Page 65 of Deathless & Divided

“Got me in the face this time.”

“I can see that. Shit, with what?”

“Wine glass,” Damian muttered. “We were in the bathroom cleaning up the mess when the show went down.”

“Lucky,” Dino murmured.

“You could say that.”

Lily’s mind went back to Eve. As Damian and Dino discussed the shooting in vague, clipped sentences, Lily pulled her phone out of her clutch and tried to call Eve. She dialed her friend’s number over and over but it went straight to voicemail each time.

“Who are you calling?” Dino asked.

“Eve,” Lily replied, turning her back to her brother and trying again.

“She won’t pick up.”

Lily didn’t care. She needed Evelina to know someone was there to talk to when, or if, she was ready. Lily wished now she hadn’t let Damian force her from the restaurant until her friend had been calmed or at least, given some sense of support.

“Lily, stop,” Dino demanded. “She isn’t going to pick up. She’s probably at the hospital being questioned by police. This shit happens. Wait a couple of—”

Spinning fast on her heel, Lily faced her brother. “This shit happens?”

Dino shrugged, looking so blasé and unruffled it made Lily sick. “It’s too bad Mia ended up being caught in the crossfire, but there’s nothing that can be done. Obviously someone is out to prove a point with someone else in the Outfit, it’s just a matter of time until their meaning is clear. This isn’t the first time an innocent’s been killed. Right now we have to focus on keeping what is important safe. I thought someone already understood that.”

Damian scoffed. “She was safe, man.”

Whatever little silent exchange passed between the two men only pissed Lily off more. Dino stood there entirely unaffected by the fact someone had lost their life because they were doing nothing except sitting at a table with connected men. Lily couldn’t breathe. All over again, her shock, anger, and panic seemed to swallow her whole and drown her under the weight.

“Dino, someone died today. Died.”

“I realize that.”

“My friend’s mother!”

Dino sighed and gave his phone another glance. “I don’t have time for this, Lily. You’ll have to deal with this at your own speed because I don’t have the patience to sit down and explain it all to you.”

What in the fuck was there to explain?

“This is why, Dino!” Lily yelled.

“I beg your pardon?”

“This right here.” Lily waved between them, so frustrated her voice pitched high. “This is why we’re not close anymore. You keep asking and you want to know, well here it is. Because you’re just like them, you don’t give a damn about anything or anyone. You’re so fucking cold it burns.”

Dino laughed a hollow, dull chuckle. “That’s really what you think?”

“No, I’m sure of it,” she spat.

“Lily,” Damian said, his tone darkening in warning. “Think about what you’re saying right now. It’s shameful and you know it.”

Oh, well.

The truth hurt.

“No,” Dino murmured with a shrug. “Let her think what she wants, Ghost. Someday, she might actually understand.”

“I think I already do,” Lily said with a flick of her wrist at her brother. She grabbed Damian’s arm and tugged firmly on his coat. “I don’t want to be here. I want to go somewhere else, anywhere but … here.”