Cerberus

6. Coming Down

Kassidy closed the door to Lydia's room and let out a deep breath. He'd come very close to losing his composure over the last twelve hours. She was awake. She was ok. He'd thrown the rest of the pills in her absurd bag away and proceeded to go through every other piece of luggage she had brought with. The amount of prescription pills she was abusing was... alarming, to say the least. Isaac was just down the stairs waiting on him.
"She awake?" He asked. Concern lacing his words.
"Yes." Kassidy replied. Isaac let out a breath in relief.
"Fuck, that was way too close." Isaac pressed a hand to his temple. "You sure not telling her dad is the right move?" He asked.
"Yes." Kassidy had descended the steps and faced Isaac. "We need her to trust us. Everyone else in her life has used every piece of information they have on her as leverage. She's naturally distrustful."
Isaac nodded his head in understanding. "Just know, if the boss finds out, we're dead."
"Yeah I know. I'll take the fall of it comes to that." Kassidy rubbed the back of his neck, attempting to get a knot out.
"You should try and get some rest. When's the last time you slept?" Isaac asked, genuine concern on his face.
Kassidy thought on it. "Before we left I suppose." That meant he'd been up for almost nineteen hours.
"Go to bed, I've got it from here." Isaac clapped him on the back, "I was able to get some shut eye after the doctor left so I'm good."
Kassidy nodded and rounded the corner that lead to the second floor veranda over looking the main floor below him. There were two rooms on this floor. Isaac's was the guest room at the far end of the other wing, his was on this wing below Lydia's rooms. He made his way for the door. The house was fucking huge, and not like any house he'd seen before. It was built into a hill facing Las Vegas. The place was all open spaces and windows instead of walls in some parts. Isaac had told him it was some new "bioliphic" design so there were plants and shit all over the inside of the home. Something about being closer to nature. He chalked it up to billionaire bullshit and tried not to think about the logistic nightmare securing it was. It had a primarily dark aesthetic. Black, grey and brown features and stainless steel appliances.
His room was similar to Lydia's but smaller. There was a large bed in the center facing one of those window-walls with a view of the strip in the distance. Outside the window-wall was a furnished patio with a fire pit and a small infinity pool. He also had two showers. One was in the attached bathroom, the other was an outdoor shower nestled between the house and the hill face with a view of the strip as well. He opted for the indoor shower, as he wasn't inclined to airing his balls to the world, even if he knew there wasn't much of a chance of anyone seeing them from where they were all the way up the hill.
After showering, it took him another ten minutes to find the damn lights switch in the room. It wasn't much of a switch, actually, and more like a bunch of dials that could dim and change the lights to whatever he wanted. And what he wanted was pitch dark. After painstakingly figuring out how to turn off the fucking lights, he finally found himself in bed, and damn if it wasn't the best bed he'd ever laid in. Sleep took him faster than he'd expected.

~

"Kass?! Kass are you there? Kass I can't see. I can't fucking see." He could hear the man's voice like it was real. Like he was there again, living in that moment. He was back over seas again. He knew he shouldn't have come back, because if he came back, that meant Andy was coming too.
"I'm here, I'm here." Kassidy was saying, but he knew Andy couldn't hear him. "I'm here, I'm here" tears were streaming down his face. His hands were soaked in something warm and sticky. "I'm here, Andrew I'm here, don't let go, I'm here." The man was gripping his hand in a death grip. His words were becoming raspy. Kassidy could barely hear the gunfire around them anymore.
"Kass don't leave me, don't leave me here, please. I can't-I cant see." Andy kept repeating himself. Every time. It was always the same.
"I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here." Was all he could say. "I'm here, Andrew, I'm here, I'm here-"

~

Kassidy startled out of bed, flipping the covers off and pinning the person who had woken him up to the floor. She screamed as his hand came down on her throat.
"Kass-" she tried to get his name out but couldn't as his hand tightened around her neck, his other hand pinned one of her arms over her head and his legs straddled her hips, pinning her to the ground. His eyes were wild, he was looking at her but not seeing her. "Please." The word was a whisper but she saw realization slam into him. His grip loosened and he let go of her, sitting back and scrambling to get off of her. He backed up against the bed then slid down until he was only propped up by his elbows. Shock was replaced by fear as he realized who he'd attacked.
Lydia gasped for air, trying to keep herself from shaking. "I could hear you yelling, I thought something was wrong." Her hand went up to her throat and touched it gingerly. Kassidy's gaze followed her hand and his expression froze there.
"I-I was just having a dream." He stuttered. He looked so afraid. Lydia was shocked by it. He looked like a frightened child in that moment. He was only wearing a pair of grey sweatpants, his torso completely bare. That was when she noticed the tattoos. His entire abdomen, chest, collar bones, shoulders and arms all the way down to his wrists were covered in intricate designs. She could only assume that if she saw his back it would be the same. All black and grey. Some of it was words, other parts were pictures. She could make out on his right pectoral the words "Semper-Fidelis" and on his left pectoral, right over his heart, the words "Andrew Harris-Never Forgotten"
"Kassidy, it's me it's ok." She reached her hand out to him. He looked down at her hand quizzically. "Breathe, breathe, there you go." Kassidy took in a shaky breath, then another, and the look in his eye calmed. He was like a wild animal, trapped in a corner with no escape.
"Why are you in here." He asked. His usual flat voice back in place.
"I said I could hear you yelling from upstairs. I thought something was wrong so I came down to check on you." Lydia sat up on her knees and inched closer, curling her hands into fists and willing them to stop shaking.
"Where's Isaac?"
She smirked, "I sent him for coffee."
He faltered, "you... what?"