"The kids are fine." Hayden waved his hand and the security camera feed in the top corner of the TV screen flipped to the basement where there was a strange adult with them. At least that was the look Juls had on her face. "She's alright. She's got permission to be here -- Nox is going to help her break her block. I imagine she found the twins at the Church."
Juls looked at Hayden with a frown. "You mean the drug addict you wanted me to help?"
Hayden nodded. "One and the same, but they are fine. You don't have to worry. I think she's freaking out more than the kids even notice her. Just watch for now. If she's gonna hang around here she has to get used to the chaos. Didn't we all?"
They finally made it to Nox's place. The adults when upstairs, the kids all piled downstairs and there was so many people here. All in the same places. Sterling would have grabbed Marta but she was alreday on her way down stairs. Liam lingered he was staring at his options. Up or down it seemed. He wasn't sure where he wanted to go -- be an adult -- or be a kid?
Sterling grinned and grabbed his elbow. There was a small break room down the service hall to the back. "I know a quiet place we can go."
There was a small releived look on Liam's face until Sterling pulled him into a room with a couch just the otherside of the mailboxes. "We can hang here. It's quiet."
A panicked look crossed his face and Sterling knew why, but she was braver than he was. She took his hands and pulled him closer to her and pressed her lips hard against his. She'd been wanting to do that for a long time.
This was all veyr new to him. Being at the club was one thing. He'd only ever been at Nox's a handful of times, and the one time he barely remembered was the time he had sex for the first time -- with two other folks. He remembered it only enough to know that he was definitely ready for more, and when Sterling pulled him into a room alone he started to have a panick attack. Nox was clear on the rules. Sterling didn't seem to care as she kissed him.
Her lips were warm -- his face was cold. He was freezing. And her fingers were even colder as they reached under his coat to touch his skin. Liam jerked away from her. "We shouldn't."
Sterling frowned. "I thought..." Her frown turned angry and then she glared and reached around him for the door. L
Liam grabbed her and kissed her. "No." He whispered through the kiss. "It's not that I don't want to. Your cousin."
Sterling froze but her lips sank into his and thre was no need for talk. And Liam knew he was fucked but he didn't want Sterling to leave.
Madison left to go play with some other kids. McKenzie had seen Tatyana falter. She didn’t really know why it happened, but Tatyana knew. She needed her meds, but wanted to stay here for McKenzie. A soar would help keep her from focusing too much on the fix she needed.
The two began to spar and Tatyana kept the same rule. If McKenzie could hit her - do it. There were times when she would stop to help McKenzie or show her another move. Tatyana was careful. She didn’t want to hurt the young girl. They got an audience too. Some of the kids began to watch including the golden eyed girl. It was fun. Tatyana even smiled a bit. After a decent spar, they stopped.
”Im going to get some air,” she said. It wasn’t the kids so much as the need she felt inside. They’d have to go soon, and Tatyana wanted to see if the snow had stopped falling.
She got to the door and saw it had not. In fact, it was coming down heavier. Her hands had begun to twitch. She needed her fix, but she wasn’t going to get it. She had no idea when she would get it. Noise came from upstairs. Apparently there were adults here. They should know. It wasn’t going to be a fun night for her.
Tatyana went upstairs were adults were drinking. Juls and Hayden were the ones she recognized. They looked at her, but Juls seemed focused on a screen that showed what other kids were up to. For a moment she thought she saw two kids together alone. Juls left quickly after that. That left Hayden. That was preferable. Of the two of them, he hated her less than Juls did.
She approached Hayden. ”Its bad outside. I think Madison, McKenzie and I are going to be stuck here for a bit, ” her hands opened and closed - a habit to attempt to hide the shaking. She should tell him the withdrawals were starting, but it was hard. ”How long is it going to last do you think? I need…” she raised her hands to show they were shaking. He could probably fill in the rest.
Juls slipped off down stairs for some reason. Hayden wasn't paying attention to the kids -- wasn't his job. Wasn't hers either. Ashton or Liv or Liam would be around here somewhere. Sometimes people stepped in where they ddin't belong. But not his place. He was only here because he was now snowed in. And Nox was out there -- doing god knows what. Hopefully he was safe, but he wasn't answering his messages.
