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Mystic Messenger Fanfiction | VanderwoodxOC Cerise - Tagged | Ch. 6 A Day Out

***Cherrywood continues, going on what could technically be called their first date =0 It's going to be a while before they ever have a life that's considered 'normal' isn't it? Kinda same for me here, going through some financial issues at the moment, but such is life sometimes. I will *eventually* get around to working on Seven Good Ending Continued, but there is a lot more research and prep involved with his character arc, so it may take some time. #accuracymatters In the meantime, please continue enjoying Tagged! ~Let's Connect! FFC

Remember, this is a sequel to Vanderwood Backstory, and Cerise has a bio. Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list for access to R-Rated Scenes and my monthly newsletter. You can support my writing on patreon and get access to my VIP Discord Server or other goodies like early chapter releases and hidden scenes. Tagged Chapter Directory******

Cerise didn’t know when she finally fell asleep, but an annoying beeping was trying to interrupt that precious time. Grumbling, she pulled her covers over her head and tried to ignore the sound, drifting back off to sleep. In the other room Vanderwood was getting up, doing his morning exercises. God, why wasn’t she turning off her alarm? He grumbled and put his earbuds in as he continued his routine. As long as it wasn’t Secret Agent Man...

The sound didn’t bother Cerise again, and she ended up waking up from sleep on her own, stretching under the hotel covers. They were nowhere near as fluffy or cute as her covers at her apartment, and she didn’t have as many pillows, but it wasn’t so bad. Maybe she could convince Vanderwood to get her a cute shaped pillow for while they were still at the hotel. She grabbed for her phone, sleepily checking the time. The time! Oh crap… She hadn’t meant to sleep in this late! Cerise ran around her hotel room, finding the clothes she wanted to wear and then quickly brushing her teeth and hair. She was hoping that he was running a little behind too as she threw off her pajamas, just tossing them anywhere for now. At the time, she didn’t have time to care.

Vanderwood already had everything in the car, other than the one gun he carried in his go bag. He tucked that one into the back of his pants so that it pressed against the small of his back before grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. It was well hidden there, thanks in part to his jacket and his penchant for loose fabric shirts. The thought of spending more time taking Cerise somewhere had him blushing like crazy. He was definitely infatuated. Now he made his way back up to the rooms, spending a few more minutes in his and wondering what she was doing. It seemed like she was taking her sweet time getting ready, and he couldn’t hear anything from her room.

He raised an eyebrow and opened the door between their rooms, just wanting to check, thinking that she was sleeping since he didn’t hear much of anything. “Cerise? Are you…ready….” His voice trailed off as he took in the sight in front of him, completely frozen, rooted to the spot. Cerise was hooking her bra, in a bra and panty set that he had technically purchased for her. Something about that was incredibly erotic. Vanderwood couldn’t move. His mind wandered, and he internally slapped himself, heat rising fast in his face but still unable to do anything but stare.

She hadn’t noticed the door opening at first, fighting with the clasp of her bra, and it took her a moment to notice the voice. When she turned her head towards the voice, her brain took a moment to catch up with the situation at hand. At first, she was frozen, and then her brain started to work again, causing her face to turn completely red. Was he staring at her? He was definitely staring at her. “NO I’M NOT READY YET! GET OUT!” Her first instinct was to chuck pillows at him, so that’s what she did before grabbing her remaining clothes from the bed and disappearing into the bathroom.

“I didn’t mean to!” He didn’t even bother to knock the pillows away, letting them hit him as he fled back to his room. Was it even possible for him to get any redder at this point? Now he was banging his head against the wall in an attempt to get the image of her out of his mind. God I’m the worst. Think about something else… He looked around the room trying to think of anything to distract him, but not really finding much. Guns. You’re going to shoot guns. Think about shooting guns. Finally…something worked. Vanderwood sighed in relief before gently knocking on the door, this time waiting for an answer. “Hey…Let me know when you’re ready…”

It felt like she was getting dressed more quickly than she ever had in her entire life. She was trying to block out of her brain that he had seen her in her underwear. The fact that they had kissed only made it worse. Wait. Didn’t he…buy these for her? Oh God. Oh God. That thought hadn’t crossed her mind until just now. Vanderwood had picked out and bought her underwear. Cerise felt like she could die right then and there. She walked out of the bathroom and jumped when she heard a knock, the sound of his voice making her face even more red. “I’m…I’m ready now.” At this point, she was trying really hard to keep calm, but her voice was betraying her, coming out in a higher pitch than usual. She really needed to pull herself together.

After a deep breath to get his own blush under control, Vanderwood opened the door. Even clothed, she had his mind slipping to the image from earlier and the raging blush was back. Nope. You will be decent. He internally slapped himself for what felt like the tenth time that day. “I uh…I didn’t mean to…walk in on you like that.” He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, biting his tongue before he went to open the door for her and lead her towards the car. “Let’s get going then?”

Their walk to the car had been quiet, and now the drive to wherever they were going was quiet. What could you even say after that? Vanderwood was attempting to figure that out himself, and he finally figured he should tell her what they were doing. “I’m going to teach you how to shoot a gun.” Oh good, his words were actually working pretty well. “Just in case…I’m not around when something happens. I want you to be able to protect yourself. I’m not letting the best thing that ever happened to me get hurt.” Okay, so his words were working too well. He hadn’t meant to say it quite like that. Too late now.

Cerise was honestly oddly excited when he said he was teaching her to shoot a gun. A scary gun in the hands of cute her? It was sure to be an instant hit with her followers when she posted the inevitable selfie. The next part of his explanation just made her blush. She was the best thing to ever happen to him? It seemed that he really knew what to say to make her heart melt, though she hoped she’d never have to use a gun due to him not being around. That thought was scary, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, grinning at him with her obvious blush and putting a hand on his shoulder, her sing-song voice very much in evidence. “I’m ready to learn, Mister Secret Agent Vanderwood.”

