Darkness

3. Cain

Three

Cain

“He’s asking for you again. He says he needs to talk to you.” Lincoln stands on the other side of my desk.

It was hard to find a man I trust to be head of my security, not just for Skyline, but someone who has my back in The Pit. Most people wouldn’t know where to find a man like that? For me, it was easy. The Pit.

Lincoln is around ten years older than me. He came into The Pit after me, but he was the only man who, when I was alone, was there for me. He might have been one of the most ruthless people I’ve ever met. He didn’t care who, or how, he had to kill someone, he just did it. When I lost my grandad down there I was still a kid, and Lincoln was the one who looked out for me. It was then I knew, when The Pit became mine, he was the man I wanted next to me.

“Unless he tells you what he wants, there's no reason for you to go to see him.” I lean back in the chair as Lincoln laughs.

“The watchman also called. If we don’t feed your dog soon he might die, and because I know you still want more fun, I told him to give him food.” Lincoln bursts out laughing.

Which makes me ask.“ And what have you fed him?”

“What dogs eat. Dog food, I was in a good mood, so I added some cooked chicken,” Lincoln tells me, but then he goes back to talking about the asshole wanting to talk to me. “We could make him earn the chance to talk to you.”

Now that sounds more like what I want to hear. Before I was in there, The Pit had rules. A lot of fucked up rules. To earn time to talk to the boss, to earn a cell, to have a good meal, to get some clean fresh air, you had to earn it. Some of the things they made them do was so fucked up. Even now I hate them, and wouldn’t want to spend another second doing them. One room fucked me up so much, even now it hits me. I shake my head to get the thought out of my head.

“Throw him in for a fight. If he wins, I’ll talk to him. I’ll be there tonight to watch, but only on the camera.” It’s rare I go into The Pit anymore, the only time I do go is watch the cameras to make sure things are getting done. Most of the time I only go down to fight. This is because to exit The Pit, they have to fight me. I’ve tried so hard to make sure I don’t lose. No one is leaving The Pit ever.

“We also had a mom coming in this morning asking if her daughter was a dancer here. She isn’t. We have a bridal party coming in tonight, and asked for a booth with not just a male stripper but a female one too.” Lincoln continues to tell me about other parties coming in tonight, while I reply to my mom, letting her know I’m leaving the office in five minutes.

I have no idea why she wants to talk to me, especially not at the ice rink with Logan there, too. He hates me. No matter what I do, he won’t give me a chance. Even when I have dinner with them, he never talks to me.

Getting up, I grab my jacket and leave the office with Lincoln. I take a look around the club as I make my way down the stairs. When I was in The Pit, I always planned what I would do. The family business was always open to me, but I was never going to be the same person when I came out. Talking, being around people wasn’t something I wanted.

Having my own business, it gives me the freedom to talk to who I want. I feel it fits me better.

My grandad wanted me in the family business. He spoke about it all the time, how I was going to be better than Dad at what we do. It’s been a few years since I’ve been out of The Pit, and I still like to be alone. Talking about The Pit is something I don’t want to do. Ever. Tess was the only one who understood me. She saw what it did to me, saw how messed up it made me. I don’t need to talk to anyone else about it. Uncle David still asks questions now and again, wanting to know what happened to grandad, and I tell him the quick version. He was killed in a fight.

I know one day I’ll have to tell him the truth, not just about him, but everything else that happened down there. Sooner or later that one family will come for me, it’s only a matter of time. I know they are watching me, trying to find something on me. One day they will. I can’t be a ghost forever.

“I’ll see you at the club tonight, and have you narrowed down someone to take over for you when you’re not here?” Lincoln can’t be here and in The Pit at the same time, so I told him to hire someone. He will be worse than me at making sure it’s the right person.

“I have three. At the end of the week, I’ll get one. See you later,” he shouts toward me as I get to my car looking around to make sure no one is watching me. This is how messed up my life is, looking over my shoulder wherever I go to make sure no one is ready to take my life.

Every day, I wonder if today is the day I’m going to die.

***

Tapping a message back to Lincoln as I walk through the doors to the ice rink, my fingers stop moving along the letters as the cold air breezes over the back of my neck.

What the fuck is that?

