Redemption - Garrett Leigh Page 0,76

he knew that, Luis had no idea. They must have cameras every fucking where.

The room began to empty out through a door Luis hadn’t clocked. It was concealed by a black curtain and somehow led to daylight.

Martell ghosted through it, leaving his bargain basement drugs behind.

In Luis’s hand.

The rest of the room cleared, parrot and all, and panic hit Luis square in the gut. The police were coming, and he was holding enough coke to put him away long enough to have middle-aged spread by the time he got out. Add in that Dante had a bullet in him, and they were both royally fucked.

Run. If you leave now, you can get away. But as hard as Luis tried to make himself move, nothing happened, and it took him far too long to realise his treacherous heart wouldn’t let him leave Dante alone and bleeding on the snooker club floor.

A shout ripped, unbidden, from Luis’s chest. He punched the wall and wrenched Dante’s coat off, flinging the sweaty leather away before he thought better of it and crouched to drape it over Dante’s shivering form. “I fucking hate you.”

Dante chuckled, flat and breathless. “I know. And I get it now, so you should go, now, before they get here.”

“You know I won’t leave you like this, so don’t pretend to be a god damn martyr now.”

“I’m not. I mean it. Leave the package and get the fuck out of here. That way, you’ve given Martell what he wants and got rid of me all in one. You can’t lose, brother.”

Luis had been losing his entire life, ever since genes and DNA had gifted him Dante and their waster mother as his only family. Dante’s words washed over him as he tracked the sound of the approaching sirens.

Dante gripped his arm, fingers digging in hard. “Fuck’s sake, Luis. Just go. I’m fucked anyway, and you don’t deserve to get caught here.”

“I can’t—”

“You can. Just like I left you all those years ago. Get the fuck out of here.”

Dante’s blood was seeping into Luis’s jeans and the hem of Paolo’s sweater. He was in no danger of dying, but the sight of it made Luis’s stomach roll and his heart clench with fear. The more blood he had on him, the more conspicuous he became. If he was going to run, it had to be now.

“I—”

Dante shook his head. “Don’t. Leave me here and I’ll get help quicker. Go, Luis. Now. Run.”

Luis backed up and staggered to his feet. Blue lights were already visible through the escape door the others had left open, narrowing his options to the front or the fire door on the side, if he could even find it.

With one last look at Dante, he turned and fled into the dark club, chasing an instinct that led him past a defunct bar and into what looked like a storeroom. He tripped over an empty box. In the gloom, he threw out a hand, and it hit the cool metal bar of a fire door. This is it. Luis listened hard for the sound of footsteps behind him, but even with adrenaline-sharp senses, he heard nothing but the roar of his own heart.

Fuck it.

He pushed the bar down.

The door opened with a whiny screech that reached even Luis’s ears. He cringed, bracing himself, and squinted into the daylight. The door had opened onto the bustling pavement. He stuck his head out, glanced swiftly in both directions, then melted into the crowd, head down, hood up. He followed the flow, jaw clenched, gaze darting, steeling himself for a heavy hand on his shoulder. To be tackled to the ground and cuffed.

But it didn’t happen. He walked and walked and walked until he found himself alone in a city that wasn’t his home without a clue what to do next.

21

Luis had been gone, again, for less than a day by the time Paolo lost his shit and went looking for him. The recurring theme of him banging on unanswered doors with no fucking clue was driving him up the wall, but somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to stop. Maybe if they hadn’t fucked, it would’ve been easier. But they had fucked, and it had been the final puzzle piece that now tied Paolo’s soul so entirely to a man who came with a camel’s back of baggage.

He had no regrets, though. Just a razor-sharp fear that wouldn’t fade until he knew for sure that Luis was okay.

There was no answer at the