He had been watching her reaction from the corner of his eye, seeing the little bit of excitement coupled with a bit of fear. She really should be afraid, and he felt like shit for doing that to her, since it was his fault she’d gotten kidnapped and shoved into his life. Her flirting just had him biting his tongue and nodding his head, not trusting his words when he felt like he was dying of cute. At least by the time he reached the empty wooded area outside of town, he felt like he was in control of himself. Enough to handle a gun anyway.

He went around to help her out of the car, not that she really needed it, but Cerise wasn’t complaining. As he grabbed a few empty cans from the back of the vehicle, PHD Pepper from that idiot redhead, Cerise looked around the woods looking back to him to see him pull a gun from the small of his back. So, that was where he hid it? Vanderwood checked it over, ensuring it was properly loaded. This one would probably be easier for her to work with since it was the smallest out of the two he had with him, not nearly as heavy, the only drawback would be the recoil.

She watched curiously as he set the three cans on a fallen log. “Right, so…” He walked back to her, holding out some earplugs towards her. “You’re going to want these. Obviously, you wouldn’t have time in a real situation, but might as well not blow out your eardrums when you’re practicing.” That earned him a snarky remark from her, a snort escaping him as she talked. “Oh, right. Best to blow them out later. Gotcha.” Damn, she was something. Vanderwood almost wanted to kiss her. He was really out of his element with this whole…romance type thing.

Right, he was supposed to be teaching her to shoot. First, he showed her how to turn the safety on and off before going over everything else, coming back to the safety feature once more. “If you remember nothing else, remember the safety. Alright, pop those ear plugs in for me, and I’ll show you how to do this.”

Vanderwood placed his own ear plugs in. Sure, his ears were beyond damaged by now, but why make it worse when he had the opportunity not to? Cerise had listened intently and now placed her ear plugs in, watching as he positioned himself and shot one of the cans off the log, deciding to leave the other two for her. She jumped a little when the gun went off, amazed at how effortless he made it seem. It was pretty cool, though. Now that Vanderwood was turning towards her and pulling his own ear plugs out, she did the same.

He held the gun out to her, so she could grab it handle first. “So, ready to give it a try?” This earned him a wink that made his heart stop completely for a full two seconds. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” Once more he found himself biting his tongue to make his head work. “Alright, shortcake.” Okay, so, he just called her a pet name. Vanderwood was internally dying, heat filling his face. Romance was not his forte’, not at all. It didn’t help that she was giggling at him now as she took the gun. “Shortcake, huh?” It felt weird to actually be holding a gun. This small thing could do so much damage, even take a life. “You don’t like being my shortcake?” His own comment had him so confused. Why did words just keep falling out of his mouth? Cerise was blushing hard too, and for once in her life, she had no comeback.

He realized that he needed to keep going, get this done before he said anything else ridiculous. “You’re going to want to put both hands on the gun.” Vanderwood leaned down, wrapping his arms around her, his head just above her shoulder as he positioned her hands, feeling the warmth of her against his chest. That wasn’t helping his blush at all, and with Vanderwood’s close proximity, Cerise couldn’t help but to blush too.

“It’s going to have quite a bit of recoil, since it’s not very heavy, so make sure you hold it tight so it doesn’t buck back in your face. Be ready for it.” At the moment, it was a miracle that he could actually talk. “Now, show me how you stand, and I’ll correct you.” Hopefully that would be easier, except…Oh God, she’s wearing a skirt. Cue the extreme blush again. Shit, he hoped he wouldn’t have to fix her position too much.

Cerise wasn’t thinking about her skirt. It seemed easy enough to shoot a gun, but she was rather worried about the recoil he mentioned. A busted-up face wasn’t good for selfies. She did her best to mimic his stance though. “This…doesn’t feel quite right.” Then she changed her stance a little more to something she thought felt a little more comfortable. “Like this?” Vanderwood realized almost as soon as she had moved again that her stance needed correcting. Damn it. Her hips weren’t quite right, and thank God he didn’t have to touch her skin to skin thanks to his gloves. “Here.”

Vanderwood was gentle as he put his hands on her hips, guiding her as his face slowly turned more red. Now he carefully touched her inner thigh, to get her to spread her legs properly. Jesus. He had to bite his tongue to keep from bringing up an image from earlier. It had been too long for him, even just a couple of weeks, but he could surely behave better than this. At this point, Cerise felt she was probably as stiff as a robot, as she struggled to keep her eyes forward on the can that were her targets. Anything to keep her brain from completely shutting down when she had a gun in her hands and his hands on her. He was touching the inside of her thigh now. Oh God. She tried to tell herself to calm down and loosen up.

His heart was slamming against his rib cage as he pulled away, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. Thank God that was over. How could she mess with him so much when she wasn’t even his type? Or maybe the thing was she was the only woman who was his type. He certainly loved her, felt about her like he’d never felt for anyone else, and she didn’t want anything from him. It felt so good to be around someone who didn’t want anything from him except his presence. Vanderwood shook his head at himself. It wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. “Alright, so try to hit those two cans for me. You have seven shots left in this gun.” He noticed the way she seemed so tense and lightly touched her shoulders. “And relax.”

Carefully, he moved her wealth of hair to the side to place her earplugs for her, putting in his own after and standing back to give her a questioning look with a thumbs-up. Cerise had let herself relax a little in response to his gentle touch. With her ear plugs in now, she took a deep breath, whispering to herself, although she couldn’t really hear it. “You can do this.” He had given her a thumbs-up, but it took her a minute to gather up the nerve to actually shoot the thing. She was able to successfully shoot the gun the first time, but the recoil did scare her, causing a yelp in surprise.

Vanderwood was watching her, a chuckle escaping him at the yelp. That was to be expected. Honestly, she looked really fucking good with a gun in her hands. Stop that. He had to reprimand himself, watching her next shot miss. Thanks to the ear plugs, he wasn’t able to hear her mumbling to herself. “Third time’s the charm.” She took another deep breath and tried to focus, her third shot finally hitting a can. Vanderwood was impressed, watching her relax and lower the gun, putting the safety back on before she turned to look at him with a big smile and a thumbs-up of her own.

