Page 12 of Endgame

When we reached the second floor, I followed him down a long hallway. He stopped at the second to last door on the left. Without saying a word, he turned the round doorknob and pushed the door inwards. My breath escaped my lungs in a heavy sigh when my eyes landed on the apartment sized bedroom that was to be mine.

“See this door here,” he snarled, drawing my attention back to him as he pointed to the door next to mine, the one at the end. “You keep the fuck out of there. You get it, Six?”

“Six?”

He smiled cruelly. “Yeah.Six. You got a problem with that,Six?”

I hated him.

I knew that was a bold statement to make, having only met the guy, but I honest to god hated Rourke Owens with every fiber of my being.

“I’ve got it,Prick.” He was a prick. There was no other way to say it.

“This is my house,” he hissed, taking a step towards me, dwarfing me with his impressive frame. “Don’t get comfortable here. It’s temporary.”

“About as temporary as your perfectly shaped nose if you don’t back the hell off and leave me alone,” I shot back.

Rourke’s brows shot up in surprise. “You wanna take me on, Six?”

“I’d eat you up and spit you out for breakfast, little boy,” I countered in a bored tone. He unnerved me like no one else, but I would rather die than let him know it.

“I’m gonna break you, Six.” Backing away slowly, he cocked a brow and shot me a look that said he wasn’t one to make promises he couldn’t keep. “When I’m through with you, you’re gonna wish like hell you never came here.”

I’m already wishing I didn’t come here!

He smirked cruelly at me before stalking past me in the direction of the staircase, leaving me a bundle of nerves in the doorway.

The moment he was out of sight, I exhaled a trembling breath.

Yeah. I wasn’t too stubborn to admit that I was in serious trouble with Rourke Owens.

Rourke

“A WORD, ROURKE.” My father’s request came moments before he caught ahold of the back of my neck and shoved me through the foyer and out the front door. He was able to move me because Ichoseto go with him. If I hadn’t, then let’s just say, he wouldn’t have been successful.

“What can I do for you, Dad?” I asked when we were both standing outside with the front door pulled out.

“You couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Dad spat, his blue eyes full of unrestrained fury and focused solely on my face. “One dinner, Rourke. Would it have killed you to rein it in foronefucking dinner?”

“What do you want from me?” I shot back, losing my cool façade. I was done with this bullshit. “I showed up to your shitty fucking family dinner,” I snarled. “I suffered sitting across from the woman you impregnated and traipsed into our home.” Running a hand through my hair, I bit back the urge to roar. “I’m trying more than you could ever comprehend.”

“Well try harder, dammit,” he spat. “And stop letting me down!”

“Stop lettingyoudown?” I laughed humorlessly. “That’s ironic considering that’s all you’ve done my entire life.”

“Rourke,” Dad called out wearily, but I was done. I was so fucking over all of this bullshit. Ripping off my shirt, I broke into a run. I needed to get as far away from this house as I could.

Mercedes

MY ROOM, I BEGRUDGINGLY had to admit, was fabulous. It was south facing and based at the rear of the house so I had a direct view of the water line. All I could see from the floor to ceiling window was blue skies, bluer water, and pale, golden sand.

A tiny part of me agreed with my mother as I laid my eyes on the magnificent scenery. This place was certainly better than the one-bedroom apartment we’d come from. The smell of salt in my lungs. The sounds of wildlife and waves crashing against the rocks. Everything was foreign to me. I’d lived in many places over the years, but none of them held a spark to the beauty that was Ocean Bay.

Unpacking my belongings in the walk-in closet at the far end of my room didn’t take long. I hadn’t been lying when I told Gabe I traveled light. Four pairs of jeans, a half dozen hoodies, a week’s supply of bras and panties, a pair of cut off denim shorts, a plain navy bikini, and an armful of shirts and tanks took up a grand total of two drawers in the impressive closet.

After unpacking, I took a ridiculously long shower in the adjoining bathroom. Yeah, my own bathroom? Another thing I’d never had before.Damn you, Gabe. Don’t make me like living here!

When I was finished showering and had dressed in jeans and a tee, I walked back to the queen-sized bed and sank down. What was I supposed to do now?

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