Page 49 of End It All

Fucking Daiki.

I shoved the plain black shirt down and pulled out a new duffle bag for Blake, mine, and a few suitcases.

"Where are you going?"

"We're moving." I passed a bag over to Blake. "Start packing. What doesn't fit gets left behind."

He stared at me for a long while without moving.

I snapped my fingers. "Chop-chop, peaches."

"Quincy, I know some people tweak out on weed, but are you having, I don't know, a moment?"

Why in the fuck did he make it sound like I needed to be carted off to the insane asylum?

"You do remember how I came back, right?"

"Yeah, fucked up and an asshole."

To be fair, when I walked through the door, I was already pissed off and in excruciating pain. Keeping my eyes open had been damn near impossible. Walking into everything gone and the house spotless had been the literal straw that broke the camel's back.

"Sorry about that." I started tossing shit into one of the bags, not really paying attention to what I was adding. "Don't do that again... I can't." How did I explain that I needed it there? That it had been my normal, my entire life, and now without it I was unable to function.

"No, it was my bad. I should have asked," Blake said.

"What is this, girl scouts? We gonna braid each other’s hair next? Don't start getting all sappy on me," I teased, not sure what to do with the sincerity in Blake's voice. Most people didn't give a damn.

"You can't ever just be normal?"

"No, now stop twiddling your thumbs up your ass and pack. We leave in two hours." I rushed back to the closet and grabbed the bag of money I had stashed. It wasn't much but it was the perfect amount for a decent one bedroom. I'd have to rebuild the get-the-fuck-out-of-dodge stash, but that was expected.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" Blake asked.

"Nope." I grabbed my phone and checked over the messages.

Daiki: Russians. I want it done now.

I ignored Daiki’s message in favor of Harlow. My stomach twisted. The last thing I wanted was for him to start asking questions.

Harlow: Text me when you're moving.

The simple message eased some of the stress. I didn’t want or need Harlow giving me pity. We didn’t work like that.

Quincy: Alive, you know me. I'm like a cockroach.

I slipped my phone away and finished packing my shit. I stepped out of the bedroom and stared at the couch. It always came with me.

"Wait, there's a lot of crap still here."

"Yeah, come on." I headed down to the parking garage where I left my car. It had been ages since I drove it. There wasn't much of a reason to own one in the middle of the city. Except to have it when it was time to move. I tossed in a few bags and took the others from Blake. "Load up what we can."

We made our way back upstairs, and thankfully, Blake stopped asking questions. I had no idea if Daiki had eyes on my place, but knowing him, he did. The feeling of ants crawling all over my body had me scratching at my neck.

"You're scaring me a bit," Blake said as we carried down another load. A few more things were still upstairs.

"This is what scares you?"

"Yes, you're acting weird."