Page 69 of End It All

I swallowed hard. "That's really easy for you to say when you're standing on the ground!"

"Do it, pussy!"

"Yeah, do it." Paolo laughed. "You gonna stay up there and get arrested?"

"You bastards better help me," I snapped.

"Hurry up!" Gin growled.

I noticed he didn't confirm or deny the helping me out part. Swallowing hard, I turned around and took a deep breath.Can't believe I'm doing this shit. This is so damn stupid!No matter how much I told myself that, I knew there was no way out of this. I laid down and shimmied over the side. As my feet dangled, I started to lower myself bit by bit until I was holding on to dear life and stuck.

"Help!" I yelped.

Hands wrapped around my ankles and yanked. I let out a very high pitched shriek as I fell on top of the twins. Both of them groaned as I stared up at the sky wondering how the hell this had become my life.

"You trying to kill me?" Gin grunted. "Get off!"

"Seriously, you're a lot heavier than you look," Paolo added.

I shot up. "You assholes pulled me down!"

"What were we supposed to do? Push?" Gin stood up and yanked me to my feet as the sirens grew closer.

Soon, there would be people standing outside of their houses, wondering what was going on. That came with nosy neighbors.Nosy neighbors who would be witnesses to three men, dressed in all black, hanging outside of a burning building. Great.

"Go, go, go!" Paolo said, shoving me forward.

We took off in a dead sprint. As soon as we were around the corner, I dove into the backseat of the waiting car while Paolo and Gin took the front. We stayed still until the firetruck flew past. As we pulled out of the alley and headed back toward the city, I glanced behind us. The house fire I'd started, so simple and small, was now raging.

I sighed wistfully.I love it when things burn.

"You start that fire?" Paolo asked.

I turned to him and shrugged. "Maybe. I had to give them a distraction."

Gin grinned at me in the rearview mirror. "It's a very nice distraction."

I puffed out my chest, falling into the praise that was given to me. Honestly, it felt good to be told I wasn't a waste of space or that I would never go anywhere in life. Ex's had said it, my teacher's had said it, hell even what bits of my mother’s family she still talked to. The only person that always said I would do amazing things was my mother. Maybe this wasn't what she had in mind, but it felt like I had found where I was supposed to be.

"You get any info?" Paolo asked, his eyes examining me closely.

I reached into the crossbody bag that I'd brought with me and pulled out the documents. There were a few pieces of jewelry and things as well. Even a brick of cocaine that had been inside of the safe.

"Can I keep the jewelry?" I asked.

Paolo raised a brow. "Tell you what, I'll sell that brick and I'll fence that jewelry so you don't have to worry about it. Whatever profit you make, you get to keep. Except the coke. That's our fee for not letting you get pinched tonight."

I frowned. "Hey, that's not fair!"

"Life ain't fair." Gin laughed. "But that's the deal. Take it or leave it."

I huffed, but I didn't really feel the displeasure that I was showing. "Fine, fuck it. Better than nothing."

"Smart man," Paolo said.

I leaned back against the seat and tried to hide the grin on my face. Was this what it was like to have a big family? I loved it. My thoughts drifted to Quincy and I felt even more confident. I knew he was struggling right now, at least this job would help. I could pay him back for letting me stay there and slip a little extra to him.

Just because.

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