Dark Beauty

eight

I sat in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of coffee, the only background noise was the vacuums that were currently everywhere in my home. Not only did they get here within 10 minutes but there were at least five of them.

I believe that the two older women I recognized had informed the others of where they are permitted and where they aren't. So I left them to what I hired them for.

Greed was an awfully lovely thing, and monet only enhanced that.

I could feel it in my bones, I was ready for whatever tonight held. Whether it was answers or laying in the pool of my own blood, it didn't matter to me because both brought me an inch closer to her.

I hear the kitchen door swing open, before Axel comes and stands in the kitchen. I watched as he paced back and forth as if he was debating telling me something.

"I don't think this is a good idea," he confessed, resting his elbows on the counter, pushing his face into his hands.

"Why's that?" I questioned taking the last sip of my coffee.

"We don't even know if this is Megan or not. And if it's Megan we don't know what she wants or has been told to do. We are going into this blind Easton."

I stood up and placed my mug in the sink, "being blind is better than having nothing at all."

I could hear him let out a sigh before I walked out of the kitchen, his staggered footsteps trailed behind me, "are we taking the car?"

"Yes, everything is good, I checked it before driving it here, new plates and everything."

I turned to face him, "You don't have to come, Axel, you know that."

"I'm coming, I need and want to. I cannot lose another friend." He spoke softly before walking in front of me and out the door. I grabbed my jacket from the hanger, slipping my arms through it.

In the back of my mind when I closed the door I knew that they were still cleaning inside and I knew that Angie wouldn't go against what I have told her in the past, yet I don't trust the others. I guess I will find out when I come home if I need to fucking teach someone some manners.

The car is already started when I reach the bottom of the stairs, I open the passenger door and slide into the seat, before he floors it out of the driveway.

Axel was a reckless driver, but he was always safe about it. I have never seen him put someone else in danger, especially someone innocent.

The park isn't far from my house so when we pull up down the road with 10 minutes to spare, I'm thankful. Thankful that for the next 10 minutes my life can be the slightest amount of normal it could be, before it's completely destroyed all over again.

Veronica is coming tomorrow.

A woman I have no interest in marrying is coming to stay in my house. I'm being forced, maybe she is too, but that doesn't necessarily matter.

If she believes that we will have any relationship she might as well drop dead, because that will never happen.

I step out of the car and let the night-time breeze fly past me. It's quite cold for the beginning of November but it's a relief that my body isn't as heated as it just was.

Axel and I slowly start walking down the trail towards the park, I can feel the anxiety building up. This is the moment I have needed, the one moment where everything will make sense. My entire life will come together as a puzzle, yet there will always be that one piece missing.

I sit down on the single bench at the front of the park, pulling a baseball cap over my head, when a truck pulls in. It's dark, there are no lights inside it, and the ones on the outside are completely blinding.

I shield my eyes away from it before they turn off, and absolute silence surrounds us. I can sense Axel standing towards the treeline, out of sight.

All I can hear echoing through my mind is the footsteps on the pavement before they reach the grass, I look up from the ground I was looking at, meeting her face to face.

I watch as she pauses, I believe she knows it's me, but I don't think she is sure.

She takes staggered steps forward again before she stops completely. I watched her expression, she had always been good at hiding her emotions, but I could tell she was thinking of a way out.

Yet there was no way out Megan, not without going through me.

I watched as she looked over into the tree, spotting Axel which forced her to do what she didn't want to.

"Where's Dante?" She questioned letting out a sigh before sitting down next to me, which at the moment was her only right choice.

"Probably in the sewer where rats belong." I shrugged.

"Easton I'm not joking, where is he?" She questioned once again.

"Where the fuck have you been Megan?" I countered.

"You don't need to know Easton, it's none of your concern. Now answer my question, I have a time sensitive issue." she shot out.

"Where's her necklace?" I asked.

"It's gone, in some dumpster I assume," she shrugged tapping her foot. I could tell she was getting impatient.

"Just like Dante."

She rose from her seat beside me, walking away, "we aren't fucking done!" I yelled.

"We are, because I can't be here talking to you, I have a flight to catch," Megan replied, pushing me off of her, "And Easton, you're so much better than this."

It clicked, she's been in town for weeks. She had been tormenting me for weeks, and she showed up the night I was drunk to what? Torture me some more.

I gripped her wrist again which caused her to speak again, "you need to let this go, it's consuming you, it's not healthy. Let. Her. Go."

I sucked in a breath, the cold air hitting my lungs, 'Let. Her. Go.' I would never do that.

"I need fucking answers," I state pulling her back.

"Leave me the fuck alone or you're going to get yourself killed!" She yelled back.

"Good, someone fucking kill me," I yelled.

Before either of us were able to say anything else, Megan falls to the ground being caught by Axel. A gash on the side of her head, and his gun on the ground. "Are you going to just stand there or do you want answers?" He questioned looking up at me.