Page 17 of End It All

I was left standing in the middle of the living room, twiddling my fucking thumbs like the lackey I was bound to stay. And out of all the people to put me under, he had to choose Harlow's oldest brother. The one man who hated me just as much as he hated Harlow.

Life wasn't a picnic, but it was about to get a hell of lot worse.

My bedroom door opened and Blake waltzed out, wearing one of the three pairs of jeans he had from his bag, and a faded black band tee. His duffle was tossed over his shoulder and his hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. His wrist and hand were a little red, but free off the cuff.

"Naughty."

He flipped me off. "I'm leaving."

"We've been over this."

"I stayed with you a whole night, and I'd rather get arre—never meet my old man than deal with you for another night."

I blew him a kiss. "Oh well, you really don't have much of a choice. You're stuck with me, even if you don't want to be."

Blake stepped toward me with a grin on his face. It was all teeth like he wanted to do more than just leave.

"Hit me," I taunted.

He stopped in his tracks.

"Come on, don't be a pussy, hit me. I can see it all over your face."

"If I hit you, I won't stop."

I visibly shivered. "Yeah? What else do you want to do? Kill me?"

Blake's face paled. "I would never do something like that."

"See right there, that's the difference between us. You have a stopping point." I sighed. "Then again, you're a Vitale, so you never know."

"I'm a Moreno."

I raised a brow at his claim. "But you share their DNA."

"He didn't raise me, so as far as I'm concerned, I share nothing in common with any of them."

I whistled. That there was a whole lot of baggage. "You might need a therapist too." I pulled my wallet out of my pocket, grabbed a card, and handed it to him.

"Silver Dreams? What is this place?"

"The best therapy the city can offer. Oh, and since your big bro is the owner, you'll get the family discount. Lucky you."

Blake tossed the card onto the pile of pizza boxes on the couch. "No, thanks. If you're the poster child for their services, I'm better off not going."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself, but you can't say I never tried to help you."

"Don't want or need it."

I shrugged and headed for the small kitchen off the living room. No more than one person could fit in there at a time, not that I used it often. I could cook decently enough, but more often than not, I ordered in. I watched Blake from the corner of my eye as he inched toward the door.

"You don't want to do that," I warned.

"Good thing you don't know shit about me." Blake jumped over the couch and instead of going for the door like I thought he would, he had the living room window open and was on the fire escape before I knew it.

I tripped over a few pizza boxes and caught myself before I hit the ground. "Damn it." I was already at the door and swung it open. I was out of it in a matter of seconds, not caring if the door was unlocked. The entire building knew who I was, and no one would dare fuck with my shit. I stepped outside and groaned as I was slammed by ice cold air and snow falling from the sky.

The moment it hit the ground, it turned to water. There was already slush in small piles lining the streets. I didn't go back inside. Twisting around, I headed down the block. I spotted Blake up ahead and doubled my effort. My breathing was erratic, air sawing in and out of my lungs as I pounced on him. We went down, hitting the pavement with a smack.