Page 3 of Darkness

“Are you okay?” Tessa wipes the blood from my lips.

“It was worth it. I get to spend five minutes with you.” I take hold of her hand, and plant a kiss on it.

“You got all this-” she waves her hand over my face. “-so you get five minutes with me.”

“Definitely worth it.” I lean in closer to give her a kiss, and she smiles. A smile which makes me think she’s shy around me, but there is always a sparkle in her eyes which brightens my day no matter what’s happening to me. “What?” I ask her. I knew the moment I saw Tessa she was going to be the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I was only six years old when I fell in love with her. Then life throws you into a fucking hell hole, but I know I’ll be with her again. The plan is to take over The Pit, then marry her.

“Five minutes always goes so fast. It’s out of your hands I know, but-” Tessa stops and wipes the tears away. I hate seeing her cry, it kills me.

“I’m working on getting more time, I promise I am.” To get these five minutes is hard enough. The things they make me do, even then I’m on a rope, which if I’m even a second late they will pull, and it will drag me down with a hard hit to the ground.Fuck knows how many feet down it is. But it never kills you, fuck if only it did. You only die when The Pit wants you dead.

“I don’t want-”

“Tess, I promise. We will spend more time together. I have a plan, it’s going to take me some time, just have faith in me.” I pull her closer, all I want right now is to hold her. Have a moment of peace with her, before the fire blazes around me again. Having faith was the one thing dad always used to say to me. Have faith in the family, in me and nothing will ever go wrong.

I hear the door open, keep my eyes closed, they don’t need to be open to know who it is. “Hello, Mom.”

“How did you know it was me?” Her soft, gentle voice hits my ears.

“You always wear the same perfume. Dad got it for you on your birthday, along with the necklace you never take off.” I open my eyes and a small smile hits my lips as I see my mom. The woman I lost and didn’t see for twenty years.

“He gave me this necklace the day you were born.” She sits down and looks around the office. “Your dad wanted to paint the office black. He said white was a clean color and there was nothing clean about him.” Well, I don’t blame him, he had the most kills in the family. He knew how to use a gun, knife, was the best sniper I’ve heard about. You name it, Dad could do it.

“The white is too clean.” I sit up and lean forward, placing my elbows on the desk. “How is the bakery?” I ask.

“Are you ever coming to see it? Or come to my house for dinner? How much longer are we playing this game?” I take in a deep breath, because it’s the same fucking conversation with her, Uncle David,, Aunt Jane. The conversation is always the fucking same.

“Mom, it’s to keep you safe. I don’t want to continue this conversation, Mom. You know I don’t.” I stop when she looks at me, shaking her head. “Plus, I’ve been over for dinner.”

“Once a month, and.never mind. How are you?” I know it pisses her off, but if she knew even half of what happened in The Pit, she would understand. She doesn’t need to know, no one does.

“Same as always, busy with work. How is the bakery?” I ask again.

“Busy, got a wedding party this weekend. It’s a big order. Have you spoken to Logan?” Now, I do smile with a small laughter escaping my mouth, because she knows I haven’t. Logan wants nothing to do with me, no matter how much I try to talk to him. He said he would look after the business whenever I needed him to, but it was more Travis, because he needed my help to find his girl. Mom keeps trying to get us to bond, yet it’s not working.

“No.” I dig out my cell from my pocket as the message alert sounds. “The only time he talks to me is when we have dinner, or he needs something from me.” I look down at my message, and at the top of the screen at the time.

Lincoln

You need to get to the club.

Cain

Why?

Lincoln

A problem.

Cain

On my way.

“Are you leaving?” Mom asks. She looks around the office and stops when she sees the happy family picture of mom, dad and me. If only things would have stayed that way.

“I am. Something is happening at the club that needs to be fixed.” I get up from the chair, and pick up the photo frame that she was looking at, and I smile. “All you needed was a little faith.” Putting the frame back down, I look at my mom staring at me, she knows what I mean. She knows the family motto.

Two

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