𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚘𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚎𝚌𝚑 [𝙳𝙸𝚂𝙲𝙾𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙽𝚄𝙴𝙳]

I Think

"Well, I think you're a fucking idiot."

The words stung, they really did. But Alexander wasn't sure what much more he had expected, in all honesty. A shiver moved up his spine, one of cold origin, pressing against the back of his throat and closing it up until tears of pain surfaced in Alexander's eyes. He didn't dare let them fall down his cheeks, though, instead swallowing the wave and giving a solemn nod, slinking down further into his seat. He opened his eyes to examine Thomas's white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, his red face and his wide eyes, his seemingly pained expression, and all of it killed him. Alexander knew he was hated, but not this much. He glanced down at Gordita instead, who had stood up, stretched out, and began lightly nibbling on the tip of Alexander's nose. Thomas continued.

"Not- shit, sorry. I didn't mean- y'aint in your right fuckin' mind. Y' don't know what love is. You're clueless for that shit, Hamilton. You're- you're desperate for some sort of fuckin' affection. Y'ain't in love."
Thomas's tone had grown to a more desperate drop, a pleading voice, as if saying those things would suddenly make them true. But he knew they weren't. He hoped they weren't, at least. Because, he didn't think he could manage the twist in his stomach when Alexander said those words, or the pain he felt whenever he saw the other suffering. He now knew what the feeling was, and he was terrified of it.

Alexander swallowed down, letting a wave of tense silence between the two. He hated silence. He's always hated silence, but now he decided he /really/ hates it. Despises it with the deepest feeling in his gut he could imagine. The one thing he couldn't have possibly hated it more than was Laurens, the treatment he's put through each day, but that didn't matter. Alexander offered a meek nod, now focusing on running his hand over the soft expanse of Gordita's fur, over her head and down her back. He earned a delighted purr. It was plenty to keep his mind at bay, for the time being.

It didn't take quite long for them to get to the house, the roads being practically empty at around three in the morning. Of course, that was expected. It allowed them to swerve in and out of lanes, through green lights, and hell, even through alleys if need be without consequence. When Thomas reached the house, he parked, glancing over at Alexander with a soft sigh. He looked depressed. The sight depressed Thomas.
He cleared his throat. Alexander jumped.

"Please, just.. Wait outside of the house. In the car. I'll pick you up when we're ready for you, okay?"
Alexander glanced over at him, a small whine escaping his lips. There was also a frown pulling his lips down, which broke Thomas's heart, for a reason he wasn't going to actually admit. Not even to himself. Still, though, the immigrant nodded, glancing back down to Gordita who was currently mewling and rubbing her body against his face. Thomas matched the smaller males nod, before leaving the car, walking up to the door of the house. He offered around two to three knocks on the door, waiting rather impatiently.

When somebody had finally answered the door, Thomas let out a rather relieved sigh, pushing past the shorter girl and allowing himself into the house without a word spoken. She was clearly muscular, with pulled back blond hair and a headband holding the whisps back. She was wearing what seemed to be a Taekwon-Do uniform, which should have intimidated Thomas.
It didn't.
The women paused there for a moment, eyebrows furrowing, before she slowly shut the door, turning to look at Thomas.
"I, ah, may I help you?"

Thomas turned back to her when he finished examining her house, his eyes narrowed down in a glare. He had already hated the women, whose name was apparently Harleigh. He let a growl of a huff escape his lips, him crossing his arms. His eyes narrowed even more, eyebrows furrowing.
"I'm ain't the one who fucking needs help. You know who needs help? Alexander. You fucking- you- you knew about all of this, and you didn' do anything to help him! You're not trying to do anything! Y'ain't helpin' him by existin' and shit, ya' know."

Harleigh seemed taken aback for a moment, perhaps hurt, before she simply shook her head, a calm demeanour riddling her personality. She reminded him of Burr in a slight way, from what he could tell by now.
"All we can do for now is wait. We know what John is doing to him, sure. We also know how badly it's affecting Alexander. He told me all about it. However, seeing as though no other attempts have worked, he's not in jail yet, and he hasn't faced any issues, I doubt us doing anything more will help. We need to wait. He needs somewhere to stay. My roommate isn't.. Fond, of him. Do you have a place?"

Thomas stood there for a moment, fuming from previous frustration that he already held for the woman. Sure, he agreed. But.. Still. If he was so close to Alexander and John, especially John, he would of beaten the man's ass up. But she didn't. And Thomas would forever hold that against her. However, he simply nodded, a heavy sigh leaving his lips. He never noticed just how exhausted he was. 
"Yeah. He can- he can stay at my place. Who's your roommate?"
Harleigh raised an eyebrow, before simply shaking her head, dismissing the question.
"It really doesn't matter. She's not much important. There's a lot Alexander told me about the situation, i don't know if-"

Harleigh was cut off with yet another female voice coming from the hall, ripping through what Harleigh had previously said and destroying the slightly calm demeanour that had collected.
"Harleigh! Who is that?"
Harleigh looked pained for a moment, before glancing to the hall when the girl finally came out of the hall. She was thin, and around the same height as Harleigh. She had short, brown hair, with a red sweatshirt crop top and slightly baggy blue jeans. She eyed Thomas for a moment, before glancing back to Harleigh like he was nothing.

"Remember Alexander? This is his- his friend."
"Haha, what? I thought John cut them all out."
"Sophia-"
"He's /got/ to know about this, holy shit. He's actually gonna kill him. I'm gonna make so much shit it's- holy fuck. I can take us out again. You know that one place, that looked like a warehouse, with all the expensive shit?"
Sophia - the name Thomas counted from Harleigh - glanced back to Thomas, pulling her phone out and snapping a photo of the Virginian before he could react. She let an excited giggle escape her lips, before walking up to him and shoving her hand forward. Thomas hesitantly shook it.

"Hi. I'm Sophia. John's friend. I get him the branding tools and knives and rope and stuff. Oh! And the alcohol. I get so much money for it, you'll be dead if you knew, I swear. Literally, when I tell him about you, you'll be dead."
Thomas's eyes widened, and he quickly took his hand away from the other. He was unable to help when his hands balled into fists at his side. He raised his hand, quick to hit, before the door opened quietly, leaving him to turn to the door quickly.

There was Alexander, with an anxious smile on his lips, his face red. He was holding Gordita, slowly petting her.
"I- uh- hey. You were- y-you were taking a while."
Sophia cracked up into a fit of laughter, as Harleigh rushed over to Alexander. She led him to another room, talking in hushed tones about the cat. Sophia called out after him.
"You're dead!"
Thomas turned to Sophia, forcing his hands in his pockets so he could swear himself on lack of previous violence. He spoke through gritted teeth.
"You help John?"
"I get so much fucking cash from it, too."
"You know what he does?"
"I help him."

HarleighTheDreamer