"Hello there, my favourite neighbor, may I borrow some salt?" Tejas asked as he stuck his head out of his door.

Solace stopped fiddling with her keys and glanced over. "Emi has been home the last hour. You do realize you could've asked her?"

He gave her an embarrassed smile. "I was waiting for you to come home. She scares me."

"And Solace doesn't?" remarked Sage from his position beside her.

"Nope, she reminds me of dandelions and strawberries," Tejas sang, swaying to the side.

Sage's shoulders shook from laughing. "That is the most inaccurate description I have ever heard."

Solace smacked his shoulder. I am delicate and all things graceful. "Are you high, Tejas?"

"Pfft, what? No," he squeaked out, the octave of his voice rising. She gave him a pointed look, his red eyes and dopey smile proving otherwise. He laughed loudly and pinched his fingers together. "Maybe just a little bit."

"This guy's hilarious," Sage grinned, stretching out his hand. "Nice to meet you, man. I'm Marco."

"Tejas," he introduced, shaking it vigorously. "Are you Solace's boyfriend?"

She was going to slam her head against a wall. "He is not my boyfriend," she yelled. Tejas gave her a surprised look, raising his hands in the air. She muttered a sorry and opened the front door. A hot shower and comfy pajamas were calling her name. She was going to lock herself in her room, away from Sage and his infuriating face.

Sage gasped, holding on to the wall for support. "Did you just break up with me?"

Solace clasped her hands together and gritted her teeth. "Get inside. Now," she ordered.

"So bossy," he murmured as he sauntered past her, smug.

She stepped inside, and took off her boots and threw her coat on the dining table chair. Behind her, Tejas shouted, "Be quick with the salt. I'm making seared scallops with a jalapeno vinaigrette."

A hysterical laugh bubbled in her throat. She hurriedly grabbed a bowl from the cabinets and poured a generous amount of salt into it. Solace walked back outside and handed it to him. With one last polite smile his way, she headed back.

"If you ever need some doja, you know where to find me," he said from behind her.

"Have a good evening, Tejas," she sang, shutting the door and sighing in content from being back home. She leaned back and closed her eyes, feeling a headache coming along. She didn't have time for a headache with all the work she had to do from her essay to Sage's painting.

"I have been waiting for you!" exclaimed Emi. Solace heard her rushed slippers-clad feet pattering against the hardwood floor.

She smiled, opening her eyes, but it quickly morphed into a frown when she realized Emi was speaking to Sage. "Hey, what about me?"

"You know I love you, cheri mwen," Emi said, throwing in Creole that always made Solace's heart swell.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes playfully. She had been teaching her some Creole as Emi taught her Japanese in return. Solace knew enough to not accidentally insult anyone and keep up a conversation as long as it didn't get too complicated. She was a pro at asking directions and where the restroom was.

"I'm about to play Halo Infinite. You in?" Emi asked Sage excitedly.

He shrugged off his coat and loosened his tie. It hung loosely down his chest, and Solace noticed a few buttons were undone. How could someone look so put together and nonchalant at the same time? "Let me shower, and I'll be right there."

Emi nodded energetically. "We have to take down BigDaddy123, so you need to bring your A-game. I want that little shit to bawl his eyes out."

"And how old is this BigDaddy123?" Solace wondered, shaking her head at herself with the ridiculous username.

"Like 12," Emi muttered.

Solace groaned, slumping onto the sofa. "Ems, you can't threaten children."

"He's not a child. He is a pre-pubescent teenager, and I will make him regret ever being born."

"I'm cool with making some kids cry today," Sage chimed in.

Emi cackled and began running back to her room, almost slipping on her reindeer socks. "Be quick!"

Solace couldn't fight the smile at her roommate's antics. She laid down on the free couch that Sage didn't occupy, shutting her eyes and resting her head on the soft throw pillow. The apartment was quiet for the first time in days with nothing but Sage's soft shuffling as he headed to the bathroom. She didn't realize how tiring and stressful the day was when her muscles relaxed in the comfort of the sofa and her heavy eyelids shut. This entire Sage business was draining. She never knows what would happen next when it came to him. It kept her on her toes, and she hadn't decided if she liked it or not.

