Daredevil
“Ella, what the actual fuck are you thinking?”
“Well hello to you too, Matthew.” I said scathingly, moving aside so that Matt could enter my apartment. He reached out for the wall and traced its path out to the living room, where Frank was standing, arms crossed. I couldn’t help but notice that Matt was in fact carrying a pair of folded up sweats and a t-shirt, but decided not to mention it. Lola, used to Matt, gave him a gentle nudge in the back of the knees.
“Frank.” Matt said in that particular quiet way of his.
“Red.” Frank grunted.
“I can’t see, but I’m assuming that you’re naked, which is going to make this conversation a whole lot more fun.” Matt said, smiling slightly.
“Yeah, you wish, buddy.” Frank snorted, rolling his shoulders back.
“Alright, settle down you morons.” I sighed. “Matt, do you want to sit down?”
“No.” Matt said. “By the way, here’s the clothes you asked for.” He extended the bundle in Frank’s direction, but I intercepted it and set it on the couch. “I brought them against my better judgement.”
“Well thank God for your ability to reserve your pious nature for exactly one fuckin’ second.” Frank growled and I rolled my eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck.
“So, which of you wants to explain what’s going on here?” Matt asked, tilting his head first in my direction and then Frank’s. “You’ve been shot.” He directed at Frank.
“We met at Gleason’s on Sunday, he brought me coffee the rest of the week and last night he came to me needing a bit of medical assistance.” I interjected before Frank could make a snarky comment.
Matt tilted his head towards the window and I could tell he knew Frank hadn’t exactly come up and knocked on the front door.
“Look, it really doesn’t matter what happened, thanks for bringing over the clothes and —“
“Was it the Russians?” Matt asked lowly, facing Frank head on.
“You bet your skinny ass it was.” Frank shot a look at the clothes on the couch. “Might get those back all stretched out.”
“Shut up!” I cried, throwing up my hands. “Just….. be nice.”
Frank grunted and re-crossed his arms, but looked a little guilty.
“Trafficking again?” Matt continued.
“Yeah.” Frank sighed. “Seems like anytime I squash ‘em, a few of the roaches survive and start a new operation.”
“I’ve been keeping an eye on them as well.” Matt said quietly, taking a wary step towards Frank. I decided it was best to remove myself from the situation and sat down on the couch with Lola.
“Got any intel you’d like to share?” Frank asked in a pointedly courteous voice.
“Maybe.” Matt cocked his head to the side and there was silence for a moment. “Why don’t we team up?” He said at last.
“Team up?” Frank sounded shocked.
“I mean, we’ve done it before if only in the most dire of circumstances.”
“You mean when you’ve decided to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong and try to stop me from puttin’ em down.” Frank hissed.
“A matter of perspective.” Matt said mildly. “But it appears we have both a common enemy and perhaps some people in common we’d like to keep safe,” he motioned to where I was peeking over the back of the couch. “So why not work together?”
Frank was breathing hard. “You— you —-“
“He’ll think about it.” I jumped up and put a hand on Matt’s arm. “Thanks again for the clothes, Matt. I’ll call you later.” I was gently steering him towards the door and he let me, but I knew the conversation was far from over.
“Be careful, Ella.” Matt said in a low voice as I opened the front door. “Do you really know what he’s capable of?”
“Bye Matt.” I said firmly, closing the door behind him.
I walked back into the living room and found Frank, already dressed in the sweats and t-shirt that Matt had brought, on the floor rubbing Lola’s belly. I noted with satisfaction that the t-shirt was indeed stretched tight across his frame and cleared my throat.
“So, that was interesting.” I started, trying to keep my tone light.
“Yeah, goddamn interesting.” Frank snorted. He stood up and started pacing the living room. I decided not to say anything and instead went into the kitchen to get a glass of orange juice.
“I mean, he wants to team up?” Frank said incredulously, following me to the fridge.
“Is it such a bad idea?” I asked cautiously, straightening up from where I was pulling the carton of juice out of the fridge.
“With all due respect ma’am, it’s a terrible fuckin’ idea.”
“Hmm.” I said, pouring juice into two glasses and handing one to Frank before returning the carton to the fridge.
