by B. C. Falls
Blake laughs, “Only you would make a joke out of our situation,” she shakes her head.
“You remember that one time we got into a food fight at Dylan’s Bakery?” Blake starts laughing at the memory. “All that fruit and flour, took me a couple weeks to clean it out of my hair,” I reach up and touch my hair now. “Think blood will be easier?”
“Probably not. Your hair is doomed pretty girl,” I smile over at her before it falls.
“How did you end up here?” I ask again.
She sighs. “Jeff called, telling me I had to come to him to keep you alive. When I showed up he was shoving you into the back of a car and then those damn guards took ahold of me and threw me in there too.”
“Shit. You get yourself into the greatest situations,” she starts laughing again and when I start to it hurts too much so I stop myself.
“Are you okay?” Blake asks.
“I don’t know. My head hurts a lot and he kicked me pretty hard.” Blake moves away from the wall and scoots herself over to me best she can with her hands tied behind her back. “Blake, you should’ve just stayed in Kentucky.”
“Apparently you should’ve too,” I laugh which causes the pain to course through my head and chest. “I saw Trent and met Dane.” I look up at her. “He’s really good looking, Royce.”
“Trent or Dane?”
“Both,” she smiles. “We’re pretty lucky women.”
“But we keep running,” I tell her. “Do you think they’ll take us back?”
“No doubt,” she says without a doubt in her words. “Did you think that when we met all those years ago, back in Miller Falls, that we’d be here right now?” I push closer to her and lay my head on her lap. “Because I didn’t see all of this coming.”
“No, but I wouldn’t change a thing, Blake.”
“Me neither,” I smile. “I missed you.”
“I missed you more,” she leans down and kisses my forehead. “You’ll always be my person.”
“And you’ll always be mine,” I close my eyes trying to gather as much strength as I can for what surely is coming. “What are we gonna do?”
“You got a gun?” I ask. When she doesn’t answer I open my eyes a little. “No?” she tries to hide her smile. “Well shit, I think we should just sit here and wait for our men to come a knocking.”
Her smile fades again, “Royce if they don’t—”
“Well then, we’ll just figure it out for ourselves then won’t we?” I smile just enough to hopefully give her faith in those guys and our situation. “We’ve survived our whole lives, Blake. We can figure this out.”
“I always admire your will to go on, Royce.” I close my eyes again at the sound of movement.
Blake leans back against the wall behind her but I don’t move from my spot so now my head is closer to her knees. “Well look who’s awake!” My eyes pop open at the sound of his voice. “Nice to see my son didn’t murder you. Yet.”
“What the fuck?” I say knowing I won’t really get an answer for what I’m seeing.
David, Jeff’s dad, who promised to help Blake in revenge for his dead wife, is slowly walking towards us. He looks uglier than ever and more like his son, bald head and a toothpick sticking out of a fucked up mouth, probably from some type of drugs. He has sleaze ball written all over him and I’m sure maybe back in the day he looked well kept and nice, but right now he just looks like trash got dragged through the streets.
“Royce is mine dad,” Jeff says from behind him.
“I know, son,” David waves him off. “We don’t need her anyways.”
“I thought your goal was revenge?” Blake asks.
“It was. Up until I found out that the only way to get revenge is to get you out of the way.”
“Wait, so you think giving up Blake to the Cartel is the only way to get your revenge?” I ask. “That sounds like a dumb idea since your son killed about four or so of them back at the cabin.” Jeff’s eyes go wide and David slowly turns back around to look at Jeff. He whips his hand back and quickly strikes Jeff hard enough to make him stumble back.
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
“Blake wasn’t there yet and they didn’t believe me that I had her coming so they drew guns. I just fired first,” David runs a hand over his head like he’s frustrated. “I’m sorry, dad. It was all I could do to not to get killed.”
“Well, you just dug us a bigger whole, son. You think they’ll let this go? We just had to kill one. Give them the money, the girls, and some guns and they would give us that man.”
“The one who’s been after us?” I ask. “Antonio?”
