Chapter 1.3: Destruction of the Night, My Personal Demise

 The cabbies eyes kind of budged out of his skull when he saw me coming down the sidewalk but I’d gotten used to that for many reasons. As a Breckenridge, not many people were unaware of your existence. Two, I was wearing a black leather skirt and a fishnet woven koi patterned top. All my tattoos were visible through this thing. I think, if I saw someone else wearing something similar, my eyes would bulge out too. I told him where we were headed as I slid into the back and he just kind of nodded and did his best to watch the road. The ride to the club was without incident and I quickly dismissed Toulouse's strange behavior.

             There was no traffic, which is pretty typical for this part of town. Winter was beyond settling in but it had been a light snow season so far. I knew Calvin would be stressing over creating snow or waiting it out. There was only another couple weeks left to decide. I sighed as we pulled up outside of the club, aptly named “Club Eden”, paid my cabby and thanked him for a smooth ride and got out. I thought about Calvin more as I walked up to the club, it was frustrating to me that I was thinking about my father but I had serious doubts that he was thinking about me.

               The good thing about having my last name was that people just got out of your path and cleared the way for you. I faced no resistance getting into the club; the bouncers smiled at me and greeted me by name and laughed as the people in line started complaining. I just smiled as I walked in and began looking for my little portion of Eden. He was staring at me by the time I saw him, grinning from ear to ear. As soon as our eyes locked he stood and started walking to me and I eagerly met him half-way.

“You WERE NOT kidding about that dress…” His eyes were drinking me in like a good wine. His arms wrapped around my shoulders, his body pressed to mine in an intimate hug and I just giggled and breathed into his ear,
  “Just don’t tear it up, Talon. I really like it.” He laughed, loudly and pulled away and smirked.
  “No promises. But I’ll try to be gentle on it.” His face broke into his signature grin and he started walking back to the seating area where everyone else waited. I followed behind and sat next to him. A few people were still missing from our little group, which made me happy, because I wasn’t the last one there. We had a couple rounds as we waited and people gradually trickled in until we were all present.

 
                   Once everyone arrived and had a drink in hand, Brass stood up in his usual fashion, beating the table with his fist. He was there to have fun and celebrate with us but he was not going to take our shit, either. He loved each of us like his kids but he was a tough old bastard. The truth is, we all loved the old man, too. Even I had a soft spot for him. He was just that likeable.

“Alright alright. Shut up. Shut up. I know the music in here is too damned loud for you guys to actually hear a fucking thing I say so I’ll make it short. The set is up and we didn’t interfere with the girly actors practices. It looks damned good, too. If they don’t like our work they can stuff it.” We all laughed. We knew this would never actually be the case. We’d tear the whole thing down just for the fun of rebuilding it again.
              “Natalyia did a bang out job on all the art, as usual. One of these days those prissy pants are going to notice that talent you’ve got, girl. Keep pressing them for an audition.” I felt a warm blush on my cheeks a little when Talon nudged me but I was grinning happily.

 “You boys did your job, too. The set is sturdy and reliable. Talon, you’re going to be an architectural genius if you keep this up… And... That’s it. Enjoy yourselves tonight, guys. You’ve made this old man proud again. He slammed his drink on the table and then drank the rest. We followed suit. This had become our tradition and, as usual, Brass left shortly after. No one mentioned my erratic behavior. I suppose that’s the good thing about hanging around with a bunch of guys. They just do NOT care. Everything is forgiven and forgotten for them.

 Those of us that stayed would hang out to the early hours of the morning dancing, drinking and laughing it up. This had become our tradition after successfully constructing a stage set. We would work almost non-stop while the actors weren’t around to get more done, sleep whatever time we had, enjoy our time off and keep at it until construction was complete. Once complete we had a night out on the company’s budget. It was a strange way of thanking your employees, I suppose, but when all your employees are in their early to late twenties it’s also the most efficient and most enjoyable thing for them. We did not complain.

    This is the most high-class place we had actually had the privilege of going to. Brass had decided to go all out for this set since the clientele was so much higher this time around. With the winter season the higher end clients came in and so did the money. So Brass rewarded us with a higher-class establishment. The guys, I’d noticed, were having a hard time keeping their eyes off me tonight. I think the reality of me being a female was sinking in tonight since I wore this outfit. They usually saw me in my set clothes. Black pants, black top, hair up in a pony-tail. I was also usually coated in paint and saw dust. They each took a turn dancing with me and we had our own laughs but I stuck close to Talon most of the night.

