter. But Cal was outraged.
“Just what the fuck is your problem, man?” he shouted. “I was talkin’ to the lady first. I got dibbs, so back the fuck off!”
Jack felt Riddick tense behind her. Not good.
“Easy Cal,” she told him. “You don’t mess around with the man in shades.” She watched as he puffed himself up, ready to let his frustration and embarrassment on Riddick. She needed to end this now. Smiling sweetly, she reached out with one hand to touch his arm, while her other went behind her to Riddick, letting him know she had this under control.
“Listen sweetie, I’m gonna be in town for a few days, I’m sure we could do something later. Let me give you the address where I’m staying. Do you have a pen?” She felt Riddick stiffen behind her, and squeezed his thigh, telling him to back off.
Cal searched himself for a pen but came up empty. “I’m sorry Mary Sue; I don’t have one on me.”
It took every ounce of self-control Riddick had not to laugh at the assumed name Jack had given him. But he filed it away for future reference.
“That’s okay sweetie, I got it covered,” Jack said as she reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a tube of lipstick. She took the top off and grabbed the man’s hand as she wrote down a false address. “There you go. Be sure to stop by and see me tomorrow, okay.” She jumped off the stool and put the rest of her belongings back into her pockets. Then turned around and signaled the barman, paid for her drinks, and grabbed Riddick’s arm as they made their way to the door giving Cal one last flirtatious wave before they moved.
As soon as they were hidden in the crowd, Jack stopped and turned to look at Cal, who was now crowing over the address written on his hand. “What the hell was that about Jack?” Riddick growled in her ear.
Smile in place, Jack stood on her tiptoes and leaned into him. “Wait for it.” She looked back at Cal sitting smugly at the bar. Riddick followed her gaze and watched in amazement as he started to surreptitiously scratch his hand where Jack had written on it.
Soon the scratching spread from the back of his hand to his forearm. Then his shoulder, his chest, his neck, and when it reached his face, he fell off the stool and began writhing on the floor of the club. His fingers desperately trying to scratch an itch he couldn’t reach.
Riddick looked down at Jack’s face, which was lit up with unholy amusement. Feeling his gaze on her, she took the tube of the offending lipstick from her pocket, her eyes never leaving Cal.
“Kiss Me Cayenne,” she said with a cryptic smile, then turned and walked out the door. Riddick stayed for a little while longer and watched the dirt bag roll around on the floor, crying for help. Then headed back to the ship, wondering what exactly Jack would try to do to him if she got pissed enough. He almost looked forward to it.
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The next two days passed without incident. Jack went out to get supplies and she and Riddick carefully avoided each other. She was still pissed and hurt, and he didn’t know what to do to make it right. Jack would only cook enough for her, leaving Riddick to fend for himself, and they each made sure to be where the other was not.
Jack wasn’t sleeping, which meant that Riddick wasn’t either. She stayed up all night watching movies, or playing a game on her computer. She kept the volume relatively low, but Riddick could still here the voices coming from her room. If I hear, the words ‘Get over here’ or ‘flawless victory’ one more time…
Things didn’t improve once they were on the move again. It was late at night on their first day out again when Jack decided to do something. She heard Riddick fumbling around in the bathroom. Good. That should give me just enough time to prepare.
Jack threw open her closet and rummaged around until she found what she was looking for. She’d never had a chance to wear it, but now seemed like the perfect time. Next, she pulled out a plain grey t-shirt and looked through her desk for a black marker. Finding one, she did a small victory dance and set her plan into motion.
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Riddick didn’t want to leave the sanctuary of the bathroom. Things just kept getting more and more uncomfortable around Jack. He wanted to try to fix things with her, but he wasn’t sure how. And he wasn’t sure he could take another sleepless night. He really didn’t see how she could do it. It was obvious she was used to not sleeping, but it was really taking its toll on him.
He paused at the door and listened for any sounds of her. It sounded like she was in her room. Good. If I time it just right, we won’t even see each other. He stepped out into the hallway and was almost at the couch when she came out of her room…covered head to toe in a burka. It was the last straw. “Godammit Jack, that’s not what I fuckin’ meant and you know that!” his voice echoed off the walls of her small ship.
“What Riddick,” she snapped as she approached him. “I thought this was what you wanted, right? You wanted me covered up didn’t you?” her voice was dripping with ice and sarcasm.
“Jack’s too hideous to look at, so she has to stay covered, right Riddick? Well FUCK YOU!” She was yelling nose to nose with him now, in his face. She knew she was provoking the beast, but it felt so damn good to let everything out, she couldn’t stop.
“I know my scars are ugly, and I know they look painful. Newsflash asshole, they were! But over time, I came to think of them as my marks of courage. When I have a bad day, I just run a finger down one of them and I remember, if I can survive this, then I can survive anything.” She took a deep breath. “Then you came back.”
Her voice got lower, but everything else about her remained tense and fierce. “You waltz back into my life and look at me like I’m the most disgusting thing you’ve ever seen. And in one minute, you manage to destroy all of that!” Her breath was coming in short huffs and she was vibrating with rage, but Riddick remained as stoic as ever.
“Nothing to say big bad?” She waited for him to say something, anything. But nothing happened. Trying to keep her tears in check, she tore off the burka in splintered, jerky movements. “I guess I was a fool to think you cared about me.”
