Dark Heart

by Eve L Mitchell

  “She’s everything to me. You know that.”

  “I know.” I sighed, “I know.” I tilted my head back and closed my eyes – a pair of deep blue eyes flashed in front of me. I sighed inwardly as I started to plan. It might be tricky to convince five feet of fury to agree to leave.

  “You can kiss my luscious ass, I’m going nowhere.” Maria looked at me from the bed as she painted Lela’s nails.

  “Your ass is as fat as a whale’s, why would I kiss it?” I asked her as I leaned against the doorframe.

  “I don’t know how you let him touch you with his manwhore body,” Maria said to Lela as she continued to do her nails. Lela glared at me briefly but lowered her eyes. Great that was a conversation I could look forward to later.

  “Aaron’s not a manwhore,” Shadow feebly protested. Maria glared at him. His head also went down.

  Fantastic.

  “Maria. I love you.” She snorted like that was an obvious fact. “Your tiny little body is carrying my best friends’ baby.” I saw her roll her eyes. “This miniscule body is carting around a baby that’s quite possibly going to come out the same size as it’s mother.” Maria laughed despite herself. “I’m hurt, you know how bad I was.” I got a reproachful glare. “I didn’t know where I was. You thought I was going to die.” A tear slipped over as she refused to acknowledge me. I walked over to her and took her hand, taking the bottle of nail polish and setting it to the side. She turned her head away. I crouched down. “I need to be out there – I need to be seen again. I’m not fully healed – they need to see that I am not fully healed. If Shadow is with me, they’ll think I am coming for them.” She sniffed. “You want them to pay, don’t you?” Her head whipped back to glare full force at me. “You want those fuckers to pay for burning my truck and for having to sedate your husband, so he didn’t get himself killed?”

  “I hate you sometimes,” Maria whispered as she wiped her eyes.

  “I know.” I kissed her hand. “I need you to go. You need to take that monster of a husband, have this baby boy, and you and the baby have to stay away. Shadow needs to come back, I need him for this. We’ll send for you when it’s finished.”

  I stood as she looked at Shadow. He nodded at her. She turned back to me.

  “Can I kick your ass when I come back?” She wiped her eyes and I saw Shadow let out a relieved breath that she was going.

  “You can certainly try.” I grinned at her as she laughed. I left her in the room and headed to the kitchen. That hadn’t been as hard as I thought it would be. In reality, I was probably feeling the sting of it more than she was.

  “So, do I get told to go too?” Lela asked as she came into the kitchen. I was making coffee.

  I pulled her into my arms and kissed her softly. “Yes.” I kissed her again, harder. “Every second I look at you, I know you have to go.” I kissed her again, moving her hair aside.

  “I’m not going.” Her arms wound round my neck.

  “You are,” I nuzzled her neck. “But not yet.” I walked her backwards to the counter. “Not yet.” I lifted her legs and wrapped them around me as I sat her on the counter, I kissed her neck softly. She would go, but I wasn’t ready. Not yet.

  Maria and Shadow were to leave the following day. I went back to work on Monday, two weeks after having been beaten and left to die. Daisy was back at work. She made such a fuss over me. I tried to be nice but only managed about three minutes before I told her to put a sweater on over her clothes.

  I checked out the damage to the shed. Jim told me he had ordered the replacement stock; the insurance was refusing to pay since there was no police report to say I had been attacked and they thought it was suspicious I was missing from ‘unknown injuries.’ I told him it was fine – the business would cover the cost.

  I made my way over to Trey. He had hung back as the others had greeted me. “You ok?” I asked quietly.

  “Yeah, got a respray booked in for later, Gregor has a doc appointment at five. Got his hand busted up a few weeks back.” Trey rubbed his jaw. I nodded. When they jumped Gregor and his cousin, they broke Gregor’s left wrist. Luckily, he was righthanded but it was still a bitch. He had been able to work but Trey had been doing most of the respray work.

  “How you been?” I asked as I walked around the car to be resprayed. I frowned at the car. It looked pretty new to me – were these what they were bringing in? “They all look like this?” I asked Trey as I squatted down to look at the paintwork more closely.

