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Doesn’t stop me wearing these ugly fucking socks, though.
“Just give him a few more days, baby,” Rory pipes up, flashing her husband her sweetest smile. “He’smoping.”
“Rafe doesn’t mope,” Angelo grunts.
“He does now that he’s a heartbroken little fool.”
Angelo’s eyes slide to mine, narrowing in disgust. I don’t care if he thinks I’m pathetic. I just know if he tries to pull me off this sofa I’ll put him in a headlock, stomach wound or not.
“Fine,” he snaps, rising to his full height. “I’ll meet Tor in Covealone.I’ll be sure to bring back a box of tampons and some ice cream.”
He storms to the foyer. “Make it chocolate chip,” Rory calls after him.
“Nah, vanilla,” I mutter, popping a Jolly Rancher into my mouth.
“Rafe?” My attention falls from the diner’s backlit menu down to Rory’s concerned eyes. “Libby asked what you want to order?” she whispers. She glances at the server but says to me, “Are you okay?”
No, I’m not okay. The lights are too fucking bright and my chest is too fucking hollow. It feels like there’s not enough inside of me to prop my bones up, and I’m going to implode at any second. And whose fucking bright idea was it to get burgers?
Her loud laugh. Her wet coat drip-dripping onto the checkered tiles.Cough up, sugar daddy.
Violence grips me and I sweep everything off the counter. Rory gasps and steps back. Eyes come to me over the backs of booths, and silence crackles like an electric current.
I run my hand over my throat and glare up at the strip lights. “I’ll wait outside,” I say calmly, stepping over the cash register and pushing out into the cold street. Our security men stare at me like I’ve lost my mind. I don’t know why, because it’s not exactly a revelation.
The mist falling from the black sky does nothing to cool my blood. I drop my head against the glass window and light up a cigarette. As the smoke dissipates, my focus sharpens on the phone booth across the street, and I let out a bitter laugh.
This is it, isn’t it? What it’s going to be like forever? Not a day will go by when I’m not reminded of the red-haired brat who ruined my life. When I don’t wonder what she’s doing. When I don’t have to stop whatI’mdoing, because I suddenly remember how other men exist in this world, and one day, one of them will treat her a lot better than I did.
The door chimes, and Rory falls into step with me, clutching the grease-stained sack to her chest. She’s silent and wary as she slides into Penny’s seat. Her cell lights up her face. No doubt she’s texting my brother about my outburst.
“I’ll cover the damage,” I murmur, kicking the car into gear.
She stares straight ahead. “Uh-huh.”
I inch down the window. “And don’t eat that burger in my car. It fucking stinks.”And reminds me of extortionate lap dances and sharing milkshakes with my girl.
She nods tightly.
An awkward tension presses against the walls of the car, swelling when I slow on Main Street. I can’t help it: I take my foot off the gas and steal a glance at Penny’s living room window. Rory does too, then she lets out a small sigh.
“Me and the girls have tried to contact her every day,” she says sadly. “I just need to know if she’s okay.”
My lungs pinch together. Galvanizing my glare on the windshield, I slam on the gas, narrowly missing a Ford Fiesta coming the other way.
“Me too,” I mutter under my breath. “So try harder.”
Tor’s leaning against the pillar propping up the front porch when we pull up to the house. He’s just outside the glow of the security lamp, and the only reason I know it’s him, is because he tilts his chin when he hears my engine, and his stupid fucking nose stud glints.
“What’s this dick doing here?”
Rory spots him a few seconds after I do, and tightens her grip on her dog. “No idea. We hate him, right?”
I run my tongue over my teeth. Bad blood thins quickly in this family, aside from when certain members do extra-stupid shit, like blow up the port.
“For now.”
My eyes clash with his as I slam the driver’s door shut. I don’t break eye contact, even when I round the car and open Rory’s door. She walks into the house, whispering “attack, Maggie, attack” in her dog’s ear as she passes him.
