A Heart of Darkness

Chapter 8. His Caged Bird

"I don't like this, Kaylee, don't like it one bit." Brandon argued as he stood over her in the privacy of their bedroom the next morning. "You're making me late for work...I thought last night was the end of this discussion. We made up and made love and went to sleep happy and peaceful, Why are you trying to start another argument between us?"

"You thought this was over? No Brandon this is the very beginning of our new lives together. Last night was so many things. It was a scary and beautiful at the same time. We were able to open up to each other and really talk about our feelings, especially me. I felt so relieved afterwards."

"Then let's leave it that way. Why mess up a good thing, Kaylee?"

"No more secrets, Brandon! You're not going to work today. You're going to stay home and explain to me exactly what you do and who you do it to..."

Brandon shook his head and cross his arms stubbornly. "You don't need to know this, baby."

Kayla stood up from the bed and faced him. "Look Brandon, it's already been established that I will never leave you. You also told me you needed me around to make you a better person. I can't do that if I don't know what's going on! We are now in this together. Do you want to get married and have kids or not?"

"That's not fair, Kaylee and you know it..."

"No more secrets!"

"You're too innocent for this, baby..." Brandon said reluctantly.

"My innocence left me last night when you murdered a man in cold-blood in front of me. You were in pure rage and out of control and I couldn't stop you."

"And you never will when your life is threatened," Brandon warned her.

"Okay, let's go about this a different way. "Where is the kid you kept prisoner after he tried to rob me?"

"He's locked up in some warehouse tied to a chair paying for his crime. Don't worry, he's well fed, even have a TV to watch."

"How nice of you," Kaylee said dryly.

"I thought about you when I gave him the TV," Brandon said proudly. "See, I'm changing already."

"You're still holding him against his will. You still have him tied to a chair...."

"I'm not setting that rascal free, Kaylee. He's mine now. I was thinking about using him to help you run errands..."

"Excuse me?"

"You can't do everything by yourself here. You need help."

"I've been doing just fine here without any help," Kaylee pointed out.

"He can help you with grocery shopping, clean the house, practically be your servant as payment for trying to take something from you," Brandon continued.

"You mean my slave..." Kaylee narrowed her eyes at him.

"Servant sounds so much better."

"Even I know if you let this kid in the house and around me...he'll never get his freedom back. He'd know too much."

"He lost his freedom the moment he stole from you. As I said before, I wasn't planning on giving it back to him."

"And what does his parents have to say about this?"

Brandon shrugged. "He's homeless...doesn't have parents...doesn't have family. He said he stole from you because he was hungry. He wasn't trying to harm you."

"Wait..." Kaylee paused in complete confusion and shook her head. "So instead of letting him go back on the streets you're giving him a place to stay...with us..."