The afternoon was crisp, and clear, without a cloud in the sky. The cool breeze felt wonderful against my flushed skin, even if the sun was a bit much for my taste. An altogether pleasant day when separated from the gunshot wound I was currently nursing in my lower abdomen.

I groaned in an attmept to stifle the burning ache as I righted myself against the rooftop parapet. Despite the pressure of my hand against the wound, crimson tears welled up from between my fingers falling as gently as those shed at a parting of two lovers who knew they weren’t right for one another.

One gentle cough turned into a cacophany of abusive ones. Each ragged spasm sent a lightning bolt wreathed in flames dancing across my body. I raised my eyes to find Paul. What I found instead was a cheap imitation of the man that I had come to call brother.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

His voice was low, cold. The hatred held within it was almost tangible, as though i could reach out and grab it if he were just a few steps closer. Whether it was hatred for me, or for himself, I couldn’t tell.

He looked at me for a long while before he spoke. Silence had always been something comfortable for us. Something safe, where nothing mattered but the job and we could find peace in knowing that the man beside us was do or die. Now it was suffocating.

“You knew we would end up this way. Maybe not now, maybe not here, but you knew.”

The gun in has hand trembled, even if his voice didn’t. My eyes were heavier than they had been a moment before. The words came, but not as quickly as I would have liked.

“Knew what, Paulie? Knew that you would turn on me like a fucking snake? Either you and I have been living in different worlds, or I’m missing a piece of the puzzle because I didn’t know shit.”

He shook his head, as I licked the blood from my lips. Paul ran a hand through his salt and pepper beard before taking teo steps towards me, his eyes almost the color of coal against the backdrop of the afternoon sky.

“Did you really think I wouldnt find out?”

He knelt down, resting the gun on his knee, as he leaned into me. I could smell his morning cigarette on his breath as he spoke.

“You can’t fuck with my family Danny, and those stunts you’ve been pulling are dragging in way too much heat. It’s falling back on me, on us.”

“I didn’t think about that.”

“That’s the problem, you don’t think about anything.”

He stood and leveled the gun at my head, before cocking the hammer back. There was no trembling now.

“But don’t worry, your services are no longer required. You won’t have to worry about thinking anymore…”