Having Fayth

Questioning

Axel

Steam follows me as I open the bathroom door into my room, a towel in my hand drying my hair before the droplets of water can roll down my neck and soak my clothes and that's when I see her standing in the middle of my room wringing her fingers together while she faced the door looking as if she is reading every grain in the barricade from across the room.

"Hey, beautiful" I wrap my arms around Fayth's hips from behind. Her skin, cool to the touch despite the warmth of my room. "I missed you when I woke up. I thought we could-" Her body goes stiff in my grasp as she cuts me off with a whisper, "Who are Lucca and Dominic?" The tone in her voice gives me pause. She sounds detached, cold even. For a moment I don't think I've heard her correctly.

"What do you mean, gorgeous?" I ask while nuzzling into her neck taking in her scent the one that calls to me and calms me.

She tries to shrug me off and I realize now that I have been mistaken in my judgment of her mood. This isn't just a moment of anger. This is a fury I have been longing to see, but in this second, I wish it wasn't directed at me. "Who the fuck are Lucca and Dominic and why the fuck are they here, Axel? Why do they know so much about me? What the fuck did you do?" she pulls out of my grasp while I struggle to understand where this is coming from. She met them once, at the fair grounds and hasn't seen them since. Why is this coming up now?

I reach for her, turning her in my arms, I can see just how far gone she really is. She struggles in my grasp so wildly, I'm almost afraid I'll leave bruises. Her eyes are empty. Her expression hard to read. In this moment, I think she may have been pushed too far, too hard, too deep into my world. Cupping her cheek, I tilt her head to look at me. "What happened?"

She fights my hand and pulls away again shoving her hands out at my chest. The force of her hits knock me back a step, but I maintain my stance and continue to watch on as the prey has become the predator. "Don't," she ground out between clenched teeth. "Don't touch me. Don't baby me. And don't you dare keep me in the dark. They sure as fuck aren't." She looks up to me glaring, shooting red hot flames from her cold blue eyes.

Swallowing against my impending doom I take a long breath to ease the tension building inside each of my muscles every time she gives me that look and calloused tone. This is what I've been hoping would never come to light. The thing that let my guilt eat me alive. The moment she tells me she knows everything and she's leaving me. The moment all I have done is lost to the abys much like my heart once shattered at the look in her eyes will. Sweep it up and throw it away. Its trash anyways. Always has been. "What are you talking about, love? You aren't making any sense. Did you fall while out on the ice?"

She smirks back, but the joy doesn't meet her eyes as the dry chuckle crawls up her throat. "We answer questions with questions now, Ax? I thought we didn't keep secrets." She turns from me and puts more distance between us. The physical distance feeling so much smaller than the emotional hurdles I once sprung from to win her heart.

"I don't understand where this is coming from. What happened when you were gone?" I know what it is, but I need her to put words to my suspicions. Give me a moment to pull my wits together. Let me know that not all hope is lost. Give me a little bit of something to have faith in or at the very least drop another name to add to my list. One not as high up the food chain as the fucking mafia.

Her glare meets my gaze and it sends a chill through my blood. "How deep into this do you go? Where does your father end and you begin? Did my father die because of you? Because of him? Is Blain in that hell hole for nothing?" Her voice rising in pitch with every word, a silent threat attached to every single one.

"I'm not going to tell you pretty little lies, gorgeous." I clear my throat, choosing my words carefully as to not freak her out. "They are mafia. The Italian's maintain control over my father's gang. I will take over one day. I was born into this. I've done things I've never spoken in true words to you about. But I am not him. And as far as I know, Blain killed your father and deserves to rot where he sits. If you have any thoughts of it being anyone else, I have supported you finding the one responsible, but I swear to you, Fayth, it's not me."

Taking a step closer I tip her chin locking her eyes on mine. The fight seems to have drained from her leaving behind a Fayth shaped husk. She's a blank canvas and I'm not sure if I should be grateful or terrified that she may have crossed a line that could have me finding her sinking below crimson waters filling my bathtub. "I would never dream of hurting you in that way, my sweet. I thought you would know that by now."

Her sapphire orbs hold a never-ending bleakness I know all too well. "I've told you before, and I'll say it again, I will help you find the scum that broke your spirit and deliver him to the depths of hell myself if need be." Her eyes fluttered shut for only a moment and when they opened again the force of her determination and rage nearly takes the breath straight from my lungs.

"Ok," she whispers. "I believe you."

My smile is soft as the ropes around my heart loosen their constricting, vice-like grip from my being.

"That's a good girl. Now," I peck her lips gently before grabbing her hand. "We need to hurry. We have a meeting with my father."

Her heels dug into the floor for a moment halting my stride. "Why?"

I shrugged back at her, "maybe if we are lucky the bastard is dying, and we'll be free of him soon." She doesn't laugh at my half joke, but the corner of her mouth twitched in amusement before I continued pulling her behind me down the hall.