Chapter 10 

Jedidiah Hargrave may have looked fairly calm to Mateo Montero, but in actuality…throughout the entire meeting with their suppliers, Jedidiah was unable to set his mind to rest. He was worried. He was petrified that at any moment, Serenity Wilkins’ polite smile and familiar charm would fall away, and he and Mateo would be fucked, quite honestly.

Jedidiah didn’t know Serenity Wilkins’ power directly; but he’d heard many things along the grapevine, and he didn’t fancy having a firsthand experience to go with his existing knowledge. 

Mateo kept sending him subtle glances whilst Serenity Wilkins herself walked the two of them back out towards the entrance of the office and warehouse area which they had been meeting her in about the supplies, as it was her warehouse.

He may have not known just how anxious Jedidiah was feeling, but he had a pretty good idea of how his boss was processing this all: it didn’t take a genius to work out that Jedidiah wasn’t the most comfortable meeting with the woman he thought murdered his father. 

What Mateo didn’t know, was that Jedidiah was also increasingly worried about not being able to make it out of the warehouse at all - little things would occasionally happen on the short walk which set Jedidiah’s survival instincts off, but Mateo hadn’t really picked up on how there was now another man walking behind them. 

Mateo was too busy watching Jedidiah, and as a result, was unable to block the blow which suddenly shattered into his stomach.

He gasped for air, the oxygen snatched from his lungs before he even had a chance to grasp the threads of it back. Mateo couldn’t breathe in, his diaphragm spasming whilst his lungs were paralysed in shock and pain alike. He desperately tried to suck in a breath, not even aware of the chaos breaking out around him whilst his lifeline just caught in his throat over and over again, unable to make it to his lungs.

Panic rose in his veins, urging him to gasp for more air in the hopes that some of it would make it to his lungs, but Mateo’s brain knew better, commanding him to stop for a moment and slow down, let his lungs catch up. 

Finally, Mateo was able to get some air into his lungs after a long moment, and his senses came back to him as he glanced around at the carnage ensuing at Jedidiah’s hands.

The man was currently fighting two people at once, whilst Serenity Wilkins was nowhere in sight, but there were already two people backing away from Jedidiah, looking a little worse for wear. Mateo hadn’t been out of it for very long, but it was long enough for a lot to happen. 

He wasn’t even sure what had happened, but the context gave him a pretty good interpretation. Standing up a little shakily from where at some point he must have sat down against the wall, Mateo wasted no time in aiming a side kick into one of Jedidiah’s opponents.

The woman fell quickly, but got to her feet again just as fast and aimed a hit at Mateo’s head. He parried, his opponent’s missed strike sending her slightly off-balance. He quickly followed up his parry with an uppercut to the chin and then a crescent kick to her shin, using her prior off-balance to his advantage.

Jedidiah suddenly moved back to Mateo’s side, his arms ready in a protective stance to deflect any blow his own opponent threw at him, whilst the woman Mateo had been fighting, despite his several good hits, looked like she could fight for a while, her evident anger probably helping to pump adrenaline around her body and reduce any pain and exhaustion she would otherwise feel.

Clicking his tongue, Mateo nodded to Jedidiah briefly before swapping targets - his approach would probably take down the woman eventually, but she seemed pretty tanky and Mateo wasn’t entirely sure if he had the stamina to be battling with her for ages.

Jedidiah’s target, on the other hand, was perhaps the most muscular person Mateo had ever encountered. Using his weight against him wouldn’t be too hard, and Mateo planned to exploit that as much as possible.  

Mateo’s new opponent lunged towards him, putting a lot of weight behind his hit so as to do serious damage to Mateo, should it connect. Instead, however, Mateo simply slipped out of the way, aiming a roundhouse kick to the man’s back, pushing him forwards more. The force of Mateo’s kick combined with the own man’s failed attack propelled him forwards and he narrowly saved himself from crashing into a wall.

Mateo smirked, a “come mierda” slipping from his lips in satisfaction. As he continued kicking and jabbing at the man whilst trying to take as few hits as possible, Mateo would occasionally glance over at Jedidiah to make sure that he was alright - his job was to protect him after all. 

And besides, Mateo didn’t want Jedidiah to get hurt; the man was a nice guy who treated all his employees well, so of course that was Mateo’s only reasoning for wanting to ensure Jedidiah’s safety.

Unfortunately, as soon as Mateo and Jedidiah dealt with the woman and man respectively, more people arrived. And both men had already used a lot of energy fighting their last opponents, whom had been significantly better fighters than those from the time Mateo intervened in Jedidiah’s attacker’s ambush at the park.

“We’re going to need back up,” Jedidiah said with a slight sigh, his chest rising and falling heavily as he breathed rapidly, the last few fights having taken a lot out of him. But no matter how many people Mateo and Jedidiah fought; more just kept arriving.

They were well and truly screwed. 

Come mierda - eat shit