Page 23 of Genesis

“And Zade, right? Your crew has been waiting for you.” Dante looked at him. “Let’s get you settled and then I’ll take you to them.” He looked at Rosie. “Radio me if Finnegan leaves his office.”

With a nod, Rosie slunk into the shadows with more grace and stealth than I thought possible in those heels. I’d keep my eye on her.

We each took an old office as our room, wanting to be on the same floor of the high rise. Maybe if we found this place safe enough and I learned to trust our surroundings, I’d move to a different floor just to get the fuck away from Zade for a bit.

Settled in this new room on the thirteenth floor, I sank down against the wall and stared at the space. A mattress on the floor was the only bedroom-like thing, but it was more than we’d had over the past month. I hated it here. I hated the sense ofcommunity, the belittled feeling of being beneath a leader, and the walls surrounding me. I hated the highrise with only one way down, and I hated the distance from Synner’s Lake. It’d take too long to walk there for a quick visit, but I’d steal a dirt bike or something eventually. Mostly, I hated being here because Zan wasn’t. He’d like this place, which made me not want to belong here without him.

Protect my brother.

Yeah, Zade was the only reason I closed my eyes, gun in hand, and tried to sleep enough to support his choice to be here. I’d protect him. Even from his goddamn anger.

As my throat burned with the grief I’d been avoiding, I hated this place even more because it gave me a private, protected place to feel it.

The morning broughtan improvement in Zade. Reunited with his crew, I watched from a table across the mall cafeteria that apparently got used for some meals. He smiled, looked happier, leaned on Andi and Sully and the guys, and finally felt safe enough to let go of a bit of that anger. Not all of it, but some. He wasn’t alone anymore. He had his friends, his crew, his ride-or-die buddies from the old world, and now he could begin anew with them in this world. He ran that crew—had run it since he was ten—and it’d do him good to be a leader again. They picked him, and it was time he remembered that.

“Lovers?” Dante slid into the chair opposite mine, sliding a plate of pasta and some bread across the steel-top table for me.

“No.”

“Brothers?”

I picked up the fork and dug in. A hot meal was a hot meal. Wouldn’t even care if he’d poisoned it at this point.

“He’s safe here, Dire. You can let your guard down.”

Never. “What do you need?”

“Up for a job?” Dante asked. He was friendly enough, but he had a chip on his shoulder I couldn’t place. Bit sketchy, but maybe it was just stress. “There’s a cargo container hidden in the bush a few miles out. It’s full of medical supplies and dry food. Was from a relief camp that barely lasted a week.”

“Okay?”

“We’re going to get it tonight. Was going to use Zade’s crew to scout ahead and clear the path so we could tow the container back behind a truck, but we’re sitting ducks as we haul it out of the bush and hook it up. Can you shoot as well as you assemble those guns?”

Long-range wasn’t my specialty, but I was still pretty fucking special at it. I nodded, eating another mouthful of pasta.

“So, you up for it then?” he asked.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Why? Enge says you have some madman who can kill thirty men on his own.”

Dante looked at his plate, avoiding my gaze. “Arlo. Arlo Thorne. Yeah, but he’s… not available tonight.”

Shifty. Shady. Didn’t fucking trust him. “Alright.” I’d go on this job to keep an eye on Zade. All the better if I got a good read on Dante.

I grabbed Zade’sPunisherhoodie on the way out of the mall, pushing him against the side of the building. “Yeah?” I asked him for confirmation he wanted to stay.

“Yeah.”

I let him go.

“Dire, wait.” He grabbed my wrist and my body burned. “One word from you and I’ll leave. Together, alright? No fucking matter where it is. You hate me and I hate you, but…”

But we were stuck together for life because of a promise and a lake.

“See you at this job tonight, Enge. Better not be high for it.”

He swore at me, but it felt alright. He went one way, and I went the other.

Genesis. New beginnings, I guessed. We’d see.