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“Give me an example.” I want to learn about the man whom I think about when I go to sleep and when I wake up. It might give me an insight into who he truly is.

“As you know, my parents were extremely abusive. One night I couldn’t take it anymore, and I went to Noa. He killed my parents that night, and I felt safe again.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah. My cousin isn’t the monster you think he is. Here they are!” She jumps up from her seat and opens the door for Sara, Noa, Adam, and Oliver. They saunter into the room, but my eyes stay focused on Noa. He looks so defeated, and I want to tell him that everything will be okay, but I lost that privilege.

I never realized until now that comforting someone is a luxury they bestow on you.

They sit down in the living room and tell us Josh is going to be fine. I look over at Oliver, and Hana is hugging him tightly and comforting him because the love of his life is in the hospital.

Interesting.

Now is not the time to think about that, so I ask them what we’re going to do next.

Noa answers me. “We need to rest for tonight. Dario’s probably gone underground.”

“Where do you think he went?” I ask him.

“I don’t know. Once I take the cleaver for DNA testing, it’ll hopefully give us more answers.”

“He didn’t go far.” Now I have their attention. “Dario’s a psychopath and in need of control. Before he disappears again, he’ll want to end all of us. His ego is bruised, and he’ll feel the need to retaliate.”

“I agree. We need to stick together.” Sara’s authoritative voice booms through the room, but they all agree.

“Let’s all go home. I’ll check on Josh tomorrow.” Oliver’s the first one to want to go, which shows how broken he feels. Normally, he’s the last one to leave so the party can keep going.

The rest gets up, but so do I.

“You’re leaving?” Noa’s hard voice stops all of us, and we all know that question is aimed at me.

“I need to. I’m afraid if I leave my team alone for one more day, they’ll come and get me.” I try to use humor to diffuse the awkward tension, and it works for the most part. Noa gets up and escorts us out.

They all leave before I do.

I turn toward Noa and nod toward the garage.

“My car’s still in there?”

“Yeah.” I want to leave, but Noa stops me by coughing. It gets my attention. “You really held your own and…fuck…what I want to say is that I’m really fucking impressed.”

I blush when I haven’t blushed in forever. “Same goes for you.”

“Thank you. We could have been an unstoppable duo, you know?”

“Maybe in another lifetime.”

I feel the crushing silence deep in my bones. It was the quiet agreement of a death sentence for whatever had been left between us. We both knew the rules. Once Dario was finally in the ground and this war was settled, we would never see each other again. This was the expiration date.

I adjusted the strap of my gear, needing a distraction from the way my throat was tightening. “I’ll be back tomorrow around noon to assist Sara if she needs anything while you're taking the DNA sample from Dario to the lab.”

Noa just nodded, his jaw clenched tight enough to crack a tooth. He doesn’t say goodbye, and neither do I.

I turn my back on him and walk out to my car. Driving home.

Maybe in another lifetime.

The lie tasted like ash in my mouth. I’m almost home, but I couldn't cut off the echo of his voice. An unstoppable duo. He was right. We had been fire and gasoline today—tearing through his father's ambush. We were a force of nature when we were aligned.