Page 120 of See Me

His eyes light up with his smile and he nods. “Awesome, right?”

“Eh, unique for sure.”

“It was either that or Kevin and Walter and now I can call them by their nicknames. Nothing starts your day off better than saying Megaboner in the morning.”

I laugh and wince, holding my forehead. “Don’t make me laugh, my brains are trying to crawl out of my skull right now.”

“You wanna tell me what’s going on and why Luca has been blowing up my phone threatening homicide? I’m surprised you didn’t hear him banging down my door earlier. He tried to get in but I changed the locks and he’s super pissed I have dogs. Bonecrusher isn’t able to be quiet even when he’s threatened with neutering!” He screams the last part down the hall again.” I could never cut his balls off, though. They’re amazing.”

I try to swallow the lump lodged in my throat. “How does he know I’m here?”

“Process of elimination according to the messages. He called Jace and then went down the line of everyone you know in town. When you didn’t answer your phone and I didn't answer mine, the pieces fell into place.”

I nod and twirl the blondish hair around Megatron’s ears.

“He’ll be back, you know. Wanna tell me what happened?” He sips his coffee and waits patiently for me to speak.

“My period was late.”

Enzo's face goes white and he rubs his hands down his face.

“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Look, Blaze, it’s not my story to tell but if you’re pregnant—”

“I’m not. It was negative. I panicked when it was late but I think it was just the stress of the last few weeks.”

“I think I’m missing a few pieces of the puzzle here.”

“When he thought it was a possibility, he lost it. Calling me a gold-digger and that I stopped taking my pill to trap him since he put me up in one of his apartments.” The tears sting my eyes and I bite my lip to stop the trembling.

Enzo clenches his fists. “Fucker. When is he gonna let go of that shit?”

“I’m assuming that reaction has an explanation, then?”

He blows out a long breath. “Yeah, but like I said, it’s not my story.”

I move to stand from the couch and the dog yips and jumps onto the cushion next to me. “Well, I guess I’ll never know then because I don’t ever want to see his face again.”

Enzo follows me into the kitchen. “Ella.”

“No, don’tEllame. You should’ve seen him, Enzo, heard the things he said to me. The way he raged in my face. There’s no excuse for that.”

“I agree, a thousand percent. But if you knew why—”

I slam the coffee mug into the sink. “Then fucking tell me why!”

He leans over, arms bracing on the island. “I can’t, Blaze.”

“Perfect. That’s just perfect.” I move past him and down the hall and he follows. I squeal when I open the bedroom door and a giant gray blur runs past me. I hear the wordsBoner,noright before I slam the door on the second Russo to piss me off in twenty-four hours.

“I gotta be honest, Teach, this ain’t cutting it.” Sam picks up the bread and eyes the turkey and cheese sandwich and cheese puffs I put in front of him. Enzo doesn’t quite have the culinary skills his brother does.

I chew slowly, not tasting a thing. I had been stopping for take-out and getting extra for Sam but I couldn’t even manage that last night. “Sorry. I was running late this morning. I can give you some cash if you want to go to the cafeteria.” Sam opened up about some of his struggles at home and here at school. I guessed as much, but the feeling I got when I realized he trusted me was the reason I chose this profession in the first place.

“Nah. That’s okay. This is more like the food I’m used to anyway. My palate was just so refined over the last few weeks.” He grins and I manage a smile back.

“You good?” He asks me.

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