She liked knowing what her days would consist of. Uncertainty and change were terrifying to her. And that was another reason she never applied to art school. She was too comfortable in her comfort zone. She had planted down roots, watered the plants, and built a home. She had no plans of leaving.

Solace hated last minute plans because there was the anxiety of what she would wear, and there was merely not enough time to mentally prepare herself. She was not a team player because it was difficult controlling other people no matter how much she tried. And she was always stuck with idiots who didn't know the difference between 'then' and 'than.' Even at her internship, she knew exactly what she had to do each shift. Give the senator his green juice, check her emails, answer calls, attend meetings, and photocopy and print work. That was why when Sage showed him, it put a large wrench in her day's plan.

Solace needed consistency.

Sage uprooted all of that with his arrival.

Her breathing slowed, and the soft couch was inviting her to take a nap. Solace tightened her blazer around her waist and sighed. She couldn't refuse the temptations. I deserve it after a long day of Sage. But he had no intentions of letting her sleep as she heard his faint footsteps coming out of the bathroom. She attempted to ignore him, to tune out his movement, but everything sounded louder from the opening of his bag to the ruffling of the contents inside.

Solace sighed loudly and got up in her seat. Her eyes landed on Sage, who was no longer wearing a shirt. The black pants hung low on his hips, the belt unbuckled. The muscles on his arms flexed as he searched his bag, briefly stopping to push back his hair. Her eyes wandered every inch, and she knew she should stop. But she physically couldn't. A silver chain with a small cross hung around his neck, and she wondered what it would be like to touch it. To choke him with it, of course.

He was on his knees, and he turned ever so lightly, displaying his back, and there was a small tattoo on his neck. It was hard to see from where she was, no matter how much she squinted her eyes. She had seen him shirtless before during his basketball games when he would rip off his jersey and run around in victory like an absolute poser.

Now, his body was built slightly more with his broad shoulders, but he still had a slender frame. The type that was hidden under baggy clothes and perfect for whatever he had trained for in the last six months.

And what she had never seen before, and what really took her breath away was the scars.

A few were thin and white, revealing they were several months old. Others were pink and jagged, and they must have been as painful as it was to look at them. There was a handful on his back, and she bet if he turned around, she would find more.

Oh Sage, what did you get yourself into?

Solace couldn't even deal with papercuts without making a large fuss out of it. She popped pain medications like an unhinged person when it came to cramps. All the scars she had were from childhood bike rides when her dad lied and said he was holding on or when she tried to climb a fence to grab Louis's tennis ball and fell onto her back when her shorts caught the chain link. But to have scars like the one on Sage's back - like they were from knives to purposely hurt him - made her want to hug him.

I would then proceed to burn my clothes afterward.

She opened her mouth to speak, willing herself to say something. And then, he turned around to face her, his face shocked to see her awake. I was right. He did have more. Her eyes flickered against his toned abdomen to see scars that matched the ones on his back. A faint mark was on the right side of his stomach and another under his heart.

"I thought you were sleeping," Sage muttered, protectively putting on the t-shirt he grabbed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare," Solace apologized sincerely. The air was tense as they stared at one another. Should she ask about the scars? Would she be touching a topic that was better left unspoken? Maybe, so instead, she went with simpler words. "Are you okay, Sage?"

"What do you think?" he asked in return, his voice quiet and not at all like the confident boy she was around the entire day.

Solace didn't know what to think. His gaze was dark, like thunderclouds rolling in before the rain, and she never realized how somber his bright eyes could look. Just like back at the grocery store, she still didn't fully understand what had happened. Sage would smirk and laugh as if everything was completely fine. He was the same boy from high school, at least that was what she thought. And she wished he would tell her something, anything. But why would he? They weren't even friends. They didn't even like each other.

"The scars," she said, keeping her voice gentle as she could muster. "Is your job responsible for them?" Solace said the word 'job' suspiciously. Whatever he got tangled up in had to be more than that. A simple three letter word couldn't encompass all those scars on his back.

Several heartbeats later, he nodded, sniffling, and scratching his nose with his head hung low. "The training," he spoke, his voice cracking, and an afraid 18-year-old boy stood in front of her. "The training was fun at first, but then it got brutal. They showed no mercy, and they didn't take too kindly if you failed your missions."

