Page 66 of Tick Tock, Boom!

I could only stare down in shock at the man I’d just shot.

The gun was still in my shaking hand, and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.Unshed tears blurred my eyes, and I didn’t know what to do. Because this time, the past hadn’t crept in on a motorcycle.It had walked right through my fucking door.

TICK TOCK

Ishould’ve known better than to trust either of those idiots to tell me the truth.

Hoax, our Tech, and Knuckles were in cahoots. They had been dancing around something for days. Their faces would get tight when I asked what was going on. I saw the way Knuckles looked away, the way Hoax changed the subject. And I let it go for a while, until the itch beneath my skin became too much.

I decided to press them for information and cornered them in the garage.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, low and dark.

Hoax tried to lie and tell me nothing was wrong. Knuckles, on the other hand, stayed quiet.

“Wrong answer,” I growled.

Before anyone could stop me, I slugged Hoax in the jaw. His head snapped back, and he staggered. Knuckles jumped in between us, hands up.

“You want some too?” I snarled, blood thundering in my ears.

“Jesus, calm the fuck down,” Knuckles barked. “You can’t go off half-cocked. There’s more to this than you know.”

“Then tell me!” I roared.

They both got real quiet. Someone speak before I take out my gun.

"It's that nurse I told you about."

"Which one? The one that patched me up?"

Knuckles nodded. "Remember how I said she looked familiar."

"Yeah."

He paused again and I gripped him by the jacket. "Fucking talk, man. What about her?"

"I had Hoax look into her. It’s...Natalia."

Everything suddenly went very still. Knuckles kept talking about how she recently moved back. She was living in Los Angeles. It was all a blur of words being vomited until he stopped and said one phrase that brought me back.

"She bought the house, Tick."

I froze.“And when did you plan to tell me all this?"

Knuckles sighed. "I was trying the right time..."

"To what? How long were you going to wait to tell me my woman hadn't burnt away? How long were you going to make me wait? How many more nightmares did I have to go through until you were satisfied?"

"Thats not it, Tick and you know. We had to be sure."

"She alive or not?" I asked.

Knuckles nodded. "She is."

"Fuck you, both."

I didn’t wait for them to say anything else. I grabbed my cut, yanked it over my shoulders, pain tearing through my side with every step. I didn’t give a shit. I had to see her.

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