❝All the past so way behind
Reminds you what you once wanted
Once you've felt you've found the way
Left your all ambitions by the lake bed.❞

Chapter Eleven:
A Partnership Proposal

A hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, snatching me away from the two gentlemen I'd had the pleasure of being sandwiched between.

"What the fuck, Hans?" I screeched, giving him one hard shove on the chest and started to step back in the direction of my dancing-slash-grinding buddies, but to no success. Hans wrapped a hand around my wrist in a solid grip, glowering down at me with a fury I'd never witnessed before. Not one to give up too easily, I fought against him but Hans wasn't planning on letting me go that easy.

"What the hell's your problem?" The blond stepped to my side, a hand snaking around my hips only to snap back as if physically burnt by the murderous glare Hans shot him. The two men backed off, shooting Hans a dirty look before redirecting their attentions elsewhere.

"Hans fucking Castellan, let me go right now or-"

"Not a word out of you." Hans' voice silenced me at once, the dangerous undertone coupled with his fuming demeanor frightening my mouth shut.

"Babe, what's going on?"

Helena!

I twisted behind me at the source of her voice, reaching with my free hand. My best friend was quick to come to my rescue, latching onto my hand with her short but strong fingers. She was half of Hans' size but with the molten scowl she shot up at him, I swear I felt his hand tremor a little in mine.

"Get your hands off her, shit-stain." Helena punctuated each word with a cutting threat that didn't go missed by Hans who just slightly loosened his grip on me, yet not enough for me to escape. She stepped up to my side and put an arm around my waist, pulling me in her direction and in the process, nearly tearing my arm out from Hans who tightened his hold.

"Let go of her," he hissed at Helena whose lips curled upward, inviting the challenge.

"You let go."

"No, you let go," Hans repeated. I mentally made a note of the fact that he sucked at fighting with women as I stood there, looking back and forth between the two of them who continued to glare daggers into the other. I was hoping for a more fleshy, R-rated squabble but they were behaving like five year olds fighting over a doll instead.

"Umm..." I shifted uncomfortably, wiggling my arms between them. "Can we just get this over with?" I threw a pointed look at Helena whose dark brown orbs widened before giving me a determined nod. Stepping up, still holding my hand, she got all up in Hans' face (that is, as much as she could given her height) and spat loudly, "Look here chump. This is what we're going to do. You're going to quit harassing Tris and I'm going to kick your sorry little ass. That is unless you let go of her right this second."

A trickle of fear crossed his face before he covered it up with a smirk, cocking his head to the left in amusement.

"What about we do things my way? You let go of my girlfriend so we can settle this nice and easy, alright shortcake?"

Helena would have clocked him in the face, right then and there. No one apart from Jade and I were allowed to make fun of her height but she was too astounded from the endearing way in which Hans had just addressed me to react.

"Your girlfriend?" she sputtered, her eyes racing to my face and taking note of the pink on my cheeks. She let go of my hand in shock, and Hans took that precise moment as an opportunity to whisk me away...by bending down and throwing me over his shoulder.

"Wha-?! Hans, you put me down right this second, you troll!" I pounded on his back, feeling myself grow a little dizzy with each attempt as I dangled upside down, giving me an up and close view of his perfect little butt...the last thing I wanted to be distracted by right now. He didn't say a word, simply carried me out and away from Helena who all but gawked at us without so much of a fight.

"Nice to meet you!" she called out, giving us a wave before turning back and joining the thriving dance crowd.

I was wrong. My best friend was completely, a hundred percent useless.

It didn't take long for me to accept the fact that my resistance was futile. Hans wasn't showing any sign of putting me down, and after a point, I stopped trying to fatally injure him and lay still, quietly fuming in my surrender. When I heard a car door being jerked open, I thought Hans would at least set me down on the ground but he swept down, and literally, threw me in. I was lucky that the seats were wide and spacious as my fall didn't actually injure me but as I opened my narrowed eyes and made out the fact that Hans was entering after me, the thought of sitting next to him nearly induced a panic attack.