That simple action made his heart swell a little, and Jesus, he really wanted to give her a kiss right then, gun and all. Even with the safety on, it was best to get his hands on the weapon too. His hand closed over the top of the gun, lowering her hands so that it was pointed to the ground as his other hand took her chin gently. Vanderwood bent his head to hers, not quite kissing her yet, by some miracle letting her close the gap if she wanted to. He was going to have to work on his self-control, clearly, but at least he had the clear thinking to let her make the final decision. Was he actually holding his breath as he waited?

Cerise had been searching for his approval, and she guessed this meant she had earned it. She could feel her heart in her throat, the fact that her ear plugs were still in only making it more obvious to her how hard and quickly her heart was beating. It was like he was waiting for an answer from her. He acted totally different now than what he had previously described himself to be. She might have been able to imagine it at first, but it was kind of hard to now. Cerise closed the gap between them, bringing her free hand up to touch his face. Now she was wondering how much it would take for her heart to actually beat out of her chest, because she was pretty sure that it was close to doing so.

His heart was pounding in his ears as she kissed him, partly because of the earplugs, but mostly because of the way he reacted to Cerise. Nothing in his life had prepared him for what it felt like to be with her. Vanderwood took his time in the kiss, removing the gun from her hand completely before he broke away, bumping her nose softly with his. She grinned and nuzzled him. Kissing him felt nice, and besides the first time, it always had so far.

He snorted softly. Vanderwood didn’t want to pull away from her at first, enjoying the feeling of her hand against his cheek, wanting to kiss her more, but she would still need time. In fact, he still needed time, to be sure he wasn’t going to hurt her. If he ever did something like what he’d done the first time they’d kissed, Vanderwood didn’t think he’d be able to forgive himself. He tucked the gun back in its place at the small of his back. “I guess I’ll have to get you your own gun. But for now, I believe I owe you a trip out somewhere you want to go.” Where would she want to go? All in all, he didn’t know too much about her, other than that she loved social media, Spanish dramas, and phones. She was definitely a phone nut. An adorable one at that.

She was realizing that she had completely forgotten to take a selfie with the gun, which probably would have annoyed him, now that she thought about it. Cerise could almost hear him scolding her, something like ‘Guns are not props!’ Oh well, she’d have another chance one day, especially… ”My own gun? Do you think they have they have them in pink? Oh! Or maybe even ones with cute designs on them?” She had seen such guns on aesthetic blogs, but she didn’t know if they were real or if it was possible to buy them like that if they were.

The second part of what he’d said only processed now. Somewhere she wanted to go? Right…”You did say I could pick out any accessories I wanted for my phone, so…” She latched herself to his arm and attempted to drag him to the car. “Let’s go and get some!” Cerise was always excited for anything that had to do with her phone, especially when it came to decorating it. A boring phone was not a happy phone. Besides, her phone needed to look as good in a mirror as she did.

Vanderwood hadn’t expected her to be so excited about a gun, and he honestly had no idea whether they came in pink. His had always been agency issue, but if she wanted a pink one or one with designs, he would find it for her. That was a little weird to him still, wanting to do something like that for her just because it would bring a smile to her face, even though he thought it was somewhat ridiculous. To see her excited like this warmed him in ways he’d never known were possible. From anyone else, her attempt to drag him would have been met with harsh resistance, but instead he feigned like she was dragging him along towards the car, all the time chuckling at how incredibly adorable she was.

It was obvious to him that she loved her phone and aesthetics. She was a beautiful woman, so it only made sense for her to have beautiful things. He furrowed his brows a little. Well, he sure as Hell wasn’t beautiful, but he’d get her whatever cute shit she wanted…As long as she didn’t try to put it anywhere near him, other than herself. He wanted her near him all the time. As they got in the car he nodded towards her as he pulled the car back out onto the road. “Find your phone store then.”

Cerise was quick to comply with his request. That was one thing she loved about Korea, it was so much easier to find stores like this than in France where she had to do online shopping to get what she wanted. By the looks of the pictures in the description on the website, it had everything she would be looking for. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on some cute new accessories. As attached as she was to her old ones, they were pretty dated. After giving Vanderwood the address, she busied herself with her cellphone. A short while went by before she stared at the screen perplexed. “Uh…what does it mean when someone says they want to ‘eat you like a cannoli’ and then ‘take you to Pound Town’? Where even is Pound Town?”

Everything was fine, going well, the world seemed beautiful, and then Cerise asked that. Vanderwood went through a surprising range of emotions in just a matter of a second: surprise, laughter, and then finally landing on anger. Obviously, that wasn’t directed at her, but whoever the Hell was sending her messages like that. “That’s not a place.” His eyebrow twitched. Already he was pulling over and holding out his hand. “Phone.” Whoever this was, he was in for a world of hurt. Why was he even so angry? It didn’t really matter. Vanderwood wanted this creep taken care of.

“Sounds like some sort of amusement park to me, but…honestly I’d rather not get eaten.” Cerise looked around confused as he pulled over. Her initial thought was that something was wrong, but when he held out his hand and requested that she hand over her phone, she placed it in his hand, trusting him not to throw it out the window. Why would he hurt it if he was taking her to get accessories for it, anyways? “Just, try not to hurt it or anything, okay?”

Vanderwood sighed heavily as he took her phone, trying to go for bluntness was much more difficult with a subject like this for some reason. He should be able to talk about it, out of all people, but his tongue twisted, finally untwisting at her request. “Cerise…he’s talking about sex. Of course I won’t hurt your phone.” Almost as soon as Vanderwood was looking at her phone, a few more creepy messages popped up along with a picture of the stranger’s lower extremities followed by a ‘like wut u see?’ with a ton of eggplant emojis. Previous messages revealed that the conversation had started out rather pleasant, the guy seemed genuinely interested in what she liked and where she was from. She had explained that she had moved to Korea from France and all the places she wanted to visit, prompting the creepy messages about ‘Pound Town.’

