Night Prowler

Chapter 21

It had been a week since the loss of Tracey and since his house went down in flames. Reece had spent the entire week hiding away and not speaking to anyone, it was when he felt like his skin was crawling that he left the bedroom and made a beeline to the shower. It felt like a lot of effort getting up for that shower, but if he didn't do it sooner or later, he thought his BO would stink up the whole of Healesville. The feeling of getting up for the shower was exhausting, but the hot running water washing over his body felt amazing, that good that Reece ended up dropping down onto the shower tiles and sitting there with the water hitting the back of his head. He stayed there with the water running on him for what felt like hours, or at least until the water went stone cold and Reece decided it was time to get out. As he dried himself down and stared at the mirror on the wall, he noted how terrible he looked. He had been sleeping pretty much non-stop, but he still had big black bags under his eyes and rather than looking pretty clean shaven, his facial hair had grown significantly. It would have been coming on a week an a half to two weeks since he last shaved and it was obvious when looking at his reflection. In Reece's mind, he looked like a mess. But that suited how he felt on the inside. Walking out with the towel wrapped around his hips, and his stinking clothes in his right arm, Reece came face to face with his father who was standing in the kitchen.

"Can I use your washing machine?" Asked Reece in a low tone of voice.

Boyd didn't answer at first, which had Reece turning around to face him. "You doing alright?" Boyd asked, raising an eyebrow at his son.

Reece's eyes dropped from his father and he gazed down at the clothes in his arm. Reece was not alright, he was far from alright. But he was hanging on by the small thread he had, which he was banking on committing a murder. He was going to get his revenge, it was only just a matter of time.

"I'm using your washing machine, these fucking stink." Reece replies, ignoring his father's question and wandering into the laundry.

Throwing his clothes into the washing machine and adding the powder, he heard his father grab a bag and follow him into the laundry. When Reece started a quick wash, he turned around to his father handing him the bag. It wasn't just a bag, it was a big black rubbish bag full of god knows what. With a frown, Reece grabbed the bag off his father and looked in to see it full of clothes and on top of it was a charger for his phone.

"They should fit, if not they can be taken back." Boyd explains. "Charge your phone, I'm not the only one who has been trying to get through to you."

Reece simply nods his head and pushes pass his father, but stops when he felt his father touch his shoulder. "Reece, you know you can talk to me about this... I get how much it hurts." Boyd's brown eyes looked at his son's face. "You look like shit, by the way."

"Thanks." Reece mumbles, turning his head away and continuing on his way.

"Club meeting in a couple, you should be there." Boyd announces when Reece disappeared around the corner.

Reece didn't want to go, especially since that meant going somewhere. He also didn't want to go through the whole 'I'm so sorry, Reece' and 'My condolences'. Any of that bullshit, he wasn't ready for it. This was still new to him and it wasn't easy adjusting to any of it. He thought he could protect her and that ended up being a complete lie. The truth was, he was the reason she was dead. If he hadn't of met her, she would still be alive and in her home back at Warragul. Even if it meant he would have never met her or got to experience having a mate, he would take it all back just so she was living and breathing. Anything was better than this and he would give up his happiness just to know she was alive, safe and sound. Walking back into the bedroom, Reece scrunched up his face at the scent of the bed linen. He knew he stunk, but he didn't realise it was this bad. Dropping the bag to one side, Reece stripped the bed and threw the bedsheets and doona cover onto the floor outside of the bedroom. That was the next load he was going to put on, but in the mean time he was going to go put his phone on charge and go through the bag of clothes his father had gotten him. There was nothing special about the clothes, just a few pairs of jeans, some shirts, underwear and of course socks. It was perfect for what he currently needed and he really was thankful, but he just wasn't in the best mind frame.