I look around to make sure no one else is here. They shouldn’t be. Logan hires the whole rink out for the lessons. I only know this because mom mentions it every time, hoping I will come here to see her, because she knows I don’t want anyone knowing who I am.

The only people I see are mom, Logan, Meadow and Poppy, so I have no idea what this messed up feeling is, which is hitting me like a warning.

What the fuck is that?

A quick look around again, nothing.

I look over at the woman who’s just fallen flat on her face as she skates over the ice. She can’t be the teacher. She can’t even skate herself.

Walking over to mom, I stop and put my hand out for Logan to shake, but he doesn’t take it. He acknowledges me with a nod. Nothing new there. One day he’ll understand why I didn’t come to him sooner, tell him the truth about who I was to him.

“Hi Cain.” Meadow gives me a smile. I know she’ll be fine with me; I gave her a job when she needed one. I even helped her to get with Logan.

“Hello, Mr. Cain.” Poppy looks up at me with a smile. I pat the top of her head, saying hello.

Turning to mom, who’s smiling at me I say, “What was so important that you needed to see me here, and couldn’t talk to me on the cell?” She leans in to give me a kiss on the cheek.

There is nothing I wanted more in the world to have my mom back in my life, but it isn’t what I pictured it would be. I should be thrilled I get to have her in my life, but I learned to live without her and my dad. Is there a part of me which blames her for all this? Yes. All she needed was some faith in the family, and she didn’t.

“There is going to be a charity event and David asked me to talk to you, to see if you could be there.” I shake my head a little, knowing I’m not going to be there, so not sure why he have even asked. “Just think about it. It’s for your dads-”

“I’ll think about it!” The harshness escapes a lot harder than I wanted it to, because I still don’t like her talking about him. Because it’s her fault he's not here today.

“Autumn-Rose.” Poppy shouts, stopping my mom from saying anything to me, and I look over at Poppy on the ice, to her teacher who’s again fallen. What type of fucking skater is she?

Twice she’s fallen on the ice now. I watch the woman getting back up and skating over to us. Turning my attention back to mom, I hear the woman talking. I block out what my mom is saying to me, while I listen to the woman’s British accent which has taken my attention away from everything around me.

“This is Mr. Cain.” I glance over at Meadow, who knows very well I do not want to be part of this conversation.

“Hi, I’m Autumn-Rose.” She puts her hand out for me, and I stare at it as I fight the pull in my hand to get out of my pocket and shake her hand, just to touch her, even though I don’t want to. Without even thinking about it, I pull my hand out of my pocket, but keep it at my side. I feel a shockwave move through it a few times, making it twitch.

Feeling my mom push my arm hard enough so it comes out in front of me, I take her hand in mine and say, “Hello.”

Three seconds. Three seconds is all it takes for her to pull her hand out of my grip, and the cold air hits the back of my neck again, and the voice in my head whispers. Faith.

Her body tenses up, and she quickly looks behind as the door slams shut. It makes me take a quick scan of the rink to see if anyone has come in or not. What has her so on edge and jumpy, to the point you can see the fear in her eyes?

“Is there anything else?” I ask my mom, ignoring the stupid voice in my head.

“Dinner, tomorrow-”

“I’m away for two nights. Work.” I glance over at Logan when he makes a comment. He might be my half-brother and for the sake of mom, I’m trying with him. But he’s making it hard not to finally punch him in the face.

I’ve tried everything, helped him and his friends when they needed it. Without me, they would have nothing on his dad, and Travis wouldn’t have his girl right now. And what do I get for it?

Fucking nothing. It’s got to the point now that if he wants to talk to me, he can. If he doesn’t, I don’t care.

“O…okay, call me when you get back.” I hate it when she uses the voice of disappointment. She knows why I have to keep her away at a distance. It may not be the whole truth, but she knows enough to understand part of the reason. Saying bye to mom, and giving Logan a nod, I make my way out of the rink. Messaging Lincoln I let him know I’m on my way to The Pit. Not sure what’s happening to me, I stop by the door and look over at the rink once more. Watching Autumn-Rose move around the ice like a swan moving in the water is so smooth, so beautiful. Her name suits her, she looks as fragile as a rose, and when the door slams again I watch as she falls.

I fight whatever force or pull has me standing here watching her. There is nothing for me here. No-one so pure deserves to have my darkness around them. My darkness already took someone from me, and it will never happen again. Never.