and there she was

Ste looked out at the snow near the alley. There was a small yard out back of the bakery that gave off a cozy feel that a family could reside there.

He crossed his arms in his heavy sweater as he watched a black squirrel dash off with the remains of some old muffin. As of late, Ste was mute for the most part. He did as he was told and somehow got through the day, as space and time were quite vast without Gabby.

He'd meant to call, but he hadn't. He didn't know what to say. What good would it do? She would find someone better. He was certain.

He'd even seen her, once from a distance, with an exotic boy. She looked cozy with him. As of yet not a jealous thought caught him off guard. She was a girl who knew her way around men. That boy had no idea what he was getting in to.

And yet, if he let his thoughts go there, he remembered quite well what Gabby could do to him. And it hurt now, like an open wound, that he'd let her in, like he had.

Perhaps swallowed in grief, not sure what he was suppose to do. Did he even have the strength to be the man she wanted?

Yes, the cold still got to him. In the throat, right down to the core of him. It felt like an illness, yet he felt frozen, too.

Ste thought he heard laughter. It annoyed him and yet he wanted to know who it was. To his surprise as soon as he saw the fishnet... he knew it was Gabby and she was with a thug of a guy.

They were smoking, intoxicated on their vulgar conversation of what they wanted.

Ste told himself not to go, but he went anyway..because in all sincerity he felt he needed to protect her. And he did, just with a tug, pulling her behind him, as he faced on the scrapy youth of a bony boy.

"What are you doing with her?" Ste wanted to know, almost red faced from the cold but with a stout glare. Ste lunged forward.

"Nothing." The boy fretted, but Ste twisted back instantly and  kicked him in the face. The boy fell over like a dead tree. There was a bloody nose, like a red river of doom.

He could see Gabby could barely look at the wannabee gangster she brought this way.

"Go in." He ordered. She did.

He checked the body to make sure it was breathing, even if he were knocked out cold. Ste couldn't leave him there.

Ste scratched the back of his head, wondering what to do. Finally, he picked him up and brought him in through the back of bakery. Jude was still there.

"What happened?" Jude was alarmed by the blood.

"I dunno." Yet, Ste shook with fear. "I found him in the alley." He admitted and told Jude to call 911.

His heart shook as he prayed no one would remember he used force. Honestly, Ste didn't even know he had it in him to do such a bad thing.