The Trench

Chapter 41 - The Run In

As I stood in my kitchen at the counter, pouring sweet white wine, I could feel eyes on my back. Slowly I turned around to meet the eyes now drilling into mine, desperately demanding answers from me that I haven't yet shared.

I turn to face her, glass of wine in my hand as I nod in her direction indicating my willingness to talk. Her wolfish grin spreads across her face as she leans against the counter, crossing her arms and cocking her head to the side. I squint my eyes in suspicion. 

"Spill it." Taylor points a finger in my direction and I burst out laughing at her serious expression. I try to suppress another laugh as Taylor hops on the counter, leaning on her knees staring me down until I caved.

"Ugh, fine. We went to dinner, and my parents LOVED him. Right up until Austin took his jacket off and my mother saw his arms." I wince as Taylor starts laughing hysterically, she knows damn well how my mother is. When Taylor turned eighteen and got a tattoo of brass knuckles on her ankle my mother was right there to scold her.

"Dad still likes him at least." I shrug as I finish off my glass of wine and start pouring another.

"As much as I love that, and I really wish I could have been there, that's not the gossip I'm searching for. I want the tea, the good stuff." She holds out her glass also and I top it off.

"Okay, so last night when Austin and I got back to his apartment he gave me my Christmas present. He got a picture of Hallow and I and had it blown up into canvas art. He also took her leather halter and her brass nameplate from her stall door and had it framed in a shadow box." I smile as I think about my gifts, he had originally bought me a gift card for a massage parlor but after the fire he figured he could do something a little more meaningful.

Taylor smiles and leans against the counter again. "Wow, well that's incredibly sweet of him. Did you give him his present? And by that I mean did you..give it to him?" Taylor says with a low voice paired with an exaggerated wink as she wanders to the kitchen table and sits down.

I snort laugh and roll my eyes at her from the counter.

"After he gave me his awesome gift, I gave him his car ornament. Aaaannddd then I gave it to him." Taylor squeals and kicks her legs under the table as I stifle a laugh with my hand.

"I told you he'd love that romper!"

I cross my arms in front of me and shrug. "He loved it so much, Mable across the hall gave me a thumbs up as I left his apartment this morning."

Taylor spits her wine out as we both crack up laughing, it's moments like this that make me incredibly lucky to have a best friend. Who I can share these stories with and have careless laughter over wine.

At that moment I hear my phone buzzing in the living room. I get up and cross the room and grab it from the coffee table, my brows furrow as I read the name on the front.

"Mae! Hey stranger." I keep my voice level, not knowing what type of mood she will be in. It seemed every time I saw her, her mood changed and I was caught off guard. However, I haven't seen or spoke with her since Christmas break.

We spoke for a few moments before she had to run off the phone, I hit end call and stand there staring at the carpet for a second, stewing over what she told me.

"Hey, you okay?" Taylor calls from the entry to the kitchen, she's standing there watching me already done cleaning up her spit out wine.

"Yeah, that was Mae. She just called to see how I was doing after the fire, and to give her condolences for Hallow. But I was standing here wondering how she knew about it. Granted, I'm sure the fire was all over the news. However, she didn't know where I boarded and she didn't know about Hallow..." I cross my arms in thought as I look at Taylor.

"I'm sure Austin mentioned it to her, hun. Or she might have seen the picture he had made." Taylor shrugs and I nod my head in agreement. I turn around and grab my keys from the table by the couch.

"I'm going to grab our mail from downstairs." I say and Taylor gives me a strange look.

"It's past eleven, just wait until tomorrow like a normal person." I stick my tongue out at her as I open the door and she rolls her eyes, waving me on into the hallway.

The stairway is cold and empty as I make my way down into the lobby, no one else was out and about and it left the place eerily quiet. I slide my key in the lock and twist, the slight squeaky hinges seeming even more noisy that usual. The front door banging open startled me and I jumped, mail flying out of my hands into the air and I whip around.

"What the hell, Kane! You scared the shit out of me" I scolded in a hushed tone as he shuffled inside the door, it locking back in place. It took me a second to focus on what was wrong, but it left an unsettling feeling in my stomach.

Kane was standing there looking at me uneasily, shifting his gaze quickly between me, my mail on the ground, and the stairs trying to determine his next move. His eyes are nervous, surrounded by dark rings indicating lack of sleep. He won't hold still, like his body is trying to force him to move and be anywhere but right here at this moment.

He was dressed in black again, all the way down to his shoes and his face was unshaven which was very out of character for Kane.

"Hey, you okay?" I ask hesitantly as if talking to a scared child or animal. Worried that if I spoke too loud it would spook them into running away. He gives me a sharp nod once and a strained smile, mumbles something about insomnia, and takes the stairs two at a time until he's gone.

I stand there a moment processing his demeanor. He's always been a bit odd but he's odd in a different way; he can be aloof or uninterested, but not jumpy. He was worried, or scared, and I needed to tell someone.

I rush to get our mail picked up, making sure not to leave anything on the floor and I shut the mailbox door. I skip up the stairs and I pause at Austin and Kane's door, I press my ear to the wood but I can't hear anything inside so I head inside my apartment before any neighbors saw me.

I get inside and wander to the kitchen table, tossing the mail onto it. I wander down the hall to Taylors room where she's changing into her pajamas for the night and I make myself comfy on her bed.

"I just had a weird run in with Kane in the lobby." I say to her back as she's pulling a t-shirt over her head. She turns around and shrugs at me.

"So, weirder than normal? Because a few days ago I saw him and said hi and he whispered something into the air before walking off. I'm not even sure if he knew I was there." She said with a quizzical look on her face.

"Yes, weird as in he looked like he was running from something. Or maybe he was in some sort of trouble. He was wearing all black again Tay, he always wears black when he goes out anymore..." My tone was accusing, I knew that but I couldn't help it. If Kane was in some sort of trouble, or was causing some trouble I wanted to know.

Taylor slowly sits on the edge of her bed, staring at the wall behind me deep in thought before answering.

"Well, we could stay here and not do anything about it and wonder what he's up to but never know." She pauses to let it sink in. "Or, we could watch him and see where he goes."

We both sit there on her bed staring at one another, after a few moments we both nod. An unspoken agreement on how we're going to handle the situation, I sigh and nod again getting up off the bed.

"Well it's settled then, we follow Kane."