Bianchi: Dark Knight

1:26

"Mr.Klein thank you for having me over tonight." Lennox and her mother seemed to be having some heated conversation. I wanted nothing more than to drag her out of the house and into my car. She wouldn't have wanted that. She would refuse me locking her away like a prisoner but it's seeming to be my last resort. Something is up with her and not just whatever rift is between her and her mother. That may be part of it but not the entire problem.

"My daughter likes you very much. Don't make me come after you young man. You better take good care of her. The same way I do her mother."

"I would love nothing more." Firmly he shakes my hand before going back into his house.

Dinner with the Klein's is different from what I'm used to, not in a bad way, just something other than what I am used to. I enjoyed myself up until the point Lennox came running into my arms with tears in her eyes. I've seen her like that in moments mostly when she's had a lot to drink. Tonight was nothing like that. My first thought was to throw her in my car and force her to tell me everything she's always holding back. We've made some progress with being open with each other but not enough. I know there is something going on that she's just not telling me. There are things you're keeping from her too. Whatever problems she is dealing with could be taken care of. My secret is a lifestyle, something that wouldn't change. Keeping it a secret is better than confronting it and her possibly leaving me. She wouldn't understand why I couldn't give it up, why I do the things that I do.

The living room light is on. Papers are neatly separated into piles on the glossy wood floors. Zaviano and Angelo both sit on the floor with their own system going. They're checking Milo's client list and approving or flagging the clients. Clients can be flagged for any number of reasons, if they have had a late payment on an order or even inconsistent purchases. Usually we're able to track how much of a product a client will use and how often to know when they'll need more. Since this is the Synd's first stint with us we don't have all of that information on their clients and have to use more creative methods from the information given. Once someone is flagged Angelo starts an investigation on them with a portfolio.

"How many?" I slip my jacket off before sitting on one of the cream sofas.

Right now I need work as a distraction. Thinking about the tears in her eyes and not being able to do anything to soothe them flusters me in ways I never considered. It unnerved me. She acted as if her feelings didn't matter, as if I wouldn't do anything in my power to fix whatever was wrong. No matter how big or small. Why did she believe so firmly that she had to suffer alone? When I first realized I wanted to be that safe space for her we didn't know each other. Now that isn't an excuse. We know each other too well. Too intimately. I've felt her skin on mine. Tasted every surface on her body like a man desperate for water. If she wouldn't open up to me knowing all that we do about each other I'm not sure if she ever would on her own. It isn't my right to push her into doing it. Still I'm considering it.

"How was dinner?" Angelo asked the question without even looking at me. The hole being burned into the side of my face is from Zaviano. The keen motherfucker could probably tell the night didn't go how I would have wanted. In no scenario did I ever picture the anguish that I saw on her face. If I did I would have never agreed to dinner. Lennox agonizes herself too much already.

"How many have been flagged?" I ignore his question with my own.

"What happened?" Zaviano abandons whatever he was looking at to stare at me.

I didn't want to talk about it. It only made me crazier than I already am. If I discussed it I would make a decision that would alter our relationship. Making that decision would give me the answers I wanted to know but at what costs? Nothing in life is free, getting my answers would mean losing something. While I knew that was a possibility I had hoped it wouldn't come to this. The measures I took were a last ditch effort, a just in case because I convinced myself she would confide in me. I didn't want to force her hand and steal her secrets but I refused to watch her suffer.