A Man of Honor.

Chaoter 48: Unexpected Faces.

"In the end, we do what we have the nerve for, or we disappear." ~ Commodore Louis Kaestner, Boardwalk Empire.

Talking to Blake was difficult in so many different ways. Don't get me wrong, I was very happy to hear from her. I didn't want my last memory of her to be seeing her in that warehouse about to be nabbed and running from Roman. I was glad that she had gone to the club, flattered that she had taken a risk for me. But I also hated that she had taken such a huge risk after Roman had recognized her at the warehouse. Anyone seeing her go into my club and it would have gotten ugly, but thankfully that didn't happen.

What's more I had all kinds of second thoughts about getting out. Living with Roman and Neo in their mansion had naturally complicated things. But the fact that this business had also amounted to me getting captured and tortured added all kinds of thoughts on this. But more than anything the simple fact that Wyatt and those guys who tortured me knew about Ozpin was a looming threat. I didn't know if or what they would be doing to me about that but it was a threat.

Blake explained to me over text that the number was to a burner scroll she had bought so there was little risk anyone else texting her with that number. And as much as I would have liked to have texted her again and again we both agreed that it was safer if we kept things simple for both our sakes. We only texted enough to arrange a meeting with Ozpin and left it at that. I didn't save her number and just memorized the digits before deleting the texts. And just to be extra careful I ditched my scroll and used burners to talk to her that I immediately disposed of. It wasn't strange, wiseguys were always getting rid of the things just in case. No one thought I was strange that I had multiple scrolls on my person.

I just had till the end of the week before I could talk to Oz. I had no idea how it was going to go or what to expect. And to be perfectly honest I tried not to think about it too much and instead focused on my business.

So far we had no luck finding Anna's mother. There was no woman involved in the life named Catherine Zerbst and the one woman we found who shared that name was a seventy year old woman living in an assisted living home so that was a dead end. So I kept on staying at the Torchwick Estate for the time being which was pleasant for all of us.

I certainly was grateful that Anna made me promise to stay at the mansion until we found her mother because it meant that I was spared from spending my nights alone. The nightmares had lessened and become somewhat less intense but they never really stopped. I just tried to accept that I'd probably have them for the rest of my life, it was just another scar I would have to accept.

A few nights after I had gotten that text from Blake I found myself waking in the darkness from another nightmare. I bolted up from the bed having just dreamed about Dipshit branding me, this time he had finished every letter on the back of my neck.

Panting I reached and felt the back of my neck, finding the B brand and only the B brand. I had to remind myself that he didn't finish it and that he was now dead.

Neo stirred next to me and rose from the bed looking at me. She pulled me into an embrace holding me and resting her head against my shoulder. She kissed the side of my head and ran her fingers through my hair until I stopped panting.

"Thanks." I told her, taking a deep calming breath and kissing the top of her head.

"They're - becoming - less - frequent." She told me with a little smile.

"They're never going to go away completely." I told her with complete certainty. "You don't need to keep spending the night with me... Just because I can't get an easy night's rest doesn't mean you shouldn't."

She shook her head at me. "There's - no - where - else - I'd - rather - be. And - I'm - used - to - late - nights - and - little - sleep."

That comment warmed me but I shook my head. "Come on, you gotta be sick of this. I mean... we're sleeping in the same bed without fooling around. What are we, married?" I asked, flashing her a cheeky grin.