Page 79 of Enforcer

“Oh, come on, Lyss. We were kidding,” Antonio says in apology.

“You’re always kidding. Neither one of you can be serious to save your fucking lives!”

“Damn, I guess shit did go sour between the two of you already. Guess you’ll be glad to be rid of him tomorrow, then,” Lorenzo says, and I wince.

Fuck.

“What did you just say?” Alyssa asks, and Lorenzo repeats himself.

She looks at me and then back at him. “What does that mean? What happens tomorrow?”

“Well, you’re moving out, right? Slate said he told Dante your apartment is ready for you to move. Brynne set it all up; we’re supposed to come and help you move tomorrow morning.”

She looks at me, seething.

“When were you going to tell me? Or were you just going to turn them away at the fucking door and keep me hostage?”

“Oh, fuck,” Lorenzo says, and he and Antonio move away from us, sensing a blow-up about to happen.

“Well, we were having such a good time the other night, and I didn’t want to ruin it…”

“The spam text,” she realizes. “Of course. You know, you’ve just proven to me my worst fears. Men only care about themselves, and they’ll always fucking lie to you. No matter if they say they love you.”

“Alyssa, that’s not fucking fair…”

She steps forward and tosses her drink in my face. Bourbon drips off my skin as my features contort.

“That was uncalled for.”

“So were all your fucking lies. I’m so glad I saw the truth before letting my walls down further. Guess it’s time to batten down the hatches, huh?”

She turns and grabs her clutch, hurrying for the door.

“Alyssa!” I shout through the crowd and music. I turn back and see Slate eyeballing me with a grin, nodding once, as he knows I will follow after her.

I nod back, turning and bolting after her.

I get out to the parking lot, which is veiled in darkness now as she hits the fob to the Range Rover, unlocking it.

She opens the door as I reach around her and shut it, caging her against the driver’s door.

“Dante, let me go, or I’ll fucking shoot you.”

“No, you won’t, tesoro.”

Her clutch drops as she pulls a gun from it, turning on me as she places the barrel on my head. I hear the safety click off, and blood fills my cock. The very cock that got us into this fucking mess in the first goddamned place.

“Alyssa,” I warn.

“No. You did this to yourself,” she says, fresh tears forming and spilling down her flushed cheeks. She hadn’t bothered withreapplying her makeup after she had showered earlier. She looks so gorgeous as she threatens my life that it hurts. “You did this to me. To us.”

She sounds like she’s mourning what we had, which gives me hope. I hope she was further along in her feelings towards me than I gave her credit for because I have something to work with.

It’ll still be hard. A woman who’s been hurt shuts down, and once you’ve hurt a woman to that point, it’s hard to go backward. They never forget what you did. She’ll spend the rest of her fucking life with the shadows of how you hurt her looming in the back of her mind, waiting to pounce in a moment of weakness.

“Please,” she pleads, “let me go.”

I swallow, my own eyes burning. “I can’t let you go, Lyss. I love you.”

---