“Jesus fucking Christ…” Enzo moaned.
Carla raced down the stairs. “Shit! Are you alright?”
Jack and Boris crept into the hallway.
“…fine, fine. Now that you’ve fucking ruined my suit…” Here Enzo’s voice grew dangerous. “…tell me what the fuck you know.”
“I don’t know what you think I know!” Carla snapped. “Nota damn thing. Whatever you need to know, ask Ronnie. I don’t keep up with his business.”
“It’s not Ronnie’s damn business!” Enzo’s voice became a snarl. Glass tinkled. Liquid sloshed. “I need to know what you fucking know, Carla! How come you’re out here doing something different every damn day?”
Jack waited at the top of the stairs, careful to stay out sight.
“Because that’s how I live my life?” Rage colored Carla’s voice. “I don’t do the same thing every damn day!”
“Really? Because as I see it, you left Ronnie twice, then youstoppedfucking leaving him and started ruining my life!”
“Ruiningyourlife?Yourlife?” Carla screeched. Something smashed. Jack peered nervously around the corner and spotted Enzo, suit soiled, glass clinging to his pant leg. Carla paced about and threw her arms out as she screamed, “You ever tried to leave someone, and found out you literally couldn’t? You ever had something like that happen? No, you haven’t, because if you had, you wouldn’t be fucking meddling! What the fuck did you do, Enzo?”
At once, there was a gun in her hand, the barrel pointed directly at Enzo, who raised his hands and said, “Hey, hey, hey! Calm down, you’re talking crazy!”
“I’m not crazy!” Carla sneered. A shot went off and embedded in the wall in an explosion of dust. It missed Enzo by inches.
Boris grabbed Jack by the arm, pulled him backward until they were out of view. Until he could feel Boris’s frantic heartbeat in his spine.
“That was a warning shot,” Carla growled. “Tell me what you know, and I might let you live.”
“Fuck,” Boris groaned. Jack squeezed his hand, took a step forward to find Enzo at the base of the stairs with his hands up. Oversized rings glittered on his fingers. A tattooed covered the back of his left hand, but Jack couldn’t make out the details.
“Alright, alright,” he babbled. “Calm down, calm down. I’m not gonna hurt you.”
“Why the fuck did you do this?” Carla demanded. “Why the fuck would you—would you summon that thing?”
“What thing?” Enzo barked. “I haven’t summoned anything?—”
“Then how the fuck do you know about the time loop?” Carla bellowed. The gun trembled in her hand.
“Easy, easy,” said Enzo. “Put that thing down and we can talk.”
Jack inhaled sharply as the yellow-eyed man emerged from the shadows, pale and disapproving, his brows curved downward as he scrutinized the situation before him. “Oh, I disagree. I think you won’t talk unless you’re… motivated to.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Enzo demanded, but the yellow-eyed man ignored him and gestured to Jack.
“I think we need our backup,” he said. “If you don’t mind, gentlemen.”
Jack stepped into the basement, Boris close behind, gun drawn. Enzo’s stare swept over them, unimpressed.
“You know Ronnie’s coming, right? Whatever you’ve got planned?—”
“Dude,” Boris groaned, aiming the barrel of the gun at him with alarming disinterest. “No one cares.”
“Youshouldcare. You wanna make an enemy of the family?”
The slightest tick of worry. If he hadn’t spent so much with Boris, Jack would’ve missed it entirely. Certainly, he hoped Enzo hadn’t noticed. Let him think Boris was some kind of hardened assassin. Whatever would get them out of this alive.
“Listen, buddy. One more enemy’s not gonna hurt,” said Boris, jaw squared, hand steady.
“And who the hell is this pipsqueak?” Enzo pointed to Jack, who very valiantly did not wince.
