Page 32 of End It All

It’s getting out of hand.

My lungs burned as I ignored my body's need for oxygen, and instead filled it with Blake. As bad as Vitales were, they were also temptation. I broke the kiss before it got to the point I stripped the little man and fucked the life out of him.

Damn, he was a good kisser. I could easily dive back in if I wasn't slapped with who he was.

"Better?"

"Huh?" Blake blinked a few times at me, his face flushed and his lips slightly swollen from the kiss. He shouldn't look so damn cute.

"At least you can use words again." I fixed my clothes and took a few steps back. "Better get out of here before I'm found."

"Wait."

"You want to go with me, peaches?"

He flipped me off. "I can't stand you."

"But?"

There was a sound at the back door alerting both of us that time was up.

"Shit, I don't know. I’m suffocating in that hotel room. And you're the only bastard I know. Kind of."

I smiled. "Beg me."

"Fuck you! I’m not begging for shit. I don't need you."

"Then go back in there and smile like the good little boy you are. You’re daddy’s boy, right?” I teased. “I’m sure the five star hotel and constantly being watched is fun for you.”

Blake visibly stiffened. Time was ticking and he needed to make up his mind. Pride was a monster most men couldn’t overcome. Blake, on the other hand, swallowed his humble pie and fixed me with a sweet look that spoke of all types of dangers."I'll be able to get my own place soon… So, can I stay with you, please?"

"What's the magic word?"

"Fuck, Quincy, come?—"

"Ding ding! Wow, you're the first to get it right." I grabbed his wrist and ran toward the street. We kept moving. I knew the city like the back of my hand. I had to. We turned and dodged into a coffee shop and made our way through their kitchen. We were spat out closer to Central Park, where it would be ten times easier to hide out for a bit.

Blake was right on my heels like he was used to running. He bent over the moment we came to a stop, glancing over his shoulder a few times. His pocket rang and he flinched the moment the sound penetrated the air.

He hadn't had that before. I could only assume Cesare had given it to him.

"Go ahead."

"And say what?"

"That you want to hang out with a friend tonight."

"I'm grown, I don't have to report back to him."

I lifted a single brow. If he thought that, he was stupider than I imagined. "Before you answer, why did he have you at the bar?"

Blake hesitated, staring at me for a long while as if he wasn't sure he could trust me. I waited him out. I wasn't going to tell him to trust me, not when I wasn’t certain I could trust him yet. I still had no idea why he was in New York, and why he decided to appear now. And what he wanted from the Vitales.

"It was just a job."

"No, nothing is just a job, and if you think that, you're a moron."

"Fuck you and Benito. I'm not stupid."