Sidekick Returns

by Auralee Wallace

  Super. Be there in five.

  ***

  Thirty minutes later, I arrived at the restaurant, out of breath, sweaty, and still wearing the windbreaker. I had tried to run the entire way, but will alone does not a marathon runner make.

  I stood in front of the restaurant and inhaled deeply. One thing I was starting to learn about myself was that I did not like to feel things … well, bad things in particular. In fact, I’d almost always rather crack a joke or jump a motorbike through a circus ring of fire than feel things. Maybe I got that from my father, except he’d rather try to conquer the universe than feel things. Nope, I couldn’t think about what had just happened with Ryder. What it meant … it was too … too … nope. The dream was still alive. Nothing had changed. I just needed to talk to her … in a room where she couldn’t escape.

  I plastered a smile on my face and swung the door open. I was wiping the sweat from my cheeks when a voice asked, ‘May I help you?’

  I peeked through my fingers. ‘Hey!’ I gasped. ‘I know you!’

  The man closed his eyes briefly and shook his head.

  ‘You’re that … that stuffy gay guy who didn’t want to let me into that other restaurant.’ This wasn’t the first time I had met Pierce without proper date attire. ‘Remember, I was wearing that turban with the pink jewel in the middle?’ I asked, swirling a finger around my head.

  ‘I do not enjoy being referred to as that gay guy.’

  I dropped my finger as heat flooded my cheeks. ‘I am so sorry.’

  ‘Do you see me referring to you as that strange blonde girl who doesn’t know how to properly dress herself?’

  ‘No,’ I said, unable to meet his eyes.

  ‘You are horrible.’

  ‘I said I was sorry!’ I shouted before I caught myself and lowered my voice. ‘I’m still learning how not to be offensive. I’ve been given a lot of free reign in the past.’

  ‘You are speaking as though I care. This way,’ he said, waving me forward into the restaurant that looked like a catalogue shot for import furniture from India. Then he muttered, ‘For the life of me, I cannot understand what that beautiful man sees in you.’

  ‘Depending on the day, you and me both,’ I replied, slapping him on the shoulder. He glanced at the spot where I had touched his jacket as though there might be visible contamination left behind. ‘I’m really not so bad once you get to know me,’ I added.

  He sighed heavily. ‘Enjoy the meal that is about to be wasted on you.’

  I smiled at Pierce whose eyes were following the host as he walked away. ‘Wow,’ he said, moving his gaze back to me. ‘Did he really just say what I think he said? I’m going to go talk to him.’ He started to get to his feet.

  ‘It’s my fault.’ I waved him back down. I didn’t want Pierce to go anywhere. Just seeing his sculpted face with his nerdy yet stylish glasses was enough to melt away some of the hurt still lingering in my chest.

  ‘I just can’t figure out why Fredrick is always so mean to you. He’s normally the nicest guy in the world.’

  I slumped in my chair. ‘Fredrick? He has a name? Am I supposed to ask people their names? Like all the time?’

  Pierce’s expression softened in a way that made my insides clench. ‘Are you having socialite problems?’

  ‘Ex-socialite, thank you very much, and yes, it is a cold, confusing world.’ I pulled my hair away from my face, ignoring the smell of alcohol I seemed to be giving off. ‘I liked it better when everybody liked me.’

  ‘I like you.’

  I met his gaze and smiled. Dammit, my eyes were doing that strange prickly thing again. ‘Stop it. It’s hard enough for me to act cool in this windbreaker without you saying stuff like that.’

  ‘Are you okay, Bremy?’ Pierce’s eyes moved over my face and outfit. ‘I mean, really okay?’

  I slumped in my chair. ‘I’m not sure you want to know the answer to that.’

  He sighed. ‘Probably not, but … but your nose.’

  My nose! My hands flew to pyramid face. That’s why it hurt so much. I had forgotten about Lee Lee’s fist. ‘Is it really bad? Do I look awful?’

  He made his cute grimace again. ‘Did you ever see that Brady Bunch episode with the football?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘That’s probably for the best.’

  Just then a man walked up to our table and gave Pierce a friendly pat on the back.

  ‘Chris,’ Pierce said with a smile before turning to me. ‘Bre—Brenda, this is Chris, a photographer from work.’

