Page 86 of Waiting Game

The sun was setting, and the tension in the small house was only getting higher. The small talk had fallen away, and Rome was no longer pretending to be fine.

She paced throughout the house, staring at her phone and waiting for it to ring.

Ren sat next to me on the couch, tracing his finger up and down my thigh and comforting me, but he too, held his phone tightly in his other hand.

A pair of headlights shone into the living room window, and we all held our breaths.

Antoni opened the door, walking in casually with a small smile on his face.

“What’s up guys?” he smirked.

Rome stalked towards him and hit him upside the head.

“Are you fucking serious?” she scolded, “we’ve been worried sick! Where the fuck have you been? Why didn’t you call? What happened?”

“Hi, baby,” he smiled down at her, pulling her in close by the waist.

She narrowed her eyes at him but melted against him anyway.

“So?” Ren leaned forward in his chair, “where are we at?”

Antoni sighed and ran his hand through his hair, “it’s not great,” he shrugged, “we didn’t lose anyone on our side. I think they lost a few though. Dimitri did get hurt, but he’ll be OK.”

“So it’s not over?” I said, naively.

Antoni just shook his head.

“You’ll figure it out,” Rome smiled up at Antoni.

“I think in the meantime,” Antoni sighed, “you two should take an extended holiday.”

Ren frowned, “what? Why?”

“They want blood, Ren. They’re not going to stop until they get it. Valerie was much safer in Perth, but now that they know that’s where she was, that’s a no go.”

“But,” I said, “I just got home.”

It felt funny to refer to Melbourne as home again after so much time, but for the first time, it felt right. It had always been the city that I wanted to leave, but now that I wanted to stay, I was being pushed out of it.

“I know, Val. And I’m glad you are, but it’s not safe, for either of you.”

I nodded, looking down, and then over to Ren.

Ren shook his head, “I’m not leaving you alone in this mess, Toni. I caused it, I want to help you finish it.”

Antoni shook his head, “it’s too risky. They want you dead, Ren. They’re not going to stop until they succeed. To have you running around as a walking target is one thing, but we also need to protect Val.”

Ren nodded, looking at me.

“At least I know that she’ll be safe with you,” Toni said.

“Stay here for the night and figure something out, okay? Then tomorrow we’ll get you both out of here.”

“Where are we going to go?” I asked.

“Preferably out of the country,” Antoni said, “it’s not forever, okay? We’ll figure this out, and then you can come home. For good.”

I smiled up at my big brother.

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