Crossed a line

Crossed a line
Dante

I sat on the edge of the bed watching Rex sleep.

His face looked different when he wasn’t awake. Younger somehow. More innocent. The wrinkles of stress and anger were smoothed away by unconsciousness. His breathing was deep and steady now. He looked very different from the man banging on my door.

But I could still hear his words echoing in my head. Each sentence had been like a blade tearing my flesh open. Sharp and precise and designed to cause maximum damage.

He blamed me for everything. His job. His parents. His girlfriend. Even his own sanity.

Part of me wanted to shake him awake. Wanted to tell him he was wrong. I wanted to explain how knowing was better than staying in ignorance. I wanted him to understand that things were much bigger than he thought. It was better to know. 

But what was the point? He wouldn’t listen. Not tonight. Maybe not ever.

The alcohol on his breath was still strong. It mixed with the smell of his cologne and it smelled divine. Heavenly even.

When his breathing finally settled into a regular rhythm, I stood up slowly. My back was stiff from sitting in one position for so long. 

I wanted to take him to the bed, but he would be too heavy now that he was drunk. So I can only cover him with a blanket.

For someone who claimed to hate me so much, Rex looked far too peaceful lying there. His dark hair fell across his forehead. His lips were slightly parted. One hand was curled under his cheek like a child.

My chest tightened. A feeling I knew too well but at the same time, I wanted nothing to do with. I forced it away. Pushed it down deep where it couldn’t hurt me.

Even though he was no longer associated with the cops did not mean he would suddenly be with me. He still had his morals. He still had the pain and anger he was holding on to.

I couldn’t afford to be soft. Not with him. 

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found the number I needed. Shadow.

“I need everything you can find on Rex’s parents,” I said. My voice was low and calm. “Every detail. Every file. Every witness report. Every police record.”

The man on the other end was instantly alert. “What exactly are you looking for, boss?”

“If someone covered up their deaths, I want to know who. If someone paid to have them killed, I want names. If there was corruption involved, I want proof.” I walked to the window and looked out at the city lights. “I want to know everything.”

“Yes, sir,” he replied. His voice was sharp with obedience. “How soon do you need this?”

“Yesterday.”

“Understood.”

I hung up and slid the phone back into my pocket. Then I looked at Rex one more time. He had shifted in his sleep. His expression was soft and vulnerable in a way he never allowed when he was awake.

I needed to leave. If I stayed, I might start thinking about his words again. About the pain in his voice when he talked about his parents. About the way he had looked at me like I was the source of all evil in the world.

That wasn’t something I could allow. I needed calm. I needed focus. I needed to think clearly about what to do next.

“The golf course,” I said to myself.

There was one in the hotel, reserved only for the VIP and that was exactly who I am.

I spent hours there. Swinging my club.Golf had always been my meditation. But even golf couldn’t keep my mind completely quiet tonight. Rex’s words kept coming back to me. The accusation in his voice. The hatred in his eyes.

Maybe he was right. Maybe I had destroyed his life. Maybe everything that had gone wrong for him really was my fault.

When I finally returned to the hotel, the sun was starting to rise. My shoulders ached from swinging the club. My mind felt clearer but not necessarily better.

I opened the door to my room expecting to find Rex still asleep in my bed. Still tucked under the blanket I had wrapped around him.

But the room was empty.

The bed was messy. The blanket was thrown aside like he had gotten up in a hurry. There was no note. No explanation. No sign of where he might have gone.

My heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought it might burst. For a moment I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t do anything except stare at the empty space where he should have been.

There was only one person who would dare to take him. Only one name that cut through my panic like a knife through silk.

Aspen.

I grabbed my phone and dialed his number. My hands were shaking with rage and fear and something else I didn’t want to name.

“Bring Rex back,” I said the moment he answered. The words came out like bullets.

There was a pause. Then I heard the sound I had been dreading. Aspen’s low chuckle. 

“You’re getting soft, Dante,” he said. His voice was dripping with mockery. “Why should I bring him back? He belongs to the family now. Let us deal with him. You’re too weak to make the hard choices anymore.”

My jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth might crack. “Don’t touch him, Aspen. I’m warning you.”

He laughed. The sound made my skin crawl. “You know me, Dante. I can’t make promises like that. You know how much I enjoy my work. How much I love the way blood looks.”

My vision started to go red around the edges. All I could feel was the anger flooding in me.

“And Rex,” Aspen continued, his voice getting softer and filled with mockery, “he has such pretty skin. I bet he’d bleed so beautifully. I bet he’d make the most interesting sounds.”

“ASPEN!” I roared. 

The line went dead.

I stared at the phone for a moment. Then something inside me snapped completely.

I hurled it against the wall as hard as I could. It exploded into pieces. 

Aspen had crossed a line. Not just any line. The line.