Kingston

Twenty-one.

He finally looked at me.

"please, please don't kill him" I said, so softly it sounded like a whisper.

He shook his head in disbelief.

"you're fucking joking, right? He's going to ruin everything, she's going to get her mind fucking warped. There's no other way to handle this Katerina." he said and rubbed his hand on his locked jaw.

"I know, I know that's how it works. But he loves her, or he wouldn't be here. Please, don't kill him." I said, for one last time.

He looked at me, intensely. Then his eyes shot down to his hands.

"I can't spare him Kat, I just can't. I'm sorry." he said, and I shook my head.

"you can, please just, give them a chance. Promise me you won't kill him." I asked, my voice pleading with him. He gave me a soft look.

"fuck. How do you manage to do this?" He says, in an exasperated breath. " I'll have to see how it goes, angel. But I will try my best for you. That, I can promise." he said and rubbed his thumb over my hand.

"thank you. Please take care of Lo for me." I said, and he lifted his eyes to meet mine.

"don't stress, we'll be fine." he looked at me like he wanted nothing more than to be in the moment with me, but his eyes were so bloodshot that I knew the Don of Cosa Nostra was about to take over his body.

I let go of his hand and walked outside.

Carter was waiting for me. I completely forgot about him.

"hey, sorry I was just talking with Axle. Are you going in with them?" I asked, unsure how my voice was flowing.

"Kat, we need to talk." he said, and walked closer to me. I swallowed and nodded.

"what is it?" I asked.

"I can't do this." he said, his voice constricted.

"do what?"

"this, us. It's never going to work."

"what do you mean? I had a great time with you tonight, I thought you wanted to make this work Carter." I said, and I was hit with so many emotions. But over everything, I was just confused. This was already a ridiculously crazy night.

"I know I said that, but can you honestly look at me now and tell me you'd ever be able to love me?"

I felt like the world stopped turning for one second. My ears had a ringing sound. I could feel every nerve in my body.

I couldn't answer him. My heart was aching. I felt like I should just lay on a train track. I was hurting him.

"you see? Kat, I saw the way you looked at him tonight. The way you clutched onto his hand. It's always been him." he said, and I broke eye contact with him and lowered my head. I wish he was wrong, I think to myself. But why should I be ashamed of loving him? Axle isn't perfect, but he's perfect for me.

"listen, for what it's worth, you have as much power over him as he does over you. I wish you'd look at me like that, Katerina. But I'm sorry, I won't love a woman who loves someone else."

I couldn't believe I had nothing to say to him.

"Carter, it's not like that. We're becoming family. Him and I are friends." I said and he shook his head.

"come on Kat, even you don't believe that, do you?" he said and put both his hands on my shoulders.

"I wish this could've worked. Really, but we both know I was playing for seconds from the very beginning. You're even wearing his jacket." he said, and I looked up at him.