When Darkness Comes

by Beck Cummings

  Trent slanted his lips on mine and kissed me gently. “I love you, woman.” He pulled back, trademark smirk in place, and placed his hands on his hips. “A quickie before I go?”

  I rolled my eyes as I threw myself back on the bed, laughing at Trent’s half-assed attempt to get in my pants. A knock on the bedroom door garnered our attention.

  “Yeah?” Trent called out.

  The door opened and we saw a tuft of spiky, black hair as J.J. poked his head in. “Dude, we need to go. Rye and Zoe are gonna be pissed.”

  Trent looked down at his black Suunto watch, scowling as he read the numbers on the face. He lifted his gaze to mine and put on a smug grin. “Sorry, gorgeous, make-up sex will have to wait. Darkness calls.” He winked at me.

  A sudden fear came crashing into me, rattling the walls of my chest. I jumped up off the bed and grabbed hold of Trent’s t-shirt, pulling myself close to him. “Please be careful.” I said before placing a brief kiss on his lips.

  Trent closed his eyes, licked his lips and smiled, before opening them again. He wrapped his arms around me and touched his nose to mine. “Always am.” He pressed his lips to mine, before releasing me and turning to leave.

  “Stay safe, boys!” I called out to Trent and J.J.

  “Will do, P.K. See ya!” J.J. answered.

  “Love you, babe. See you in the morning.” Trent waved before disappearing down the hall.

  “When darkness fades.” I said to myself, as I sat back down on our bed and sighed. I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling deep in the pit of my stomach that Trent shouldn’t be going on this investigation. I stretched out and buried my face in my pillow as the sobs took over my body and darkness came.

  †

  I reached my hand out, resting it on the soft, empty pillow beside me as I opened one eye lid. I must’ve fallen asleep. I lifted my head, opened my other eye, and looked at the clock on the nightstand. 8:37 a.m. I glanced down at my clothes. I was still in my black Ponte leggings and loose white shirt with a big, grey skull on the front. Yep, I had fallen asleep, instead of finishing my work downstairs.

  Since Trent wasn’t home yet, that meant he was at Riley’s with the rest of MPS, reviewing tapes. I yawned and wiggled my toes, while Bodhi rolled over onto his back beside me. “Well, Bodhi, I think I will take the gang some breakfast.” I said as I rubbed his belly.

  I quickly changed into some workout gear, tossed my hair into a messy bun, and pulled on Trent’s BU hoodie, before grabbing my Michael Kors tote and heading out the door. I ended up going to Tim Horton’s and ordering a variety of breakfast items off the menu. I knew that whatever was not eaten this morning would surely get eaten by Riley or J.J. later on.

  With a carrier full of coffee cups and two bags full of food, I knocked on the door to Riley’s apartment. The door opened and I was greeted with a wide smile from J.J.

  “Hey, P.K. Whatcha doin’ here?” He reached up, propping one arm on the door frame, while shoving his other hand in the pocket of his jeans. His plain white t-shirt did absolutely nothing to call my attention away from his tattooed arms.

  I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. “Thought you guys might like some breakfast.”

  “I love you!” J.J. exhaled, reaching out and grabbing the carrier from my hand and placing a chaste kiss on my cheek. “Knox, I love your girlfriend! You best marry her, or else I will!” He yelled into the apartment while kicking the door open more with his Converse adorned foot. He nodded his head for me to follow him.

  I stepped into the apartment and was met by the smiling faces of the MPS crew who were all seated at Riley’s dining room table. Well, all were smiling except one... Trent. In fact, he looked downright furious that I was there. I stopped in my tracks, taken aback by his grave expression.

  “You rock, Paige.” Zoe stood from her seat and walked over to take the bags out of my hands. She returned to her position by Riley at the table and began pulling food from the sacks.

  “Get over here, Paige. You’ve got to check out the evidence we got! It’s the most compelling stuff we’ve ever recorded!” Riley beckoned.

  I walked over to Trent and stood by his chair apprehensively.

  Trent rose from his seat, his hand finding a firm grip on my elbow. “What are you doing here?” He whispered tersely in my ear.

