His Demand

.18.

The Room

I jerked up and took note of the time it was 3am. I heard loud sobbing coming from further into the house. I got up and walked to the end of the hall I looked off the banister to see Kaiden. He was on the floor on his knees and a broken bottle of wine on the marble floor. I ran down the stairs to him to make sure he wasn't injured at all. "Kaiden are you okay?" I asked half awake a whole lot calmer than I was earlier. Kaiden was crying his face red and his face soaked in tears. "I'm such a fuck up" He slurred his words telling me he was probably drunk and by how he was acting he was blacked out. 

"No you're not Kaiden listen it's been a long day you need to get some sleep. We can talk about this in the morning." I tried to comfort him. But he wouldn't stop shaking his head. "I wasn't there Dani! I wasn't there when she needed me the most. I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most!" He said not making any sense. Clearly I was not going to get him into bed in this condition anytime soon so I decided to listen to him and hear him out. "Kaiden you're here for me it's okay I'm right here." I said to him to comfort him I reached down to touch him but he acted as if I burned his skin.

"She's dead! Because I wasn't there! If you stay around me long enough you will be too! You were already almost killed by that stupid snake." This is the moment I realize that Kaiden's wall is completely down and I am able to see the stress he has towards me and my wellbeing. How much all the events happening since we started being around each other stressed him out. "They will hurt you these people will hurt you and I don't know how to keep them away!" Kaiden cried into his hands. "I can't let her drive. I can't let her drink. I can't let her go out with her friends. Because there's people." 

I just listened to his cries it was breaking my heart to see him in this condition. Mainly because I knew this was the true him and a side of him I haven't ever seen before. "They were drunk! They all were drunk! They didn't know how to help her. I was drunk I didn't know how to help her. Bad things happen when we drink. Bad things happen when I'm around" Kaiden cried. I shook my head at him. "What are you talking about Kaiden?" I asked softly not understanding what he is trying to say. He stood up way too quickly stumbling along the way but yet there was something in his drunkenness that still seemed to be graceful. 

The way he stood up and regained his balance then you wouldn't have ever been able to see that he was drunk as if he has practiced walking while drunk before. Kaiden grabbed my hand and lead me upstairs. "You kept asking me about my past I told you not to ask about Sophie and you did I asked you not to drink and you did!" He walked straight to that mystery room. He pulled out his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. "I kept on asking you to not doing things not because I wanted to but because I knew the outcome of reckless actions."

We walked in he walked to the middle of the room and fell to his knees crying. I flicked on the lights and stared at the room in awe. He sobbed on the floor looking around the room as if he hasn't been here in months. Which by the looks of his desperation he probably hasn't seen it in months. "This is what I've been hiding from you... my ugly past Denali. I wanted to build a new life with you and forget it all happened but I can't... I just can't. Sophie will just keep haunting me" I shook my head looking at the room still not quite understanding what is going on. "Kaiden you need tell me everything from the beginning no lies just the truth." I said slowly and carefully so I knew he understood me.

He took a deep breath several times trying to calm down and he closed his eyes as if he was remembering something long ago. "I love her. She was my world. She was the only thing that mattered in my little work. We were young and dumb and had way too much money to blow. We drank all the time and partied together. We often would go to the club even on work nights. But 5 years ago me and Sophie were out with our friends a couple me and her were close to were getting married so she was out at the bachelorette party I was at the grooms party of course. I thought it was okay to drink we had a ride lined up for the group for when we all were drunk. I had called her and asked her what club they were at before we got too wasted in case something happened I knew where she was."