With Dauntless Abandon

Chapter 17

 "Get ready. He's coming for you. Both of you."

"Great," she mutters sarcastically.

~~~

"He's right, though—mm."

"I don't want to talk about Caleb anymore," she says against his lips, coyly.

"You're going to break me, woman," he mutters in response, but he lays back anyway, enjoying her lips and her hands on his bare skin. He has no clue what's going on, but he really isn't going to complain. For the past several of days, she's been interested in one thing.

It has actually been a month or so since that conversation between Tris and Caleb, but they've revisited it more than once, considering the barrage of press ambushes, news articles, and court appearances they've had to endure since.

He found out another reason Tris was avoiding buying the mustang of her dreams. She misses her car doctor, as she lovingly referred to him. She only ever trusted Uriah with her car, and since he's dead, she really can't bear the thought of someone else dealing with her vehicle—or, more specifically—replacing him. She took him to Uriah's shop, and he swallowed as he stood on the sidewalk in front of the empty lot, empty windows, closed doors and garage entrances. Pedrad Custom Auto Mechanics reads the name on the store front. He swallows, remembering talking to Rock—Zeke—and Caleb.

"Hey, man! How's life on the outside?"

Rock grinned in his happy way. He imagines that Uriah had that same infectious glee. Tris told him countless stories in her grief. Most of them started with two sentences, the first of which was usually ludicrous, and the second of which was always 'Hilarity ensued.'

"Four? Hey, man. You alright?"

He put his head in his hands, and the first thing that made its permissionless way out of his mouth was "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I... look, I know you guys have noticed that you haven't had any visitors."

Caleb's eyes widened. "Where is she? Where is Tris? Is she... dead? Oh fuck..."

Rock just watched him, the cheer fleeing his face.

"Tris is... hurt. I... fuck." He blinks his emotion away, tugging sharply at his hair. "You know Tris is friends with your cousin, my new lawyer."

"Christina. No, I didn't know that." Rock frowns. "I mean, Uri talks about her all the time. He calls her Short Stuff, or Sis, or something along those lines. But I didn't know she knew Christina."

"Well she asked Christina to be my lawyer, that's how I got out of jail."

"Okay..."

He pulls at his hair again. "God, I... I'm sorry."

"For what, damn it?!"

"Tris got kidnapped by the Dauntless—Eric, to be more precise. In the process of... taking her... he killed Uriah," he barely whispered.

Rock stared in disbelief, but tears were already falling from his eyes. "No," he croaked. "No—no. You're... you're lying. This is a joke. A sick, fucking joke, Four!"

"Eric cut his throat," he whispered, his own tears knotting his throat.

"I wish I could kill that fucker," he hisses, but the his broke off with a cut off sob.

"Me too. But he's dead anyway. Will killed him."

"Will Shannon? Chris's boyfriend from the Gang Task Force?"