  “I just thought I would bring you breakfast.” I answered defensively as I looked around the table.

  What is his deal? Why is he mad at me? Everything was fine when he left last night, so what’s changed in the time we’ve been apart?

  “And we are so thankful you did.” J.J. interrupted with a mouthful of food.

  “Yeah, now get over here so you can check this out!” Riley said excitedly.

  “She was just leaving.”

  My eyes widened at the definitive tone of Trent’s voice. I took a small step back and looked at him, perplexed. There was something different about Trent. Something was off. I don’t know if something happened during the investigation or if Trent and J.J. had another tussle, but Trent was clearly not himself. That became even more obvious when he looked me in the eye. The love and affection once held in his gaze had been replaced with a look of malevolence. Something was way off.

  The look in Trent’s eyes reminded me of the look Zane would get whenever he was high. Trent’s pupils were wide open, all the beautiful green replaced with ugly darkness. Could he be on drugs? Is that it? Is he battling the same demon that Zane faced? I certainly haven’t seen any evidence of that around the house, but maybe he’s just really good at hiding it. But he wouldn’t do that, would he? He knows how I feel about drugs...

  I swallowed and raised my chin slightly as I pulled my arm from his hold. I may have been upset, but I wasn’t going to let him embarrass me in front of MPS. I wasn’t going to let him know that he was getting the best of me. No, sir.

  Trent didn’t say another word. Instead, he just sat down in his chair and turned his attention back to the laptop in front of him.

  J.J. tilted his head and clenched his jaw as he looked at his best friend. “She can stay.” He said firmly.

  Trent snapped his head up and shot J.J. a venom-laced look. “This is group business.”

  Ouch. Okay, that kind of hurt. No, I was not a member of MPS, but J.J. said I could stay and my boyfriend was blatantly rebuffing my presence.

  J.J.’s lips drew together in a tight line. I could tell he was definitely starting to lose his cool. “She’s with you, which means she’s a part of this group.” He spelled it out for Trent in clipped words.

  Trent blinked once and looked back down at his laptop, putting his ear buds in and ignoring the questioning gazes from the four of us.

  I watched as J.J. came unhinged right before my eyes, slamming his pen down on the notebook he had been writing in and rising so abruptly from his chair that it fell over behind him. But Trent continued to pay him no attention.

  “It’s okay, J. I wasn’t planning on staying anyway.” Lie. “I’m meeting Nic at the gym. Gotta work off the calories in that iced capp.” Another lie. But I wore my workout clothes so no one would question it.

  J.J. drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly while still glaring at his best friend. Once his self-control was in check, he turned to me with a sympathetic smile. “I’ll walk you out, Paige.” He turned around and picked up his chair, grabbing his black jacket from the back of it and slipping it on, along with his favorite black beanie.

  I exchanged quick goodbyes with Riley and Zoe, while Trent took no notice, instead listening intently to the sounds coming through his ear buds.

  “Fuck!” J.J. yelled, more like growled, as soon as we stepped outside the building.

  I glanced over at him and couldn’t help but chuckle as he reached up with both hands and tugged his beanie down over his eyes.

  “Don’t laugh, Paige. I was a breath away from laying him out. If you hadn’t spoken up when you did, I’d probably have a broken nose by now.”

&nbs
p; I laughed again. He was right. Trent probably would’ve kicked his ass.

  “But, that’s beside the point. I don’t know what his fucking problem was, but what he just pulled in there... That was not okay.” He re-adjusted the beanie on his head and pulled out a box of Belmont’s from his jacket pocket. I watched as his slender fingers plucked a cigarette from the box and placed it between his lips.

  “Is he on drugs, J?” I blurted out, unable to hold it in any longer.

  “What?! Knox?! No way!” He laughed.

  “Well, what happened last night?” I asked. “Because he was just fine when he left the house, WE were just fine, and now... Did you two get into another argument?”

  “Nah. We’ve been bickering like usual. I honestly have no fucking clue what his deal is.” The cigarette held by J.J.’s lips bounced as he spoke. He lit it and took a long drag before blowing the smoke up in the air. “Maybe he’s still reeling from the investigation. It was pretty intense.”