His eyebrow was really twitching now. This piece of shit was going to get it. The text speak was a little hard to follow other than that he’d been dealing with it from Seven for years. The eggplants he didn’t understand at all, but that picture. Vanderwood removed the gun from its place at the small of his back, taking a photo and sending it back. `Do u like wat u see` Typing like that hurt his perfectionist mind, but he tried to type like Cerise simply for the added shock value. Of course, that wasn’t enough to just threaten him with a gun, so he was already sending the guy’s number to Seven as he messaged one handed on his own phone. Guys like this annoyed him incredibly, even more so since this person was messaging Cerise. At least when he wanted a hook up, he was up front about it. This kind of guy went from ‘I care about you’ to ‘I want you in bed’ without warning and would always be on his shitlist.

Cerise had made a noise of disgust to Vanderwood’s explanation. “What a creep.” Watching in confusion as Vanderwood took out his gun and sent a picture, prompting her to giggle. It was cute in a way. She never quite knew how to handle these types of people anyway. It wasn’t like that had been the first time she’d gotten that type of message; that was a given with popular accounts. She had just never heard of those terms before. Cerise wouldn’t even have responded, but the guy had seemed so nice at first.

Apparently, the guy had liked what he saw and responded with another picture of himself. `I got sumthin else 4 u 2 shoot.` Vanderwood had a feeling his eyebrow was going to remain in a state of twitching for a while. He dialed Seven’s number, thankful for how quickly the redhead picked up. “That info I just sent you, troll your heart out for me.” Seven was exactly the perfect guy for this kind of thing. This was really right up his alley. “Also, if you could send his pictures to his mother for me, or anyone in his family really.” Vanderwood listened as the redhead mentioned something about putting the guy’s information on public boards. “Yeah. Go for it.”

Now the redhead was laughing, so excited that he was probably loud enough for Cerise to hear now. “You’re not usually this angry. Ooooo! Is it the girl? Good old Mary Vanderwood has a crush!” Vanderwod clenched his jaw. He was getting more irritated, but also, maybe embarrassed was the word. Blushing like a maniac was a new thing to him, and he wasn’t particularly fond of how it was happening right now. “Tell me more, she doesn’t seem like your type.” Vanderwood’s voice went a little gruff. “Just shut up and do it.” He hung up before typing out another reply to the creepy guy. `Have fun.`

Cerise watched him and raised an eyebrow. The guy on the other end of the phone sounded excitable. She knew of the guy, but had never actually heard or seen him. She just knew they stopped by his house to switch cars that one time. Was Vanderwod blushing? He was totally blushing. Cerise felt heat rise to her own cheeks. Great, she was too. “Yeah…so…” She stared at him intently as he pulled back onto the road after handing her phone back to her, heading towards the cell phone store again. “Mary? Youre real name is Mary?” Now she snickered a little. It was such a feminine name for someone like him.

That redhead was annoying as Hell. “It’s Marion. Pretty sure my dad was high when he named me.” Cerise was trying to contain her giggles and mostly failing. His name was essentially Marie in French. There was something hilariously beautiful about that. The giggling faded as she thought about the rest that Seven had said. “Um…so…what is your type?” That phrase ‘his type’ she’d heard it a lot in the short time they’d been around each other, and apparently she wasn’t it, and it was plaguing at the back of her mind.

With her next question, he sighed heavily again as he drove before biting his tongue. This was the kind of thing that had him itching for a cigarette. Thankfully, it wasn’t enough to have him needing a different kind of fix. Even the thought of girls who were supposedly ‘his type’ made him sick now. “I’ve never really been with a woman romantically. It’s always been escorts and hookups…so tall with tons of curves, I guess.” That came out a little weird. “It’s always been emotionlessly getting my fix. I don’t actually have any interest in any of them.” If he hadn’t been driving, he would have been rubbing at the back of his head. It felt so odd to have these types of conversations, but maybe they were necessary. “You…make me feel completely different.”

His type was…pretty much the polar opposite of what she was. She wasn’t tall at all, and she definitely didn’t have any curves to speak of. All her friends back home had been that type. As cute as she was, guys seemed to go for the girls who were well endowed and blessed with legs for miles. Cerise seemed to have gotten the short end of the stick, literally. He said he didn’t have any interest, and she understood that there was addiction involved, but she still couldn’t help but to feel…insecure? Disappointed? It wasn’t a normal feeling for her, she was very confident in her looks…so why did this feel so different? “Oh, h-hey! I can see the store down there!” A change of subject was definitely needed, and being in the store would be a great help.

(Hidden Scene of Vanderwood and Cerise shopping at the cell-phone store available as a patron.)

After an extensive bout of shopping, Cerise had created what was likely her cutest phone yet, and Vanderwood had essentially gone on what was his first ever date, he figured. That was such a weird thought as old as he was and as many women as he’d been with. Really, he’d rather not think about it and just start over with Cerise. Maybe that was something he could actually do now, start over?

His thoughts were broken as they made it to the hotel, and he helped her out as usual, but something seemed…off? Vanderwood couldn’t quite put his finger on it. His eyes searched the parking lot. Nothing strange there. As they walked inside, he kept just a little closer to her than he even usually would, and then he knew why he was on edge. One of his least favorite redheads, Jessica, was leaning over the lobby table, probably showing off her cleavage to the guy there and trying to gather information. She and Drawl must have been sweeping the different hotels. This wasn’t good.

Cerise had watched him with a confused expression as he tensed up in the parking lot. Did he have some sort of weird secret agent sense or something? She couldn’t help but feel a little tense too as she walked beside him. Vanderwood stopped Cerise by putting his hand lightly on her shoulder, but she was still startled enough to jump. At least she hadn’t yelped. Fear was swamping him, a feeling he was starting to get used to dealing with when it came to Cerise. He took his bag off his shoulder and removed the gun from the small of his back, placing it in there. “Cerise, I need you to listen very carefully.”

