Page 21 of Matteo

Something roared inside of me and I don’t know what happened but suddenly Carmine was spitting blood, knocked back from the force of me hitting him.

“What the hell man!” He screamed.

“I…I…Carmine, I’m sorry.”

No, you’re not,something wicked whispered inside my brain.

Taking a breath, I shook it off only to continue getting stares at from my brothers.

“That was uncalled for,” Carmine nursed his lip.

“Sorry,” I said again.

He shoved past Mason and me and we watched him go. About to follow him, Mason stepped in front of me. His face was furled into an inquisitive look.

“What was that really about?” He asked, still staring as if I was going to give up some sort of secret.

The truth was, I had no idea why I’d hit Carmine.

Rubbing at my neck, where the buzzing was sometimes, I took a breath. “I don’t know. Stress probably.”

He stared at me for a moment longer and then let the subject drop. We left out of the gym and headed back to the party. Running eyes over every single person still at the bonfire, I noted the Rain was missing.

Sitting down by the fire, the heat warming my body I relaxed. Sure, I’d gotten my dick sucked but that was it. Watching Nora sit in Mason’s lap with the puppy, relaxed and in love, it was that I realized might truly be alone for the rest of my life.

Later on, I heard Nora tell Mason that Rain had decided to go home and get some rest. It wasn’t until my phone started ringing at five a.m. that I determined Rain had lied to her sister.

She hadn’t gone home to get some sleep.

She had gone to party with Yakuza associates and it had almost cost her dearly.

Chapter 8

Rain

My body had broken out into a sweat the second I heard the gunshots in the upstairs bathroom. I’d been staring at my reflection, coked up out of my mind. The feeling of the Pure Columbian Honey was starting to wear off but it completely fucking faded. Grabbing my clutch that contained a few vials of coke, and my cellphone that I’d powered off in case Nora tried to call me, I wondered what I was about to walk out into.

I just remembered turning off the light in the bathroom and creeping out onto the landing to see what was going on. Cassie and the other were lined up, still breathing.

Someone said something…

Cassie was crying. Two of her bodyguards lay dead beside her, blood pooling from gunshot wounds.

Something was moving through the room but I knew I had to be high as fuck still because it was almost like a shadow.

Cassie’s eyes met mine and before I could say anything, a bullet went through her head. Covering my mouth, I bit back a scream. Carefully, I’d eased back into the bathroom.

The last thing I wanted was to be discovered because I was going to be dead next.

Climbing over into the bathroom tub, I did something I hadn’t done in a very long time. I silently prayed, all the while hiding behind the shower curtain.

Turning the phone on my fingers had moved slow and steady to dial 911. It was the only thing that I could think of. Nothing else had mattered.

The cops were on the scene within fifteen minutes…

Sitting in the interrogation room, I held my purse close to my body. Cassie had been one of my very best friends since we’d met in cosmetology school nearly six years ago.

She’d been more into nail art.

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