Right Through Me

T W E N T Y T H R E E

"What? What happened, Lina?" Leslie, Mia and Amanda all screeched on the phone as Lina paced back and fourth in Donovan's living room, listening to them panic over the phone.

"Well, where are you staying? What about the clinic?" Leslie asked.

"Seriously, Lina, what did you get yourself into this time?" Mia screeched.

"I have an extra doctor on stand-by, Lina, you just give me the word and he'll be in. We got your place covered, we can handle the clinic," Amanda reassured Lina, a sudden weight being lifted off her shoulders.

"Thank you, Amanda. Go ahead and contact that doctor; who knows how long I'll have to be in hiding," Lina finally said, rubbing her forehead from the stress. "I didn't get myself into anything, Mia. My father is out of prison and he wants me dead, even when I visited him the man wanted me to end up just like my mother."

"Well..." the three began. "Where are you staying?"

Just then, Donovan walked past the living room and entered the kitchen, which, to my luck, was conjoined with the living room. Laughing nervously, I cleared my throat and cupped my hand over the end of the phone and whispered, to avoid Donovan asking any questions. "Just...uh--a family friend."

"Oh yeah?" Mia asked. "What's his name."

"Uh--uh--Jason! Uh, Jason...Dereks. He was a friend of my moms in high school, he's the only place my father wouldn't even think of looking," Lina said quickly, cursing herself for shouting the entire line over the phone. She knew Donovan had heard that part and she could almost feel his smirk on the back of her head. "Anyway, I'm fine, I promise. I'm safe here, I'll keep in tough with you guys, okay?"

"Be careful out there, Lina, let us know as soon as anything happens," Leslie said.

"Oh, I will," she told them quickly. "I've gotta go now, I'll call you guys back later."

With that, the girls all yelled their good-byes over the phone and hung up and Lina turned around only to meet the cold, blue-eyed glare of Donovan from the kitchen.

"Jason Dereks?" he barked, trying to cross his arm but finding it a bit difficult with his broken one. "Vad en fitta röv namn. [What a pussy ass name]."

"I'm not going to even ask what you said," Lina grumbled, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. "But you didn't honestly think that I was going to tell them I was staying with you, did you? No way in hell are they going to know about this."

"You could've come up with a better name," he pointed out, taking a chug of his protein shake.

"It's not like I'm going to start calling you Jason," she snapped. "Stop whining."

He scoffed and walked into the living room, flopping down on the couch and finishing the rest of his protein shake.

"Hey, Donovan," she called from the kitchen, sticking her head into the fridge to find something edible to eat. She heard his grunt of a reply and sighed deeply. "Can I ask you a question?"

"What now?"

Lina clicked her tongue and shut the fridge, turning around to glare at the back of his head. "Have you ever thought about quitting the Gladiators?"

The room went silent and Donovan went still. Lina stared at the back of his head, waiting for any form of outburst or sudden reaction but there was nothing. After a moment, he finished off his protein shake and leaned back. "I can't quit."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed heavily, standing to his feet and moving back into the kitchen, a few inches away from her. "When I started the Gladiators, and like any other Gladiator, I signed a contract with them. The Russians own part of the Coliseum and run part of the Gladiators, the guy who runs the entire show and controls the players is my grandfather, Hugo Ander," he began, rinsing out his mixer cup and turning back around to face her, moving even closer to her than possible. "Once you sign the contract, you're forever a Gladiator. My grandfather is an old bastard, he follows the rules, by the book; if you want to end your contract you gotta fight every Gladiator and win every fight."

"That doesn't sound so hard," Lina said. "Why don't you do it?"

"Because there is over fifty Gladiators, Lina. A fight with every single one of them, back to back, could kill anyone; exactly why the game is designed so that once you sign up, it's forever. I can only request breaks, like time off, but once they call me back, I have to fight again."

Donovan stared down at her, watched her eyes falter, watched her gaze fall down to his chest as she got lost in her mind. She looked back up at him, sadness written all over her face. "Doesn't it hurt after a while?"

Her question took him by surprise and he took a few cautious steps back, as if she had just erupted in flames. No one bothered asking him anything like that; everyone assumed this was what he wanted. It was, in the beginning, he wanted nothing but to be a Gladiator, a fighter, a champion; but now that he is he wants out, he wants to be free, he wants to focus on his club and his brothers but he can't leave the game.

"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped, storming out of the kitchen and down the hall into his room. He shut the door behind him and stood there for a moment, completely dazed.

He had spent years training and fighting and winning; he accomplished everything he wanted by being a Gladiator but it was never something he wanted to do forever. He should've realized that before he had signed up in the first place. His grandfather won't even give him the time of day, he has no mercy for him; he won't just rip the contract and call it done because they're related. In the Coliseum, they aren't related.

Lina stood in the kitchen for a moment, feeling more alone than ever before. She walked back to her room and shut the door softly, locking it behind her. She shuffled over to the window and stared out at the night; it was raining, pouring. If Donovan was going to act this way every time they spoke then it was going to be a long week for Lina.

However, she couldn't help but worry about the brainless brute. For some odd reason, she could see right through him, unlike anyone else. To her, he was an open book and she read everything. She could see how tired he was, how tired he was of being a Gladiator and how tired he was being in that business.

It was so obvious to her so why couldn't anyone else see it?