He made eye contact with her to make sure she was listening, and she nodded, the serious tone he was taking with her telling her that the situation must have been bad. Vanderwood took out the two hotel cards and placed them both in her hands before handing her the bag. “Go up to the room, and stay inside. Keep the gun in your hands. You should have four bullets left. If anyone tries to enter the room without saying...” His voice trailed off for just a moment as he grabbed the first word that came to mind. “Caleb, do not let them in.” So, using his brother’s name, not a bad time for that information really. No one else knew anyway. “I’ll be up there soon. Remember the name.”

What he wanted right now was to kiss her deeply, tell her that everything would be alright, but it wasn’t the time. “Caleb.” Cerise repeated it to him, indicating that she understood before she was making her way up to the rooms, Vanderwood watching her go to make sure she wasn’t followed. Obviously, she would be scared, and if he was being honest, he was too. For the first time in a long time, he had something to live for other than the fear of death. He wanted this not to be their first and last day out.

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Mystic Messenger Fanfiction | Tagged - VanderwoodxOC Cerise | Ch. 2 The Long Road Begins

***It's about to get Hella intense in here, so everybody buckle up. Also, you should totally get your hands on the new Drawl Backstory available to patrons only.

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Why could he never get a full night’s sleep? Vanderwood had of course trained himself to be a light sleeper, so clearly that was why, but it never ceased to annoy him just how often something would wake him at night. This time it was his phone buzzing like crazy. He rolled over to grab it, expecting it to be from boss, only to unlock the screen to find a slurry of texts, screenshots of photos of him, and one with Cerise with him in the background.

His internal dialogue was Fuck. She had been taking photos after all. He’d noticed but had completely forgotten about it again, a huge mistake. The screenshots themselves weren’t the worst of it. There were comments from the unknown sender. ‘She’s got such pretty eyes, pity if I were to pour acid into them?’ ‘Look at those fingers, just begging to be bent back.’ ‘This is what you get for getting attached, Vanderhottie.’

Vanderwood felt sick, but instantly he knew who these messages were from. Drawl. (Get Drawl Backstory by becoming a patron.) He was up and getting changed in mere seconds, running out of the room to grab one of Seven’s keys, not bothering to take the time to ask. If Drawl had Cerise…he didn’t want to think about it, and he certainly didn’t have much time. The guy was a sociopath. From the information the agency had, he’d even murdered his own family just to become an agent for the rival agency. (insert Drawl hidden scene backstory) What was worse, Vanderwood had shot the guy in the shoulder and completely shattered it. Drawl wasn’t exactly known for being forgiving.

He was panicking, speeding down the highway to the address Drawl had screenshotted from Cerise’s geotags. This was all his fault, and he couldn’t let her get hurt. Cerise was just a civilian, one that wasn’t supposed to be involved in this shit at all, but look how the cookies had crumbled. She shouldn’t have been in his life for even a second.

***

Drawl smirked, this was going to be so much fun. Vanderwood deserved it too. It had taken months for Drawl’s shattered shoulder to heal. The lock was easy to pick, nothing to it. Such a nice little apartment Vanderwood’s sweetie had. The girl wasn’t hard to find, sleeping soundly in her bed.

Well, she had been sleeping soundly until Drawl pressed his hand down over her mouth and nose, watching her struggle for air for a while. All Cerise knew was that she could not breathe. She struggled against her attacker, and she so desperately wanted to scream, but couldn’t. He was feeling his pants grow tight from the image. Watching the panic, seeing the life leave a woman’s eyes was always great, oh, it was great. He disappointedly removed his hand from her face to allow her to grab some gasps of air as he pressed a knife against her side to keep her still and under his control.

Cerise wasn’t sure how long she was deprived of air, but it seemed like an eternity. As soon as the hand came off, she gasped for air, breathing heavily. Her blood ran cold, senses coming back to her once she felt the cold touch of the blade against her side. Normally she would fight, but there was nothing she could do with a knife pressed against her. She had only just started breathing again, but she was choked with fear now.

He wasn’t a weak man, far from it. Some likened him to a chimp or an orangutan because of his thick body and square features. Still, it was easier if they didn’t fight him openly, and much more fun to watch them struggle aimlessly. The fear in their eyes was always most intoxicating. It was just unfortunate that he couldn’t feel their soft skin anymore, thanks to the way his acids had burned away the sensations in his fingers. It was well worth it to have acid covered blades to cut with. That always kept them from bleeding out.

His slow and deliberate tone as he bent to mutter in the girl’s ear gave away the reason for his nickname. “Hello, sweetheart, we’re going to play a game.” That voice, even just the sound of her attacker speaking was enough to make her feel nauseous. Drawl took his time in tying her up, Cerise struggling lightly. It wouldn’t do her any good, she was too small to do any real damage to the man.

Right now, the only thing she could do was observe him, as much as even his person was repulsive. His dark black hair was a greasy mess, peppered with gray although he didn’t look old. Even his eyes were black, glinting with an intent that made her entire body feel cold. Now he was sitting on the edge of her couch, playing with the point of his knife against his thumb. Just his clothes were enough to make someone uncomfortable, an oversized puke green jacket, brown pants, and black combat boots clearly meant to make him appear taller. The man’s skin was a dark brown, but his hands were discolored as well as discolored splotches on his wrists.

Drawl’s voice broke her observation, making her whimper. “Do you think your Vanderhottie will come quickly enough to save your pretty little lips? I might just cut them off…and he’d never get to kiss them then, would he?” Who was this guy even talking about Vander…oh. The man from earlier. She started to cry and plead. “No, I really don’t know him, please. My…my parents are rich…is…is it money you want?” Now she was sobbing, her voice broken. Cerise wished that she would have just listened to her parents and stayed in France where it was safe.

