Page 81 of Danger

Not when we have things we need to discuss. I sit up, pushing away from Danger still.

He moves and sits across the room in a chair. “What the fuck, Monterey?”

“We need to talk.” I cross my arms over my chest, like a grade school teacher, not letting anyone get away with any shenanigans in their classroom. This is my classroom now, and Danger my pupil. And Iwillget answers, dammit.

“I don’t want to talk.”

“But we should. Who is Isabella?” I stand up, my restless energy getting the best of me.

“She’s just someone I used to know.”

“How?”

Danger stands up, shuffling a hand through his hair. “It’s not important anymore.”

I stop in front of him, staring down at him. “It’s important to me.”

He stands. “Well, that makes one of us.” He moves from me, toward the door, and I don’t have the strength to go after him. “I gotta get out of here,” he calls over his shoulder as he leaves.

I stand here, shaking. “Why is it so hard to answer a simple question?” I ask myself.

Chapter33

Danger

I’m enraged. How could she speak to that man? And who the fuck is that guy? How does he know so much about me?

I only have one idea. The devil himself told him who I am.

The thought pisses me off further. Will I ever be free of him? When will my dues be met? I’ve paid the piper, and I want my freedom. Enough is enough.

I wander the hotel floors, taking the stairs and roaming more and more endless hallways, in search of something I’ll never find.

Isabella.

I’ll never find her, it’s obvious.

The devil hid her well. And I can never pay repentance.

So I wander. I move through the building with absolutely no purpose. My whole life is beginning to feel like this. Zero purpose.

“I’m guessing your girl told you the truth,” a dark and sinister voice says when I step outside to have a smoke.

“You’re a fucking asshole.” I move closer, wondering if I should beat him up now or later. I decide on the latter, wanting to know what he said to Monterey first.

He lights up a smoke. I bum one, and light mine up too. I inhale the smoke, letting it fill my lungs before releasing it. “Yeah, I’ve been called that before.”

“So, ruining lives is fun for you?”

He turns to face me, his eyes searching mine. “I’m just trying to understand you, is all.”

“Understand this, stay the fuck away from Monterey.”

He laughs a little as he sucks on the end of his cigarette. “She seems to always find me.”

“How do you even know about Isabella?”

His smile leaves his face and his eyes are haunted. “I know a lot more than you may think I do.” He stops talking, studying the ground a minute before he stares back at me. “Maybe there’s some people in this world who don’t want to be found.”

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