Darkness

20. Cain

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.

I don’t care who I have to fight, or who I have to kill. This place will be mine.

“ Rose.” The words whisper around me, pulling me out of the past. “Rose.”

Fucking hell, my head hasn’t been this bad in a long time. It feels like I have a million little people in there, all hitting my head with a hammer. The lights in the club have been making my eyes burn. The noise is too much for me today.

Standing at the back of the room I bang my head on the wall a few times, anything to ease the fucking pain I’m suffering at the moment. I hear the music hit my office when the door opens.

“Uncle David, what brings you here today?” I ask him, not even turning around to see who it is.

“I find it creepy that you know it’s me without me even saying a word.” Not replying to him, I lean my head on the wall for a few minutes. When you’re stuck in a room for so long, you learn to know how people sound when they walk, or smell. Uncle David always walks with heavy feet. “Black out blinds, hitting your head on the wall. Your head must be terrible today.”

“If I could rip it open, I would.” I turn around to face him, and I hate when he looks at me like that. The look of which always says one thing. ‘I wish I could have protected you, but I let you and my brother down.’ . Rubbing my eyes, I take two tablets. Uncle David takes the container to look inside, before he can say anything about there not being enough in there because I have taken one too many, I say, “Everything okay?” I sit down in the dark room, which is only lit up by the lamp in the corner of my office.

“Yes. You’ve been avoiding me since I came back from England.” I’ve been avoiding him because I know what the conversation will be when I see him. “So what’s her name?”

Today is not the day I want to have this conversation, and it’s only five in the evening. The club just opened, and all I want to do is hit something.

“Cain-”

“Her name is Autumn-Rose. She owns the flower shop by mom’s bakery. She is British, but lives here. Had a fucked up stalker in England, and to escape the man who became obsessed with her, she moved here with a new alias, only talks to her parents once a week for three minutes on a burner cell. She lives across the road from me. I do like her a lot, no she doesn’t know about The Pit, and I’ve told her I don’t want anyone to know about her. She is Poppy’s skating instructor, so mom has met her but doesn’t know about anything else.” I snap with a direct to the point answer. He knows I’m not in the mood, he knows anything would piss me off, but I also know the man well enough. The man might not realize it, but he

is more like grandad than he knows. Once they have something on their minds, they won’t stop until they get answers.

“I take it you’re already looking into this man?”

“I am,” I say, pressing my palms into my eyes hoping it will ease the pain, but I’m not that fucking lucky.

“Are you hiding her from your family or others?” God save me from all the questions.

Leaning back in my chair, I stare at Uncle David, because he already knows the answer to his question. “Others. If I think anyone is in danger, you know I will talk to you.”

“Good, you’re coming over for dinner with Autumn-Rose, yes your mother will be there, and no, I’m not taking no for an answer.” Not breaking eye contact with him, ad I shake my head slightly. Does he really think I’m in the mood to be around people? Especially my mother. I’m on a short fuse already. Being around her isn’t the best move. “We will all be there. I will talk to your mom, and it’s better Autumn-Rose knows who your family is. Cain, we are your family.”

“I know you’re my family, you know why-”

“Cain, until you talk to your mom about what’s going on in your head, she will not know how to fix it.” Uncle David leans forward and drinks the rest of the whiskey, knowing as soon as he leaves my office, I’ll refill it.

“I don’t think she wants to know what I have to say,” I tell him. I know I should talk to her, and it’s not because I don’t even want to let her know the truth, it’s more a conversation I can’t be bothered having.

“Be at the house by seven.” He gets up and walks towards the door, but stops and turns to face me. “Cain, if anyone deserves a woman next to them, it’s you.”

Fucking great, a family dinner which I didn’t even want, with a family Autumn-Rose knows nothing about. This is going to be very close to hell.

Autumn has changed six times. I’ve told her she looks amazing in everything. She has met my mom before, so I’m not sure what she is worried about.

“What about this?” She walks out of her bedroom in a pink floral summer dress. “Or do you think the blue one will be better?”

I walk over to her, placing my hands on her hips. “You listen to me. You are fucking beautiful. If you wear a brown paper bag, you are still the sexiest woman in the world. No one is going to hate you, fuck they will love you. But we should get going.” We are not making it for seven, and even if I message Uncle David to explain, he will still find a way to blame me for being late.

“Okay, let me get the flowers and the bottle of wine. Your aunt likes red wine?”

“Aunt Jane will be happy with everything you have for her.” I hold the smile spreading across my lips.

“You think it’s too much? I don’t want them to hate me.” She looks through her bag of things she has brought to take with us. “She’s not allergic to anything, is she? Or do you think…I’m nervous. Just this morning, I knew nothing about anyone in your family, and now I’m meeting your Uncle and Aunt, and found out Miles and Hayden are your cousins, which, if you ask me, is the same as a brother, so I was right. Will your dad be there, too?” she asks as she continues to look through her bag.

