Blackstone Inc. (Book 2)

Part 57

*Ooo, we're about to dive into the depths with this one.*

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"Okay, so let me get this straight. You want me to teach you how to shoot a gun so you can go with Preston to kill Hawthorne. That's the gist of the conversation," he asked as he looked at me like I was an idiot.

And, honestly, if I were him I'd tell me no too.

"I mean, yeah but--"

He chuckled, interrupting my speech, "--So, I think you know my answer then, Daisy. Glad we could have this chat."

I panicked and grabbed his arm as he turned around, "Please, Dominic. If I know how to shoot, if I'm acquainted with a pistol or something, if I can defend my self then I could help Preston. You said after everything was said and done he wouldn't be the same for a while. Well, maybe if I was there with him then I could take his mind out of where ever it goes when he gets like that.

"It happened today. He went off into his mind and he kept telling me how he wasn't the same man he was before. That he had hurt someone and he didn't mean to, that he was better now. I don't know if that has anything to do with this situation, but I took his mind off of that and he's been fine since. I really think that if I go with him then I could help him--in more ways than one."

The words coming out of my mouth were rushed like I thought he would run away from me and my suggestions, but even if it was a jumbled mess when spoken, it all made perfect sense in my mind.

Not to mention the fact that I could see us in black leather outfits like some type of hitmen-slash-ninja-slash-assassin power couple.

Not the right time.

Though...I could only imagine his ass in a pair of tight leather pa--

Nope, still not the right time.

"Does it have anything to do with 'her'? Whoever 'her' is," I asked to rid myself of the mouth-watering imagery and I noticed how Dominic looked deep in thought.

He shook his head, "No, who he was when he hurt 'her' and who he'll be after he finds Hawthorne are different. He is different now from how he was when he hurt...′her' but not by much."

All these different personalities of Preston Blackstone were making my head swim. I thought I knew him...I thought I had been the only one to know him better besides his family what with all the time we'd been spending together...

But I was just now realizing that the Preston Blackstone I knew, his family and friends and the media knew was a completely different Preston Blackstone when all eyes weren't on him...

And the realization was scary. You sleep next to someone, you share intimate details with someone, you fall in love with someone...and there's a possibility that you may know almost nothing about them while they make you feel like you've known them your whole life.

"So, there are different Prestons, is what you're saying," I asked in a quiet voice, "The Preston in the media: the womanizer, the flirt, the playboy. The Preston he shows to family and friends...and me....and Preston, the hitman?"

He looked me in the eye, trying to gauge if I was about to have a mental breakdown over the fact that my seemly perfect billionaire CEO boyfriend was actually fucking deadly, but I had gone through so much fucked up shit that it was a shock, but I wasn't going to lose my mind.

"To an extent. What you've got to understand about him is that he's got many many layers. The outer shell is the Preston he portrays to everyone. It's the Preston you see on a daily basis. It's the happy, carefree, go-lucky Preston who is fun and in love and is everyone's friend. And then there's the next layer, the one where you see his temper, you see his anger, his backlash at anything major. This is where you see his mask start to crack and falter. This is where he usually stops and he's gotten very good over the years of not letting anyone but me see it except for the occasional slip-ups.

"And then you have the Varjo. It means 'shadow'. This is who he is when he takes a job, takes a life. What he does when he's in that state...he's like a totally different person, Daisy. He's emotionless, and if you thought I was bad...he's worse. No feeling or regard for human life what-so-ever. He doesn't just go around offing everyone he sees, but if there are people in his way during a particular job then...he has absolutely no qualms in taking their life. But there is hope for that Preston. He can be brought back from that state with help..."

He sighed and looked back at me as he had been staring off throughout his monologue. Maybe he was still trying to see if I would run away screaming but, I was disturbingly interested and disturbingly stuck in place.

"And then there is the absolute middle of Preston Connor Blackstone...and that Preston is dead inside. He doesn't care. He isn't loving, he isn't caring, he isn't kind or compassionate and he isn't funny. He is...nothing. And when he becomes this way...there is no helping him. He fades into his nothingness and the only way for him to get out is if he pulls himself out."

The shock that hit my system was like a wave of iced water.

I really didn't know my boyfriend.

I really, really didn't know Preston...at all.

How had I not known that he was so...complex? How had I not known or seen that there were so many different levels of him?

Was I just blinded by my infatuation and then my love for him that I just refused to see it? Had the signs been in my face the whole time?

Had I really been having sex with a ruthless killer who wore a mask...the whole time?

"How is he so good at hiding it," I asked in a whisper.

"He's had years of practice. He's had me and a few select people who know...and we help him. He's fallen into the depths of himself a few times, but you've come along and I haven't seen that side of him or even had a glimpse of that side of him...at least not when you're around. And I'm not saying this to manipulate you into staying with him so please don't think that. I'm saying this because I know how you feel.

"You feel like you're too good for him like you're past will get in the way and you'll weigh him down, but Daisy, you won't. If I'm being honest, your baggage, the weight of your past is probably like a lifeline to the top layer of him, like a breath of fresh air to him. It probably takes his mind off the constant rambling in his head. You might not see it as it's subtle, but the change in him is great and it's only gotten better since before he left to bring you back.

"I really thought for a second there when you left him that he would fall...I really thought he would escape inside of himself, but he pushed through it, he worked to get you back and it's completely selfish, but he did it to save himself almost, if not just as much, as he did it to save you. He loves you, Daisy, and I can see that he's terrified to lose you. It might be cliche, but he might feel like if he loses you...then he'll lose himself as well."

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*Let me know what you guys think. I'm trying to create a little more depth to the story and I think Preston's story is an interesting one.*