Page 59 of Ends of Being

And then everything is darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tony

Tonihasbeenoutfor hours. One moment, she was screaming violent rage, and the next, she was silently calm. A sudden transition I can only assume was brought on by her mind dragging her down into safety. Because what went down in that warehouse is enough to traumatize even the most hardened soul, and hardened she is not.

Matt and I haven’t said a word to each other since we got back, but I’m sure we’re both thinking the same thing.

Heads are going to roll.

Of every possible scenario we ran of the mission, we never once considered the fact that we may have to turn our backs on our brother. I have no idea if Dare went down with that gunshot, and the unknown leaves a crushing weight on my chest. We’ve had many near misses over the years, potentially mortal wounds that ended up being survivable. We’ve survived gunshot wounds and stab wounds, head trauma, and even some near drownings. But this one—this one seems different. It feels final.

I was too focused on trying to keep Toni from running back in there to see all of what was going down, and my glance at Matt only earned me a resigned shake of his head, confirming that he also had no idea what happened.

Dare isn’t known for always disclosing his plans to us, but this really takes the cake, and I can’t wait until I see him again so I can knock the ever-loving shit out of him.

And now, sitting here, waiting for something to happen, is torture. As soon as I was able to, I put word of the situation out onto the streets, but then all we could do was sit back and wait for the information to come to us.

I called Lilith and let her know what happened, and all I got for my trouble was her hanging up on me. When this is all over with, that little bitch and I are going to go a few rounds, see how long it takes me to get her on her knees.

I shake those thoughts from my head and try to refocus on the mission at hand. Worst case scenario, Dare is dead. If that’s the case, then we’re going to have no choice but to retaliate. Well, actually, even if he’s not dead, we’re going to have to retaliate, but if he’s alive, we may not have to burn it all to the ground.

I glance at my phone for the millionth time, then give a start as Toni says something from the couch she’s been lying on. I get out of my chair and walk over to her, kneeling down beside her and breathing a sigh of relief as I note the blue eyes that meet mine are clear and alive.

She reaches a hand out, gripping my shirt firmly before she yanks on it and says, “It was you.”

I frown, shaking my head a bit as I respond, “What was me, Nettie?”

Her features tighten as she whispers, “It was you on the roof.”

My heart almost stops in my chest. My words are stuck in my throat, and my mouth drops open in shock.

“I know it was you. It was all of you. I remember.”

I finally manage to close my mouth, and I give her a small nod because there really isn’t much I can say without blatantly lying to her, which she’ll never buy at this point. We’ve been waiting months for this moment, for the time when she’d clearly be able to face her past demons, a time where all the truth could be spilled without fear it would further traumatize her injured psyche.

We always assumed it would be Dare who’d have to do the explaining, but here we are. Matt went off to meet a possible contact, and Dare could possibly be dead. So, that leaves me. The asshole.

She’s still gripping my shirt in her hand, and she gives me a little shake with it, drawing my focus back to her face as she says, “Tell me what happened, Tony. Now.”

This is the last thing I want to do. In previous discussions, the mere idea that I would be the narrator of her trauma was laughable, but I suppose there’s no way around it now.

So, I get up and pull a chair over beside her and sit down, facing her. And then I let the words fall.

Tony

Six months ago.

When Dare called me about losing Toni to a possible date rapist at the bar, I rolled my eyes, mostly thinking it was an awful lot of hassle to score some pussy.

I know; I’m a huge fucking asshole. But in my defense, Dare has been panting after this woman from a distance for ages, so I wasn’t inclined to get my panties in a twist on the possibility that there might be some drama. I attempted to ignore the first set of messages, and I planned on ignoring it indefinitely, but the asshole went and took it a step further, requesting information from some of our contacts.

Matt and Dare are both at the warehouse by the time I get there, and Dare is glaring daggers at me when I nonchalantly stroll into the room. But I mean, really, how up in arms am I supposed to be about some bratty cock tease who he isn’t even officially invested in? So, to say I’m a bit surprised by how clearly upset he is by the new turn of events is kind of an understatement.

Apparently, this fucker is more invested in this bitch than I initially realized, which means he’s been keeping his cards pretty close to his chest, something that’s rather unusual for him when it comes to pussy. And it’s a clear indication that his dalliance with her possibly meant more than I thought.

Begrudgingly, I sigh, crossing my arms over my chest as I ask, “What do you need?”

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