He snorted at the girl. She thought money mattered. Although, he was disappointed when she said she really didn’t know Vanderwood. The one good thing was that Vanderwood was the kind of guy who would do anything to protect a civilian, so he’d still come. The revenge wouldn’t be nearly as sweet, but he could always have his way with the girl afterwards. His slow voice held a snide tone as he replied to her desperate pleas. “Money doesn’t matter to me. I have plenty. Revenge, blood, people screaming in fear, that’s what I like. Speaking of…” He took out his phone and snapped a photo, captioning it ‘Hurry.’

***

His phone was buzzing again; he was almost there. It seemed like it was taking far too long to get there, even driving as fast as he was. Vanderwood risked checking his phone and his heart was at his feet, fear like a living thing in his chest. Seeing Cerise like that…This was his fault, and he had to get there in time to keep her from getting hurt. If she’s not already. The thought had him practically pressing the accelerator to the floor.

***

This had to be a dream…These kinds of things just didn’t happen in real life. Only on TV. She was brought back to reality as her attacker approached her, pressing the cool metal of his knife against her throat, a light burning sensation accompanying it. “I think I hear our Vanderhottie friend…” Drawl’s typically slow voice was dragging out even more as his smile spread wide. Cerise didn’t dare to make a noise or even to breathe too hard, fearful for her throat and her life.

Vanderwood realized quickly as he parked that his taser would do him no good since Drawl’s weapon of choice was also close range. He reached under the driver’s seat to grab the emergency gun stashed there. Thankfully, there was on in each of Seven’s cars as well as the ones he had on his own body. As soon as he had the weapon, Vanderwood nearly jumped out of the vehicle, kicking her door open, allowing him to keep use of his weapon, quickly scanning the room to point it at Drawl. Cerise desperately wanted to feel relieved as soon as she saw the source of the crashing, but there was still a knife to her throat, making her panic.

That knife against her throat had Vanderwood panicking every bit as much as she was. It was an unfamiliar feeling to him, true panic. He hadn’t felt fear like that in years. It nearly had him doing something rash, but he couldn’t afford to have feelings right now. “Leave her the fuck alone. She’s got nothing to do with me or you.” He was angry, pissed really, wanted to beat Drawl into a bloody pulp, but he had to get his hands on the smiling bastard first. “Didn’t you hear me? Get the fuck away from her. She’s a civilian, you ass.”

Drawl still wasn’t moving. He just kept smiling more and more, watching like he liked to. Vanderwood realized that clearly this wasn’t working. The feelings swirling around inside of him had his muscles taught and tensed, and they weren’t helping his focus. He took a deep breath, shoving them away. Finally, he looped the gun around his thumb, pulling his taser out of his pocket with his other hand to drop it to the floor. “Just step away from her, and you can have me. That’s what you want. You know you can’t touch her without your agency punishing you.”

Now Drawl finally moved, pulling away from Cerise to stand and approach Vanderwood. Cerise felt like she could finally breathe again once the knife was away from her throat, but all she could do now was watch the scene in front of her unfold, unable to move. She felt so useless, she couldn’t even call the authorities. That gave her an idea. She glanced over at her nightstand. Good, her phone was still there. Her attacker was advancing towards Vanderwood as she attempted to wiggle free from the rope binding her.

“I guess you are right…as much as I’d love to scar that pretty little skin.” The man’s voice made her skin crawl as she continued to attempt to reach her phone. Drawl was approaching Vanderwood warily. He was too short to reach the gun looped around Vanderwood’s thumb, so Vanderwood had to lower it for him. Drawl pressed his blade against the lower left side of the taller man’s abdomen, letting it press in just slightly, using his blade again for some leverage. Cerise had looked over from her attempts just in time to see it, causing her to gasp in surprise. Still, Vanderwood seemed to be taking it well enough.

The only reaction Vanderwood gave was a sharp intake of breath as the blade pierced him, acid burning and instantly cauterizing the wound. He knew what he needed to do. Although Vanderwood wasn’t fast, Drawl was even slower, and he was able to grab the man’s wrist, letting the blade press in even farther in favor of grabbing Drawl’s throat, squeezing his wrist until Drawl couldn’t hold on to the knife anymore. It clattered to the floor as Vanderwood applied the same treatment to his neck. Cerise had never seen anything like this, and she watched as he gained the upper hand over her attacker. She wanted to look away, she really did, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the scene. Then the man went limp in Vanderwood’s grasp. Was he dead?

Vanderwood grimaced at Drawl as he dropped him onto the ground. The creep’s smile hadn’t faltered the entire time. He didn’t have much time now, knowing that Drawl had a partner. How had he even been alone here in the first place? It didn’t matter; time was of the essence. Vanderwood moved to untie Cerise, and that was what finally made her able to tear her eyes away from the scene, jumping a little at his voice, even though it was far more welcome than the voice of the other man. “I’m not going to hurt you, alright? But you’re going to have to trust me, because I need to get you out of here.” He was trying to keep his tone as calm and even as possible, even though he was irritated and panicked beyond belief. She wasn’t used to these kinds of experiences, so he had to be gentle. “If Drawl was here, backup isn’t far behind, so we need to leave fast.” Cerise nodded, her voice still shaky. “O-okay…” As soon as she was free from the ropes, she made a grab for her phone, yanking the charger out of the wall.

Irritation was very much his enemy at the moment as he snorted at that damn phone of hers. He was going to have to take it from her later, but now he needed to get them out of there. “The black car outside, get in.” His tone was brusque because it had to be. Drawl needed to be dealt with permanently, and it was always his disgusting job to take care of that. Vanderwood grabbed the gun and taser before returning to look down at Drawl’s limp body.

She did as she was told, not wanting to stick around and tempt fate. Cerise shivered as she felt the nighttime winter air hit her skin, making her way to the black car and quickly hopping in. Her bare feet felt like ice cubes. Was she really going to let this stranger take her away from her apartment? He had just saved her life, even if it sounded like he’d been somewhat the reason she was in trouble anyway, but she trusted him. She had to…and there was just something about him that she couldn’t quite shake.