  Trey grimaced as he looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, I’m all good. They don’t seem to be very smart,” he said as he moved closer.

  “Fuck me,” I said as I got back up. I had to use the car to steady myself. Trey noticed but said nothing. “Gimme that screwdriver.” I held my hand out. He handed it over without a word. I ran it over the side and along the front. Trey winced. “You can fix this can’t you?” I asked him as an afterthought.

  “Yeah boss,” he sighed. “Gregor would be better.” He shrugged.

  “Good, make him do it.” I tossed him the screwdriver back with a wicked grin as he laughed, I left him. It would take Gregor longer and make him pay more attention to what he was doing. More importantly, if Jim noticed, he would see a reason why the car needed a respray.

  I left and headed for the gym. I had kept my dad’s old Buick in the garage at home and I was using it now – it was shit in the snow. I might possibly die in this car I considered, as I drove carefully. I needed a new car. I sighed in frustration at the thought of my poor Ford Raptor. I loved that truck. Like seriously loved that truck. I needed a new one. I didn’t want to drop the forty grand I needed for a new one though. Fuckers. You didn’t burn a man’s truck. That was just below the belt. Sure – beat him, dislocate his bones, leave him to die. You didn’t burn his wheels. That was fucking barbaric. Animals.

  Climbing the stairs to the gym was far more than my legs were ready for, I had been out for too long already. Frank was like a parasite ready for my blood, it seemed. He pounced on me as soon as I was in.

  “You need to go in the ring?”

  “Jesus, you need to lay off before I knock you out,” I muttered as I walked past him to the office.

  “The best way to get fit is to fight.”

  I frowned as I looked at him. “The best way to snap is to break brittle bones. You’ll get your chance at me vulture. Go feed off the healthier guys first, leave me be.” I shooed him out of the office as I dropped into my chair. I shook my head as I watched him leave. The gym was busy, I ignored them all.

  I called my mom. Shadow had been giving her regular updates while I had been out of it. The first few days he had set Maria on her when mom had been heading back to Boulder. The threat of upsetting the baby had been enough to keep her fixed in Watertown.

  “Hi,” I greeted.

  “I have a thousand things to yell at you for.” Mom said.

  “A thousand?” I leaned back in my chair as I watched the guys training. “I think I only almost died about twice.” I put my feet on the desk. “A thousand may be overkill.”

  “That isn’t funny.” She coughed. That meant she was trying not to cry. “Twice is three times too many.”

  “Mom…”

  “Be quiet.” Her voice was rising. “You almost died.” I heard her take a deep breath. “Then you almost died again. Then you didn’t call me?” Yeah, definitely shouting. “You didn’t even call me?” Another breath. “Shadow answered your calls. You couldn’t even answer your calls? Two weeks I have been waiting. Two weeks Aaron.”

  “Ok, for one of those weeks I was unconscious for most of it. I wasn’t up to taking calls.” Silence. Humour might not work. “Then I was focusing on getting better, getting stronger. You kept calling when I was genuinely in the shower or training. Or I was sleeping. It was just bad timing.” That was lame.

  “You are so lucky you are not in front of me right now.” Low voice meant super angry mom.

  “Yeah. I know.” I sighe
d. I watched Matt walk into the gym, he saw me and raised a hand hesitantly. I frowned but acknowledged him.

  “You told Paul to tell Alicia.” Oh, I had not been expecting that.

  “I don’t know what the big deal is,” I answered truthfully.

  “You could have told me you knew.” She was pissed.

  “You could have told us all the truth.” I instantly cursed myself as mom gasped at my bluntness. “How did she take it?” I asked more gently.

  Mom snorted. “Wasn’t even fazed. Asked if that meant she could get two allowances.”

  I started chuckling. I couldn’t help it. That was my sister. We spoke for a few more minutes and then I promised I would call her again soon. I assured her I was better; I was taking it easy and I wasn’t doing anything stupid. I knew as well as she did that I was lying through my teeth.

  I sat back and watched Matt. I needed to have that conversation with Colton before I did anything else.

