Page 22 of Rough Trip

“Excuse me, what did you say?” Sage asked. He could not believe what he had heard. Everyone knew their place and knew that if they mentioned anything, it could only lead to trouble. Sage stared the bartender down. Looking at him, Sage could tell he was trying to push some buttons. Clearly, it had been a slow day for him, and he now felt the need to make some entertainment for himself.

“Oh well, you know, you don’t always have to be busy just doing work,” the bartender said. He looked at Sage with a deadpan stare. Clearly, because the bartender had seen Mia there too, he must have thought something else would go down again. Sage decided it wasn’t worth his time, so he decided to let it go.

“I guess business is the only thing on my mind,” Sage said matter of factly. He did not want to give the guy another chance to take the conversation any further. The bartender got the message though and turned away, moving along to serve other customers at the bar.

Sage continued to sip his whiskey, trying to bide his time before heading home.

After he had finished his first drink, he decided to order another whiskey neat along with a glass of water. He didn’t want to get drunk, but he knew he’d have to wait a little while longer before leaving. Mia hadn't left too long ago so there was no chance she'd be asleep yet.

He sat at the bar and let his mind zone in on the music that was playing in the background. He no longer wanted to think about Mia, but just as he had started to get into a good zone, slowly bobbing his head to the music, he heard yelling and screaming coming from outside the bar and just as he was about to head out to see what was going on, a man entered the bar.

Sage could instantly tell he meant trouble because he was wearing the Omens’ colors. The man continued to yell as he walked in, and it took Sage a while to fully understand what he was saying until it all clicked.

“You’re all murderers!” the man yelled. “You call yourselves the Screaming Demons, but you should call yourselves the Murdering Demons!” he continued to shout. It was obvious to Sage that the man was referring to the killing of Tyler, but he couldn't have been this dumb to walk into the Screaming Demons bar and expect a warm welcome. Everyone around town knew what had happened with Tyler back home and Sage found it completely unbelievable that this man who was clearly an Omen would just walk into a bar full of his enemies.

Sage and a few other men around the bar got up and started to make their way over to the man, allowing Sage to lead the way while the rest of the men all trailed behind him. They were all ready for a fight.

“Come on, man, I don’t think you know what you’re doing. Maybe it would be best if you just leave now before this goes any further,” Sage said. He wasn’t in the mood to fight, but if it turned into that, he knew that he would have to defend the Screaming Demons. It was his duty.

“I know exactly what I’m doing!” he started to shout. “You think you’re all so tough, but you’re all killers! You’ll pay for what you’ve done to Tyler!” the man yelled. He hadn’t moved further into the bar considering Sage was standing before him with at least six men on his heels all ready to attack whenever Sage gave the order. He pointed his finger at every person in the bar indicating that his threat was for everyone. The man clearly hadn't gotten the picture that the Screaming Demons were not to be messed with.

All the frustration that had been building up in Sage over the past few days had reached a breaking point, and this guy was just pushing him even further. He zeroed in on him, allowing himself to let go of some of the pent up frustration.

First, he pushed the guy, trying to edge him out of the bar, but he was standing firm, so Sage then swung his arm around and knocked the guy straight to the floor. He felt a surge of power and adrenaline course through his veins. It felt good to release. He did not fully understand just how much frustration had been building up. The situation with Mia was affecting him more than he had thought.

“I. Told. You. To. Get. Out,” he said between each kick. He laid into the guy who had put himself into the fetal position on the floor. After a few kicks, Sage stopped. He needed to send a message to the Omens. “Now, get the fuck out of here and send a message to the rest of the Omens. The Screaming Demons now run this town and we will get rid of anyone who gets in our way.”

Sage walked back to the bar to down the remains of his drink while the men picked the guy up and kicked him out of the bar. Everyone in the bar had kept silent while everything had been happening, and just as the Screaming Demons reentered the bar, everyone erupted into a cheer.

The bartender walked over with a fresh drink. “This one’s on the house, sir,” he said. It was clear that from watching what Sage was capable of, the bartender knew not to ever cross the line again.

“Thanks,” Sage said as he brought the fresh drink to his lips. Although he had every intention of leaving after his second drink, he needed a bit more time to get his adrenaline and heart rate back to normal before he left so he decided to wait at least another hour before he headed out.

Mia had woken up alone the day after she had had sex with Sage. It had been amazing. She knew she had started it, but he definitely finished it. He had left without saying goodbye. She woke up feeling like a completely new person. Her body felt good in every way possible and she knew it was thanks to Sage. He made her feel so many things, passion, ecstasy, want, need and all things that could be linked to being completely satisfied. She was surprised when she could feel her body craving more just as she woke up. She could spend the whole day and night with Sage and still it wouldn’t be enough. She stretched out, pointing her toes as her legs went stiff, into a really good morning stretch. She then stretched her arms out to feel the space he should've been in, but her hands were empty. She opened her eyes and saw that the bed was empty, no Sage in sight. She sat up straight in the bed and sat in silence for a while, wondering if she'd be able to hear him somewhere else in the house, but she couldn't. He clearly wasn’t in the house anymore, and she didn’t think too much of it at the time. She got dressed back into her clothes from the night before because even if she was alone she didn't want to walk around the house naked and she wasn’t willing to take any of Sage's clothes just in case that upset him. She then walked past his bathroom and found he had showered. Steam was still hanging in the air along with the smell of body wash, cologne, and toothpaste. She walked back to her room. He had obviously left for work, and maybe he didn't want to wake me, she thought.