Vanderwood was bending down to finish the job when he heard it, the sound of another vehicle’s brakes grinding the car to a halt. Damn it. He was out of time. Vanderwood ran out of the house to see Jessica on the way out of her car. He flipped her off before hopping into his, putting pedal to the metal. “Hang on, Cerise.” There wasn’t even time to put his seatbelt on before they were peeling off away from the scene.

Cerise held on to the ceiling handle tightly as soon as he’d gotten into the car, although she hadn’t managed to put her seatbelt on either. He was driving like a bat out of Hell, but she couldn’t really complain. She just wanted away from the man that had attacked her, silently staring out of the window and trying to make sense of everything in her head.

He was focused on getting away and to Seven’s garage, running through an action plan as he went. They would need to switch cars and head out of town to lie low somewhere. She was in far more danger than any civilian ever should be, and there was a lot of guilt there, but he didn’t have time for it right now. Thankfully, his go bag was already in the red car, so they could switch over pretty quickly. His eyes searched the rearview mirror to see that no one was tailing them, allowing him to slow down and drive far more legally.

She was quiet, reflective even, as he watched her from the corner of his eyes. This was probably the biggest shock of her life, and he had done this to her. Cerise was thinking, why her? What luck was this? Her phone made her jump when she felt it vibrate in her lap. Vanderwood watched as she put in her pass code and immersed herself in the world of what he assumed was social media. Her fingers were tapping at her phone’s screen at an alarming speed. She was clearly freaked out, it was only too obvious. On one side, he wanted to destroy her phone since it and his stupidity had gotten them into this mess, but on the other, it seemed to be helping her, somewhat of an escape, which he only understood all too well.

He sighed and bit his tongue before he began to speak, feeling like the words needed to be said, like he was compelled to comfort her. “I’m sorry…I got you into this. But I’ll keep you safe, I swear to God, I will.” He felt like complete shit for doing this to her, and although he didn’t trust any God, he would swear to all of them just to make the point to her that he was going to protect her. She was under his protection now, even though she shouldn’t have had to be.

Cerise looked up when Vanderwood spoke, not really knowing how to respond. Keep her safe? Were there more of those creeps…? “Are they…will they just leave you…us alone?” He had to shake his head at her question, as much as he wished he could just drop her off back at home and she would be fine, it simply wasn’t the case. “We’re going to have to go on the run until I can backtrack them or they find us, and I terminate them. Undoubtedly, Drawl’s got a hit out on me now…the guy that attacked you. I didn’t have time to take care of him before his partner showed up.”

Take care of him? So, the guy wasn’t dead, but Vanderwood had intended to kill him. The thought made her shiver more than the cool air did. Vanderwood thought that all of that was probably terrifying enough to listen to, and he didn’t want her to be afraid of him, but it felt wrong not to be honest. She had her eyes trained on him, listening intently as he talked. “I’m a secret agent. They’re from a rival agency. They found pictures of you and me on the internet and used the geotags to find you. So…until they’re dead, I’m going to take care of you.” It wasn’t up for debate, not that he thought she was going to argue.

Vanderwood pulled into Seven’s garage. It only made sense that Cerise was terrified, and he was going to need to be a little gentler than his usual to make her able to trust him, so he did his best not to sound gruff, as much as he was tense and frustrated. “Stay in this car until I say to move, alright?”

Cerise couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt as she thought over what he’d said, staying in the car as he’d instructed and fiddling with her phone to pass the time. The pictures…this was her fault. It’s not like she knew that he was a secret agent, though, that wasn’t something that came up in real life…being tied up by a psycho, running into secret agents. Did that mean…she had to be on the run for a while? With him? In any normal circumstance, she’d be all for a road trip…and with a cute guy, no less. This wasn’t that situation, though.

He tried not to take too long as he went inside to exchange keys, grabbing the ones for the red car. Vanderwood harshly woke Seven and explained the situation, getting the kid to begrudgingly agree to loan him the red car mostly because they didn’t have much time to figure out anything else. Then Vanderwood returned to the garage, opening the door for her. “Alright, we’re moving to the red car.” He offered his hand to help her out. It was hurting him so badly that this was happening. She was just a normal person; she wasn’t a part of this, and he’d made her a part of it.

She hesitated before taking his hand, letting him help her out of the car. As soon as her bare feet hit the cold concrete she remembered again that she hadn’t grabbed shoes…or clothes for that matter. Clutching her phone, she looked down. Yep. Still in her pajamas. In the wintertime. Good job, Cerise! She wanted to slap herself for not thinking to at least grab her coat by the door.

Vanderwood finally took stock of her clothes when he saw her react to the cold concrete floor and heat instantly went up into his face. She wasn’t even his ‘type’ and yet his heart was doing gymnastics as he looked at her. Her ‘pajamas’ were just a pink flowy tank top and shorts combination, the top not quite fully covering her midriff. His face turned bright red as he took off his jacket and draped It over her shoulders gently. “Wear this until the car heats up…” The red-faced agent opened the passenger side of the red vehicle for her. “I’ll get you some new clothes to wear once we get to the next town.” He’d also need to take care of her damn phone, sooner rather than later.

His jacket was huge on her, as well as heavy. It might as well have been a blanket, but she was grateful for it either way. She wrapped it around herself as she got into the other car. “Thanks.” The promise of new clothes was another thing she was grateful for. Cerise definitely didn’t want to be seen in public with just her pajamas on…even if she did look amazingly cute in them. Still not something she should be seen in public in.

Once he’d helped her into the car, Vanderwood got in and started it up, letting it get going on warming up. They didn’t have a lot of time before he was certain the rival agency would have people watching traffic cam footage and potentially trailing them, but the geotags on her social media needed to be turned off before she had the chance to post again. She needed a new ip address too. “I need you to hand me your phone.” Vanderwood was gentle and matter of fact about it as he held out his hand expectantly.

