Page 104 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

“I’m not spooked,” I reply. “I’m…aware.”

“That’s new.”

I glare at him, but he’s still not looking at me, just clacking on his game controller and plowing through undead NPCs like toilet paper.

“Say whatever the fuck you’re gonna say,” I mutter, leaning forward and scrubbing my hands down my face.

Axel clicks pause. That’s how I know shit just got serious.

“You know you’re fucking up, right?”

I drop my hands and stare at him. “You’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“Riale,” he says. “Shae. The whole fucking situation.”

I lean back. “I already confronted Riale.”

“You punched him,” Axel corrects. “That’s not the same as dealing with your shit. And you didn’t even give Shae the truth.”

I cringe. He’s right. I’ve told Shae most of the truth about Keystone and the danger surrounding us, but I’m still holding back vital information.

Like how Lakeland is at the center of this shit, and who he is to me.

I haven’t told her how I made a deal with the devil and threw us into eight years of mutual agony. I’m not sure if or when I’ll confess this to her, either.

“How do you know?”

He gives me a side-eye.

“Don’t play with me. I know,” he replies.

I blow out a breath.

“She doesn’t need the whole truth right now.”

Axel faces me fully, an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

“Listen, Storm. I’m gonna tell it to you straight, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll fucking listen. You’re angry, and I get that—and not just angry about the secret kids and how shit went down with Shae. You’re angry that Lakeland’s still breathing. You’re angry that taking him down has taken you so fucking long. You have the right to be angry, Storm. But your anger doesn’t hurt anyone but yourself.”

I blink at him, absorbing his words but still resisting them.

“At some point, you’re gonna have to move past some shit,” he finishes.

Arching my eyebrow, I say, “You want me to just ‘move past’ Lakeland killing my parents?”

Axel sucks his teeth.

“Nah, that nigga needs to get got.Butyour anger toward Riale and Shae? You might as well be barking at the fuckin’ moon. That anger is pointless.”

I rub the back of my neck. “I didn’t come in here for a sermon.”

“No, you came in here to pretend you’re above all the bullshit, when you’re really just hurt.”

“Hurt? Look, I’m trying to keep everyone alive,” I bite out.

“And in the process, you’re going to lose the one person you crawled through hell to protect. Once she’s gone, what will the point of all this have been for?”

That lands. Hard.