Mutant Discovery at UCLA - Chapter 4: Part 4

**** Trigger warning:  Mature suggestive and violent themes.  *****

@~~ This is a very long set of pieces so you will see them coming up in parts.  ~~@

Chapter 4: Recovery Labs (continued)

I literally blinked at him.  I could feel my eyes going red as I turned to face him forcing him to let go of my shoulder.  I wanted to scream at him, but this was too public a location for this discussion or at least my yelling at him.  How could he look and speak to me like he was completely innocent? I lowered my voice to a loud whisper “How can you ask that after what you did?”

“What I did?” he said with an expression which made me wonder if he honestly didn’t know or didn’t think I could know he was Carlo.  Steve had to have told him about how things went Friday. He had to know I could figure it out.

I gave him a look as I thought he knew exactly what he did as I said “You know exactly what you did.  I don’t want to discuss this here if we have to discuss it. You shouldn’t want to either considering what you did.”

He stared at me trying to dissect my words to understand what I said.  As he did, the class, which was in our classroom, let out. As the professors assistant came out, he put a note on the door and closed it.  He glanced at us recognized us as of the next class. Walking over to us, he said “Hey guys, I’m sorry. This weeks lab has been canceled due to an emergency.”  Both of us mumbled something to him about hoping things went positively before he took off.

Left alone again with the class canceled, I made the attempt to leave.  Warren stepped in my way. “We need to discuss this. This seems to be the best time since our class has been canceled,” he said.  “Do you want to do it at your apartment or mine? We have plenty of time before anyone will be back at the dorms this afternoon.”

I looked at him frowning as I said “Do you really think I want you in my apartment?  Or that I want to be in your apartment? Or even alone with you anywhere?”

He frowned at me as he said “Cassandra, I won’t hurt you.  I promise on my parents’ graves. I want to understand what happen between us.  I’m completely unaware of what you are accusing me of. I can see you are upset.  I know you think I did something or…I don’t understand what you are accusing me of even.”

How could he say that to me?  I kept looking over his face. He kept watching me as if he was trying to read my emotions.  I wanted to scream at him with all my indignation of what I had been put through. The last five days, since Friday, I had only Steve’s ission with what he told me.  I had no real proof Warren was Carlo. I had presumed he was. Bobby, I know had a hard time believing Warren had done anything. He had stopped defending him to me, but I knew how he felt.

Now, I was beginning to doubt myself.  Was I wrong? Wasn’t he the only one who had enough money at hand to be Carlo?  Could there have been someone else behind Steve? Was Carlo someone else I knew and trusted?  Was there anyone I knew who I could trust? Suddenly I needed answers as much as he seemed to.

I took a deep breath as I looked at him.  I was happy he didn’t touch me at this time.  I didn’t want him to touch me. I knew some part of me would have peace if I did touch him, but he would not.  It would be unfair to him to touch him or read his thoughts. Perhaps it was better to wait till we were in the dorms.

The next question would be, where did I want to go to talk with him?  In his apartment, I could just leave, if I could get to the door, if things went wrong.  Still in my apartment I felt I had more control. In his apartment, Bobby could walk in at any moment.  Perhaps, that would be a good thing. It was hard to decide. I looked down closing my eyes to calm myself as I took another breath.  I felt safe suddenly with the decision I had just made before I softly said “My apartment in ten minutes.”

He nodded as he said “Ok, is there anything you want me to bring you?”

I looked at him a moment.  There were several things I could think of that would exonerate him if he was not guilty.  However, the most obvious one to me would be his cell phone. I still had Steve’s. I didn’t know Warren’s number, but it would surely show if he was Carlo if the number matched.  However, there was no guarantee he didn’t have another somewhere else.

I knew he wouldn’t understand till we were talking, but I nodded as I said “Your cellphone.”

He did give me a strange look.  He agreed to it. We headed back to our vehicles and the dorms.

I got to my apartment in less than ten minutes.  It actually only took me three. I used the rest of the time to make some tea put my class things away.  I paced back and forth while the tea steeped. I wanted to know why Warren had paid Steve to date me with the bonus payout to be if he bed me in two weeks.  Why would Warren do that? Then the true first question came to mind: Was Warren Carlo?

With this question in mind, I went to the bedroom to pull Steve’s phone out of the bedside drawer it was in.  The battery was barely live. I walked into the living room to put it on the charger on my computer desk. I let it be as I paced around a bit more nervously.

I knew the Worthingtons through reputation.  It was not many who didn’t know them. However, I didn’t know Warren anymore than my limited interactions with him since transferring to UCLA.  I thought how many times I had seen Steve and Warren talking. I presumed they could talk while in the locker room at track meets and practices.  They could talk on the way to away meets. They could talk during their legal classes. There were so many times I may not even be aware of when they may have talked.  It would be so easy for them to do what I believed they had.

Right at ten minutes, the knock from Warren came.  I let him in then picked up my tea to sweeten it. I looked at him.  “Do you want something to drink?” I said trying not to be a rude hostess.

He held up a soda bottle as he said “No, I’m good.”

I nodded wondering where I wanted to have this discussion.  Did I want to be in the kitchen where weapons were available at hand?  Did I want to be in the living room where there was more space for me to walk around or sit on a comfortable couch?   I don’t know why, but I led him over to the living room offering him his choice of couches to sit at.

When he sat, he sat on the edge of the couch looking very uncomfortable.  This was the moment of truth, or so I hoped. I looked at him as he sat there.  The warm tea seemed cold in my throat suddenly. I sat the mug down on the coffee table coaster.  Now that he was in front of me, I wasn’t sure what to say first. I searched through my mental list of questions.  I took a deep breath while looking at his eyes as I remained standing. I knew it was disconcerting to most people to have my eyes looking into theirs, but I was using it to hear the truth from him as I said “Do you know who Carlo is?”

#FanFiction

#Mature

#UCLA

#X-Men

#BobbyDrake

#Angel

Art/Photo Credit:

Images are not mine. Credit to the original artists.

Photos which I took then used for entries are indicated individually in those entries.

Note: Representations of characters are not exact to what I see in my mind. They are the closest representation I was able to find which is why some are obviously different from others of the same characters.