  Chris faced me then startled a bit. ‘Oh! Are you alright?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I said, flinging my hand up to cover my nose. ‘You know … bagel accident.’

  Chris slowly turned back to Pierce, eyes dragging slightly behind. ‘Anyway, I just wanted you to know, I’ve been assigned to cover the museum with you this Friday.’

  ‘Oh, great,’ Pierce said. ‘Looking forward to it.’

  Chris nodded and turned to leave. ‘Nice meeting you, Brenda,’ he said with a small wave. I couldn’t help but notice he was now looking anywhere but my face.

  I cocked my head at Pierce and said, ‘So, whatcha working on?’

  ‘Oh, it’s nothing, just this charity masquerade ball thing at the museum. All the media’s going to be there. Not sure how it managed to get so much press.’

  ‘Sounds mysterious.’

  He nodded but didn’t elaborate.

  A moment passed between us. I knew he was waiting for me to tell him about my night, but I was finding it a little difficult to get the words out. Supposedly, we were here to talk about Ryder. Pierce had agreed to use his resources to help me figure out what was going on with her. I guess he felt a little obligated after we had saved him at the prison. But we both knew it was more than that. We had gotten off to a bad start in our relationship, what with all my lying and his philosophical objections to vigilantism, but I had to believe that Pierce wanted to see if we could make this work as much as I did. Aside from his overwhelming physical appeal, Pierce was the kindest person I had ever met. A man of integrity. Something that had been sorely lacking in my life. The one thing I knew for sure was that I could not lie to him again, or I’d lose him completely.

  I cleared my throat. ‘So, here goes.’ I launched into a recap of my evening. At about the halfway point, I noticed Pierce wasn’t saying much. Actually, he hadn’t said anything at all. I left off the part at the end with Ryder, not because I was keeping it from him, but because I would not be the type of girl who seduced men with her tears. Once I had finished, I took a moment to really study his reaction. Candlelight flickered over his features … his very, very still features.

  ‘Pierce?’

  ‘Let’s order some drinks,’ he said, putting a finger in the air.

  I chewed my bottom lip. ‘That was too much, wasn’t it? Maybe I should have saved some truth for dessert.’

  ‘No. No … the mob?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows. ‘The crime-fighting thing you have going on wasn’t enough?’

  ‘Well, granted, it wasn’t my master plan for things to turn out this way. But I’m fairly certain I didn’t do anything illegal, aside from placing the bet. Is that even illegal?’ I suddenly noticed that my words were coming out really quickly, but I couldn’t seem to slow them down. ‘I really think Mr Pushkin sent me, because, you know, I’m a girl, and he wants me to give him some intel on what Lana’s up to. She still cares. I could tell by all the spitting. It’s kind of cute really.’ I made a grab for the glass of water sitting in front of me and took a hurried sip.

  Thankfully, the server came to take our order. I settled on a pasta dish, hoping it might suck some of the alcohol out of my bloodstream. I needed to be on my toes. After the server left, Pierce and I sat for a moment in silence, me picking at the tablecloth, him twirling the stem of his wine glass between his long fingers.

  I waited for him to say something, but he still wasn’t moving much. At least he was blinking.<
br />
  ‘Pierce?’

  ‘I … I need a moment.’

  ‘Okay,’ I said, straightening my fork on the table. ‘I suppose it’s too late to end with, and then I woke up to discover it had all been a dream?’

  ‘Little bit.’ He examined the empty plate in front of him for longer than I would have liked. ‘It’s not so much—’ He stopped and shook his head.

  ‘What?’ I asked. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘I don’t really—’ He stopped again, growling with frustration. ‘Okay, here it is. Bremy. I’m a simple guy. I spend most nights in my apartment reading. I floss twice a day. I want a quiet life with maybe a white picket fence.’ He paused, swallowing hard enough for me to see. ‘I lost my parents too soon.’ Pierce’s parents had been killed by a psychopath named The Menace a few years back. Ryder eventually stopped him and put him away for life, but not before he had racked up a whole slew of victims. ‘I can’t lose somebody else that way. You constantly putting yourself in danger …’

  ‘Pierce, no. I’m not—’

  He held up a hand and ploughed on. ‘I don’t want to admit this to myself, but the truth is, I worry that you might be too much for me, and I might be too little for you.’ His brow furrowed. ‘I didn’t mean little. Did I say little? That was probably a poor choice of words. I—would you please stop leering?’

