Enemy Basis | COMPLETE

16| old allies

DARCY

I was still overwhelmingly disappointed with the turn of events tonight. My stalker seemed to have a tight mouth, and I had not gained any new information or anything from his presence apart from a near kidnapping, which would've happened if the guys had not been there. I walked underneath the dark, beautiful sky, glowing underneath the eery moonlight as I questioned why they were all here.

I had asked Reed to come, so I was unsurprised to see him. However, I wasn't too sure about the others. I had watched Lennox, and he seemed utterly confused and disoriented, so I didn't know how he got here. And Dorran, Archer, and Marcelo? One could only mysteriously wonder why they had decided to make an appearance.

The strangest thing about tonight had not been their appearance, the near kidnapping or the arrival of Tay and his men who had always felt like a fun uncle of sorts and who had always looked out for me when my family weren't there for me, it was Dorran's behaviour.

I was pretty sure that he hated me with his plain indifference that seemed to scream loathing and hatred whenever he was around me, which was why his actions tonight were very confusing. He almost seemed protective over me? Utterly absurd. Dorran was mean, he was callous and didn't have one nice bone in his body. There was no chance that he had a change of heart. Maybe he had been confused, blinded by his caveman instincts to protect the seemingly weak or perhaps his masculinity had been threatened at the thought of not being the biggest threat in the room? No matter the explanation, I knew that he'd soon see reality and resume alongside his previous judgements. I almost hoped that he would go back to how he usually acted, just so this whiplash from his character change wouldn't accidentally lower my guard and make me vulnerable. Dorran was Dorran and he would never change; I had to remember that.

Tay nudged me, making me lose my train of thought and I smiled up at him in gratitude. I didn't want to think about pointless things anymore.

"You always get lost in your little head," his deep voice rumbled to me, a great contrast to the cheeky smile he had on his face.

"I think it's my biggest problem," I replied to him with a mirroring expression on my face.

If anyone in this world could make me feel safe and problem-free, it was Tay.

I didn't remember much of the time after my father had been taken away, apart from the harrowing hollowness of feeling hopelessly and utterly lost. For me, there had been no solution. It felt like my life had reached a dead end. Bumping into Tay one day had simply saved me.

Tay was a big, burly guy with a scary face on him, intimidating any and all who came close but I had always seen a friendly man with that smile of his locked on his face despite his scary appearance. I loved him and he felt more like my family than my own parents did.

"I think your friends were surprised that you know me," he continued in the darkness with only the moonlight illuminating the hard edge of his face.

We carried on walking whilst I looked back at 'my friends'. They were behind us, several feet, and they were in a line, not talking, but they looked like a unit. I knew that they were surprised that I knew Tay but no one out of them deserved to know apart from Lennox and after this whole night was over, I was going to tell him everything, sick of the secrets piling on top of each other.

If I was quite frank, my relationship with Tay was a strange one. He was a lot older than me but when I met him all those years ago, we had an instant connection and I hadn't told anyone because selfishly, I wanted to keep something so pure to myself. Tay was someone I cherished, someone who always welcomed me with open arms and someone who always had space for me in his bar where I had often gone in times of need.