Page 48 of End It All

"Quincy!"

"Yeah, you like calling my name, don't you?" I wheezed out. Smoke curled from between my parted lips as pain struck every nerve possible in my body.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Damn, you're kind of obsessed with me now, aren't you?" I teased.

"Would you stop fucking around? You’re really messed up. I was sc—Lay your ass down!"

I stopped in my tracks and stared at the mystery that was Blake Vitale. "How did Melony get here?"

His brows dipped. "I don't know. A car, like any other person?"

I shook my head, getting more skeptical by the second. I inched closer to Blake. "No, I mean, why in the fuck was shehere? You haven't been in New York long enough to know who to call, let alone to afford her fees."

When he didn't say anything, I started to smile. "You called Benito, didn't you? You asked your big bro for help."

"Go fuck yourself." Blake glared at me. "You refused to go to the hospital. I didn't know what to do. Unlike you, I'm not used to people coming home how you did."

If Benito knew, that meant so did Harlow. "Please tell me Harlow didn't come over."

"Why? Afraid he might see you hurt?"

I laughed. "Fuck no, he's seen me closer to death then anyone ever has." But I hadn't exactly clued him in on the situation with the yakuza and how I was currently on the outs.

"Yeah,” Blake huffed. “He was here."

Fuck. I wanted to ask questions, but instead, I bent over to grab my pants. More pain slipped under my flesh, clawing through every muscle. I went still, sucking in shallow breaths as I fought through it.

"Why do you care that he was here? You want him that badly, huh?"

I shot up. Another round of instant regret. I clutched my pants tightly, forcing my fingers not to let go as the wave of discomfort washed over me. The world around me tilted just slightly as I tried everything to ignore the pain. "What?" I squeezed my eyes shut, regulating my breathing as I got the pain under control.

"Come on, Quincy. Anyone with eyes can see how you pine after him."

I shook my head. "Used to. Not anymore."

"That's not how feelings work," Blake reminded me.

"Sure, it is. If there is a fucking will, there is a way. Harlow and I are best friends." And honestly, I preferred it that way. There were times I'd held out hope that we would end uptogether, but that would never happen. I saw how Harlow looked at Benito and I knew he’d never have pointed that look my way. Any lingering feelings I had no longer mattered.

Besides, I accepted it two months after they had their second wedding, and I'd buried myself in sex and weed. Pleasure and drugs were a hell of a cure to unrequited love.I should sell my advice, help those lovesick saps out in the world and bring in more money.

I held out my hand toward Blake.

"What?"

"Drugs."

"Now you want to take them?"

I smiled at him. "Well, I got a pretty hot nurse."

He handed them over, watching me skeptically. I tossed the sedative, dry swallowed the antibiotics, and chewed the pain pills.

"Goddamn it, Quincy."

While Blake looked around for the discarded pill, I headed for my closet and slipped a shirt over my head. A look down confirmed the amount of pain throbbing in my midsection. It was littered with fresh bruises and bandaged cuts.