Page 54 of Darkness

“No, I don’t. I go there all the time and not once have I seen the owner.” Autumn drinks her tea and turns back to the TV.

“Logan’s mom. She owns it-” I stop when she turns to face me again.

“As in your mom?” Autumn's eyes light up.

“Yes. Talk to her-”

“Can you talk to her?” I hand the pad back to her, and walk away from the couch to get the first aid box, so I can change her bandages. It gives me the chance to think about how I don’t want to talk to mom for her.

“Cain?”

Walking back to her, I grab her hand and cut the bandage off and let some air on the cut, which is fucking deep. “My relationship with my mom is not a simple one. So, it’s best if you talk to her yourself.” I look up at her as she stares at me. “It’s complicated.” There is no need to tell her about how or why things are complicated between us. I’m still trying to fix the relationship myself.

“Thank you.” I raise my brow at her, not sure what she’s saying thank you for. “You’ve given me happiness. Something I didn’t think I would get.”

I don’t say anything. I’ve given her happiness, yet I have more demons, which she hasn’t seen yet. It takes everything in me to keep the demons in my head. Unfortunately, it’s slowly killing my head more and more. If she knew half of my life, her happiness could go in a flash.

Wiping her cut, I wrap it back up, and see Lincoln’s name appear on my cell. “Hello,” I put him on speaker.

“Camera one, you have a visitor,” Lincoln tells me,I grab the laptop, and look for camera one.

“What have you told him?” I ask.

“You’re not in. He said he will wait.”

“Let him wait. When it’s closing and I’m still not there, he will know you were not fucking with him. Make sure the office islocked up and get in the apartment tonight.” I don’t know what game he is playing coming to my club thinking I’d talk to him.

“I’ll walk around the apartment for a bit, and I’ve got someone at the office door.” Lincoln hangs up and I finish with Autumn’s hand, then lean down to kiss it.

“Right, I’m going to make a cup of tea, then we can watch these Housewives.” She stands up, kisses my lips, and walks away, and I get a good view of her sexy ass.

During the time I spend with her, I live in a world where I don’t have enemies, don’t have The Pit, don’t have scars, don’t have and nightmares. It’s normal, and even if it only lasts a few hours, or a day, I feel normal.

Tomorrow I can go back to hell.

Twenty

Cain

“You don’t look good.Your eyes are red.” Tess moves in closer to me, softly moving her finger under my eye, but I move away quickly. “Cain-”

“It’s fine. I’m getting used to it.” I lie, because it’s the worst thing they’ve been doing to me. That fucked up room. Then they force you into a fight. How they think anyone can fight after being in there is fucked up.

They’ve found my weakness. They know that room messes me up enough not to fight the way I want. Two days straight I was in there, fucking two days, and my eyes are burning.

“Cain, you look tired.” Tess leans in against my lips, then kisses me gently, as the cut on there is still open and hurting.

“How are you?” I’m not spending my time with her talking about me. I don’t need to relive this shit.

“I’m good. Dad’s being an asshole. He’s taking out his frustration on Travis.” Tess moves in closer to me, and she wraps her arm around me. “He keeps talking about Jasper in front of me. I hate that man.” A few weeks ago, I got to spend a night with her, our first night together. Being with her for the first time, I never wanted to be in the woods of this hellhole,but Tess wanted it too. Years of talking, years of being there for each other when we need to talk, feelings changed, and there is no one else who will understand me the way she does.

She knows the worst parts of me, the demons which I’ve grown up with. She knows everything. Yet, our first time together was everything. I knew then she was going to be mine to the end.

“How is he coping with it?” I don’t know her brother, only what she has told me, and I’ve never asked Hayden to look into him either. If I think things are getting bad, I might ask my cousin to look into what’s happening.

“They fight. Travis gives as good as he gets. But I’m scared dad will hurt him one day.” Tess leans her head on my chest, and all I can do is hold her, because there is no way of protecting her yet.

I have a plan, but it’s going to take me some time. It’s not easy to do what I have planned. To be honest, I don’t think anyone has done it before. Take over this hellhole, and make it mine.

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