We Come Out At Night 5

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Christ
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“Please answer your phone and let me explain.” That is what the text message said that Chelsea sent me just after I left her in the bar with Shadows and “Fuck off” was my reply.

I’m so sick of this. So sick of being the one that everyone uses and takes for granted. They don’t think twice when they ask me for a favor and not once have they ever been concerned for my own happiness. Yet, I’m the one who gets kicked around so that they can all be happy in the end.

I stood there watching as Gates pulled into his parking space. How many times I’d stopped Kristina from leaving because I knew it would kill him and how many times I’d gone off on some wild goose chase just because he asked me to. Sure, I got a friend out of it in Kristina, but where did it get me?

“Is that a new face you are trying on? Lemme guess Grumpy Smurf?” Gates picked the wrong time to tell a joke.

“Fuck you, asshole.” I put my cigarette up to my lips and turned my back to him.

“Well, ok then. Why don’t we try this again? How about you turn around and tell me what your problem is?”

I turned around and threw my cigarette down on the ground and stood facing the street thinking of what to say. When I couldn’t hold it in anymore, I turned my head sideways and looked at him. “All you mother fuckers are my problem. Each and every fucking one of you!” I turned my head back to the street and watched as the cars passed while he stood there rubbing his head. I’m sure he wanted to hit me, but I really don’t care anymore.

“What happened?” He asked sincerely as he put his hand on my shoulder, but I jerked away.

“What happened? What hasn’t happened? Between watching after Kristina and making sure you don’t drive her away and going to The Maker’s Marc to find out what happened to Izzy not to mention babysitting her so she doesn’t wander down to Shadows, and then there’s Vengeance and The Rev who think I’m their own personal bitch. When the fuck do I get to be happy?”

My hands were balled into fists at my side and he stood there looking at me like he hadn’t expected me to unload on him like that. I never really ever told any of them how I felt before. “My whole fucking life revolves around all of you and none of you ever once say thank you or even seem to care that I go out of my fucking way to make you guys happy. Instead what do I get? I get Grumpy Smurf! or Short Shit! or some other fucking random joke, but to take my girl from me? That is about as low as it gets and I have fucking had about all I can take.”

“Johnny, I had no idea you felt this way and I apologize for what ever part I played in making you feel this way, but as for moving in on your chic, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I folded my arms across my chest just as I had seen him do so many times trying to intimidate people. “Yeah, well I’m sure once you talk to Shadows you’ll be patting him on the back and making me the brunt of yet another fucking joke.” I couldn’t talk about this anymore. The more I said, the more pissed off I was getting. I turned and walked away from him and went back inside. I didn’t look in when I passed the bar to walk to the elevator, I just wanted to get back up to my room and forget this whole day ever happened.

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Gates
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Well that was a bit unexpected. What the fuck did Shadows do now? I really didn’t want to deal with any more drama, but it seemed like I was the point person when it came to drama as of late.

I walked by the bar and saw Chelsea. When she looked at me, it looked as if she had been crying. As much as I wanted to ignore it and go upstairs, I couldn’t. I owed it to Johnny to find out what happened. Shadows was sitting at the end of the bar eyeing Chelsea like she was a steak and he was a hungry pit-bull.

“So, I just had an angry Christ unleash his inner demon on me. Any idea why?” I asked as I sat down beside Shadows.

“Christ has an inner demon? Who is it, The Keebler Elf?” He held his stomach and laughed. “What did he do? Come out of his tree and throw a cookie at you?” Wow, he really was a motherfucker and it became very clear at this very moment that he didn’t care who he hurt just so he would have to be reminded of his own pain.

“You’re going to regret this one day.” I warned and walked around behind the bar. I stood behind Chelsea and put my hand on her arm. “Can I speak with you alone for a second?” It’s not like she had a choice, I dragged her down to the other end of the bar and cornered her.

“What did you do to Johnny?” I asked her.

“Nothing.” She replied and covered her face with her hands. Great, she’s crying. I hate hormones.

