Page 34 of Chula
Damion clears his throat, and I raise an eyebrow. I’m not about to let her go. Not now. Not when she needs me the most.
“I suppose we need to sort this out,” Damion says.
“Yeah, starting with why the fuck she’s here,” I growl.
“She came to me, Marco. She needed help getting you out,” he answers.
“How the hell did she know about you?” Luna’s breathing has evened out, and I know she’s fallen asleep. It makes me wonder how long she’s been here and crying to wear her out this much. Nevertheless, I cradle her against me and keep her body as close to mine as I can get it.
“She doesn’t. We met once in the grocery store. She works for me,” he says.
“She works for you? You’re the asshole who gave her a job in the city?” He nods his head, running his hand through his hair.
“She needed work, and I offered her a job.”
“She doesn’t know you’re my brother?”
“No.”
“Fuck, Damion. Why the hell did you bail me out?” I ask now.
“For her.”
“What the fuck do you mean, for her?” I don’t like the sounds of this. And judging by the look on his face, I’m not going to like what he has to say either. I look down at Luna and pray to God that he doesn’t say what I think he’s going to say.
“It was only one time.”
“Only one time? It was only one time!” I roar loudly, but she doesn’t move. I debate shoving her off my fucking lap and onto the goddamn floor, but there’s something there, something more that’s tugging at my goddamn chest, and I can’t do it. Any other girl. If she were any other girl, I could walk away, but not her. Fuck! What kind of mess am I in now?
“Calm down before you wake her.”
“Fuck you, Damion. Always have to have everything right? Everything was always about you.”
“That’s not what this is, Marco.”
“Then what is it? Huh? It wasn’t enough you left my ass high and dry when mom died?”
“You wanted that life! You wanted to live that way, and I didn’t. Not anymore. I’d had enough. I saw enough, Marco! The nightshe killed our brother and then herself, that fucking ruined me. That night has taken so much from me.”
“And now you want her too,” I say, nodding toward Luna. Damion runs his hand over his face as he looks at her, which further pisses me off.
“I think it’s clear where her heart is, Marco.”
Now I look down at her, curled into my arms, clinging to my shirt even in her sleep.
“Where’d the money come from?” I ask him without looking away from her.
“She had it. I don’t know where she got it, but she had it.”
“I know where she got it,” I say without looking away from her. I’m pissed. She did it. She fucking ruined her goddamn life for me, and I hate her for it.
“Where?”
“There was a job Pete was setting up. I don’t know how she got him to let her do it without being crew.” Damion shakes his head and blows out a breath.
“She was hysterical when she got here. Screaming about having to get you out.”
“Fuck, Damion! This is what I do, right? I fucking ruin people. I ruined her,” I say, nodding toward the girl in my arms.