As she turned to march away from him, Riddick saw where she had written on the back of her shirt. He walked towards her and reached her in two strides, grabbing her arm and twisting her so that he could get a better look at it. But it was too dark in the hallway to make it out clearly.
He hauled her into her bedroom and barked out an order, “Lights 100 percent!” Once the lights had reached their designated level, he spun her around and smoothed her shirt under his hands.
She had drawn a picture of a knife between the shoulder blades, and written on the hilt ‘Riddick was here.’ He whirled her once again to face him and slammed her back up against the wall. “Is that supposed to be funny Jack? Is it?” he roared. “’Cause I’m not laughin!.”
Her eyes widened in shock and he could smell the fear radiating off her. But she just stared him down, wisely keeping her mouth shut.
“You think I don’t care? You think I don’t fucking care?”
“Well what the hell am I supposed to think Riddick? You leave and come back, only to turn around and leave again. Telling me I’m a loose end, some unfinished business, what the hell? I’m sick and tired of your pushing and pulling. Make up your mind!”
He let out an indescribable sound of frustration and punched the wall next to Jack's head. She flinched when she saw his fist coming towards her, and felt the vibrations from the wall next to her as his fist made contact, leaving a ringing in her ears.
“You wanna know why I left, Jack? Fine, I’ll tell you. It was partially to keep you safe, but that’s not all of it.” His voice was pitched dangerously low and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “Lights fifteen percent,” he called out and ripped off his glasses. His mercurial gaze boring a hole into her.
“Before I met you, my whole life was about one thing. Survival. And you know how I survived as long as I did?” He paused and took a deep breath. Jack swallowed nervously and kept her eyes even with his.
“When I was growing up, someone once told me, that in order to survive; you had to be a man without fear. And to be a man without fear, you had to be a man with nothing to lose. My whole life I lived by that philosophy, ‘till you Jack. Somehow, you managed to worm yourself into my life and made me care about you. After I met you, I had something to lose, and therefore, something to fear.”
Jack’s sharp intake of breath drew his attention to her mouth, and he subconsciously drew closer to her near quivering form. “I couldn’t do that Jack. I couldn’t go from having nothing in the world to be afraid of, to spending all my time worried about keeping you safe. I couldn’t go from having nothing, to having everything. So yeah, I ran. It’s not pretty, and I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth.”
He brought his hands to her sides and began moving them up and down, his fingers grazing the fabric on her back.
“And I don’t think you’re disgusting Jack,” he leaned his head forward and spoke into her neck. It was a ploy to keep from looking into her all seeing emerald eyes. “But every time I look at your back, I see how I’ve failed you. I see what I’ve done to you, and it tears me up inside.”
A few wayward tears managed to escape from her eyes at his words, but she couldn’t brush them away. She was trapped, and for once in her life, she didn’t mind.
“Riddick,” she whispered.
He slowly pulled his head back to look at her.
“Riddick I…I want you to know, that I never blamed you for what happened to me.” His body pulled away from hers ever so slightly, but it gave her just enough room to tentatively bring her hands to the sides of his neck.
“It doesn’t matter,” he growled.
“Yes, it does. And you shouldn’t blame yourself either. It was Toombs who did this to me, not you.” Her hands crept up his neck until she reached his jaw, and he instinctively pulled her closer to him. “Remember that when we find out what his game is.”
Jack could see the guilt, the frustration and the anger behind his eyes, and it made her heart break. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into the shelter of her arms.
Riddick didn’t move for a moment, but then he let himself be drawn in by Jack’s warmth. Holding her as if his life depended on it. “I’m so sorry this all happened to you, Jack. I’m gonna make bastard Toombs pay.”
She smiled at the menace in his voice, glad that it was no longer directed at her. “I know you will big bad. I know you will.”
Pleased that they had finally laid some issues to rest, her soul felt lighter. This must be what if felt like when Atlas shrugged. Jack pulled back from Riddick and wiped the stray tears from her eyes. “Wanna watch a movie? I’ll let you pick it out.”
Riddick chuckled at the pleading look in her eyes, and let out a sigh of relief that she was willing to let things slip back into their comfortable routine. He nodded and followed Jack back into the den, popping in a horror disc before he joined her on the couch.
She hesitated before she leaned against him, but her courage was rewarded as he covered them both with the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch.
Jack was out in ten minutes, and Riddick laughed to himself at her ability to sleep in at the midst of all the faux screaming and dying. He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer before he followed her into oblivion.
-----------------------------------------
When he woke up the next morning, Jack was missing from his side. He smelled food and guessed she was in the galley making breakfast. A quick look at the clock on the vid player made him amend that thought. Or dinner.
Riddick looked down to pull the blanket off him when something caught his eye. On top, laid one of his shirts, and it looked like she’d attacked it with her black marker as well. It was the same drawing that was on her shirt; except the shiv was over where his heart would be instead of the back, and the hilt read, ‘Jack was here.’
He shook his head at her audacity, but felt a grin spread across his face all the same. He absent-mindedly traced his finger over her name when he heard her call out.
“You want bacon or sausage Riddick?”
“Both.”
Chapter 17