“No, Antonio is in charge of everything. The man who killed my wife is a low level guy they can afford to lose.” I cringe. “Antonio just wanted you and Blake.”
“You said you wouldn’t give Royce up!” Jeff yells. “She’s mine, dad!”
“Shut your fucking mouth!” he hits him again this time sending him down to the ground. “You ruined this shit, Jeff!”
“I’m sorry,” Jeff cries.
“Wow, I dated such a fucking pussy,” I whisper.
David turns back around. “You shut the fuck up!” I close my mouth. David begins pacing like he’s trying to come up with a plan. I move away from Blake and start to sit up. “We can still make them an offer.”
“In my back pocket,” Blake whispers to me as quietly as she can but enough for me to hear. I move so I’m sitting with my hands near her bottom half, just close enough to reach but where they can’t see.
“Antonio is a reasonable man. He’ll listen to what happened and be okay with everything.” I want to laugh at his attempt to make this seem like it’ll turn out all right but I don’t. “Get up, Jeff. Get the girls tied up against the posts in the front of the building. Let’s put on a show for these assholes.”
I get the small knife out of Blake’s back pocket. I start to cut her ropes as quickly as I can without moving too much. “Yes sir!” Jeff stands and begins moving towards us making me work faster. He’s not watching us, he keeps rubbing his head and checking for blood, but there isn’t any.
“So you set me up, huh?” Blake asks. “This whole time? When you found me in that hospital and paid everyone to tell my family and my boyfriend that I was dead to get us here and now?” She’s almost free. Jeff stops and looks back at his dad to see his reaction.
David turns around and stares at the both of us. “I did what I had to do to get my revenge,” he starts walking again.
“It’s all consuming, isn’t it? Revenge.” I ask. “You think that it’ll bring her back?” The last rope is cut and Blake takes the knife with one of her hands and starts cutting mine.
“It won’t, but it’ll make it easier for me to breathe knowing that the man who killed her is gone from this world.”
“You think she would’ve wanted you to do this? Setup two girls for her life?” Blake cuts faster as my eyes stay trained on David and Jeff. “Do you think she’d still love you if she saw you this way?”
My hands come loose and I take the knife from Blake, I sneak up behind Jeff and put it to his throat. “No!” he slams his fists on the table in front of him. “No, you dumb bitch!” He turns around just in time to see me push enough on Jeff’s neck to draw blood. “Don’t,” he begs putting his hands up in defeat. I literally hear the begging in his voice and the color from his face is slowly draining. “He’s all I have left.”
“We’re leaving,” I tell David. “You can pay back the goons and tell them that the debt is paid in full with that money. When we’re far enough away, I’ll let Jeff go.” I look over my shoulder for Blake but she’s not there. “Blake,” I say loudly looking around for her. “Blake!” I yell.
“Probre chica, this one’s not going to answer you.” I find the man and see that he’s got Blake in the same position have Jeff. “Drop it.”
“No,” I tell him.
“Fine,” he nods his head to a guy on his left and this guy
pulls a gun out. He doesn’t waist a second in firing it. Jeff’s body jumps just as the bullet hits him in the chest. The knife in my hand drags across Jeff’s throat not cutting deep enough to really hurt him as he falls to the ground. “Now drop the knife, perra.” His accent is a deep Mexican. I can barely understand his words, but with the way things have dramatically turned around I don’t have a choice.
I drop the knife next to Jeff. “No!” David yells, more of a wail actually. “Why the fuck did you do that?” he looks desperately up at the killer. “You said my son would live!”
“He was in the way,” the guy holding Blake says. “Now, Miss Blake, I assume?” he asks her, she nods. “Good. I’m Antonio,” he tells her.
“I know who you are,” she seethes through clenched teeth. “David has the money. Take it and leave us alone.”
“I’m sorry, I cannot do that.”
“What do you want?” I ask.
“Two women, your age, and with these beautiful features,” he sticks his tongue out and licks across Blake’s cheek, moaning as he does it. Blake tries to pull away but he’s holding her head to him. “You’ll fetch an amazing price on the market.”