"And did you?" she whispered.

"Not at first. They were simple things like stealing access codes, infiltrating black market deals, and roughing up a few people. I did all of that." Sage hesitated as he pulled at the edge of his shirt. He closed his eyes as if he didn't want to see Solace's expression but then opened them up again like the memories flashed at the moment of comfort.

"I didn't like it, but they wouldn't let me leave. It was when I had to head to Belgium. I got excited and thought it would be cool to see Europe. They offered me 30 thousand for the job. I thought I just had to go steal some files from this minister, but when I got there, they said I had to kill him." He rubbed his eyes and exhaled shakily. "I couldn't, so I came back to Boston, and they weren't happy I left loose ties unattended."

Solace's imagination was enough to tell her what could've gone down after he defied orders. Her blood chilled, and her stomach churned. Who were these people, and why hadn't they been caught yet? But she couldn't lie that they sounded enticing.

"It sounds like they're taking advantage of people who need money," she commented, unsure of what to say next.

He nodded, wiping the corners of his eyes. "I have enough money to go to Harvard five times over."

Solace let out a low whistle. "Damn, what do you even do with that much money?" She wasn't sure what she would spend all that money on. On the top of her head, it would be clothes, her parents, and several fancy vacations.

"I wasn't allowed to see my parents or brother, so I sent some money through the GoFundMe page they made."

"You mean the fifty thousand dollars?" she questioned, her brows shooting up. Jabari had told her some anonymous user sent them a crazy amount of money on the page that was made for the Reyes family. She couldn't believe it until she saw the number on the website.

"I didn't think I would be coming back," Sage whispered. "I thought I could at least give them that."

The living room was silent, but if she strained her ears hard enough, she could hear Emi's faint yelling. There were so many things she should say. She could string along words to provide even the slightest bit of comfort. But words were lost to her. There was nothing she could say to take away his pain or hurt.

"At least when I threaten to give you a scar, I'll just be adding to your collection," Solace joked, her mouth pulling into an awkward smile. This was not the time to be making dark jokes, but that was all she had.

Sage's shoulders were shaking, and she wondered if it was from anger. But when he glanced up, she saw a little grin and laughter escaping his lips. "That's messed up, Solace."

She squished her cheeks together, trying to herself to stop smiling. "Sorry, sorry. This is not funny. I know that."

"You're unbelievable," he retorted, a relaxed expression on his face that was a stark difference to just mere moments ago. There were still traces of glassiness in his eyes.

"I'm bad at this," she defended, a nervous laugh stirring as she pressed her hands to her cheeks and squeezed them even further. "I'm sorry for what you've been through. I really am." Solace stood up and took a few steps towards him with open arms. "Here, let me give you a hug."

"I think we've had enough hugs for a lifetime," Sage snorted as he stood up. "I'm going to take a shower."

Solace's uninvited smile withdrew as she caught herself. She watched him leave, her eyes never leaving his back that now covered his tattoo and scar. She wanted to ask him about the ink, but that was another day. But those scars? Those scars hurt her, and they weren't even on her body.

"Sage, wait!" she called out, getting his attention as he turned his head to look at her. She gazed at him with ferocity. "I'll help you. Like fully with everything."

He shook his head. "I don't want your pity."

"Who says I was pitying you? You really are self-obsessed," Solace remarked with a roll of her eyes. And she wasn't. She felt more empathetic, and those were two completely different things. "It'll be easier and quicker with my assistance. I want to help you see this through, so you can finally get the hell out of my apartment."

Sage took a deep breath in. His eyes scanned her face, looking for something. Finally, he settled with, "Okay. Thank you."

This was all too heavy and intimate for the two of them. She didn't like the strangeness it brought.

"Yeah, whatever. Now, take a quick shower, or Emi will drag you out."

***

Author's Note"

Hi everyone!

What are your thoughts on this chapter? Please vote and comment if you liked it

Right now, things are a bit slow with the painting coming together! But in a few chapters, we'll get into more of the thieving lol.

Have a great week!

Until next time - m.k.t