"What are you doing?" I snapped, crawling backward and hitting the other door with a loud bang. This was too familiar, I thought, as he slammed the door shut and turned to face me. It was too much like the first night and yet, so much had changed since then. For one, I definitely knew tonight wasn't going to end in sex because I had classified Hans Castellan as a dangerous and certified creep. Secondly, he looked every bit of furious as I did, if not more. The veins in his forehead were practically popping as his blackened eyes set on mine. I would have felt fear, but my own anger consumed the possibility of being anything but pissed.

Pressing my lips together tightly, I hissed, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

A voice tutted in disapproval from the front. "It's a bad idea to speak like that to the young master, Ms. Henderson. He isn't gifted with a well handled temper." My eyes nearly bogged out when I saw that it was none other than Peter. He shook his head at me in warning, as if to tell me I was in mortal danger by sitting in the backseat with this man.

"Young master?" I stuttered, head whipping back and forth between the two of them. "I thought you were Mr. Blythe's driver," I muttered stupidly.

"More like a family driver. I've known Hans since he was a kid and I think it best you choose the words that come out of your mouth a little more carefully."

Peter wasn't threatening me. He was warning me. I would have taken a little longer to be mindful of my reunion with the friendly chauffeur, if not for the cold hand that wrapped around my arm and jerked me in his direction, demanding my attention.

"What exactly were you planning on doing back there?" The possessiveness in his voice could be seen as attractive, if not slightly arousing. But now wasn't the time to reign in the glory of having made Hans feel jealous, when really, he had no right to feel that way.

"How does it concern you?" I spat back, wriggling my arm free of his hold. He let go but didn't move away, still looming over me so that my back remained pressed up against the door. If only it would open up and send me tumbling out, although dangerous in a moving car. I would be entirely okay with a couple cuts and bruises, or even a mild concussion than sit here and put myself through this conversation.

"You've been avoiding me," Hans stated, frigid. He didn't bat an eyelash to my snarky replies but kept going and although his tone was unemotional, I knew him well enough to see the storm in his eyes. "I know you're mad but that's no excuse for not giving me a chance to explain myself, Tris."

"A chance?" I barked out a bitter laugh, earning a quick look from Peter up front who was eavesdropping on the whole thing. "You had your chance, Hans," I said, the fury leaking into my words. "From the moment we met, you had your chance. Don't pretend to play the victim here cause you're not. How could you even hide something like that from me?"

"Tris, I-"

"Shut up. I don't want to listen to it. Any of it." Sitting back in my seat, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared out the window. "Just take me home, Peter," I spoke harshly, putting an end to further discussion. "I'm done here."

One tear fell down my cheek, then another. I made no attempt to wipe them away, letting the drops of sorrow stream down my face without being ashamed that I was crying. There was nothing wrong about it, even when in the company of the man who induced me into such a state should have made me feel shameful, or at the least embarrassed. I didn't have to look at him to know that Hans had noticed my tears and silenced whatever arguments, whatever anger he had ready to unleash on me. I wasn't ready to hear his justifications.

At the end of the day, the truth was that Hans Castellan, the man that had gotten me to trust again, love again, had been lying to me from day one. He hadn't just known my past when I told him about it, he had seen it. He had been part of it. Hans had witnessed me put up a front and break the walls I had imposed on myself. He knew me for the Tris I was now, and he had accepted me for who I am after that night in Cincinatti. But he also knew the Tris I'd been then.

From the image of perfection to the shattered pieces of a dream far gone; I had become the worst version of myself. That was my burden to bear, every morning that I woke up and looked in the morning and saw nothing of what I'd wanted for myself in the woman that stared back. It was my secret. But all this time, Hans had been in on it too. And he had been playing me for a fool.

_____

Song: After All Is Said and Done by Junip

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