“Fuck you!” He laughs at Blake’s words.
“Why?” I ask. “Why not just take the money and leave?”
“We don’t like to leave anything behind especially when it’s a messy situation,” Antonio grins. “Go get her,” he tells the man next to him.
“Your sister,” I say. The man next to him stops. “She had a daughter.”
“She died,” he says through clenched teeth. “My sister told me as much last year.”
“No she didn’t. Your sister left her,” I tell him. “Her husband and her just left her one day while she was at school.”
“How could you possibly know any of this?”
“I adopted Kady.” He laughs like it’s a crazy idea. “Let Blake go and I’ll tell you everything, in private,” he looks at me confused but then a flicker of awareness flashes over.
“Take her,” Antonio hands Blake over to the other guy and walks towards me. He grabs my arm roughly and pulls me away from everyone. I look over my shoulder at Blake, her face is etched with worry.
Antonio pulls me into a room and slams the door, a table and chair sit against one of the walls. He pushes me down into it and pulls a gun out, laying it on the table he makes it known that he isn’t messing around.
“Tell me what you know,” he demands.
“I was Kady’s teacher when I was doing my rotation at her high school before I graduated college. We talked a lot and I grew close with her. She used to call me when her parents would leave her after swim practice or when she was hungry. Kady was always hungry. I don’t mean to be rude, but your sister was the worst kind of parent.”
He runs his hand through his long black hair as he thinks it over. “So they left her?”
“Yes. Last year.”
“You adopted her?”
“Yes, because I love her. She’s a part of me,” I watch as he starts to pace, my eyes following his every move. He’s distracted. “You love your family?” I ask and he laughs. “You know what kind of world you live in? I have no clue, but I know that Kady should never be in your world.”
“What are you saying?” he asks turning his eyes on me. I have the gun now. It’s in my hand and pointing right at him. He starts to laugh. “Oh perra, you are smart.”
“I know I am,” I grin. “I want you to leave us alone.”
“And why on earth would I do that?” he folds his arms over his chest again.
“Because of Kady,” his smile fades. “You care about her, you might not know her, but she is your family. Let us go and let me give her a life she deserves.”
“And how do I know if you’ll give her that life? You are here, aren’t you? Messing around with the Cartel and that David guy, not to mention his son is a prick.”
“I’m here for Blake. Loyalty means something to you, doesn’t it?” I ask. I surprise him when I place the gun on the table again. “Blake is my best friend. Her mom got caught up with you, not Blake. The money is out there. The very thing you want is out there right now just waiting to be collected by you. It’s not Blake who did this to you. Betrayed you.”
“No it is not, but her mother is not here to repay a debt.”
“We can repay it,” I urge.
“We?” he cocks his head to the side.
“Yes, we. I would do anything for Blake. She saved me as much as I’m trying to save her, if not more. You know I’ll give Kady a good life because I’m loyal and I love her. I’ll never not want her. I’ll never not give her what she needs,” I can see him thinking it over. “I’ll never deny her happiness.”
Antonio takes a couple minutes before he moves reaching across the table for the gun. “I’ll have to kill my amigo out there,” he says putting the gun back in the waist band of his jeans. “I’ll tell the others outside that we collected the debt. No one will question it, David and Jeff will be killed in place.”
“Jeff is dead. Can’t you leave him alone?”
“Two people must die, perra. One for Blake and one for killing my amigo,” he smiles. “Shall we?” he stretches out his arm for me to walk past him and out the door. I do that.
We walk back to the space we left everyone. Blake is still standing with the other Cartel man, the gun still to her head. When she sees me her eyes seem to fade from worry to relief.
“Manuel, suelta el arma,” the man lowers the weapon. Antonio must have told him to do it. “Gracias. I’m sorry sacrificios deben pasar ahora.” Antonio fires one shot. Hitting his friend between the eyes, perfect kill. Blake jumps away from him.