“What happened, Chelsea?” I pulled her hands away from her face and she proceeded to tell me what Shadows did and how Johnny had walked in.

“He hates me now and it wasn’t my fault.” She cried.

I ran my hands through my hair in frustration and glanced back at Shadows who now had Emery on his lap. Does he really think destroying everyone else’s happiness is going to make him feel better? “Don’t cry. Just give me some time and I’ll take care of it.”

“Ok” She nodded.

“Go back to work, and try not to worry about it.” I hugged her and left the bar to go up to my apartment to deal with the other problem that I had waiting for me.

I got off the elevator and walked up to my floor and found Vengeance sitting on the couch with Mari watching television.

“Well, you look even worse than you did when you left.” Vengeance noted.

“Hey Mari, do you think you could go into the kitchen and make a pot of coffee for me?” I asked.

She nodded and stood up. “You could just tell me you need to speak with Zacky alone.” I winked at her and she went into the kitchen.

“She’s a smart cookie.”

“Yeah, she is.” Vengeance agreed. “So what’s up? Is everything ok with Kristina?”

I nodded and leaned forward to untie my sneakers. “She’s fine, its fucking Christ.”

“What happened?” His leaned back and sprawled his arms out on the back of the couch.

“Well, when I got back here, he was outside and he kind of bitch slapped me.”

“Christ?” Vengeances seemed as shocked to hear it, as I was to receive it.

“Yeah.” I nodded and placed my sneakers on the side of the couch. “He went off about us taking advantage of him and making him the constant joke instead of respecting him.”

“Where the hell did that come from?” Vengeance’s face twisted with confusion.

“Apparently Shadows made a move on Chelsea right in front of him.”

“Whoa.”

“Yeah, whoa.” I agreed. “We need to do something and set Shadows straight quick.”

He agreed and the rest of our conversation revolved around Shadows and Marco. The whole drama between the two of them was not going to end until one of them ends up dead and it wasn’t going to be Shadows. With Shadows being a man whore, The Rev a wife beating lush and Christ a heart broken lost puppy, it boiled down to Vengeance and I being the only two capable of putting this issue to rest and righting all of the wrongs.

“Can I come out now?” Mari yelled from the kitchen and I laughed lightly.

“You can come out now.” I yelled back and she walked out of the kitchen in to the living room. Vengeance stood and took her hand.

“We should be going. Call me if you figure anything out.”

“Will do” I nodded and rather than watching them leave, I got up to see if Izzy was awake.

As I opened the door to the room, I could see her eyes were open as she laid there facing the wall. She didn’t even turn around to look at me when I walked in.

“Izzy?” I sat down on the bed and put my hand on her hip. “How do you feel?”

She kept her gaze on the wall as she spoke. “What did I do to make him hate me?” Her voice had started to crack and I was really getting tired of all the crying that was going on lately. First London and then Chelsea and now Izzy. Anyone else?

“What are you talking about, Izzy?”

“Shadows. Why am I staying in your guest room and not the penthouse with him? And why hasn’t he been here?” Now she actually turned her head and looked back at me. I guess she was finally coming back into herself. I also guessed that she had no idea what happened.

“He’s just been busy. He doesn’t hate you.” She would forgive me eventually for lying to her. I stood up from the bed and put my hands on her hips. “Are you hungry? You should probably eat something.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She turned her head back to the wall. I wasn’t in the mood to explain her situation to her right now. I had my fill of the drama for the day. If I could just get through the night, I would explain everything to her in the morning.

“I’m going to go order a pizza.” I didn’t get a response out of her, she just continued to stare at the wall. I walked out of the bedroom and went to the kitchen.

After rummaging through the drawers for a pizza place menu, I finally found one and called to order a large pie. When I hung up the phone, I walked back to the bedroom to let Izzy know that the pizza was on it’s way.

“Izzy?” She wasn’t on the bed and she wasn’t in the bathroom. “FUCK ME!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. There is only one place she could have gone and she was probably there already.