She felt extremely exhausted all of a sudden and decided that she'd just go back to sleep in her own bed. She didn't have any work to do that day so no one would miss her if she took a day to herself and so she climbed back into her bed and within seconds she was fast asleep yet again.

She woke up a few hours later feeling extremely happy with the outcome of the night before. She honestly didn’t think it would be that easy since Sage had been trying to distance himself from her, but he soon gave in to her, and they had melted into each other. Mia lay in her bed with the memory of his lips on hers, then on her skin. The thought of it sent a shiver through her body. She couldn’t deny that she wanted him more than ever. She had never had her body touched the way he had touched her. It was a feeling of passion as well as complete awe, as if her body was amazing to him like she was a piece of art beneath his fingertips. She felt treasured under his touch, she felt amazing. Her body responded to him so easily when he was near as if she could tell his next move so she could match her body to his. It was powerful and overwhelming, and she obviously enjoyed it. She had never really had bad sex with anyone else, but there was something about the way their bodies moved together that just made it more pleasurable.

It was almost as if their bodies were somehow connected to each other, and she could feel deep down that it was possible that they shared a connection neither of them could deny.

Once she had laid in bed for long enough, reliving the memory of Sage and the night before, she decided it was time for her to at least do something with what was left of her day.

She got up and took a shower. She needed to cleanse herself after sleeping for so long. She didn’t even want to think of all the dead skin cells she had all over her body. Mia was someone who believed in showering twice a day, once in the morning to get everything off of her skin from the night before and then once before she went to bed so she could rinse off the day she had been through. Even if she hadn’t been that busy that day, she knew there were constant germs flying around in the air and she didn’t want them on her while she slept because that was her most vulnerable state and it would be so easy for an infection of some sort to attack her body. As she proceeded to step into the shower, she washed her hair. She loved the smell of her shampoo because it smelt like strawberries and lavender, her two favorite scents. Once she had washed her hair thoroughly, she washed her face and the rest of her body. She stepped out of the shower completely clean and feeling refreshed and continued to smother her skin with lotion and blow-dry her hair. She put a pair of fresh jeans on with a shirt that was just comfortable enough to lounge around the house in but not smart or casual enough to go anywhere in.

Since Sage had left for work and she didn’t have much to do, she went and got his laundry from his room and did his washing and then her own. She lounged around the house a bit while she waited and found a movie on tv to watch while she waited. After about an hour she heard the ping go off from the washing machine, and so she unloaded the washing machine and proceeded to hang all the clean clothes on the line outside in the garden. She would’ve just set the machine to tumble dry but she had always had a bad experience with tumble drying her clothes. Something would always shrink when it wasn’t supposed to, or something ended up lost; who knew where it went.

It was actually a beautiful day considering she had woken up so late and so she decided to take herself outside so she could soak up some vitamin D. She hadn’t been much of a swimmer when she was growing up and even went she got older she preferred staying on dry land so she didn’t bother going into the pool. Instead, she put some music on the surround sound and just sat in the sun for a while. Enjoying the day, she couldn’t complain because she felt so happy at that moment. She thought that there could be a chance for her and Sage to develop into something and with the beautiful sky above her, she left like anything was possible, and she believed it.

She closed her eyes as she continued to lay in the sun. She listened to the birds chirping in the trees above her, and she felt at peace. After a while, she headed back inside. She didn’t want to risk getting sunburnt, and she was getting rather hungry.

She headed for the kitchen and made herself a toasted cheese sandwich, it had been a while since she last had one and they reminded her of happy days while growing up, so it seemed fitting for her current mood.

Mia then collected the clothes off of the line so she could press them and place them back in their places. It doesn’t take her long to do both her clothes and Sage's clothes, but she took the time to make sure everything was folded neatly so it wouldn’t cause any unnecessary creasing. She headed to Sage’s room so she could place all of his clothes back where they belonged. Then she made his bed because she always preferred to have a neat and tidy bed to come home to. She then cleaned up his bathroom as some of his products were just lying around the sink. After she was satisfied with his room, she closed the door out of respect and headed back to the kitchen. She had forgotten to clean up after herself.

She cleaned the kitchen and cleaned her room after she had placed her own clothes back. It was still early enough for her to rest before she made dinner. She had had a rather busy and domesticated morning, and she felt that she deserved a break, so she took a seat back on the couch in the lounge and found another movie to watch.

Once the movie had finished, she made some dinner, leaving some extra food for Sage considering he hadn’t made it home for dinner. She sat at the dining room table by herself and ate alone. She wasn’t sure what time Sage would be home from work, so she decided to head off to bed. Although she hadn’t done any work regarding the business and the Hell Kats, she was definitely exhausted. She climbed into bed, resting her head on her pillow, and she soon fell asleep with Sage on her mind.