Gang Wars

3

It was over as quickly as it had started. They held on to each other for the briefest of moments, strewn over the silt floor, gasping for breath. Once she had regained enough oxygen to move, Natalia picked herself up off of Hayden. Hayden got up too, dusting himself off and pulling his boxers and pants back up. He watched intently as Natalia adjusted her skirt and bent down to retrieve her jacket. Then without even turning to look at him, she began to walk back towards the New York street.

“Wait!” Hayden yelped after her, desperate to see her face one more time that night. She stopped and turned her head, her eyebrows raised in anticipation for what Hayden had to say. But the words did not form. He just smiled at her, a smile worth one thousand words.

She smiled back, “I know,” she said, reading Hayden’s smile like a book. And she turned back and walked away. Within seconds she was out of sight and with a faint ‘pop’ she was gone completely.

..................................................................................................................................................................

Hayden’s legs trembled slightly as he strode back to base. They were still weak and Hayden was somewhere in between feeling exhausted and full of unused energy. He bounded up the stairs two at a time, desperate to fling himself down on his bed and sleep, or think, or both if that were possible.

He reached out for the front door, when his senses alerted him to danger. As if it were an automatic action, he ducked just as a blade of bright green passed where his neck had been moments before.

“Whoah! Adam, it’s me!” he exclaimed before the attacker could try again,

“Hayden? You scared the shit out of me!” Adam replied shakily.

“So-sorry,”

“Where’ve you been anyway, I thought you only went out for a walk...”

“Uh nowhere...it was just a long walk.” Hayden lied,

Adam looked sceptical; “Stop pissin’ around. You look- wasted.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Hayden concurs, tilting his head slightly.

“So where have you been?” Adam asked again,

“I’ve told you, nowhere!” Hayden insisted back,

Adam shook his head at this, still unbelieving; “I won’t ask again Hayden. Where have you been?”

Hayden sighed in defeat, he knew when to stop pushing Adam; “O.k. O.k. I’ve been with someone,”

“Someone?”

“Yeah, you know...someone.”

“Who?”

“Why does that matter?” Hayden asked, trying to avoid the awkward question.

“Of course it matters, team mates don’t keep secrets, right?”

“Uh yeah, sure. Fine I was with Nat, but she doesn’t really want anyone to know-“

“You were with Nat?” Adam reiterates, completely unbelieving.

“Yeah, but like I say she doesn’t want-“

“Hayden...Nat was here at base all night, with the rest of us,”

Knowing that there was no way of getting out of this and not wanting to deal with telling such a big lie, Hayden knew that he would have to tell the truth. He fixed his gaze onto the floor, unable to look his comrade and friend in the eye as he admitted his betrayal of the gang,

“I- I never said Natalie,” he says, barely a whisper.

“Hayden?” Adam thought about what Hayden had just said- it didn’t take long to realise what Hayden was admitting to; “Hayden, what the fuck have you done?” Anger rushed through Adam’s veins at this realisation. In his rage he grabbed Hayden by the collar of his dishevelled shirt and pinned him against the door.

“I-I’m sorry...I never...It wasn’t supposed to happen...she...It meant noth-...It wasn’t anything special,” Hayden struggled against Adam’s grip.

“Bollocks! Look into my eyes and say that!” Adam spat back,

Hayden fixed a glare onto Adam; “It was nothing spe-“but his gaze faltered and he once again found himself looking down at his feet.

“You asshole! Why?” Adam demanded,

“It wasn’t my fault, I swear! It wasn’t supposed to happen, it was her; she seduced me!”

“And you let her,” Adam dropped his hold on Hayden and turned away, unable to look at him; “Don’t you realise what she is doing?” He turns, regaining his composure, “She’s baiting you.”

Although he couldn’t argue, Hayden wanted so much for Adam to be wrong, so he tried; “No! It wasn’t like that. She was- it was...”

“It was what Hayden?”

Unable to keep his real thought on the events of that night to himself, Hayden cracked. He looked straight at Adam, his expression determined, jaw set; “She was fantastic.”

Adam was shocked; “What about Natalie?”

“Honestly? She doesn’t even compare.”

That was the final straw. Adam swung and punched Hayden, who doubled back, hands over a bleeding nose.

“You bastard! I’m going to have to tell Natalie that-“

“No you can’t!” Hayden begged, still clutching his nose, his eyes watering.

“No you’re right. YOU can tell her, by sunset tomorrow, otherwise she and maybe the rest of the gang will hear all about it from me.”

Adam yanked the front door open and stepped into the base, leaving Hayden to contemplate telling the woman he thought he loved about what he had done tonight.