Battlefield ｡ Tony Stark

7 - I DON'T NEED SAVING

From an outside prospective, it looked like I had no control of my life. That I was just spiralling down until something broke inside of me and I either snapped out of it, or I ended up six feet under. To someone else, it may have looked like I was some damsel that needed saving and protecting. Little did they know, I was like a ticking time bomb, just waiting for the right moment to blow up and take everything down with me.

"What do you think she took?" My head was still foggy, but I knew that deep voice. The world was blurring passed me, a sea of darkness spotted with bright lights. It took me a while to work out I was in a car and those bright lights were just street lamps passing by. "Do you think she's going to be okay?"

A new voice chimed in, familiar too. "She hasn't overdosed, if that's what you're thinking. The pill was probably just laced with something that didn't agree with her. The best thing for her is to wait it out."

It was quiet, my eyes squeezed shut as my stomach felt like it was floating around in my body, it was rather an unpleasant feeling. The voices kept falling in and out of my head, loud and then so quiet. I couldn't focus on anything but the loud bells thumping in my head and the tingling sensation of goosebumps on my arms. It took me another long moment to realise I was zoning in and out of my head, maybe even my body. My head lolled to the side, my body sore and stiff now. Then something warm touched my cheek, a hand.

"Hey, don't fall asleep." It was that voice again, like one from a dream or maybe a nightmare. "Tilda, you have to stay awake, okay?"

My eyes opened slightly, one at time. Then I was blinking across at Tony Stark, sitting in a backseat of a car. Lights kept flashing pass the car, zooming down the freeway. For that moment I was completely sober. "How did you find me?" I questioned, my voice hoarse.

His hand was still resting upon my cheek, his skin soft. "You called me."

That confused me, my nose wrinkling up as I went to shake my head. "What he means to say is, a girl called the number written on your hand. It was Tony's number." That response came from Rhodey, who was seated across from me. We were in a limousine, a driver in a black cap up front.

"Why would Lucy put your number on my hand in sharpie?" I questioned quietly, frowning at the very idea. My best friend knew how much I didn't like Tony Stark, how the very essence of his being pissed me off. Which made me question why she would write his number, of all people, on my hand just in case something went wrong.

The boys shrugged together, in perfect unison. I pushed myself up a little, my arms sore from the action. A groan slipped from my mouth and Tony swooped in, hands helping me sit up. I glared at him, a hand going to my forehead to feel the layer of sweat gathered there. "Whatever. You can just...let me out now. I'm fine."

Tony gave me a serious look. "You're not fine and you're not getting out of this car."

I didn't like being told what I could and could not do. "Look, I appreciate you dragging my ass out of that club, since I wasn't in a state to do it myself. But I don't need a babysitter."

"You were drugged, your pills laced with something. You realise you were in a pretty bad state, right? If we left you there, something very serious could have happened. You couldn't even walk. We saved you." Rhodey piped up, concern filling his dark eyes. I didn't know him, we had briefly met once, but I had a funny feeling that concern wasn't fake and that meant something to me.

Tony let his heavy gaze rest back on me and I could feel him trying to work out what was going through my head. "Let's get this clear, alright? I don't need saving, not from the likes of you." I snipped out, my voice cold.

He just gave a smirk before leaning forward to me, his hands pressed into the smooth leather of the back seat. "Have you ever thought your selfish self-destruction is nothing more than a coping mechanism, Tilda Hardings? That deep down within you, there's just a little girl that wants to be loved but pushes everything and everyone away from her because she thinks that's what she deserves?"

I sucked in a breath.

"Have you ever thought that maybe, I'm not doing this for you. That just maybe, I'm not trying to save you from yourself?" Tony questioned further. "But maybe I'm being selfish and doing it for me."

I ripped my eyes away from him, pushing myself up against the door of the car, trying to get far away from him as my heart plummeted in my chest. "Then you're a fucking fool, Tony Stark." I hissed out.

Tony rested back against the seat, rather content with himself. "That is one thing I am not. We both know it."

For the rest of the car ride I stared out the window, my head jolting back and forth, my stomach begging to open and my eyes blinking back hateful tears, knowing all too well, Tony was not the fool tonight, that I was.