I didn’t have enough time to tell her everything about my family. I picked her up from work and told her where we are going, and since then it’s been crazy with her getting things for my aunt. I told her a few bullet points about the family, but skipped anything about my dad.

I take her hand in mine so she listens to what I’m about to tell her. “Autumn-Rose, my dad was killed when I was eight. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Yes, I’m still angry about it, yes, I watched my father be killed. I’ve nothing else to say.” I see the water build in her eyes. Not letting her say anything, I lean down to give her a kiss. “To get the good mood back, you’ll meet all the cousins today. Not one of them is going to miss me bringing you over for dinner.”

“Why have you never taken a girlfriend over?” Autumn asks, picking up the bag and flowers, and I open the door to her apartment, hoping she will get out now.

“No. Come on, if Uncle David calls me I’m giving you the cell. You can explain why we are late.” I take the bag from her and walk to the car.

“Don’t blame me, please don’t blame me.” She links her arm with mine. “And I can’t lie and say it was you. I’ll laugh then-”

“Calm down, I’ll take the blame.” Opening the car door for her, I place the bag in the back and get ready for a family dinner I still don’t want. My head hasn’t gotten better, and it’s taking everything in me to make sure I don’t snap at anyone. Even Autumn was pushing it today with how long she was taking to get ready. Before getting in the car, I take a deep breath in to prepare for the evening.

Not knocking on the door, I walk into the house, which Autumn is not happy about, but I tell her I do it all the time.

“Fuck off.” I hear Mason and Miles arguing in the kitchen.

“Mom said it was mine,” Miles shouts at him, and I shake my head. I can already see they’re fighting over Aunt Jane’s cupcakes.

“You think mom gives you everything,” Mason snaps at him, but then goes silent when I walk into the kitchen. “So, this is the beautiful English Rose,” Mason walks over to her, and puts out his hand for her, which she gives him, and he kisses the top of her hand. If only she knew what he was really like. “I honestly thought my brothers were lying to me. There was no way Cain was going to get someone like you.” Mason turns to me when I tell him to fuck off, laughing he turns back to Autumn. “You let that mouth kiss you. Dirty things come out of it.”

“Go away.” I push him away from her, and she laughs.

“Everyone warned me about you. You live up to your reputation.” Autumn looks around for everyone else.

“This is Mason, you already know Miles and Hayden-”

“I’m still pissed they got to meet her before me,” Mason argues with me.

“I should have been the first one to meet her.” I look over at the door when Aunt Jane walks through it.

“This is Aunt Jane, Uncle David, Declan and Lileah, and you’ve already met mom.” I point to each one of them, and Aunt Jane is the first one to come hug Autumn.

“I got you this. Thank you for inviting us to dinner.” Autumn hands her the bag and flowers, and I look over at Miles and Mason, both laughing.

“It wasn’t an invitation. It was more of a demand. There was no way he was going to bring you here otherwise,” Miles tells her, and she looks at me, but I keep my expression straight, and I know she hates it when she can’t read me.

“You two shut up,” Uncle David tells them, I join Hayden by the bar stool and leave Autumn with them, because they will ask her questions all night long. “You are beautiful, it’s so nice to meet you.” He leans in and kisses her cheek, then my mom hugs her.

“I can’t believe I never knew,” I hear my mom.

“I didn’t want anyone to know. Don’t blame her, blame me.” I quickly reply, mom will not make her feel guilty about not telling her when Autumn was training with Poppy.

Mom looks over at me and shakes her head. “I wouldn’t blame her. I knew it was you.”

Not saying anything to her, I look at Declan and smile. “You look tired. How is training going?” I ask him.

“You know I told them about it, and the three of them said I’m getting it worse. Why?” Declan snaps, and I have to laugh with the other three. “The baby of the family should never be picked on.”

“Good job you’re not the baby. Lileah is two minutes younger than you.” Mason reminds him.

“It will make you better at your job, than these three.” I get up and walk over to Uncle David when he pours me a whiskey. God, do I need this.

“How’s the head?”

“Does it matter? You made me come here.” I slam down the drink, and put the glass back on the table for him to pour again.

“She looks like a nice girl, not sure what she’s doing with you,” he says with a laugh, and I turn around watching her talking to mom, aunt Jane and Lileah.

“I have no idea myself.”

“Cain, why did you let her bring all this?” Aunt Jane shouts at me, “we only wanted her to come so we could meet her.” She puts the things from the bag on the counter, and the four of them look over to see what she’s brought. I don’t even know half the stuff in there.

