Page 60 of Force At Third

I force myself to look away and hone in on the others.

“Shit way to wake up,” AJ grumbles.

Blaze pats himself down. “Fucking keys are in my place.”

“Why do you need your keys?” Nour asks.

“We have a game tonight. I need sleep.” He glares at him.

“How the hell are you going to fall asleep after waking up like that?” AJ asks.

“I have a strict schedule,” he sneers. “Fire at four a.m. wasn’t on it.”

“Blaze, there are a couple of rooms upstairs. Go get some sleep if you can,” CeCe offers.

“Where?”

“Up the stairs, take a left. The front room has two beds,” I answer then look at CeCe. “Fawna and Francesca are in the other.”

“Shit, right.” She nods. “My room is at the top on the right; you can take that or?—”

“I’m in the first room on the left, past the bathroom. It’s open, too. Blaze is right; you guys need to sleep. We’ll wake you up when we get an all-clear.”

“Gwendolyn,” Locke sighs.

Needing a fucking life vest, I turn to CeCe. “I’m not dealing with him.”

He rolls his eyes. “Fine, but let’s not kid ourselves here. We’re not getting back in there before we need to be at the game. So, if any of us happens to fall asleep with all that noise outside, we need to be up by eleven.”

“Eleven. Got it.” CeCe nods.

Locke looks at AJ and Nour. “You two should take the double room. Blaze, take CeCe’s.” He turns and smirks at me.

“Oh, fuck no. You’re not getting?—”

“CeCe,” he interrupts, “tell Gwendolyn I’m not speaking to her.”

“You bastard.” I scowl.

“I’ll take Marks’ bed.” He turns and follows the others out of the kitchen.

I turn and see CeCe looking down, horrified that she’s wearing a Jersey Jags shirt that hangs to her knees. “It’s a good thing it fits you like a dress.”

“I need clothes. He needs this shirt.” She hands me Elle. “You need a puppy to squish. It’s very calming.”

I hold the little thing as I watch out the window, no longer sick to my stomach about this situation.

I’m fucking pissed.

This ends this weekend.

* * *

Asking for help was never my strong suit. I always saw it as being a burden, showing signs of weakness, or worse—fearing I could drag someone else into my drama and get them in a shit situation. I don’t need a shrink to tell me it’s because of what happened when Mom came to get me after that bitch slapped me. She lost everything and had to leave everyone whom she was close to. Then all she did was work to rebuild her life, our life. And me? I totally peeked in high school.

But in asking for help, Abe O’Donnell and Francesca’s father, Franco Protettore, had all the girls up in the air and safe at a breakneck speed. We’d be sticking with my plan to play CeCe, but Gypsie would no longer be needed, as Cora would be with Francesca and Fawna in Miami, living it up all across their social media platforms to sway William from going after Cora and ensuring he focused on CeCe—me.

CeCe was not on board, but she really didn’t have a choice, as another plane would be taking her and Cora to Texas for the weekend.

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