Page 106 of Endure the Pain
Dean huffed. “You’re here to win her back.”
Brenna’s eyes flicked to me in surprise.
“It’s none of your business,” Jamie said.
“Where she’s involved it is our business,” Dean snarled. “Because we were there for her. We helped her stand and reminded her that she was still strong. What did you do? You kicked her when she was down and tried to send her away.”
Brenna grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
There was the sound of shoes hitting the porch steps followed by gravel crunching underfoot.
“Jameson,” Louie called out.
“If he can’t handle the truth, then he doesn’t deserve her,” Asher said.
“Maura wasn’t the only one suffering,” Louie seethed. “We lost our baby, too.”
“Yeah, but no one blamed you for it,” Dean said. “Maura woke up in that hospital blaming herself and the two people who could have convinced her otherwise blamed her, too.”
The sound of footsteps heading toward us made Brenna and I scramble to get away, but we weren’t quick enough. The door opened and Dean walked in, catching us.
“Eavesdropping?” he asked, shutting the door behind him.
“The entire time,” Finn said from behind us. We turned to find him standing by the kitchen door with his arms crossed. “I made lunch.”
Brenna pulled on the hand she hadn’t let go of and dragged me toward the kitchen. Dean didn’t follow and I assumed Asher had taken on the task of showing Jamie and Louie where their room was.
The cabin’s kitchen was small and quaint. There was a small round table in the corner of the room that sat four. Two plates stacked with grilled cheese were waiting for us on it. Brenna and I took a seat and dug in. We purposely didn’t make a comment on the fact that our grilled cheese was crustless. Finn cut them off out of habit because his son hated crust and mentioning it put Finn in a really bad mood. He missed his son. They routinely talked every other night on a burner Finn had given to him before he'd left to help me, but it wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t have been enough for me. Over a month ago, when I had been able to see past the vengeful fog narrowing my sight, I'd realized that by asking him to help me I'd been keeping him from his son. I'd tried to send Finn back home. He'd refused. He'd said that he'd made a promise to help me and he wouldn’t go back on his word.
“Are you sure we can trust them?” Brenna asked me between bites.
I shrugged. “They had all night while I was sleeping and vulnerable to drag me back to Quinn Manor.”
“Maybe they really are trying to win you back,” she said.
Finn snorted from where he stood, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Don’t try to redeem mobsters, Brenna. You’ll always be disappointed. If they’ve betrayed her once, they’ll do it again.”
My grilled cheese turned sour in my mouth as my emotions began seesawing. One minute, I was pissed off, the next, I was sad.
“I don’t believe that. Mobsters are still human,” Brenna argued. “Humans make mistakes and depending on what those mistakes are, they should get second chances.”
Finn shook his head. “You’re young.”
Brenna shot out of her chair. “And you’re a jaded asshole,” she snapped before storming out of the room.
I leaned back in my chair with a sigh. “I can’t say that I agree with her when it comes to my situation but there’s nothing wrong with her wanting to find good in others.”
“Thinking like that will only get her hurt.”
“Maybe, but jamming every bad thing about this world down her throat isn’t the way to go about preparing her. She’s already had a taste of how bad people can be. Between an abusive father and brother and a crackhead mother, it's a miracle that she’s still able to smile,” I said, scooping up our plates before getting up from the table and heading for the sink. “The best thing we can do for Brenna is not snuff out the last bit of light she has left inside her, but prepare her for the time that she does come across someone who isn’t remotely good and teach her how to outsmart them.”
Later that evening, we all gathered in the living room. Brenna and I were loading extra magazines with bullets while we sat on the floor. Finn and Asher were going through our inventory of weapons, courtesy of Nicoli, for what we’d need for tomorrow. Vincent was typing away on his laptop and Dean was cleaning his gun. Jamie and Louie listened and asked questions about our plan moving forward. We were going after Alex Roth.
Vincent slammed his computer shut. “I’ve got nothing on Buck,” he said, rubbing his hands down his face. “I was able to follow him from Hartford to the interstate using street cameras. They showed him heading south. After that, I have nothing. Facial recognition hasn't picked up him or the others that are with him anywhere.”
I got to my feet and walked over to him. “No more computer tonight,” I ordered and took his laptop. “We’ll find him, but right now, you need rest. Go to bed and try again tomorrow.”
He brushed a few blue strands of hair away from his eyes and stood. “Okay.”