in his arms | BOOK II

THREE // unedited

♠️

blaze

ANOTHER TWO MONTHS had passed and there was no sign of Ellie or Dimitri. Blaze was driving himself mad with the amount of time he had been putting into finding the two. It became so bad that it was his constant worry while Archer decided to take over for him until Ellie and Dimitri were found. Four entire months flew out the window, yet it felt like so much longer.

He was not the same man he was before; he had barely spoken a word over the past few months, he had distanced himself from everybody entirely, and he did nothing but occasionally eat and workout. Archer hated that Blaze was drastically changing because of the situation but, knowing there was nothing he could do about it, he just stood behind him as support whenever Blaze needed it. Not recently, but there were definitely moments when he did.

Blaze was locked up in his office again when there was a soft knock on the door. He did not even bother to look up as the door opened shortly after, revealing Grace and the bottle of whiskey he had shortly asked her to get for him. Knowing he was not going to move, she walked inside the office and put the bottle at the corner of the desk.

"Is there anything else you need, sir?" Grace asked, her hands behind her back politely as she stood in front of him.

"No. Get out," he muttered.

He clenched his jaw. Her presence alone bothered him to great extents.

Grace simply nodded and walked out, closing the door behind her. That was the sort of relationship they had as a boss and employee. Grace had gotten used to how harsh Blaze was compared to when she first started working for him, three months ago. All she had to do was cook breakfast and dinner for him (since he never bothered caring for lunch), as well as occasionally go out to buy him more liquor and cigarettes. She also set up most appointments for him, whether it be work or tattoos.

The only plus about working for Blaze would be Archer, who would always thank her for helping the two at the end of the day.

"Blaze?" Archer called out, causing him to let out an irritated groan for being interrupted once again. "We need to talk about something important."

"Is it so important that it can't fucking wait until I'm not doing something?" Blaze snapped back, his green eyes a deep pine-green from how agitated he was. "Because I'm pretty sure I left a cute little sign on my office door that specifically says not to fucking barge in when it's closed."

Archer rolled his eyes. Yes, both of his eyes. After the incident with the giant scar across Archer's right eye, it finally healed up. Though it still looked like a normal eye to everyone else—still able to move it around, as well—he was unable to see from it. There were some days when he preferred wearing his black patch over it because of how he felt when looking at himself in the mirror, and some days where he could tolerate looking at it. Either way, he still thought he looked bad-ass, blind or not.

"Yes, considering it has to do to the shipments we got a week ago," Archer said, handing him a file. Blaze begrudgingly took it, opening it to look through the papers. "The men down there realized that with the shipment as big as the one your client requested, we have no room left in the warehouse we bought two months ago."

Blaze clenched his jaw slightly. "You're telling me that I'm going to have to purchase another one?"

Archer simply nodded his head. "With the amount of clients the business has been gaining for drugs and weapons, the only thing we can do is expand. I've tried looking for cheaper options but there aren't any—unless you feel like losing three of our highest-paying clients in the next two months?"