  I put my smirk away. I was trying to be serious, but I was already so close to falling apart. First Ryder, and now Pierce? No. I could not let this happen. ‘I’m sorry. I just think maybe you’re looking at this all wrong.’

  ‘I am?’

  ‘Opposites attract.’

  He pushed his glasses up his nose with his index finger. ‘Actually, studies show that opposites don’t make for successful relationships.’

  ‘Studies shmudies,’ I said with a hand wave.

  ‘Bremy, I’m just trying to be practical. Why would either one of us want to invest in a relationship that so clearly isn’t going to work?’

  Oh my God! This was a break-up speech! And we weren’t even officially going out!

  I couldn’t believe it. I mean, after this evening, I was in no position to defend this whole dream I had of being a crime fighter. In fact, I was almost tempted to tell him I was going to give it all up and start flossing regularly too—once I could afford floss—but I just couldn’t. Sure, Ryder had refused to even acknowledge my existence tonight, but there had to be a reasonable explanation. Something was going on with her. There just had to be. But I couldn’t lose Pierce. And yet I couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear either. I needed a different approach. ‘Well, Mr Practical. I can think of a whole slew of reasons.’ His eyes widened and curved in a hopeful puppy dog expression.

  ‘One,’ I said, looking at him sideways, ‘I think we can both agree that it would be fun.’

  He smiled faintly.

  ‘Two,’ I said slowly, trying to stall. It was hard to think, given that the words hot monkey sex kept popping into my mind. ‘I think you’re pretty awesome.’

  ‘I think you’re pretty awesome too, but—’

  ‘Uh-uh! Stop it right there. No interrupting a person in list mode. It’s an unspoken rule. Besides, I didn’t finish my point. I just so happen to think you are sweet, funny, intelligent, filled right up to the top with integrity and ridiculously pretty in a muscular way.’ I casually walked my fingers up his forearm. ‘Now, don’t you want to date someone who thinks all of those things about you? Or are you like some sort of angsty teenage girl?’

  He blinked a few times.

  ‘I did it again,’ I said, slapping my forehead. ‘Now I’ve been racist towards teenage girls. Or biased. Or something.’ My hand flopped back into my lap. ‘You see how much I need your presence in my life? In fact, you could almost consider it your civic duty.’

  ‘My civic duty?’ he repeated, raising his eyebrows and giving me a half-smile.

  ‘I could go either way at this point, really. Just look at how much time I spend with mobsters and strippers.’

  ‘Strippers?’

  Man, had I still not told him that I worked at The Pink Beaver? I studied Pierce’s face. Judging by the look I saw there, it was probably best to leave that for another time.

  ‘It’s a metaphor,’ I said quickly. ‘I need you, Pierce Stricklin, and I think you need me.’ Ooh, that sounded really good. I wasn’t sure if it was at all true, but it sounded really convincing.

  Pierce rubbed his forehead. ‘I don’t know, Bremy.’

  ‘Let me ask you something. In your gut, or heart, or whatever part of you likes me, do you want to see me again?’

  ‘Yes, of course I do. I’ve never met anyone like you! You’re fun, and crazy, and so full of life, but—’

  ‘No buts! It’s settled,’ I said, picking up my cutlery.

  ‘Bremy,’ he said, trailing my name off into a rather sad silence.

  ‘Nope. Settled.’

  Pierce sighed. ‘I have some news about Ryder.’

  I nodded but didn’t look up. ‘She’s been spotted around town lately. It seems she’s back to her regular behaviour. Watching over events where there might be trouble. That kind of thing.’

  I nodded again, maybe a little too quickly. My neck felt very tight.

  ‘I know you thought that maybe something was going on with Ryder, maybe something to do with your father, but I don’t think that’s the case.’ He paused a moment, then said, ‘Despite all my reservations, I don’t enjoy saying this. I know how much this dream means to you, and I don’t want to be selfish, but given what we were just talking about … maybe, maybe it’s time for you to start thinking about a different future.’ I noticed the hopeful tone in his voice. ‘It kind of seems like Ryder is sending you a message.’

