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“I still don’t get it,” Arsenal shrugs, shaking his head.
“Dumbass,” Blaize grits, smacking Arsenal in the back of the head. “He’s pushing product! And he sure as fuck isn’t doing it for us.”
“Shit,” Arsenal whispers and I shake my head as Blaize rolls his eyes.
“So yeah, I was hoping maybe you’d know where to find him.”
“Actually, I have no fucking idea. But I bet one of the girls can get us Cadence’s address. I’m sure that’s where he went if they are working together. They split while he was locked up, but it never takes her long to go back to Dante. Broad is always tied up in his shit,” Blaize snorts.
“Alright, listen, since he’s ex-Reaper, I’m not going to fight either of you on how we ultimately handle Dante and Cadence. I want the cash back first though. I get the money back, then we can handle his overstep however you two wanna handle it.”
“Deal,” Blaize nods as he leans in and fist bumps me. “Arsenal will call you when we track Dante down.”
“Thanks man.”
“No problem. I have shit to get back to though, so he’ll see you out,” he nods at his brother as he turns and exits the room, heading back to his room of terror.
Shaking my head, I smile a little, and turn to face Arsenal.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” There’s a question that has been lingering in my mind for a while, and maybe I’m crossing a line or asking too much, but some part of me needs to know. Not that I think it’ll apply to me at all, but if there’s even a small chance…
“Yeah, what’s up?”
I swallow with an audible gulp, “How’s it work with you guys?”
“What do you mean?”
“You, Blaize, Hannah… how does it work? Did it always work? If it’s too personal just tell me to fuck off.”
“Nah you’re good,” he nods, running his hands down the side of his face, “it just does. We needed her. Did that asshole out there always know that? Fuck no, he hated her at first. But what can I say? It was meant to be.”
Nodding my head, I understand what he’s saying. These thoughts stay with me, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s something that could work for me too.
For us.
Maybe he’s the piece that’s been missing all along?
Chapter eleven
Zeke
My fingers fly across the keyboard as I run the codes in search of anything having to do with Ellie. I built the search function to assess various fields across all of the files at once by keyword. Fairly simple, and it won’t give me all the details I need up front, but it’s a starting point.
Simple is about all that I can manage right now, because I haven’t been sleeping again. I’ve been forcing myself to stay awake, because along with the nightmares, I’ve been having dreams. The nightmares I can handle, because I don’t deserve the peace. But the dreams? I don’t deserve to bask in the memory of her warm eyes and her smile.
What am I going to find when all is said and done? Has she been out there alive all this time? Or is she in an unmarked grave somewhere, rotting six feet underground?
The bright green bar creeps along the screen as the code runs at what feels like a snail’s pace, but in all fairness the sheer sizes of these files are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I reach out and grab the energy drink sitting next to the keyboard and swallow the last lukewarm remnants before crushing the can in my hand and tossing it over my shoulder. My eyes narrow in on the flashing green bar, and my breathing begins to move in tandem with the flashes. Slowly. Evenly paced.
All the caffeine on earth can’t fight against the trance-like state I slowly drift into. Fluttering softly my eyelids begin to close, and I don’t try to fight it.
I’m just so damn tired.
“Come on Z, please,” she looks up at me with her massive brown eyes, wide and laced with an expression of terror. “Please come with me.”
“El, stop,” whispering way too loudly, I reach out and grab her hand, trying to pull her away from the window. “You don’t need to do this. I have a plan. I told you, I just need a few days.”
I know she needs out. For nearly a year now, Ellie’s endured horrors I can’t even say out loud, and the look in her eyes tells me one more night just might break her. We always thought it was just our pig foster father, but last night, everything changed.