  “How intense?” I questioned timidly, not entirely sure I wanted to know the answer.

  “Well, Knox and I teamed up last night like usual, nothing new there. But we were in the middle of...” J.J. paused and glanced around. “In the middle of the investigation, he suddenly says his back is burning. So, I turned the night-vision off on my camera and turned my pen light on. When I looked at his back, there were three red lines across his back. Fresh scratches.”

  “What?”

  “We were standing in the middle of the fucking room, Paige. There’s no way he could’ve gotten those scratches.” He took another puff. “Some time later, I noticed he wasn’t acting like himself. He got this weird look on his face, like he just completely zoned out. Total space cadet. His eyes were...”

  “Like they were just a minute ago?” I interrupted.

  J.J. frowned. “Yeah, same look. Same aggressiveness. It freaked me the fuck out, Paige. He snapped out of it after a bit, but he didn’t remember much of what had happened. He’s been kind of quiet since, but when you walked in... It’s like he flipped the switch back on.”

  “What... I mean... How... Do you have any idea what happened to him?” I forced the words out of my mouth. I was so confused by the information J.J. just laid on me.

  “I mean I’ve heard about...” He trailed off. He shook his head. “We just need to keep an eye on him. I’m sure he’s just still a little freaked from last night and he just needs some time to get over it.”

  “Yeah, okay, if that’s what you think. You’re the one who knows about this stuff, so I’m trusting you, J.” I shoved my hands in the front pocket of my hoodie.

  J.J. finished his cigarette and tossed it down, grounding it out beneath his black Converse. “Yeah, that’s what I think. He’ll be back to the same old’ Knox in no time, I bet.”

  He sounded about as sure as I felt, but I just nodded my head instead of calling him on it.

  I really hope J.J.’s right, because I don’t know how much I like this new Trent.

  “Do you have your phone?” J.J. asked out of the blue.

  “Yeah, why?” I pulled it out of my pocket and showed it to him.

  “Unlock it.” He instructed. When I did, he snatched it out of my hands and began moving his fingers across the screen. “I’m putting my number in here. Call if you need me.”

  “Okay.” I brushed off his comment.

  He looked up and pinned me with a serious look. “I’m serious, Paige. Anytime. I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

  I took the phone from his hands and slipped it back into my pocket, praying that I would never need to use the number just entered.

  chapter 16

  As soon as I got home from Riley’s this morning, I sent a text to Nic saying how I was in a funky mood and that I wanted to know if we could get together. She showed up on my doorstep not even twenty minutes later, and for the last hour, we’ve been discussing what we would be doing if we weren’t on our current career paths.

  With my mad kickboxing skills and love for fancy cars, I would obviously be an international spy. You can just call me Bond. Paige Bond. And, Nic... Well, Nic has just divulged her dream of being the next Eminem. Needless to say, I think both of us should stick to our day jobs. However, I can say my mood has lifted significantly and my core has gotten quite the workout thanks to all the laughter.

  I steadied myself by gripping the edge of the counter as I bent at the waist and clutched my side. I tried to catch my breath, but it was just not happening. “Stop. It.” I gasped between laughs.

  “Okay, okay! But, seriously, I’m telling you, if I’m ever forced out of marketing, I really think I could have a chance at making it as a rapper.” Nic said, curbing her own giggles.

  “Whatever you say, Nic.” I stood and took a deep breath, looking at my sister-in-law, who was seated on a stool on the other side of the kitchen island. “I hope that, for all of our sakes, you don’t lose your day job anytime soon.”

  “Word.” Nic said, mimicking a rapper’s voice, while throwing up peace signs with both hands.

  I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and laughed again. My sister-in-law, with her supermodel good looks, as an aspiring rapper... Yeah, right!

  The timer on the oven beeped, alerting us our quiche was finished. I grabbed the oven mitt from the counter and slipped it on my hand. “Move, Bodhi.” I ordered, after I turned around and noticed he was still asleep on the floor in front of the oven. He stood and stretched, moving a couple feet away, but staying in the kitchen, close to me.