  I had to smirk at the driveway of cars as I parked the Buick beside the two Toyota 4Runners and the Mini. I shook my head as I got out and made my way around the back to the pool area of the house the Dawsons and their friends lived in.

  I had only ever been here once and once was enough. College parties weren’t my thing but I had been scouting for my fights and it had turned out that I needed to be there. The pool was covered for the winter – a house like this probably had an indoor pool somewhere anyway. If I remembered correctly, the kitchen was off the pool. I was pretty confident I would find Colton near the kitchen.

  I approached the glass doors and tried the handles of the patio door. They were open. Rich people. Too fucking stupid for their own good.

  I walked inside and found an open door leading off the kitchen. I strolled over. Stairs led down. Being a nosy bastard, I descended down towards the basement.

  I looked at the gym area and shook my head. What the fuck were they in my gym for when they had this? They had treadmills – much better than mine – along with cross trainers, rowing machines and weight machines; it looked like a state-of-the-art gym magazine had come in and vomited all over this room.

  “You can’t call?” Colton asked from behind me. “Breaking and entering isn’t acceptable.”

  “Why the hell are they in my gym when they have this at their home?” I asked as I shook my head at him. “I didn’t break into anything; the door was open,” I added as an afterthought.

  He looked as contained as always, immaculately presented. Jeans, sweater, hair styled, clean shaven. If I didn’t actually like him, I would probably want to punch him.

  “The boxing ring I believe.” Colton rubbed his jaw. “Theo isn’t as enamoured with it.” His jaw clenched. “Matt loves it.”

  “Seriously.” I looked at him. It was as I suspected. “Captain America?”

  Cole snorted a laugh. “Yeah.” He walked over and stood beside me. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better,” I answered. I was still gawking at all the shiny shit in their basement. “Where is he?”

  “School.” Cole headed to the stairs. “You want a coffee? It’s just you and me.” I followed him up to the kitchen. When we got there, I sat on a stool. Cole worked on a huge, highly polished coffee machine.

  “Everything in here have to be silver and shiny?” I asked. I wasn’t jealous of the machine until he handed me a mug of black coffee that was dark and silky. “God damn, that is good coffee,” I murmured.

  “I’ll lock the doors from now on.” He smiled into his mug.

  If someone had told me five weeks ago that I would be sitting at a kitchen island with Colton Dawson enjoying a coffee in silence, I would have laughed in their face. However, here we were. I put my coffee down.

  “You don’t love the ring?” I was curious. Colton had been the most natural fighter out of all of them.

  He shrugged. “It’s a good workout, I enjoy the experience if I have to do it.” He watched me. “I’m not you.” I took another drink. “You love it, it’s obvious you love it. You would love to be in that ring fighting when you watch.  I see your desire; I see the same thirst when Matt is near it.” He looked at his mug. “That’s why I took most of the fights. Matt likes it too much.”

  I nodded. I hadn’t realised it when they had been fighting, but seeing him in the gym, I had suspected he had gotten the bug. This conversation confirmed it. This was the right thing to do.

  “I need two things from you,” I started. He looked at me. “I need you to keep him away. Shadow will never turn him away; he’s indebted to him due to what he did.” Colton went to speak. “I understand it, God knows – I appreciate it as much as they do.” I looked out the doors to the pool area. “This baby…they’ve waited a long time for this kid.” I glanced at Colton. I didn’t mind this guy seeing me vulnerable. Fuck, he’d seen me almost dead. I needed him to understand, I knew that he would. I suspected his relationship with Matt was pretty much as close as the one I had with Shadow. You didn’t need to be blood to be brothers.

  “And you know, maybe she would have been fine, maybe she would have fallen and been fine. Maybe someone else would have waited for an ambulance. But Matt didn’t. He caught her, he carried her to the hospital. I can’t change it.” Colton watched me. I took a breath. “I got a lot of shit coming my way. He doesn’t need to be standing anywhere near this. This isn’t your fight.” I took a drink of coffee. Fuck me, I had never had to say thanks to anyone who wasn’t Shadow. “You two and your girl should never have been involved. I appreciate that you came for me, I appreciate that you let Arielle stay to look after Maria while you went and found me.” I ran a hand over my hair. “I know you kept Theo and your brother away. I would have too.” He didn’t blink. The excuse of Theo’s flu maybe making me worse had been about as true as my own flu story. “It’s time to put an end to all of it.”

