Modest Secrets - Larry Stylinson AU {Editing}

Chapter 45 - If breathing was this easy ...

If breathing was this easy ...

Dakota scrambled to her feet trying to get to Harry, tears rolled down her face and as she watched his body laying limp in the shadows of the moonlight she let out a choked cry. Blake was watching her and he laughed, manically as he inched closer.

Dakota tried to stand up but her legs were weak, she had been in Blake's firing line many times before but she had never been this afraid. There was something different in the way he moved, the way his eyes were filled with malice and his wicked grin never left his face.

Blood dripped from his crooked smile as he stepped closer, he was riddled with hate, fury but most of all sorrow. Dakota's mind raced, what had happened to lead her to this point? The silence on the roof was harrowing and as she tried to think of how to get away from him she found herself frozen in place. Her body shook with fear and she tried to hide her anxiety from him, he loved to taunt her.

Everything was a game to him, regretfully she looked back and wished she had seen him then how she saw him now; a power hungry, manipulative, psychopath.

"How did this happen?" she sobbed into her hands.

Visions of her life began to filter behind her lidded eyes as she listened to his heavy breathing. Everything she'd ever known was from Blake, he was her best friend, her lover and now what? Guiltily Dakota realised how Harry and Louis must have felt when everything they loved was torn away. Why did she allow herself to become this person?

Blake paced, mumbling to himself and she watched him. He was not the person she fell in love with. After her mother died he was there for her and he gave her all the love and attention she had never received. Blake gave her shelter and helped her through the hatred and despair over her mothers suicide, Dakota loved him for what he'd done. She had never known the warmth of a hug or the tenderness of a kiss... until she met Blake.

He was her knight in shining armour, he swept in when she was sobbing on the sidewalk outside of an L.A party and wrapped his arms around her. Back then Blake had a tender smile and always touched her as if she was made with glass, his fingers delicate and pure as they trailed along her skin. Two years they shared together and everything was perfect, she was happy and safe with Blake. He got a tattoo of her name over his heart, he always smiled at only her when she watched his band play.

Dakota felt her heart skip a beat every time his eyes would meet hers, they had everything. He was her world and she his. But something had broken, like a scratched record and one day everything fell apart. Blake got into the drug scene, he began taking heavy drugs and eventually she fell into that world too. Her friends started to fall away, her sister was a distant memory and everything she knew revolved around Blake. Like Louis was Harry's sunshine so too was Blake to Dakota.

She would disappear for days at a time into bed with Blake where they would make love and get high, taking trips no one would ever believe. She remembered fondly the way their limbs would effortlessly intertwine beneath the sheets. In that small hotel, they were whole. But like old wallpaper her happiness was torn away.

Blake began dealing, the smile she loved so much and the gleam in his eye dissipated almost overnight. He was the shell of the man she fell in love with, he taught her how to lie and cheat. She helped him rob service stations and play hooker on the side walk, lure in unsuspecting men who would be jumped and robbed. At first she was afraid, always looking over her shoulders at the life she almost lived but Blake always took her face in his large hands and promised her the world. The worst part was, for three years she believed all his lies.

After a while Dakota lost the ability to function without drugs and her mind was always blurred, when the lines were blurred things hurt less.

No matter what happened between them Dakota never stopped loving him, he became aggressive. He beat her, it was a relentless downward spiral of hate and forgiveness. As she stood shaking in the icy wind. That love she felt through every bone in her body was gone, replaced by pure fear.