Tatyana came over to him and confessed she needed a fix. Hayden nodded and offered her a drink. "It's all I have at the moment. If Nox answers his text I might be able to get into his stash." Nox didn't do drugs himself -- his body was a fucking temple -- he barely even drank. But that was for reasons other than his health. Had more to do with his Daddy issues than with anything. But he kept some on hand for his guests -- specifically for Oriena.
Still boggled Hayden's mind that they were fuck buddies. Nox was into guys hard -- and Oriena was as far from a man as you could get. Though they shared a violence streak that played well with Nox's darker appetites. Hayden was more than happy to let someone else take that ring.
"The twins are always welcome here, and if you are their friend you are always welcome here. Nox has a a soft spot for those two, even if McKenzie doesn't like him." Hayden didn't let her in on the secret -- she liked him. She hated that she liked him. He was nothing but sweet to them. But Tatyana had this thing about Nox and Hayden figured she needed to work it out on her own. Guy could be an asshole, truly he could. and if you pissed him off well you saw that, but otherwise you were good. Hayden didn't ever want to be on his bad side. He wasn't far from it -- though Nox hadn't blamed him. He was just frustrated with his life. And the choices he'd made -- and the ones he had to live with. Hayden wished he could change but there was no getting around that either.
"There's a spare room down stairs you can avoid the kids if you want to lock a door or something. I can't let you into the locked room with the medication. That would be bad. And the meds there are all needed by individuals and probably not what you want."
Hayden poured her a glass of rum. Not a shot. A glass. That was nice. "When I drink, I'm usually using my meds too. This might not do anything." With her luck it wouldn't do anything.
Tatyana drank the glass anyways, gulping it down instead of sipping. Hayden continued to talk, but it was less talkative than she remembered. He talked a lot. Nox talked more. She was glad he wasn't here. Hayden mentioned that Mckenzie didn't like Nox.
Good. He killed her parents and then has to come back and remind them by showing his face at the church all the time. All to assuage his guilt for being a murderer. she thought. Nox deserved her hate.
The booze wasn't going to help. She was sure of it. Her hands would continue to shake. Then she would lose focus. Then it would get worse. And she had no timetable for when she was getting any. "The kids are fine. There are just a lot of them and they're excitable."
Hayden laughed. "They are at that. They are Nox's kids, it should be expected I guess."
He looked around. "We could ask if Liv might be able to heal it. Or Ashton could possibly sing it away. I have no idea what sort of effect it would have. Or if you'd be interested in trying alternatives."
Tatyana didn’t know who Liv was. Another of Nox’s sycophants probably. Ashton she knew. He hated her too. Liv would probably hate her too. But they did everything because Nox would do it apparently. So weird.
”If they want to try. Who knows what will happen? How would she heal me? She magic like me? And how can you sing…” her eyes glared at him. Singing. Ashton had been singing that night. ”Was he fucking with my head that night!?” that just wasn’t cool. She sighed. After all, they hadn’t hurt her and she wasn’t easy to get along with when she wasn’t plastered. She was still made about it.
Her hands were still shaking. She grabbed the edge of the counter to stop it. It was going to get worse. ”If they want to try. No matter what tonight is going to suck. Maybe it will suck less this way.”
Hayden hadn't meant to make her angry about the singing, but it was what it was. "It is a little manipulative, but not really any more different than what I do." He said about Ashton.
He pulled out his wallet and texted Liv and Ashton.
You think you two could maybe heal withdrawals?
"We'll see what they say."
Ashton got a text from Hayden. It seemed Tatyana was around again. That would be the only reason to want to cure addiction. Or even withdrawals. No one else they knew needed that kinda help -- at least no one he knew.
He didn't bother sending a text he just popped into Liv's door. She was on her way down too. "Can you do anything?"
"I've never tried. But I never thought I'd heal someone who lost the power before either."
That was a true point.
The walked down the stairs. The house was such a bustle, it was loud downstairs. It was never loud downstairs. Unless there was a party going on. "I wonder what is going on."
Hayden was standing with the girl he'd helped. He didn't offer his hand. "Hey." He smiled. "How can we help?"