Hidden Behind Walls

Chapter 21: The Mansion at the Top of the Hill

We're at 37K! I couldn't update for Christmas but here it is! Thanks for reading, commenting and voting!

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Clayton P.O.V.

    I couldn't drive home. I physically could not turn the steering wheel to turn into my fucking neighborhood.  So I was basically loitering around my gated neighborhood at 9 at night. I decided my best idea would be to just crash at the mansion at the top of the hill. It was an easy drive up there, no cops or pedestrians. I was surprised to see warm yellow lights on in the house and not the flashing multicolored ones that emitted from Blaze's numerous parties up here. But that meant that someone was inside and if it wasn't Blaze throwing a party I don't know who I'd meet here. Still got out of the car though.

    The air was cold and I started to freeze over a little bit.  I took my duffel bag out the trunk and threw it over my shoulder.  I locked my car and started the trek up to the door. Hopefully, they'd fixed the heating at the mansion. The door was unlocked and it opened without a sound. I decided to wander through for a bit to see if even a part of the mansions was connected to electricity, and electricity = heat. It wasn't until I reached the west wing of the mansion that I reached a warm area. It was the kitchen and an adjacent bedroom, guess that's where a butler would sleep. I took a mental note of the area, and then went down the hallway determined to find the upstairs room with lights on. You never know who could be up there and my pretty good day had already turned sour. A death by homicidal home crasher would be the icing on top of the cake.

    I found a staircase behind one of the kitchens doors. Ascending the staircase, the steps creaked under my weight. I heard shuffling and there was a loud bang and a string of curses out of a familiar mouth. I turned the corner and cracked a grin when I saw Blaze nursing his bleeding thumb.

    "Jesus Blaze, What the hell are you even doing here?" I question leaning against the doorframe.

    "Well I got into a little bit of trouble with the Cops after that party I threw in honor of you, King Clay. So in the end rather than deal with trying to sweet talk the police...I just bought the place. The owners who were doing the revamping were calling it quits cause of you know...me. So I swooped in and pretended to be someone else taking it off their hands out of the good of my soul" he says with sly grin.

    "So you bought this whole place?" I say with a raised eyebrow.

    "Whole place...in cash" he says with a smirk. My amused face dropped quickly at that.

    "With what money Blaze" I ask quietly.

    "Things have changed since you left Clayton. You're looking at a kingpin now" Blaze explained as he wrapped a cloth over his wounded thumb. I could only stare at him with hollow eyes and a weak smile. He lit a cigarette, and blew out the smoke facing the, now open, window. I looked him over, he hadn't spiked his hair which made him not look himself, instead it was a curly mess pulled into a ponytail. He looked totally different and older. I had just saw him a few weeks ago but he looked like he'd seen some bad shit since then.

    "So, King Clay, what are you doing here?" he says. He doesn't look back at me, just stares off into space looking out the window.

    "Running away from my demons, as per usual" I say with a bitter laugh.

    "Oh, you know that never works" he says with a sigh.

    "I know" I respond quietly.  He takes another drag from his cigarette.

    "How's the princess doing?" he asks with a slight smile.

    "Prin--oh Raven" I say understanding his question.