  I shook my head. ‘No. That’s not it.’ I felt heat once again flood my cheeks. ‘You weren’t at the mask-giving ceremony. Actually, it was already my mask, they just gave it back to me, and—’

  ‘And what about Choden?’ he asked. ‘Have you heard from him?’

  I froze, willing the tear ducts in my eyes to behave themselves. He had me there. For weeks now, I had been dying to see Choden’s smiling face. But I hadn’t. No visits. No phone calls. No letters. But then again, I didn’t get mail. At least I didn’t think I got mail.

  ‘Pierce, you don’t understand. I need to see this through. Not only do I want to make up for some of the evil my father has inflicted on the world, but I need to prove something to myself. That I’m more than just a—’

  ‘Bremy, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone.’

  ‘But I do! And I don’t want to have to choose between you and, well, fighting crime.’ God, when would that stop sounding so funny coming out of my mouth?

  ‘I don’t want you to either, but—’ A buzzing noise came from Pierce’s direction. He slid his phone out from his pocket and gave it a brief glance.

  ‘Bremy, I am so sorry. Normally, I would never do this, but it’s work,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘I’ll just step outside.’

  I nodded. Well, this evening was turning out to be a real bummer. My solo crime-fighting mission had been a bust. My wrestling debut equally so. Ryder was … well, no sense in rehashing that. And now the man of my dreams wanted me to give up on my other dreams. It couldn’t get much worse.

  I broke a piece off from a bread roll and stuffed it in my mouth. It even hurt to chew. Pierce returned minutes later. ‘Is everything alright?’ I asked as he sat back down across from me. God, it was so unfair. No man could ever look as handsome as he did pushing his glasses up his nose. ‘Bremy, we have a problem.’

  ‘I know. I know,’ I moaned. ‘I want to make this work so badly.’

  ‘Me too, but—’

  I screwed my eyebrows up into a sad peak. ‘But there’s the crime fighting.’

  ‘I know,’ he said quickly, then added, ‘but when you were in the wrestling ring tonight—’

  ‘And then there’s your issues with danger,’ I s
aid, waving my hands a little.

  ‘Bremy, seriously, at the ring tonight—’

  ‘And then there’s the passion. The passion that threatens to consume us both.’

  ‘—You didn’t happen to go by the name Little Chicken?’

  Chapter 7

  ‘Wait,’ I said, successfully derailed. ‘Did you just say Little Chicken?’

  He nodded. ‘The paper wants me to come in and do a story on an underground fighting ring. Apparently they had an undercover photographer at the match tonight, and they have some pictures, including one of a wrestler who goes by the name Little Chicken?’

  I pushed my plate back and thunked my head down on the table, making all the silverware clatter.

  ‘I take it this is not a picture you want making it to press?’

  I rolled my forehead against the tablecloth. On the one hand, I couldn’t see how it would really be a problem, but then again, on the other, someone could put two and two together and realise Little Chicken was also The Sidekick, and Lee Lee—or maybe it was Daisy—had recognised me as that socialite bitch, and all of those connections could not be good … not with my father’s presence always looming in the background. Did he want me to humiliate myself? Or was he still worried about the family image? I was so confused. The one thing I did know for sure was that I wanted to build up The Sidekick’s credibility, and being known as Little Chicken was not the way to do that. ‘Not really.’

  ‘Maybe I should go in and see what I can do.’

  I flung my head up. Pierce was already waving down a server for the check. ‘I don’t want you to sacrifice your journalistic integrity.’

  ‘Bremy, I still care about you.’ He planted his palms on the table before looking up to meet my gaze. ‘I would really like it if we could be friends.’

  ‘Bite your filthy tongue,’ I said with a gasp. ‘What a horrible thing to say.’

  He smiled. ‘We should call it a night. I really need to get over to the paper if I’m going to stop Little Chicken from going to press. But I think it’s only fair for me to tell you that—’

  ‘Bup! Bup! Bup!’ I said, waving my hand at his face. I did not want to continue this conversation. I did not like where it was leading. ‘You don’t need to tell me now. We can talk about it Friday.’