Page 5 of End It All

Shit, shit, shit. Are they going to kill me?

"Wait here," the man grunted as he let himself inside. He stopped halfway before he turned to stare at me. "I mean it. Trust me, if I have to hunt you down, you'll be getting waterboarded before the night is over."

I swallowed so hard my throat throbbed.What. The. Fuck?

The man disappeared and I was left to stare at a door. Why did I get the feeling that he had already been watching me since the moment I stepped into the building? My stomach wouldn't stop warning me to get the fuck out of there, but I refused. Somewhere beyond this door was the man that had set me and my mother up for disaster. I had to confront him, even if I died, at least I would get to spit in his face before I went.

I bounced on the balls of my feet. Truth be told, I was too terrified to leave. And pretty terrified to go inside too. As I dug my nails into the soft flesh of my palms and steeled myself, the door suddenly flew open, and I was face-to-face with a room full of people. They all stared at me as if I had two heads. One of them, a guy with long black hair, was holding a knife to another man's neck. He had turtles on his hands and a bunch of rings on his fingers.

"Who the fuck is he, Benito? Answer quickly or lose your life. Or your balls. You can pick," he hissed.

I blinked and took a step back. "You know what? I think this is the wrong door."

"Get in." A guy moved forward with black hair and dark brown eyes. "And shut the door."

I kind of felt like I didn't have a choice. Forcing myself not to tremble, I stepped inside and closed the door after me. As soon as I was secluded with them, I wanted to turn tail and run the hell out of there. But it was too late now.

"Who is he?" the long-haired male asked once more.

"Do you think I fucking know!" the man snapped, looking way too comfortable with the tip of a blade to his jugular.

"I'm Blake," I spoke up, cutting into the insane atmosphere around me. "I'm looking for my dad."

The black-haired male shoved the knife in deeper. "Is this your dad?"

I stared at the man in front of me and pulled a face. No way in hell. He was way too young looking. I mean, yeah, he kind of looked like my father, but there was no way my father still looked so young. I shook my head, trying to remain calm.

"Nah. Unless, you're Cesare?" I asked.

"Cesare. Really?" The man at knifepoint sighed. "Fuck, he's a whore."

“Yeah, we should get him a vasectomy for Father’s Day.” A guy laughed loudly. “You know, if he wasn’t a giant piece of shit.”

I looked around perplexed. "Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" I asked, quickly forgetting my predicament as annoyance filled me. "Where's my father?"

"Not here, kid," the man said as he shoved the other man away with the knife. "I'm Benito Vitale." He frowned. "I guess that would make me your big brother. Except I don't know if I can trust you. What the hell makes you think you're one of us?"

I narrowed my eyes. Who the hell said I wanted to be one of them in the first place? I wanted to tell them all to fuck off, but another part of me really wanted to shove it into their faces that I was exactly who the hell I said I was. Digging into my pocket, I pulled out the lighter that had a giant C engraved into the silver.

"Does this mean anything to any of you?"

"Holy shit!" The guy that suggested a vasectomy appeared closer, a baby in his arms. "You think that old man is still pumping loads into bitches? You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

I blinked at him. "What?"

Benito stepped forward. "Your father is our father," he said as he pointed to three other men. "I'm pretty sure."

My stomach sank. What? He couldn't be serious. When my mother said that these people were my family, I assumed she meant my father, aunts, uncles, grandparents that I had never heard of. Not this. Four men who were my brothers? I felt sick.

"Where is he?" I asked, trying not to heave. "Where the fuck is that bastard?"

"Out of town," Benito said. "But he'll be back soon."

My chest felt as if it was caving in on me. "I can't wait for soon. I-I don't have anywhere to go. I can't just wander the streets waiting for him. Where is he? Where the fuck is he!" I yelled.

I didn't realize tears were pouring down my face until it was too late to stop them. How was it possible that at my age, I was still being betrayed by this man?

The smellof blood and dirt perfumed the chilly air. The ground was soft and thankfully lacking snow. Digging was a bitch, but I wasn’t the one who had to do it. However, the longer I had to stand outside freezing my balls off, the angrier I was bound to get. Mud flew over the edge on both sides of the steep hole. Peeking over, I saw they'd made decent progress. We'd been here since four in the morning and now, by late afternoon, they'd completed an eight-by-ten foot deep hole.