“Red and I have what some might call different philosophies when it comes to dealing with criminals.” I leaned against the counter and watched as Frank began tracing a path across the kitchen and back. “He thinks they should go to jail, where they can fuckin’ escape and get back out on the street. I think - “ he stopped pacing and looked dead at me. “I think they should fuckin’ die.”
“Matt’s always been a little weird about ‘playing God.’” I said, making exaggerated air quotes. Frank barked out a laugh and resumed pacing, taking a sip of his juice.
“Yeah, yeah, he is.” Eyes darting around the room, he exhaled sharply and dropped into the chair across from me.
“If I may put my two cents in, having extremely limited knowledge of the situation or what it means to form an alliance with another vigilante,” I began.
“You think I should do it.” Frank said, looking at me.
“Well, I just don’t see how it could hurt, especially given that you got shot last night…” I trailed off, not wanting to overstep.
“Fair enough.” Frank nodded. “I just know that every time, every fuckin’ time, we’re gonna get into some kind of argument about whether I can shoot some lowlife in the head or not.”
I grimaced. “Maybe you could come up with some terms or something?”
“Terms!” Frank chuckled. “Now you sound like the lawyer.”
I groaned. “Please don’t say that.”
Frank leaned across the table and held my face in his hands, thumb coming to rub over my lower lip. “He is right that we want to protect the same things,” he said quietly. My breath caught in my throat and I blinked slowly. Frank sighed and released my face, slumping back in his chair.
“This is probably not the best time to ask,” I said. “But should we talk about what’s going on with…. Us?” I cringed at the word.
Frank sighed again. “What’s going on with us, ma’am, is that you and your mutt here,” he gestured to Lola who had crept into the kitchen and had her head in his lap. “Have messed up my whole plan of lying low and never getting attached to anyone again.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, that seems a bit dramatic.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Frank’s gaze softened a bit as he stared at me. “But maybe not.”
I stayed quiet, letting him think, enjoying the sound of his steady breathing.
“Well now that I’m not in my tighty-whiteys should we take Lola on a walk? My apartment isn’t too far, I could uh, change into some real clothes.” Frank said, making it clear that the conversation was over for now.
“You live around here?” I asked.
“Live is a strong word. I inhabit a shitty studio about 20 minutes away.” Frank laughed darkly and rubbed his hand over the stubble forming on his chin.
“Let’s go check it out.” I stood up and gave him a peck on the cheek as I walked past to my room. He growled and grabbed my waist, pulling me to him and burying his nose in my hair.
“Or we could stay here.” I suggested weakly as he nosed down my neck to my collarbone.
“What’s this?” He asked, pulling back and tracing the line of the scar that stretched from the base of my throat to the top of my left shoulder.
“Broke my collarbone playing rugby in college.” I said, craning my neck to look down at the scar I was so used to, I always forgot about it.
“Badass.” Frank said approvingly.
“Didn’t feel so badass when they had to give me a second scar to put a bone graft in from my hip.” I grumbled, lifting the left hem of my t-shirt up to show him the puckered 6 inch long scar running along my hipbone.
“Damn, girl,” Frank whistled and reached out to run one finger delicately down the scar. I shivered at his touch and looked up to see his eyes boring into mine, dark and full of something I could only describe as need.
I swallowed hard and stepped back, not quite ready to go there.
“Should we, uh, head to your place?” I ran a shaking hand through my hair and started to walk towards my bedroom to get dressed.
“Yeah, I’ll get my shit together.” Frank called after me.
Once in my bedroom, I sat on the edge of my bed and took deep, steadying breaths. Once my heart had stopped racing, I yanked on a pair of jeans and a sweater, scraping my hair back into a ponytail. I turned off the lights and walked to the front door, picking up one of my (many) pairs of Dr Martens that littered the hallway and pulling them on and then shrugging into my heavy coat.
“Ready?” I asked Frank, putting my phone in my back pocket and grabbing my keys off the shelf.
“Yep.” He had dug his coat back out of the trash bag and while it was disgusting, I couldn’t blame him considering the 30 degree temperature outside. His big black boots were neatly tied and he was holding Lola’s leash.
“Can we get some coffee on our way? The grounds you have look disgusting.”
“Hey!” I slapped his chest and he laughed. “My coffee taste is excellent.”
“Sweetheart, your most frequented coffee shop is Starbucks, so I know that isn’t true.”
I rolled my eyes and flounced out the front door, but I was grinning.