 We had our fair share of drinks, laughs and even stole a couple kisses every now and then. We were not much for public affection around people we knew. That isn’t to say people didn’t know we were together. It was pretty obvious we were but we never publicized it in such an open way. My thoughts from earlier haunted me and after a while Talon took notice and took me upstairs and onto the open deck of the club

  “You’re doing it again.” He was smiling in his usual way and I just sighed.
  “I don’t really think we need to talk about it here, Talon. I don’t think that’s fair to either of us.” His eyebrows raised and he tilted his head, clearly confused at this direction and he stood up straighter,
  “What’s going on, Natty. What are you thinking? You can let me in, you know. It’s not like we haven’t talked about weird topics before.” He was right and I knew it but I didn’t know how to bring this up to him without just straight asking him. I bit my bottom lip so hard I thought it was going to bleed.
   "Hey. Stop that.” He grabbed my chin, lifted my face to his and kissed me.
    This was not one of his usual public kisses. He was pressing his mouth to mine like this was our last kiss. Like he was desperate to make me feel his thoughts, emotions and-
   I broke away from him. I was not a crier and I did not want to start now.
  “Talon. I’m not leaving you. You don’t have to act like this…” and then he grabbed me, wrapped me in his arms and kissed me again. My heart, nearly exploding as it is, was beating faster and faster. I’d never felt like this before not even with him. I felt a snap inside me and I knew I was done for.
   I kissed him back, my arms wrapping tightly around his neck and the tears fell.
  By God it was like he knew how to open the flood gates. Everything I had ever wanted from someone was right here, in my arms, wanting me back. When he broke away from me he left his forehead to mine, not letting me go,

   “Natty. I know you won’t leave me for the same reason I won’t leave you. I know we’re not… exactly…” he struggled with his wording. He did not want to upset me. For once, I was reading his mind.
   “Traditional..?” I suggested through a silent sob and he half sighed and half laughed.
    “Traditional. But we are… Connected.” He wiped the tears from my cheeks “Jesus, Natty. Please don’t cry like this.” He grinned, “You’ll ruin your make-up.”
    “Only you… ONLY you, Talon would be able to joke in this kind of situation.” I said with a soft chuckle and wiped at my eyes. He kissed me again not as eager or as desperate as before but with the same strength and gentleness he’d always possessed.
  “I know. And only you, Natty, would laugh… That’s why we’re stuck together.”
  “You think that’s it..? I looked up and into his eyes cautiously, afraid of what I would see there.
  “Natty…” He was staring at me intently and hesitated so long that I looked away. He could not say it either. We were both cowards. I felt his forehead against my temple and his lips inches from my ear.
 “Natty I do. I can’t say it… but I do. You know it. I know you do. We both know it.” And that is when I felt him shake. He wrapped his arms tighter around me. “I’m not supposed to… I was never supposed to do this. I told myself I wouldn’t. I don’t want you to get hurt, Natty. I’m sorry I can’t stop it.”

 
 I felt the tears spill over my cheeks again.  Why could we both not say what we needed to say? We were both so damaged, so fucked up, that we did not know how to properly do it so we just stayed away from it? I steeled myself I knew what I needed to do and I just needed to grit my teeth and do it.
  I turned my face to look into his eyes and I saw his own were swimming with tears. “Talon… I know we don’t have to say it because we know it… But I’ve never before, not even to my parents, have said it to someone else… And it sounds so stupid, I know but…” I whispered, choking these last words out of my system, un-stoning my heart and my frozen core, “I do love you. I’ve known… For a while I just…” I shut myself up. I’d prepared it all in my head and now I could not remember a word of it. He chuckled a little.
  “I know. You don’t have to keep going. I know.” He kissed my cheek delicately. This is as close to declared as we could get. We would never be a traditional couple but we could at least find our own version of happiness in our own way. I was satisfied with that. I had finally admitted something to myself, and to him, that I never thought I could.
I was in love and he loved me back.

He chuckled into my ear. “Are you ready to go home? I’m afraid if Brace looks at you like that one more time tonight I’m gonna kick him in the head.” A fit of laughter exploded out of me. True, deep hearted, strong laughter. I’d laughed before in my life but this felt like the first time in a long time.
 “Talon! Are you JEALOUS!?” Another fit of laughter took me over and I leaned back against the balcony, holding my sides. He looked flustered. We’d just gone from declaring ourselves to one another to talking about going home together, to me laughing in his face all in a span of five minutes.
 “Well not like…THAT jealous, you know. He’s been eyeing you all night in that-“

 
  I kissed him, smiling. “Like you really have anything to worry about.” I scoffed against his lips, felt him smile and instinctively knew he rolled his eyes and then I quietly asked, “So, you were asking about going home..?” He grinned and pulled away from me, taking my hand and leading me back inside the club. We stopped by the booth to tell everyone bye and, some of the guys, upon noticing our grasped hands kind of half-grinned and gave Talon the thumbs up sign

We left the club then and climbed in a cab and gave the driver my address since it was closer and we did not want to deal with his roommates tonight. We had so much to talk about and really did not want interruptions. On the way to my house I gave him a sidelong look and he just shrugged already sensing what I was going to ask, “They’re happy. They’ve been waiting for it to become official, I think. Kind of think those bastards had a bet going on when it would happen.” I had to laugh again.
                        “That makes sense in some messed up way.” I leaned against him and he put his arm around me. At least this felt natural. The drive home was just as fast and smooth as it was going to the club that night. I got out of the cab, Talon paid him, thanked him and followed me up the steps to my apartment.

                      Had I been more sober or less in love than I was I might have noticed a few things. Like how the lights were all out around the complex, how I was having a hard time getting into my apartment, about how the night was dead silent or, upon walking in notice the balcony doors were both wide open.

                 Somehow though, I missed it all.

                            As I turned to face Talon as he walked in... The figure waiting in the dark attacked us before we could even react and defend ourselves against his onslaught.