Page 17 of Under an Endless Moon

I knew I had to end all of this if I was ever truly going to get over him. Just stop it. Stop the teasing and the playing and the pathetic eagerness to always be in his space. That endeavor wasn’t looking too great when another text blipped through and a rush of anticipation stampeded through my body.

Only this one wasn’t from Otto.

Disquiet thudded through my veins.

Tanner

Tonight was bullshit, Raven. I at least deserve for you to talk to me.

I wavered, unsure of what to say or if I should even respond. Finally, I decided to tap out a quick message.

A firm, final ending.

Me

Like I said, Tanner…we don’t have anything to talk about. Please don’t try to contact me again.

I blocked his number before I gave him the chance to reply, and I leaned over so I could plug my phone into the charger on my dresser. I started to pull my hand away, though I slowed when my attention caught on the relic that sat on a decorative box beneath my lamp. My chest tightened as I gave in and picked up the small hand mirror.

All the lightness floated away, and in its place were the memories that both comforted and haunted.

The mirror was antique, patinaed, ornate metal. The glass hazed and distorted and cracked down the middle.

The faintest light glowed through my window, and I held it up and gazed at my reflection.

“Look at you, Raven. Look at who you are. If you could only see the way I see you. You are brave and strong. So goddamn beautiful. A bloom in the middle of the darkest night.”

The old whisper of Otto’s voice wisped through my brain and threatened to drip down into my soul. Hell, who was I kidding? He’d been there all along. And I had no idea how to get him out.

FIVE

OTTO

EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD

Otto stuffedthe thick wad of cash into his pocket and waltzed down the destitute, indigent street. The sidewalks were littered with garbage and the buildings were covered in graffiti. Sirens wailed as three police cruisers flew by, though Otto kept his cool and his head held high as he strolled along, like he didn’t have a care in the world when the weight of it would forever be on his shoulders.

Acting like he wasn’t every bit as guilty as whoever those cruisers were gunning for.

He took the right down the narrow, dingy alley between the backside of two crummy apartment buildings. He ignored everything around him—the handful of kids who were running amok in the back parking lot on the other side of a chain-link fence, arguing as they played with a flat basketball, the blare of music as a car whizzed by, some dickbag shouting at his wife from one of the apartment balconies.

None of it was his concern.

You didn’t survive this place by putting your nose somewhere it didn’t belong. It was a surefire way to get yourself dead.

He took a long drag of his cigarette as he ambled past theapartment complexes. Though his gaze was furtive, peeking around to make sure no one was paying him any mind as he approached the rotted wooden fence on his right. When he was sure it was clear, he ducked through a hole in one of the planks and pushed through to the other side.

He kept his footsteps quiet as he slunk along the side of the abandoned building that was three stories high and basically as decayed and shoddy as the fence he’d come through. He crept to the broken back door, peering around before he opened it, slipped through, then quickly shut it behind him.

It might have been shitty, but at least it had walls and a roof.

Inside, rays of sunlight managed to break through the grease and dirt-caked windows, casting hazy spikes of light through the rambling room.

His attention rushed to take in the scene. A brand-new dose of adrenaline pounded through him when he found a ton of shit out of place considering only his crew should be in there.

Kane, Theo, and Cash.

They were the three people in this world he could trust. Their survival staked on each other.

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