Seiran Academy

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Chapter 17

Minako opened the door at the quiet knock and tried to smile when Sage came face to face with her. Sage smiled back, though his eyes were not smiling as well. “Nemesis had come by to tell us he got a better room with his Daddy’s credit card. Apparently he forgot to tell you that in his huff.”

“This is fine,” Minako said, though the room was small and the sheets were now covered in bodily fluids from the motions of Draco and Minako.

“You deserve better,” Sage explained flatly. It was said in the same way that he would have said it was dark outside, no emotion, just a flat statement. “Come on, let’s go.”

“I’m sorry,” Minako apologized, leaving the room and following Sage out of the no-tell motel.

“Why are you apologizing to me?” Sage nearly chuckled. “You owe me nothing.”

“I just feel I should apologize,” Minako explained. “What happened with Draco and I…”

“Was instinct,” Sage explained for her. “Nothing is going to stop your natural sex drive, Minako, though I would not have thought so soon after your step father raped you that you would have been on top of another man, but who’s to say what I know either.”

“Where were you tonight?” Minako asked in an accusing voice. She was tired of being degraded by a man who did not know anything about her and one who said it so casually it would almost come off as just a passing statement. She knew that he meant it as the insult it was.

“I had to bury a body,” Sage explained. “Sucks to be me.”

“Where were you really?” They were walking down the sidewalk from the dodgy end of town to a nicer end. They were still in that in-between area that could be nice in the day but always shady at night.

“I already told you,” Sage snapped.

“Fine, don’t be honest with me.”

The two walked in silence for a few moments. Minako was readily enjoying the awkward silence, it just proved to her these men were exactly what she had thought of them, but then she saw it; The Car. She could never forget the cherry red color with the hot shiny black pinstripe down the side, the convertible top or the all leather interior, tan. She would recognize the lights around the plates anywhere and she knew her stepfather was coming for her. She grabbed Sage’s arm and dragged him down the alleyway and away from the main street. Her heart was racing and her body shaking as they curled themselves against the back wall and out of sight of the car that was in search of her.

Sage pressed against her and trapped her between the alley wall of a seedy bar and his own body. Minako hated her heart for betraying her and pounding fast. She hated her body for responding in even the slightest of ways when she had already been entered two times in less than twenty-four hours and still she wanted more, hungered deep down in her belly for something else. She was allowing what her step-father made her take her over.

“I don’t think he saw us,” Sage whispered to her, his head buried in her neck, his breath hot and sticky on her neck. Minako tilted her head slightly allowing him access to her flesh. His lips caressed slightly, only a hairbreadth of whisper, nothing more, just a tease.

“Sage,” Minako nearly moaned as he only pushed closer to her. She wrapped her arms around him in a lover’s embrace and held him tight. “Where were you really tonight?”
Sage gripped her hands tightly and pulled her away from the wall so fast she nearly stumbled. For that second she forgot her question, surprised by his jerky movements. She was allowing him to drag her down the sidewalk, both of their eyes scanning the streets for the accursed car where a tall man searched for a run-away.

“Do you think he’ll call the cops?” Sage slowed his pace when he noticed Minako struggling behind him.

“No,” Minako said breathlessly. “He would be afraid I would tell them what he has been doing to me. He would probably be able to buy his way out of it all, that’s the great thing about politicians, but he would not want the blemish of even the whisper of the thought.”

“Smart of him,” Sage said. “So why don’t you tell?”

“Where would I go?” Minako asked honestly. “I have no other family who can take care of me, and now I’m sixteen. They would drop me with a foster family for two years then send me on my way when I was eighteen, whether I had anyplace to go or not.”

“So your sacrifice is self-preservation?” Sage asked. She heard the scoffing tone in his voice. “When you turn eighteen, though, you do not plan on leaving. You know you need the money for college, so then it will not be rape anymore, it’ll just make you a whore if you do not fight him.”

Her pull on her hand was enough force to free her from Sage’s grip. He turned to look at her and shrugged his shoulders as a means of casual apology, even if he did not mean the words he would not say. “What do you want me to do? You said you would protect me, but now you are yelling at me. Why?”

“I’m protecting you by making you worldly,” Sage snapped. “The problem you had with Mariko was that she was world smart, but book dumb. You know any information I ask you in any book but when it comes to the world you allow people to do as they wish with you, just like you let Draco fuck you, not because you wanted it, but because he did.”

“It was what I wanted.”

“No, you wanted comfort, and sex is the only comfort you know.”

“Just admit it if you are jealous, Sage, it will make life easier.”

“This isn’t about jealousy,” Sage griped to the angel beside him. “It is about you and only you. You seem to think that someone needs to protect you every moment of your life. Grow up, Minako. Soon you will have to make your own choices.”

Sage began to walk ahead of her, leaving her behind to contemplate what he said. She had to run to catch up with him. “I don’t understand,” she said breathlessly. “One minute you say you will protect me and then you are mad at me for not protecting myself. If it is not jealousy what is it? You are so hot and cold with me I never know what to expect from you.”

“Good, let’s keep it that way.” He offered nothing more to the conversation, only kept his quick pace ahead of her. When they arrived at the hotel they were moving to it was obvious it was something that the Rose family was paying for and not Sage’s family. Why did Sage have so much less money and still go to such an expensive school? What were all of the secrets they were keeping from her?

Inside the room Nemesis awaited sitting next to Draco, who had donned his cap once more to capture the long strands of dark hair. Sage deposited Minako into the room and then curtly nodded before leaving awkwardly. Minako huffed. “Okay, why is everyone mad at me tonight?” Minako snapped into the room.

“I’m sorry, Minako,” Draco said kindly. “I can’t help but feel it is my fault. I guess I got you in this mess.”

“What?”

“Forget it,” Nemesis waved off. “Stay here tonight, you’ll be safe. We’ll think in the morning what to do with you.” He walked out of the first sitting room and opened a door that lead to a bedroom and promptly slammed it behind him.

“This is one of those three bedroom hotel rooms?” Minako asked of Draco, who sat in the sitting room looking a bit ashamed. He nodded only. “Draco, why is Sage mad at me?”

Draco stood, wiping his hands on his pants, looking up at Minako’s baby blues and sighing. “It’s hard to protect someone who wanted to runaway with another man only a week ago. Sage just found out about your confession to Thomas Evans. It kind of showed him your lack of faith in us.” Draco stepped over to another door, that most likely lead to yet another room. He turned back to Minako watchined her shocked face. “Good night Minako.”

Minako crumpled to her knees and would have cried if there were tears left to cry. That had not been what she had meant when she had wanted to run off with Thomas. Her heart had been talking, not her head. It was not a lack of faith in Sage it was her love for Thomas.

But, perhaps to Sage, it was the same thing.