Page 42 of Darkness

“After, come to the club. I’m all yours.” He will need to talk, and his dad is out of town for business, so he needs to talk to someone afterwards. And I’m the next best thing for him.

“So you’re family.” I hear Autumn, and Hayden smiles. “Work colleagues? They work for you? Or…I have nothing.” Autumn walks around the desk and sits on my seat, and folds her arm. I watch her for a moment, thinking of one thing.

How good it would be to eat her and have her come all over my chair.

I walk with Hayden to the door, reminding him not to tell his parents about this. I don’t need them asking me a million questions.

“Hayden, you’re ready.”

“I have the best teacher,” he jokes, and I tell him to fuck off.

Closing the door, I turn to Autumn. “I’m sorry, after-”

“Cain, I hate talking about it. If I’m honest, I’m happy he came in when he did. It gave me time to feel a little relieved that someone else knows, and a someone who, I hope, will never let me get hurt.” Walking towards her and sliding on the desk so I’m in front of her.

“Never going to happen.” I stop talking when I hear Lincoln in my ear.

“Get down here.”

“What’s happened?” I ask, looking at the CCTV footage to see where he is. The back of the building. What the fuck? He looks at the camera and shakes his head. “Fuck,” I whisper to myself. “I’ll be there-” I look at Autumn. “You okay to stay here? Once I’ve got this sorted, we can go back to yours.” I lean down and give her a kiss.

“To have fun?” she asks.

“I’m sure I can add some marks to you.” Giving her a wink, I leave the office.

One to fix all this mess, and to tell Lincoln to find everything on Rowan he can. I’m going to end that bastard.

Digging my cell out, I hit the call on Uncle David. “Are you still there?”

***

“What is this place, grandad?” I ask as we walk through the dark tunnel, which is only lit up with the fire sticks on the side. It feels old, like nothing has changed under here for centuries.

“We walk through that door and there’s no names. We will be given a number, that is who we are now.” Grandad looks down at me, and I look over at the metal door, then turn back to him. “Son, I will always protect you.”

“I will always protect you.” Grandad smiles, but I know he’s hiding his fear a lot better than I am.

I jump closer to grandad when the metal scrapes on the floor and the creek from the door opening echoes in the tunnel. A man stands there in a black mask, and the one behind us pushes us to walk faster.

Grandad goes in front and the man is shouting something at him, but I don’t know what as I continue to look around the dark room, which is getting hotter the more I stand in here. There are eight fire sticks on the wall, then a pit of fire to the side. All the men are wearing black masks, giving nothing away about who they are. The walls are stone or brick. Whatever it is, it’s old. The place is very old.

Grandad screams and I look over at him, but I can’t see what they are doing to him because he has his back to me.

“Get here boy-”

“No, he is only a little boy.” My grandad tries to argue, but they punch him in the face.

“No!” I shout. “Grandad, it’s okay. I have to fight for not just me, but the both of us.” I step forward and hold my head high.

“Remove the t-shirt,” he orders, and with shaking hands, I remove it. “Welcome to hell, two, four, one, zero, five.” He brings out the metal rod from the fire, and I see his head tilt a little, his chest raising and falling hard. Is this the first timehe is doing this to a child? I don’t even know what he is doing. “Hold him.” Two men grab my arms, holding me in place. He brings the iron rod over the left part of my chest.

I scream as the pain rips through my skin. The smell of my skin burning hits me. The two men let go of me, and I fall to the ground. Panting for air, hoping the smell leaves my nose. The skin on my skin continues to burn even though nothing is touching it now, but I still feel it.

“Sleep with one eye open. They like new toys.” The man tells me and my eyes are wide open. What am I about to walk into?

My eyes open, my hand moves over my chest, and I sit up on the couch. Autumn-Rose fell asleep after her body couldn’t give me anything else. I could have made her come again just for me, but I knew her body could shut down on her.

No matter how much I tried, sleep was not coming to me, so I came out here so she could sleep in peace. Again, another night I couldn’t take my t-shirt off.

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