Page 80 of Fight

“Fuck you, Ioan!” I yelled, screaming at him doing nothing to make anything better but making me plenty happy. He recoiled at my outburst but didn’t leave.

“P, cal—”

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down!” My voice was no more than a choked hiss, but Ioan stood, and his stark expression told me he’d gotten at least some of the message.

“You shouldn’t upset yourself right now,” he said.

“‘Upset myself’? You’re the thing that’s upsetting me, Ioan.” I was completely out of control, reeling, giving in to the anger that was so much easier to handle than the pain.

He frowned. “Look, P. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out that way, but there’s time to talk about that later. For now, you should rest.”

Presumptuous, condescending asshole.

He wasn’t even trying to put a spin on it, and instead thought I would just fall into place, lie down and rest, letting him take care of everything.

Hell no.

“I can’t rest. I have to find somewhere to live,” I said, standing up, this time the dizziness only making the room do a quarter turn and not the full three sixty.

Ioan frowned. “What? You have somewhere to live.”

His implication was clear, and I started to shake my head before I thought better of it.

“No, but I will soon,” I said.

Where and how were still a mystery, but there was no way I was staying here. And no way I could go to Ma’s. I’d figure it out because staying here was not an option.

“Don’t be so stubborn, P. You can hardly stand,” he said, managing to sound both annoyed and disgusted.

My anger at him proved a unifying force and I looked to him, ready to unleash when I heard the door open.

“Patricia, you’re awake,” Bunica said as she entered.

“Bunica…” I turned, dizziness even less now. And somehow, seeing how the old woman watched me, her face smiling but the little clouds of worry in her eyes, broke the dam of tears.

She came to me as quickly as she could and grabbed my hand. “It’s okay, Patricia. You’ll feel better in the morning after you’ve rested.”

Assuming I found somewhere to go. “I don’t have anywhere to stay,” I said on a sob, one that embarrassed me, especially since he heard it, but one I couldn’t stop.

“Of course you do, Patricia. You’ll come home with me,” Bunica said.

“She’s staying here—”

“Taci!”

I had no idea what word she’d actually said, but “shut the hell up” rang through it clear as day, and to my surprise, Ioan did.

Bunica’s eyes had gone hard as chips of black ice, but then she smiled. “Come, Patricia,” she said, her fingers interlaced with mine.

Ioan

Bunica softly closedthe door to her guest bedroom and glared at me.

I guessed P was sleeping since she’d come out, not that I could confirm it for myself. Bunica would knife me if I tried to get close to that door, and P didn’t want to see me.

She would, but later.

For now, I still had business to take care of. I left Bunica’s without saying anything, and went toward Vasile’s. He’d had men dispose of Markov and make arrangements for P’s mother, but I hadn’t spoken with him directly. It should have been the first thing I did, but I couldn’t leave P’s side, not until I knew she was okay.

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