My prayers were not answered. Instead the devil listened in and took them into his own hands.

As I got up, disappointed that I didn't have a black haired man in my arms, I noticed my door was pushed open further than I had left it last night. So maybe he was going to but went back to bed?

The door to the spare room was also open wider. And inside? A perfectly made bed, no black haired man. The clothes I had given to him were placed neatly upon the bed. The drop in my stomach at the possibility that he left without a goodbye almost made me sick.

After searching around the rest of my apartment, any traces of Revon were gone. The unwashed dishes from last night were washed and in the cupboard. The flimsy blanket folded and in its original space. It was like he was never even here. And I would have started to think it was all some odd dream if it wasn't for the clothes on the bed that still had a lingering smell of Revon's aftershave on them.

I started mentally kicking myself instantly. I knew I shouldn't have invited him up, it was far too soon! I also let him in to my head far too quickly. If I had not done so, I wouldn't be feeling this crap over some guy leaving early in the morning without a goodbye. Without a note. Without a care. Stupid, stupid feelings. I know my response to this may sound immature but catching feelings is a horrible illness that is quite hard to cure. I'll die before the day is over with how crap this feels!

Ok, I'm being dramatic, but I can't help but feel disappointed knowing Revon left unannounced. All my life, since the age of 16, I've closed myself off from strangers and the unknown. I numbed myself of feelings, and kept myself within the shadows. I can count the number of people who I can be myself around on one hand, and it is rare that I see most of them anymore. With a history, none to pleasant, I've lessened the possibility of loss. I've made it easier to control what goes on, who comes and who goes. That loss of connection to a large part of my feelings that got lost within the shadows is what caused the cold, distant facade to be seen.

And it ticks me off that I subconsciously let Revon in without much control, heck I didn't even mind to be honest. I enjoyed his presence more than anyone that has crossed paths with me before. He shattered a part of the shadow I like to hide out in when in public, and shone some light on me, only to become apart of my nightmare that is loss. He left me.

I won't hold it against him, there is no one to blame but myself for not regaining control over my feelings towards him. It's not like he knew of my underlining fear towards abandonment. I barely understand how my own brain works around it so how could anyone else? I'm simply a mess.

Not impressed for letting my thoughts go to bad memories, and making assumptions on Revons whereabouts, I take a quick shower and go through my morning routine before getting out into the fresh air to clear my head. Normally I would have laid in bed to sulk but knowing Revon was in the building hours ago only ticks me off more. And what sucks is that we never swapped numbers.

A Sunday morning is never busy, most are recovering from hangovers, or enjoying their day off with a sleep in. The few who are roaming around are those bright eyed weirdos who love mornings and being around people. Disgusting. Yet here I am, looking like I'm apart of the flock.

I walk street after street until I find myself outside of Blue Hog. A large animated hog, colored blue, with a cigar coming out of its mouth taking up a third of the sign above the door. One of my few close friends, Rodney, started up the clothing line 4 years ago, when he was 20. He always had an 'alternative' yet 'queer' sense of style. He would mix the most unexpected pieces of clothing together and somehow make it look hip and fresh. Many people found his style so unique and new that he decided to start his own line of clothing for others interested in the style. To say it was a hit is an understatement! After 3 years in business, he managed to successfully open up 4 more stores across the country in large cities. The one here in our city would be the main store. Everything sold in his stores would be seen as limited editions as he only designs so many of each creation for each store.

As I enter the store, I'm hit with the sent of Cinnamon and Pine. We are in the middle of Summer yet it smells like a Winter evening by the fire. Only Rodney. The store clerk, whom I believe to be names Rita, goes to greet me but freezes when she realizes who it is rang he bell upon entering. This woman is a nightmare. She only works when Jane, Rodney's girlfriend, is not in the store. From what I know, they have butted heads more often than not.

As I walk past her and into the 'Staff Only' area, she ignores me and continues her work. She has tried to stop me on many occasions but learned the hard way that I'm one of few allowed back here without an employment position.

In the main office, I find Rodney with his head in paper work. The only time I've seen him in this state was when he was considering making another big move in his company.

"Spice." I say flatly once he door is shut and I'm leaning up against it. His head pops up with wide eyes in my direction with a face full of stress.

"Sugar. Yes! I need you!" He actually moans and reaches his hands out for me like a child wanting a hug. I chuckle, still finding out childhood nicknames odd and amusing, before walking in his direction and once I'm in close range he drags me into a tight embrace. "It's bad, Sugar, bad bad bad. So many things are going wrong and I don't understand, help me? Please! Make it all just go away!" He cries into my chest.

Rodney is a few inches smaller than me, so his curly mess of chestnut hair finds home in my mouth when I'm about to respond. I maneuver my hands to flatten down his hair a bit before resting my chin on his head. "Ok, Spice calm down. Where is Jane? She's normally the one to calm you down when you get worked up."

"Meeting. Some appointment? I can't remember. I've been here all night going over these papers that I received yesterday. Too much work. Messy work. Bad work. I don't know what to do, Sugar!" He says dramatically as he leans back out of the hug to look up at me with watery eyes. Although Rodney has such a soft and fun sole, him crying always screams out that he is on the verge of a breakdown. I catch his hand in mine and sit him down on the 2 seater couch as I sit along side him.

"First, close your eyes and take a deep breath. In and out. Relax yourself."

He does as I say, and 5 minutes later of shaking breaths, he eventually slumps back against the couch and groans in defeat. "There is a lot, Sugar. I don't even know where or when the start begins. Sometime ago, maybe a year? To make a long story short, I'm somehow loosing money. It started in the newest store at the time, Jane caught on and I had the guy fired." He shakes his head and then rests it against my shoulder. "My accountant at the time tried to keep an eye out for weird behaviour in the accounts again but nothing came up. Yet my new accountant sent over all this documentation yesterday. Someone has been steeling from me the entire time."

"Why didn't you say something to me sooner? You know this is some of the stuff I have to deal with when working!" I respond is disbelief.

"You charge big bucks, I couldn't afford that on top of loosing this shit ton of money in the process. I'm just a small Indie shop, I can't go hiring the head of 'Eye-Q' to come into this." Shaking his head and slumping against me more.

After giving his head a smack, he looks back up confused. "You are an idiot. How long have we known each other? And you thought I would charge you like I charge others? Heck, you thought I'd charge you at all?"

I'm not really surprised though that he thought I would charge him. When I first started up Eye-Q, my father came to me about a issue he was having within his company. He got charged full price. Let's just say the amount I make from 1 job can keep me going for a few months to a year, with no worries on money. Therefore it's rare I'm seen working.

For the past few years I've found myself hiding in the shadows, so I decided to bring my line of work into it also. Eye-Q is a small organization of 5 people. Myself, being the creator, but not a boss. None of us are the boss. We have 1 secretary who people can contact, and he then divides the work out for us. Not all that applies gets accepted though, they are very carefully picked out, making sure we have the skills to do them. It is normally big jobs we take on, where we would go behind the scenes of a business or someone's life to solve some problem. We're a non-bias, quick eyed stranger who gets the problem figured out as quickly as possible.

"I'm not about to let my Spices baby go bankrupt. Since I've no job lined up, I'll go over the files and work with you to figure this out, how does that sound?"

He grabs my hand and gives it a tight squeeze and he let's out a sigh and thanks me. "You're a life saver, Sugar. Can we start later? Or maybe you can come with me... I'm meeting my accountant and lawyer in about half an hour to go over this and figure out my next step."

"Sure! Let's leave now, I want to grab some doughnuts for my breakfast on the way!"

Rodney laughs and stands up. "You and bloody doughnuts!"