Page 22 of End It All

"Get your shit. I've already had a crap day, I don't feel like doing this. We're going."

I lingered near the bottom of the bed. “What? No. Grand Myah said I can stay here."

"Do you really want to sleep and hangout in a brothel? Not saying there's anything wrong with it, I've done it, but you ain't me, peaches."

I flipped him off. "I'm sick of your shit."

"And I'm sick of being nice to you. Get. Your. Crap."

The look in his eyes said he was a thousand percent serious. As he stared me down, I saw something dangerous in his eyes. I swallowed hard, taking a step back without even realizing it at first.

"Listen, you can tell Benito I'm fine here."

"Not going to do that," he snapped. "If you don't walk out of here, I'm going to throw you over my shoulder and carry you back to my place. And then I'm going to make sure the rope I tie you down with won't be so easily slipped out of. Got it?"

I shook my head. "You're acting a little crazy."

Quincy's dark eyes somehow grew darker. The light made every inch of his brown skin look richer than before. His short blond hair was slightly curly and close to his head. If I could stand him, he would kind of be hot right now.

I seriously have the worst taste in men.

The only thing I didn’t like was his choice in clothes. The purple and orange outfit this morning was one thing, but he now had on a bright yellow hoodie with green zig-zag designs all over it. Seemed like the nineties had revisited just to puke all over his closet.

He snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Earth to stoner. Will you get moving? You have a meeting tonight."

I blinked out of my daydream. "A meeting? What do you mean?"

"Your father gets back into town soon. We have to meet him at Benito's place."

My stomach dropped and my high immediately disappeared. I had to meet my father, now? The whole point of me coming here was to do just that, but now, faced with the reality? I wanted to run for the hills. I wanted to go home.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Quincy said. "What's the matter with you?"

I stared up at him as if seeing him for the first time and shrugged. "Nothing. Let's go see my dad."

"Are you sure?"

I shrugged again and grabbed my duffel. My heart pounded in my chest as I walked toward the door.

"Blake?"

I glanced over my shoulder. He wasn't calling me baby girl or princess or anything. What was wrong with him?

"Come on, you said we had to go."

"We do, but you look weird. You sure you're good?"

I tried to keep my face passive. "All good."

Quincy searched my face. I met his gaze until I couldn't anymore and glanced off to the side. The thought of meeting my father made me want to turn tail and get the hell out of New York. What was I going to say to him? I didn't even really know who he was until I got here. The whispers were hard to avoid.

The Vitales.

Ever since I'd been at Silver Dreams, when I left my room, I heard them talking about my family. How dangerous they were, how crazy they were, how in control they were. None of this was what I'd expected to hear. My father had always come off as some normal, upstanding guy. Now, he was someone I didn't even recognize. How was I going to feel when I saw his face and didn't recognize that either?

I grabbed the door and let myself out of the room. It wasn't like I had a choice. My best chance was to find him, and then I would hopefully have somewhere to live or some money for a place to crash. I needed to lie as low as possible. Getting a job with my name and social security number would be stupid. I had to do what I had to do.

We filed out into the hallway, and I left my keycard on the bar. Darcy turned around, a smile on her face.