“I told her-” I stop talking when my cell rings, and I walk out to the garden already knowing it’s Lincoln. “Hello.”

“He’s here again. I’ve told him you’re out. He said he’s not leaving until he sees you,” Lincoln tells me.

My body straightens. Two nights in a row he’s been to the club. It’s either he has something on me so he can get his son out, or he will talk about making an offer to get him out. Either way, I’m not going to the club to see him. He can wait until I’m ready to talk to him.

“I checked his laptop last night. Nothing but me and you on it. I’ve not seen Autumn, on there, or the family. You think he knows we’ve hacked it?” I ask him, because if he had something on me, it would be there. “The man is old school, he might have nothing on there, I’m sure it’s only his grand-kids and nephews on the laptop.”

“Should I leave him again?”

“Yes, he can stay there until we close. Heis going to keep coming until he sees me. I need to know what he knows about me first.” I tell Lincoln, hearing the door behind me open and close.

“I’m watching him.” The line goes dead. Before I turn to face my uncle, I take a deep breath because I know there will be questions, and I’m not in the mood to answer them. Especially now, because that fucking family knows something, and they will make their move when I least expect it.

“Cain.” I turn to face him, and he just watches me for a moment, not saying anything. “Is someone coming for you?” The question I have about five different answers for, but I go with the one which shouldn’t have too many questions.“I always have a family coming for me. Shall we go have dinner?” I say, walking past him back into the house, because he has questions and I’m hoping he keeps them to himself while I’m with Autumn.

Walking over to Autumn, she leans in closer to me, and I feel her body relax against mine. “Everything okay?” she asks, and I smile, looking down at her, but I take her hand in mine, and look at the band-aid around her finger. It wasn’t there when we left her apartment. “I cut it on the paper. Don’t know how? I don’t have the answer to that one.”

Not saying anything to her, I look over at my uncle as I can feel him burning me with his stare. “What do they want? Or should I ask who?”

“I’m not having this conversation-”

“You never want to have this conversation.” I pull away from Autumn, not wanting her to feel my body tensing up because I’m angry. I was already pissed off, but now I’m on a whole different level.

My hands are in my pocket, eyes locked on my uncle. “Aunt Jane, you want to show Autumn-Rose the ideas you have for the charity event. I’m sure she would have some ideas about the flowers.” I ask, not looking at her, staring at Uncle David. I feel Autumn’s hand on my arm. “Won’t be long,” I whisper, giving her cheek a kiss.

I wait for them to leave the room, hearing the boys behind me. “He wants his son. I won’t let him go because The Pit is where that little bastard will die, and there is nothing that’s going to change my mind.” I’m the first to speak, mostly because I’m not in the mood to hear what he has to ask me. “And, no, I won’t let him out if it means everyone is safe. Like you always tell me, ‘We can look after ourselves,’ you might have to, because the bastard will die in The Pit, and I’m the one who’s going to kill him.”

“When it comes to The Pit, I’ve never asked, and never thought you were doing something wrong. Tell me why you won’t let him go if it means keeping the family safe, and maybe your girl-”

“Don’t.” I stop him from even mentioning Autumn. I know what this means and for him to think I don’t is messed up. “The man who wants his son is the man who killed Grandad. I don’t want to talk anymore.” I walk out of the kitchen, as the pain in my head is shooting to the front of my eyes, and the light is making it worse.

“Cain?”

“Uncle David, I’m not in the fucking mood.” I walk out of the kitchen and hear Autumn laughing at something my mom has said to her.

“Cain, your aunt has invited us to the charity event at the weekend. I’d love to go. It’s been so long since I’ve dressed up.” While Autumn talks, I look over her shoulder at my aunt, smiling.

“I already said no to it,” I tell my aunt.

“I know you did, but you can’t say no to Autumn-Rose.” Aunt Jane walks closer to me, patting my arm. “I can see it in your eyes.”

I look at Autumn looking between myself and my aunt, then smile when she sees me watching her. “We don’t have to go.”

“Do you want to go?” I ask.

“Only if you do.” Autumn takes a step closer to me and kisses me softly on the lips.

“You might need to go shopping,” I tell her, and the smile gets bigger.

How can this woman make me feel so at peace, so different? It was nothing like this with Tess, but, I stop the thoughts going through my head and take a step back from her.

“Autumn-Rose, we’ve found the soft spot for Mr. Cold Hearted. Can you ask him if we can have a party on the sixth floor?” Mason asks, Miles agreeing with him.

“Not fucking happening. You’re lucky you get to go in there at all. I can stop-”

“No, won’t ask again.” Miles cuts me off.

Walking to the corner of the dining table, and turning the lamp off, I ask Uncle David to turn the one off by him, too. I take two tablets out of the container and take them in one go. I need something to get through this dinner without losing it.