Lawless

Chapter Ten

It's still dark outside when I wake up due to the cold. Except this time there's no light at all. The fire had burnt out and for a second I fear Sage had abandoned me.

I sit up abruptly and stagger to my knees, kneeling on the bed. I see slight movement in the corner of the room, next to the door. Sage stands there, arms crossed leaning on the wall behind him.

It takes me a second to gather myself and recover from the fright.

"Time to go" he says. He watches me for a further few seconds and then turns his eyes towards the small window. I follow his gaze. The sun is slowly coming up from behind the hills in the distance.

The door creaks as it's opened and Sage exits into the hallway. I quickly stand up before pulling on my shoes and zipping the sleeping bag back up.

I walk into the hallway and run into Sage's chest, he grabs my arm before I fall backwards. I try to step back but his hold on me doesn't allow it. He eyes slowly move down my body, causing my brain to fault.

Suddenly he lets go before grabbing the waist of my skirt and tugging it up.

"Hey!" I screech as the material comes up to just under my bum. I grab the hem and try to tug it back down as I step away but he just follows me. The length of my skirt is forgotten as he moves onto my button up shirt. The first three buttons are undone by his rough fingers. His fingers lightly brush the top of my breasts causing me to shudder out a breath.

He makes eye contact with me as he proceeds to, in a sense, undress me.

By the time he steps back, my skirt is pulled up far too high and my shirt is unbuttoned too low. I quickly work at putting everything back the way it was. I'm stopped by Sage's hands wrapping around my wrists.

"Do you have any idea what they'd do to you if they knew you were from Class" he hisses in my face. The realisation hits me. He wasn't trying to undress me; he was just trying to make me fit in to Lawless society.

"O-oh" is all I reply. He walks off into the empty kitchen and pulls out a slab of water bottles. He grabs one before throwing it to me.

I down almost half the bottle when its taken from my hands and I watch as Sage drinks the rest. His throat contracting as he swallows. A lone water drop creeps down the side of his mouth to his neck. I resist the urge to wipe it away.

I shake my head and focus on the floor. The empty water bottle is thrown into the pit of ash where the fire once burned.

Sage starts towards the front door and I follow. Outside the air is clean and crisp and dew sticks to the grass. We begin the long walk back into town. As we get closer, the lights get brighter and the noises of chatter become louder.

Soon we're walking along the Main Street. Nothing had died down from last night, girls still walk around half dressed and men are still drunkenly wondering about.

To my surprise, I get less attention dressed like this then I did last night. Nobody catcalls or stares, giving me peace of mind.

Sage walks about two metres ahead of me as I take in all the sights around me. I'm going back to Class and would never be coming back to Lawless. The thought saddened me surprisingly. Lawless wasn't what I thought it would be and while it's not exactly great, the culture and freedom was a thrill that I had never experienced in Class.

"Hey sweetie" a voice calls as I run into a chest. The bump knocks the wind out of me. An older man with a long, grey beard and alcoholic odour stands in my way.

"Back off, Buck" Sage said as he calmly pulls me from around Buck and back to his side.

"Sorry, Rage" Buck says while continue to feast his eyes on me. I shudder and keep walking while Sage growls under his breath.