Lady and the Hitman (fallen tales series)

Chapter 44

Chapter 44
Lilly
I walked down the streets of Hackney, feeling heavy with the weight of everything that lied on my shoulders. I kept playing the conversation over and over in my head, picking out parts that meant something to me.
Marcus' family wasn't the supportive family in the world, especially his father.
So when he found a way to improve his playing, he took it.
Marcus had never been an honest person and he almost always thought of himself.
And when he came to my home a week ago, I thought that something had to be in it for him. That was until two nights ago when I found him across the road from your house.
He said that if he can right one wrong in his life than maybe the universe would keep you safe...from him
And I thinks that what you're really afraid of. That if that person was fake, then you can hate him forever and move on. But if it wasn't, then you're afraid that you will always have feelings for him even though you're horrified by his –
I knew that past was the word he was going to say. He was right. I was horrified by his past. Drugs, killing people, torturing people, prison. Things from my night terrors he lived.
I shook the thought away, trying to put one foot in front of the other. The background noises all around me didn't bother me anymore. I just held onto my letter and kept walking.
I looked up at the sight of Marcus' warehouse. The same time my foot hit the ground, the same time something knocked me over.
BANG!
The force of the explosion was enough to haul me to the road. I felt myself turning and a wave of heat hitting me. Flying pieces of rubble hit me as if it was raining. After a few moments I found the strength to lift my head and see what had happened. A ball of flames escaped through the second floor windows and the heat was enough for me to bury my head in my arms again. Slowly the realisation of what had happened began to come to me.
Marcus' warehouse just went up in flames. My heart started to race as I realized what this meant. I found my way onto my feet and started to run towards the burning building. My mouth tasted of copper and my mind was going crazy.
Oh my God, Marcus is dead, Marcus is –
"Pigeon?"
I froze when I got to the door. I thought it was just my imagination but the voice seemed far too real to ignore. I slowly turned around and saw his gobsmacked face as he looked upon his home. Without control of my brain, my legs started to run. It was like everything was in slow motion. I couldn't get to him fast enough. But when I did, his arms welcomed me and held me tighter than I had ever been held. I buried my face in his chest, feeling so overwhelmed by his touch. My body grew hot from the burning fire behind me and I couldn't sense the danger that was around me. All I could sense was the feel of Marcus around me. A feeling I had missed.