“What the hell is going on?” David yells. “Stop shooting people,” he’s sitting next to Jeff, holding his body.
“I’m not sorry, David.” Antonio says but before he can pull the trigger sending David to hell with Jeff, the sound of bikes, lots of bikes, comes from outside. “What the hell is that?” I know what it is and I can’t help but smile.
“Run,” I tell Blake. We both take off in the same direction, towards the room I was just in with Antonio.
“Stop!” he yells, he fires four times missing both of us each time, but the fifth one skims my leg making me fall to one knee. I try to push up on my good leg but I struggle. The adrenaline really kicked in when Antonio and his friend came in but it’s got my whole body numb now.
Blake stops and turns back to me. “Go Blake,” I push her away when she tries to help me up.
“Fuck you,” she says. “He’s reloading come on,” she puts my arm around her shoulders and I lean off my now bad leg to hop to the room. “Come on,” she urges me.
“Here, here!” I tell her pointing to the door.
“Stop Perra!” Antonio yells. He shoots at us again. I push Blake into the room first and she falls to the ground. When I go for it the last thing I feel before I hit the ground is the slice of another bullet tearing through my side. I land on top of Blake with a thud.
“Close the door,” I gasp.
She kicks it closed with her foot then flips me over so I’m on my back. “Shit Royce, why did you do that?”
“I’m an idiot,” I tell her with a smile. “How bad is it?” she starts pushing up my shirt.
“It’s not too bad, pretty girl. You’ll heal with a nice big scar.”
“Did it go through?” I lean over so she can see my back. “If it didn’t—”
“It’s literally on your side. It went through. You have minor bleeding.”
“I’m pregnant, Blake.” She flips me back over just a little too hard and I gasp from the pain it sends through my body.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she asks. I don’t say anything. “I’m so pissed at you right now!” she pushes her hands against my side.
“I’m not remotely sorry for—” I stop when we hear massive gun fire coming from outside the door or maybe the building. We both just sit there lis
tening to it all. Well I lie there trying to breathe through the pain.
“Who do you think it is?” Blake asks.
“Probably the Marshals,” I suggest.
“No, they don’t even know I’m here,” Blake says. “It has to be someone else fighting with the Cartel.”
“Death Patriots maybe, but how would they have found us?” I ask. “Blake?” she’s staring at my leg now. “How bad is that one?”
“I need you to hold your hands here,” she leads my hands to my side and pushes them. I gasp at the pain it causes. “He got you in the thigh.”
“Fuck.”
“It’s fine it’s just bleeding a lot. This might hurt,” she pushes her hands on my thigh. I fight back a scream. “I’m sorry.”
I start gasping for air. “Oh my god why does it hurt so badly?” I ask looking down at her hands. “That is way more than a little blood Blake!” I yell. There is pool around my leg now and her hands are covered in blood.
“You were the one who took a fucking bullet!”
“I feel light headed,” I say laying my head back down on the ground. “Am I dying?”
“No, you idiot. There is just a lot of blood here.”
“What about my blood pressure? I think I’m having an episode.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t pass out earlier.”
“The pills I’m on are way stronger than what I used to take.” I realize the shooting has dulled. “Should you go check?” I ask nodding towards the door.
Blake shakes her head. “No we stay together,” I smile.
“Blake!” that’s Trent. “Blake, where are you?” he yells louder this time.
“In here!” she yells. Seconds later the door starts to open. Trent is there, he’s got a cut on his head and it’s bleeding, but not as much as my leg.
“Holy shit. Royce, what the fuck did you do?” he asks. “Dane! Your girl has been shot!” He yells out.
“Oh, now you did it. I’m never gonna be able to leave the house now,” I roll my eyes. “It’s not even that bad. Just ask Blake.”
Blake shakes her head at me, “Serves you right,”
“Royce!” Dane yells out. I try to keep my humor down but in stressful situations, like earlier, I get sassier. It’s not my fault. “Fucking hell, baby.” Dane says when he comes through the door and see’s me lying in a pool of my own blood, he drops down beside me.