“My phone…?” She stared at him blankly. He wanted her phone? That wasn’t going to happen. Her phone was a part of her, and she wasn’t about to hand it over to someone she barely knew. “You mean this?” Cerise kept eye contact with him as she pulled her phone into his eyesight, letting him get a good look at it before defiantly shoving the phone into her shorts, beneath the strap of her panties. If he wanted her phone, he was going to have to work for it.

Holy Jesus his face was red, and he felt like a complete mess. There was no way he could put his hand down her shorts. Hell, he wasn’t even sure with as irritated as he was that he could control himself right now. That defiance was…sexy…coming from this cute little lady, and he had to shut down his brain. Vanderwood coughed softly, shaking his head to clear it of any dirty thoughts before he could explain, trying to reason with her. “I need to give you a new one, and in order to move all your information to the new one, I’m going to need the old one. Need to turn off your geotags too. So, you give me the phone, or they find us. Every second we wait, the more danger we’re in.” Hopefully that would be enough to get through to her on some level.

“I don’t want a new one. Find another way.” Cerise huffed and turned her head away from him, crossing her arms. She knew that judging by how red he had turned, he wasn’t about to reach into her shorts to grab her phone. If he was that serious about it, he would find another way around it, because there was no way in Hell she was giving anyone her phone. She may be in danger, but her phone was her life.

Vanderwood internally groaned. Cerise was going to test his patience during this whole situation, he had a feeling. She looked cute, but she was definitely a lot more than that. “And I don’t want to die.” He had to think fast on how he could get her to agree willingly. Her phone seemed pretty new, but hadn’t a new model just come out? He seemed to remember Seven going on about the new capabilities of some smart phone. “How about, I buy you any model phone you want, with whatever accessories?” That would probably peak her interest.

He was right. That caught her attention, and she whipped her head back to him. “…any model?” If he really meant that…she was going to go for the newer model of her phone that had just come out a few days prior. Cerise wasn’t able to get it due to budgeting, and she wanted to show her parents that she could be responsible with her money. Well…not that she’d have to worry about that now since her purse was still at her apartment. She pulled her phone back out and handed it to him, lingering for a moment before she left her most prized possession with a total stranger. This must be what mothers feel like when they leave their child in a daycare…”You win…but you better make good on that promise.” She narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms again as though making a point.

That whole time he’d had to sit patiently and wait for her to deliberate while her phone was right there for the taking. It wasn’t like him to be bashful with women, and he was anxious to get moving, but he just couldn’t do that with her. He rationalized to himself that it was because he knew he needed her trust. Finally, she handed it over. “I will, right after we get you some different clothes, we’ll get you a phone.”

As soon as he took her phone from her, his face grew red again. Even through his leather gloves, he could feel that her phone was warm from having been in her shorts. He coughed softly and got to work, grabbing a throw away from the glove compartment, easy enough to do when one’s arms were as long as his were. She was short enough that opening the compartment didn’t threaten her knees too, thankfully. After hooking the phones up to each other, he transferred everything before going through her apps, turning all of the geotags off. She had a shit ton of them, it was insane. Then he handed the throw away phone to her. “You can use this until we can get your new one. This one…” He wiggled her old phone. “Is getting thrown out the window on the way out of town. Buckle up.”

Cerise grimaced at the plain phone he had given her. It was so…ugly and undecorated. “This isn’t cute at all…” She complained as she held it at arm’s length, examining it. When he mentioned throwing her phone out of the window, she winced, but it was for the better if she wanted a brand-new phone. Cerise would just have to deal with it, not think about it. She could do this. She could. Cerise buckled her seat belt and waited for them to leave. The car was getting warmer, which she was thankful for, and his jacket certainly helped.

Vanderwood mumbled what was meant to be an internal thought, thankful that it was hopefully quiet enough that she didn’t overhear. “Nowhere near as cute as you.” What the Hell was he doing flirting with her? He pulled out of Seven’s garage, heading on the way out of town. As he drove, he watched her out of the corner of his eyes. Cerise frowned at his mumbling. If he had something to say, he should say it, but she didn’t bother to say what she was thinking either, too worn out to care.

After a little while, Vanderwood deigned to speak, not sure why he wanted to. Small talk wasn’t exactly something he was very good at or used to. “I’m sorry if the jacket smells.” He’d been smoking so long that he was used to his own smell, but she probably wasn’t. Although he was very careful to keep his jacket clean and cared for, it probably had at least some residual scent of cigarettes. Cerise just shook her head before resting it against the window. “It’s not bad…” Her answer ended with a yawn. His jacket did smell a little like cigarette smoke, but she could tell that he took care of it.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, him watching her and her too tired to even check the phone or any of her social medias. Vanderwood was thinking just how incredibly beautiful she was…and how incredibly stupid it was for him to be thinking about that. This was going to be difficult for him. She made him feel way different than any other woman, and that might not bode well for staying unattached, even if he was convinced that it was just part of his sex addiction not having been assuaged for a while. At any rate, his job wouldn’t allow attachment, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t gotten her in enough trouble already, so Vanderwood was going to do his best to have as little contact with her as he could manage. Just enough to keep her safe. He also couldn’t report that he was with her at all. No, he was alone.

Cerise was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and this man went through all of that to rescue her, so she had no reason to believe he was of any threat, allowing her to relax for the time being. By now the car was toasty, and she pulled her legs up in the seat so she could cover herself completely in his jacket before she let sleep finally claim her.

She looked so small and peaceful sleeping curled up like that. He felt a strange tightness in his chest looking at her wrapped up in his jacket. Vanderwood realized that he should focus on the road, essentially giving himself tunnel vision other than checking the rearview mirrors for anyone potentially tailing them. Once they were about halfway to the next town, he tossed her phone out of the window and onto the side of the road. It wouldn’t be terribly long before they made it to the next town, but it felt like he had a long road ahead of him, at least figuratively.

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