Guns and Mirrors

TWELVE

This is a double update as per usual- Chapter 11 was uploaded before this so please make sure you read them in the correct order :)

♕Harley Anderson♕

Danté fixes the door up as best as he can, telling me that we'll have to get a new one since there's a crack through the middle of the current one. While he does that, I decide to clean the bloody utensils that I used on Cyrus and pick up the broken mug that I never got around to, too. My stomach seems to groan in hunger but I cannot stomach a meal after the night I've had.

"So you talked to your brother, huh?" Danté enquires from where he puts away all the tools. I scoff.

"I wouldn't call it talking." Is my simple reply and Danté's lips quirk up into a small smile as he nods. I slide him his mug of tea and take a seat next to him on the couch where I sit between his legs, resting against his chest. After the night I've had, this is the only way to make me feel better and safe. "So what was the ring like?" I ask, wrapping my hands around the mug.

I feel Danté shrug behind me. "Nothing I wasn't expecting." The tone of voice he uses makes me turn around and glance to which I notice the uneasy look on his face. Usually Danté can keep a mask on pretty well but, tonight, I can see exactly how he feels and I don't have a good feeling about it.

"Danté..." I say and he sighs, moving so that I'm leaning against the arm rest with my legs over his so that I can see him better. As he pinches the bridge of his nose, I see how tense his muscles are and I'm scared for what he's about to say.

"Today turned out to be 'Dirty Fight Night'." He says to me and my eyebrows draw together.

"So what happened?"

He looks down at his tea. "The fight was gruesome. I heard how much people were betting on players and it was insane. But the one guy had a knife and the other... he had rings on. And he didn't walk out of that ring." Danté says lowly and my heart gets stuck in my throat.

"Did he... was he..." I struggle to say.

Danté shrugs, trying to go for a look of nonchalance but I see through it.

"I..."

He squeezes my knee. "It doesn't matter amado. I saw what I'm in for and now I need to prepare. There's no escaping it."

I purse my lips. "Please tell me you'll be careful." I ask pleadingly and looks at me softly.

"I will."

I reach out to him, and he puts his mug down on the table before laying his head on my chest and wrapping his arms around my waist. My hands run through his hair and I kiss his forehead before we're both lulling off to sleep.

****

"What the hell was that?" Isaac hisses at me from the passenger seat and I glare at him.

"What? Would you have preferred I drove us into a tree?"

"Fucking watch it Harley. It's already Wednesday and you need to be ready by Monday. At this point you're a lost cause." He snaps and I narrow my eyes at him. "I told you to hit two hundred and all you hit was one! One!"

I run a hand through my hair in frustration, mentally strangling Isaac so that I can at least get some type of anger out. However, it doesn't really do much and when he tells me to do it again, I can't help but sigh in defeat. Racing is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and a way for me to release all my pent up emotions and just let go- even if for only a couple of seconds. But all this has being is stressful and nerve wrecking. Isaac is horrible- he has no patience and he isn't willing to listen either. He asks you for something and expects it done and, unfortunately, I can't seem to meet his status-quo in this case.