  I opened the stainless-steel door and pulled the quiche out, placing it on the glass-top stove.

  “Something smells good.”

  I turned and found myself looking at Trent. Smirking, happy, same guy that walked out of our bedroom last night, Trent. He was standing in the open doorway between the kitchen and dining room, directly to the right of Nic. I stayed silent as I removed the oven mitt and tossed it on the counter.

  “Hey, Nic.” He turned toward her and smiled in greeting.

  “Hey, Trent. How’d it go last night?” Nic asked and my eyes instantly widened.

  Of course, she would bring up the investigation! Crap!

  Trent quickly ran a hand through his hair. “It went.” He said simply, walking into the kitchen and coming to a stop in front of me. He tilted his head and leaned in hesitantly. I thought he was going to kiss me on the lips, but at the last minute, he turned and kissed my cheek.

  “I’m gonna go freshen up. Can we talk later?” He whispered in my ear.

  I nodded my head yes and the corners of his mouth lifted optimistically. My heart sank lower in my chest. I shouldn’t let him get his hopes up when I know he’s not going to like what I have to say.

  “Good to see you, Nic.” Trent said as he walked by her on his way to the stairs.

  “You too, Trent!” She called after him.

  I rested my hands on the counter and leaned forward, watching Trent ascend the iron spiral staircase. He was just fine. A little on the tired side, but nothing at all like the man I had left at Rye’s this morning. Could Trent suffer from multiple personality disorder? I was beginning to think maybe so...

  “I’m going to head home.” Nic rose from her seat and grabbed her Coach satchel from the stool beside her.

  “What?! Why?” I blinked.

  “Because your gorgeous boyfriend is home and you don’t need a third wheel.” She smiled. “Plus, my gorgeous husband is at home.”

  No, Nic does not know about what happened this morning with Trent. Or about anything I had found out last night. There are some things I’d rather keep to myself.

  “What about the quiche?” I gestured toward the pan on the stove.

  “I say forget the quiche and go join that man upstairs.” She waved her fingers and headed for the front door. “Text me later! Bonne journée!” She called over her shoulder.

  “Word!” I yelled after her, mimicking her “rapper” voice. I heard her laughter ring out before the front
door shut behind her.

  I looked at Bodhi, who was watching me intently. “Well, I guess I should put this in the microwave, huh, bud?” He tilted his head to one side as he listened to me. I put the quiche in the stainless-steel microwave to keep it warm and then Bodhi and I headed upstairs to wait for Trent to finish in the shower.

  When I stepped into the bedroom, I saw that Trent was seated on the bed, pulling off his boots. I went and sat beside him and Bodhi joined us by sitting at my feet and putting his head in my lap.

  “So...” Trent exhaled as he placed his hands on his thighs.

  “So...” I echoed.

  The tension between us was palpable. It seemed I could face a different version of Trent at any moment. And not knowing which one he may be at any given time, I found myself walking on egg shells, terrified that he might be the one from this morning again, but hopeful that he might be just Trent; the Trent that I met at Echo and fell in love with.

  “I’m sorry about this morning, Paige. J.J. said I was a real prick.”

  This was definitely just Trent talking. My Trent.

  “You don’t remember?” I asked as I gave a Bodhi a quick rub on his head and then pointed to his pillow on the floor at the foot of the bed. He obeyed my command and went to lie down.

  “I don’t know what came over me. I guess I was more tired than I thought. I ended up taking a nap on Rye’s couch.” Trent shook his head momentarily and stared down at his knotted hands. His shoulders and chest rose and fell with his breathing.

  “You know, I just worry that you don’t want me around anymore.” I whispered.

  Trent jerked his head to look at me, his green eyes full of concern. “Paige, no. You have to know that I want you around me... like constantly.”

  “You didn’t want me to be at Rye’s this morning.” I smiled sadly.

  Trent turned his body towards mine and scooted closer to me on the bed. His left hand found its way to the small of my back, while his right hand rested on my knee. “Paige, you've got to believe me. I wasn’t myself this morning.”

  No, he certainly wasn’t. But I honestly don’t know how much more I can handle. His mood swings are going to give me whiplash.