Little Dark One

32 - solace

Keira
I woke to a muffled ringing somewhere in the dark room. Tommy was spread out against me with one arm across my chest and his hand still cupping my neck. I have no way of knowing how long we've been asleep, it could have been hours or just a few minutes.

The ringing persisted and I knew I would have to seek it out or risk Tommy waking up. He was so exhausted, I knew he needed this uninterrupted time to revitalize himself. I had a strong sense that running this massive gang took more from him than he let on. He always had dark shadows under his eyes and a depleted aura. I couldn't even begin to imagine what he goes through every day and night, I know I couldn't handle seeing death and destruction on the daily, let alone lead the charge.

I often find myself forgetting what kind of fucked up life I walked into with Tommy and the Revenants.

I was drinking mimosas at brunch just a few weeks ago, my biggest worry was impressing my new boss and succeeding at my dream job, a career I've now lost all chances of pursuing. I just started dating again and had finally learned healthy ways to cope with the mental illness that had taken over my life for three years. For the first time in my life I was excited to see where my future would take me.

Now, everything has changed. I can feel myself slowly spiraling into a dark hole and I don't know if I'll be able to climb out next time I reach the bottom. Any sense of stability that I constantly crave is impossible, and my safety is questionable. No matter what promises Tommy may make, there are always going to be scenarios that are out of his control. Tommy can't protect me from everything and most of all, he can't protect me from myself.

I unwrapped his fingers from my neck and very carefully slid out from under his arm, unable to cope with the incessant ringing anymore. I froze at the edge of the bed, watching his features for any sign of waking but he remained peacefully unaware of his surroundings. I thanked my lucky stars for the marble flooring because there was no way he'd sleep through creaky floorboards.

I crawled across the floor in nothing but my lace panties and traced the ringing to his pile of clothes at the end of the bed. The stupid ringing stopped right as I dug his phone out of his sweatpants. Hesitantly, I tapped and his lock screen illuminated displaying 3 missed calls and a text from Blaze.

Yo boss, the package you asked for arrived. Where you at?

I found myself wondering what the package could be. It was probably something like drugs or illegal weapons. Something I wouldn't want anything to do with but my curiosity wouldn't want to let it go.

A knock at the door startled me and I dropped his phone back onto the pile of dark clothes. I grabbed the closest piece of clothing which ended up being Tommy's oversized sweatshirt and pulled it over my head. Someone knocked again and I knew it was Blaze coming for him. Somehow Tommy managed to remain deep in serene sleep, so I padded to the door to intercept his incredibly disruptive right hand man before that changed. Based on the timestamp on Tommy's phone, we've only been asleep for about an hour, if he woke up now he'd only be more exhausted.

I slowly cracked open the door and met Blaze's dark eyes.

"Keira?" he was visibly shocked to see me peeking out of Tommy's dark room with nothing but his sweatshirt on. I avoided eye contact, slightly embarrassed.

"Shh, he just fell asleep." I held my thin finger to my lips and whispered before deciding to just slip out and close the door gently behind me.

"Knox is sleeping?" Blaze asked, shock flooding his features.

"Um yeah, how bad do you need him? I really don't want to wake him up yet. He was exhausted."

A small smile graced Blaze's perfect features and he cocked his head at me. "I guess I can handle it until he's awake."