Marcus
"I don't understand, why did a five year old blow up your warehouse?" Lilly whispered as we climbed through her bedroom window at nine o'clock at night. Her room was dark which made it hard to dodge things that were on her desk but we made it through unscathed. I through my bag through the window before I followed it and said, "I'll explain that later but for –."
"Wait, I didn't see a five year old come out of the building," she stated.
I was silent not wanting to tell her the answer. I didn't see him come out of the building either. My silence gave her, her answer and she gave a horrified cry.
"Shh, Lilly, it's okay. He's probably better off that way," I said believing it was true but probably wasn't the best thing to say.
"Where's the first aid kit?" I asked as Lilly sat down in her desk chair.
"In the bathroom cabinet," she said, her voice growing shaky.
I tried not to focus on that and moved towards the door. The hall light was on, giving me some light. I checked both sides of me before I ventured off down the hall and into the bathroom on my right. Turning on the light, I made a beeline for the cabinet and searched through it till I found the red bag that said First Aid. I turned off the light and checked if the close was clear before I returned to Lilly's dark room. I could hear her crying which made my heart break. I knew that I should be a little bit sad for the kid dying, but the bottom line was that he was just another one of Isaac's tool.
Remembering that there was a desk lamp on the desk, I reached over for it, fumbling for the switch and brought a little light to the room. A breath caught in my throat when I looked at her. This had been the closest I come to her in weeks. She had dirt all over her and her right cheek, the right side of her neck were red from the heat of the explosion. Through her torn sleeve I could see that her arm had also been burnt as well. She also had a small cut just under her hairline from the rubble. Two small tears escaped her eyes as she tried to avoid eye connect with me. I swallowed feeling as if my heart would stop beating if she didn't look at me soon.
I sighed, kneeling and opened the first aid kit. I found cream for burns and squirted a little on my fingertips.
"This is going to help the burns in the morning, okay?" I told her.
I waited till she nodded before I placed some on her arm. She sat very still, allowing me to rub her arm till the cream had sunk into her skin.
"Patrick came and talked to me today," she told me sniffing a little.
I paused at the thought of Patrick doing that then smile knowing that he probably couldn't help himself.
Putting more cream on my fingers and rubbing it into her neck, I asked, "What did he tell you?"
She shrugged, "he told me that you two were best friends, that your family weren't really supportive so that's why you took drugs. He also told me that you were the one that gave him those scars."
I swallowed and nodded, putting the last lot of cream on my fingers. I cradled her head with my hand and careful touched her cheek with the cream. She winched at the coldness but finally her eyes locked onto mine.
"Is it true?" she asked even though she knew it was.
It was my turn to avoid her eyes.
"Everything he told you would have been true," I said now taking tissues for her cut forehead.
"What about the part where he said he had found you outside my house the other night?"
I froze, not knowing what to say. Patrick had already told her so anything I said to make out that I wasn't there she would know that I would be lying.
"I was outside of your house a couple of nights ago, yes," I admitted.
"Why?"
Her voice was so uneven that I forced myself to meet her eyes. To my surprise she wasn't crying.
"B-because, I was making sure that you were safe."
"And what about righting your wrongs to keep me safe?"
I swallowed as I began to fear how much Patrick had told her. From the looks of things, he didn't hold back. I stopped what I was doing and forced myself to look into her big, blue, puppy dog eyes.
"Like I said, everything that Patrick said would have been true."
She swallowed and nodded. She looked too overwhelmed to speak anymore. I sighed and stood, freezing when she stopped me.
"Marcus," she quickly said making me go back on my knees.
I frowned when I watched her put cream on her finger tips and slowly start to rub it against my jaw and neck. I hadn't realized that I had gotten burnt at all. I wasn't that close to the blaze like Lilly was and had pretty much saw it coming. But the coolness of the cream and the soft and gently way she touched me was like a drug. I had missed the feel of her skin against mine and it was only now that I realized how much I ached for it. I watched her carefully as she pushed away the chair and moved onto her knees. My mind started to go crazy on the idea that every breath I took had been in her body once. Slowly my lips inched closer to hers and my hand found its way to her nape. I was just about to take her lips in mine when she said, "I need to get changed."
I frowned and slowly processed what she had said.
"Okay?"
"You can't watch me get changed," she pulled back making my heart scream and my mind go crazy.
"Lilly, I've seen you –."
"But that was different, we were together then," she quickly said moving onto her feet. I did the same.
"Just please Marcus, just stand over there," she pointed to the corner of the room.
I scoffed feeling like a little kid being sent to the naughty corner and being teased as I listened to her get changed. I heard her groaned a couple of times and I realized that the force of the explosion could have hurt her as well.
"Okay, you can turn around now," being given the okay, I turned around and moved over to the bed.
A smirk formed on my lips when I saw her in pink flannelette pjamas. She noticed my staring and said, "What?"
I quickly stook my head trying to make the smirk disappeared but it didn't.
Feeling a sense of Deja Du, I asked, "So, should we put a pillow in between us."
She covered her giggle with a cough and said, "Only if you can say on your side of the bed."
I chuckled climbing in next to her.
"Oh, Pigeon, you know that I don't work like that."
She giggled again but with a stern voice said, "I'm serious Marcus, no funny business."
I smiled knowing that she had probably heard that line off a movie or something, but agreed anyway. There was a silence before I heard her near whisper voice, "Marcus?"
"Yes, Pigeon?"
"Can you count sheep, please?"
I smiled as my heart seemed to warm at that. I turned onto my side, ignoring the muscle pain I got. I suppose the force of the explosion had also affected me as well.
"Of course, Pige. One sheep...two sheep...three sheep."