  “We don’t want to be involved in what’s coming.” Colton agreed softly. “It’s going to be bad, yeah?”

  My grin was savage. “It’s going to be apocalyptical.”

  “I don’t want Matt to be any part of that,” Colton said firmly.

  “You most definitely do not,” I agreed. “Hey, this,” I gestured between the two of us. “I think we’re more than even.” I forced a smile.

  His answering smile held no humour and then he nodded. “The second thing?”

  Fuck. I was wrong, this was the hardest thing. I had to force the words out and I hated myself for having this weakness.

  “I believe you know my houseguest?”

  After leaving the Dawson mansion I drove to the gym. I caught up with some of the regulars and then closed the door in the office. I switched the laptop on as I kept my eye on Frank. I checked my bank accounts quickly and then made a few quick calls. When I was done, I headed back out and home.

  There was a lot of activity when I got in the house. Shadow had been moving between both houses to get things organised. They were going out of state to a nearby cousin of Maria’s. She had family everywhere. Lela was in the house on Maria duty, if Maria needed her. I was on ‘let Aaron be seen moving about’ duty.

  “Everything almost ready?” I asked as I went in. Maria was on the couch. She seemed to have doubled in size over the last week.

  “Yes, I don’t even know what he thinks he’s getting anymore, he just goes and comes back with more stuff. Our truck can’t take all this.” Her tone was amused but she kept looking at the bags. I kept my smile contained; I knew she was itching to look through the bags.

  “You want me to get them and go through them with you?” I asked her and she looked at me with hopeful eyes.

  “Would you mind? I know I am such a loser, but I just know he hasn’t even got diapers or cream, or anything.” I laughed as I started hauling the bags over to her. “I didn’t want to ask him, because I know he is doing his best, and I am nothing but a nagging wife.”

  “You’re an amazing wife and you’re not being unreasonable,” I muttered. “I know thi
s man – I can guarantee you there are no diapers.” Maria laughed as I brought a bag over to her. Her hands stilled as she reached for it.

  “You won’t do anything stupid, will you? While we’re gone?” she asked.

  “What? You mean like almost die?” I joked. I looked at her when she was quiet. She was giving me her famous death stare. “I was joking. I am only going to get stronger. I may even let Frank train me.”

  “Ok, don’t be hasty.” She laughed as I shrugged. “Right, let me in these bags!”

  We spent about an hour going through each bag, unpacking and repacking. He had forgotten the diapers.

  Lela came out and helped and between us we were an efficient team. I felt guilty when I looked at her, so I stopped looking at her. I had turned into a gutless person. Shadow came back not long after. I left Maria and Lela to finish with the bags. No one mentioned the diapers or lack of them.

  “I need to go and see Tommy.” I said quietly. “I don’t want you to come,” I added, cutting him off. “I do want you to be here in case I don’t come back this time.” I looked away uncomfortably.

  “You can’t say this shit to me,” Shadow whispered at me furiously.

  “Will you shut up, I don’t want them worried,” I muttered as I glanced at the couch and the two women.

  “When are you going?” he asked me as he looked over at the couch also.

  “Now?” I suggested.

  He nodded.

  I headed over to Lela. “Hey, I need to head out for a little while.” She rose and made to come with me and I stopped her. “I won’t be long.” I dropped a kiss on her lips and then – because I could – I pulled her closer and kissed her longer.

  “Gee, get a room,” Maria taunted us. I ignored her and pushed for Lela to let my tongue in. She did and I deepened my kiss. I wanted more. Maybe going to a room wasn’t a bad idea.

  “Aaron. You have somewhere to be,” Shadow barked.

  I pulled away reluctantly. “I’ll see you soon,” I whispered against her lips. I glared at him over her head and he glared back. I laughed as I shook my head and headed for the door.