“Nothing will, Nico. Nothing can erase what happened or how much it hurts. But as hard as it is to hear, life has to go on. You’ve got too much to live for to let it all pass you by.”
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“Like all the women out there who don’t know they need a piece of you. The Family who are yet to fully experience what a fucking epic underboss you’re going to make one day. And…” He pauses to build the tension like an arsehole. His eyes darken, fire burning through them. “The fucking Italians. They need to know exactly what you, what we, are capable of as we unleash all kinds of hell on them for what they’ve done to us.”
The need for vengeance runs red hot through my veins, turning my blood to poison. The bitter taste of retaliation, of retribution fills my mouth, making my muscles ache with the need to shed their blood and make them pay.
“That’s better,” Toby says, watching as his words fire me up in the way he was hoping.
“Do we have a plan yet?”
He shrugs, playing it cool. “I guess you’ll need to drag your arse out of your flat and go and see the boss to find out.”
“I have left my flat,” I sulk.
“So where did you go today after dressing up like you might attempt to attend a class or two? To the shop for more vodka?”
“So what if I did?”
“Bro,” he sighs, dropping his head into his hands as if he’s running out of patience.
I get it. I ran out of that shit with myself days ago.
“Calli needs you, man. She needs her big brother now more than ever.”
“She’s got Daemon. She doesn’t need me.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. You’re not the only one who’s lost their dad, man. She has too. And her mother, from what I’ve heard.”
“What’s Mum done?”
“Nothing, that’s the point. Calli moved out and she just… didn’t care.”
“She’s a dick. I can’t believe I didn’t realise how big of one she was before all this.”
“Your dad was too good for her,” Toby muses. “She must have been a stellar lay.”
“You fucking cunt,” I bark launching a cushion at his head. “What?” I snap when a wide, shit-eating smile curls at his lips.
“I fucking miss you, man.”
“Fuck’s sake,” I hiss, aware that he’s never going to leave this flat until I’ve agreed to this fucking party.
It’s the right thing to do, I know it is, but fuck. Spending a night partying like everything is okay is the last thing I want right now.
Closing my eyes, I fall back on the sofa, an image of a young, carefree Calli filling my head. She was always so sweet, so calm and kind. Fuck knows what Daemon has done to deserve her. Fuck, maybe he doesn’t and I’m going to have to kill him sometime soon for breaking her heart.
But Toby is right. She needs me too. No matter how hard it might seem right now, I need to be there for her.
I’m not the only one suffering…
6
BRIANNA
“Ithink you’re going to fit in really well here,” Melissa says after the year thirteens have left the room, allowing me to breathe for what I’m pretty sure is the first time in the past two hours.
He was meant to be here. The second Melissa opened the register up, my eyes found his name and my stomach plummeted into my feet.My stomach knotted with anxiety and that mark on my thigh throbbed like he’d just done it.