Page 102 of End It All

"What now?"

He grinned. "You're going to marry Blake Vitale. Congrats!"

I paced back and forth,the sound of my feet driving me nuts, but I couldn't stop moving. We hadn't heard from Quincy or Harlow in what felt like ages. Benito had sent men to their location, but when it was reported they were driving to the penthouse, we came back too. And then he spent a long time on his phone. Whatever had happened, it seemed they had both walked away. For now.

But not for long if I had anything to do with it.

“I don’t know why we didn’t just go to where they are,” I said.

“You don’t understand this yet, but there are rules in this world. Me going into yakuza territory and getting myself involved in whatever insanity my husband has stirred up will just start another war. We don’t need that right now, we’re stilllicking our wounds from the last one.” He got up from the couch. “Trust me, Harlow can handle himself.”

“But he’s a Vitale,” I said. “Wouldn’t him going be just as bad?”

He shook his head. “Harlow might be a Vitale, but he has ties to that world. He’s more welcome than I’ll ever be.”

I couldn’t understand how he was so calm. Was it because he knew Harlow was dangerous and could survive? Or was he just kidding himself?

“I’m going to turn on the shower,” Benito said. “If I know my husband, he’s going to come in covered in blood,” my brother said as he wandered off to his room.

I stared after him.This entire family is fucking insane.

The elevator inside the loft dinged, and I snapped my head in that direction. Harlow stepped off first, looking every bit as cool and collected as he always did. And covered in blood. Our eyes met, and he winked at me.

"Hey, youngest Vitale. You look like you've seen a ghost." He turned to see I was staring at Quincy who stepped off after him. When he looked back at me, he grinned. "Ah, so you kind of have. I'm going to get all this blood off. Maybe you can help Quincy with that too."

"Not helping, Harlow," Quincy growled.

He walked away, waving a hand. "Benito? You have one-point-two seconds to fuck me senseless in the shower before we have to be, ugh, adults." He paused. "Where's my daughter?"

I glanced at him. "York came up to get her."

"Oh, the fed?" He pursed his lips. "Well, at least I know she's safe. And eating."

I barely heard him. I was completely and totally focused on one person and one person only. Quincy moved out of the elevator finally, and the doors slid shut behind him. He stared at me, an intensity in his eyes that I couldn't read. I stared ashe crossed the space to me slowly, like I was some kind of caged animal that would kill him at any moment.

"Blake..."

"Good to know you didn't die," I said. "Where the hell were you?"

"Taking care of some business." He stood right in front of me, his body not even an arm’s length away from mine. "You look good."

"Yeah."

The tension between us made my stomach tighten. He opened his mouth before he snapped it shut again. A little chuckle fell from his lips as he reached up and pushed his fingers through blood soaked pink curls. It should have bothered me, all that blood, but all I could focus on was the fact that he was right there in front of me. Alive.

"Listen, I know I was kind of a dick last time we were together?—"

"Kind of?"

Quincy looked away sheepishly. "Okay, more than kind of. The shit I was saying, it was out of line. And it wasn't even true."

"Then why say it?" I snapped. "And why the fuck are you covered in blood?"

Quincy held up his hands and examined them as if he'd just noticed the blood for the first time. He stuck them behind his back like a kid that had been caught getting into paint. If I wasn't so pissed off at him, I would have laughed. He looked like them, a yakuza badass, but he was really just... lost.

No, don't you dare forgive him that easily! Are you kidding me?

Right, I couldn't just give in to Quincy. Iwasstill angry at him, but part of me had missed him too. He'd made my nights less lonely than they had been in a long time. Everyday I was byhis side, I was able to keep going forward. Was he a dick? Yes, a colossal one, but life wasn't the same without him either.