Page 136 of Hate Me

We weren’t exactly conventional.

So much so that I’d never thought me, Cas and Caleb would find another who could not only handle that and walk in our same weird world, but somebody in Skylar who actually thrived in it and loved it that way.

She really was the missing piece to our puzzle.

She made us whole.

“Good. That’s perfect. Yes, definitely easier having both our cleanup crews there. You’re planning on making a habit of it, is that it, Dante?”

I turned at the door to see Cas walking down the corridor with his phone in hand, grinning from ear-to-ear.

“I am in high spirits, it’s almost done. This was a definitive stop along the way. Soon we will be playing the last note in a song we started years ago. Worth the wait? Absolutely. The payoff will be worth all the struggle and complications.” He laughed again. “Have a drink on me. Although I still can’t wrap my head around you being a vodka man. Bourbon all the way for you, that’s how I’d pegged you. No. You’re not an open book. You know I’m fine with it. It’s the nature of your business and the world you must walk in. You show me what I want and need to see, I’m content with that. Why? What’s brought this on? Was it Caleb’s animosity? Don’t pay it any mind, he’s just overprotective and it’s more intense than ever with him having been away. A lot of it is rooted in guilt, he just can’t recognize that. He’ll warm up to you. I did. Haha, a magnificent accomplishment? No doubt about that. Yes, I’m taking it easy for tonight, we’re celebrating the victory and the personal one that it was for Skylar. Absolutely. Goodnight, Dante.”

He pocketed his phone in his navy jeans. He really was taking it easy tonight, even dressed down in just those jeans and a black muscle tee, just barefoot. When we’d been in the command center during their mission he’d been so tense, he’d even donned tactical gear, in case he’d had to head down to assist. He’d literally been on the edge of his seat the entire time.

He caught sight of me a moment later at the threshold of the den.

Coming to me, he draped his arm across my shoulders. “Feel better now?”

“Yeah, I do,” I admitted. “It’s a massive weight off knowing that motherfucker has been wiped off the board—out of her life. I wish it hadn’t needed to end with her taking another life, especially one so personal to her, but I get why it had to go down like that.”

“She needed it that way.”

“Like you need it that way with Elijah?”

“Yes.” He rested his head against mine. “Do you still feel the same way as you did when I first told you about him being responsible for your father’s death?”

“Yeah, I do. For me, I don’t need him to pay with his life to feel like justice has been served. But do what you have to do there. You know I’ll support you. Always, Cas.”

“All right, sweetheart,” he said, stroking my hair softly. “Thank you.”

Caleb’s cry of indignation drew our attention and we walked into the den to see a familiar sight that hankered back to two years ago.

Caleb was sprawled out on one of the couches in a pair of his gray sweatpants and a gray muscle tee, while Sky was on the edge of the other in her cute yet sexy casual look of her vibrant-blue lounge pants and a white strappy tank, her hair pulled into a messy ponytail, as she worked her controller like a champ.

“Come on, seriously? I haven’t touched a video game for the last two years and I’m still able to kick your ass with barely any effort?” Sky told him.

“Barely any effort? You’re literally on the edge of your seat,” Caleb countered.

“Even so, I’m not even close to bringing my best. I was trying to give you a shot.”

“I see. B asked you to take pity on me, didn’t he?”

“He might’ve told me how it is when it comes to playing you, yeah.”

Caleb caught sight of us as we drew closer to the couches. “I thought you were all anti-manipulation, huh?”

I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. “It was just me looking out for you.”

“My ego is nowhere near that fragile.”

“It certainly isn’t,” Cas said.

“Yeah, you’re the most overconfident guy we know,” I said, grinning.

“Overconfident? Absolute bullshit, B. It’s warranted and you know it.”

I laughed.

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