Page 119 of See Me

She picks up a lamp off the dresser, yanks the cord out of the wall and hurls it at me so fast I barely have time to react. I divert the lamp and it shatters on the hardwood, Tuesday scrambling for cover.

“Christ, Ella.”

“Don’t youChrist Ellame, you fucking deadbeat asshole!”

I dodge a shoe aimed at my head. “I’m sorry. I overreacted.”

“Overreacted? You overreacted? You went straight for the jugular!”

She grabs a hardback book off the shelf in thehallway and Jesus, how did I not know she had such good aim? I huff a breath when it hits me square in the chest.

“I’m a gold digger now? Really? If that were the case, I would’ve married Charles. He has waaay more money than you.” A candle comes whizzing past my head so close I get a whiff of cinnamon. “And I wouldn’t be cut off from my parents. If I was looking for the easy road, you fucking dickface, it wouldn’t be you!”

I nearly avoid an apple to the face as she slowly backs me through the kitchen and toward the door, a feral look in her eyes that tells me if she were close enough my balls would be hanging by a strand of Christmas lights on the door.

“Okay, okay, I get it.”

“Oh, I don’t think you do. Congratulations, Luca. If I wasn’t broken before, I certainly am now.” The anger rushes out of her right as the tears spill over. “I really only have me. It’s always been just me, but I thought maybe, just maybe, I could trust someone else. Maybe you would look at me and seeme. Not her.” She wipes the tears roughly off her face, like she’s angry they have the courage to show themselves. She stops, shoulders slumping.

“Her who?”

“Whoever fucked you up. I just wish I would’ve seen it before…” She walks past me, oozing defeat, and opens the door.

I hang my head, knowing there’s nothing I can say right now to fix this. I walk into the hall and turn to face her. My heart clenching at the look on her face. “Before what?”

Ella smiles, tears spilling down and running off her chin. “Before I fell in love with you.” The breeze from the door slamming hits me before the noise resounds in my ears.

My hand covers my chest, trying to stop the tearing and shredding of my heart as I hear the thud of her dropping to the floor and completely falling apart on the other side of the door.

THIRTY-FIVE

MEAN MUGGING

I waketo the sound of hissing, screeching, and what sounds like a stampede. My brain thumps against my skull and it takes me a few minutes to realize I’m not at home.

Home.

Ugh. It wasn’t my home.

It was starting to feel like it, though. I chew on my lip and fight back the burn in my eyes. I have two days to get my shit together before I have to make myself something resembling a functional human and go back to school and teach baby functional humans. And yes, I gave up the no cursing thing.Fluff itjust isn’t powerful enough to convey what I’m feeling rightnow.

I splash some cold water on my face to reduce the puffy raccoon look I’ve got going on and wander out of the bedroom to see what all the racket is.

Tuesday has Enzo’s head in a death grip, nails digging into his forehead, while he’s being backed into the dining room table by a giant dog that looks an awful lot like Henry, Jace’s Great Dane. “Bonecrusher, no. This is your cousin. We don’t eat family.”

I stifle a laugh and my headache protests. “You have a dog?”

I hear a yip come from the couch and walk across the apartment that’s identical to the one I was calling home. Of course Enzo lives in the same building. After downing an entire bottle of wine, I managed to call him and he was at my door in three minutes. He packed up the few belongings I had, including Tuesday, and dragged me through the building and dumped me in his bedroom.

A tiny little Yorkie runs along the couch yipping at the standoff in the dining room. Tuesday hisses and swats at the giant dog but only manages to reach Enzo’s eye, causing him to bend over to cup his face. Tuesday retreats down Enzo’s back and dives onto the table, the giant dog hot on her heels. Chairs are flipped over and glasses shattered before Enzo manages to grab the dog's collar and drag him into the bedroom.

“Hey, Blaze.” He walks into the kitchen and pours two cups of coffee like it’s just another Saturday morning. “Coffee?”

I plop myself onto the couch and rub my temples. “Yes, please.”

He hands me a steaming mug and sits in a chair, propping his feet on the coffee table. “So Bonecrusher is the one in timeout right now!” He screams down the hall so the offender is sure to hear. “And that handsome boy there’s Megatron.”

I quirk a brow at the names and the little Yorkie sniffs myhand before climbing into my lap. “Bonecrusher and Megatron?”

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