Death of Cupids (The Blood of Cupids MC)

by Sophia Kenzie

  “Bitch, stay back from me.”

  “Now, is that any way to treat your mother-in-law? Grace, hand me the gun before you hurt yourself.”

  “You are not my mother-in-law. You are not Ryan’s mother. You don’t deserve that title. Does he know what you did to me? Huh? Does he?”

  She lowered her hands, as she looked me directly in the eye. “He does. He knows what part I played.”

  It was not the answer I was expecting, nor was it the one I could handle hearing. Ryan couldn’t know that information. Ryan couldn’t have kept that from me. Ryan couldn’t have…

  It was all making sense to me finally. Ryan had given up on me because his mother had come back into the picture. He forgave her because she was his mother. Sure, he was protecting me, sure his intentions were pure, but somewhere hidden in a pile of his emotional baggage was his desire to have a mother who wanted him to be her son.

  “And, Grace, he also knows the regret I feel.” Anne Marie chimed in, but by that point, I had stopped listening.

  It was all too much to process in my emotional and physically exhausted state. I had just had a baby that morning. Why was I handcuffed to a chair, threatening people’s lives, just for the hope that I might make it back to raise my child? I screamed at the top of my lungs, I closed my eyes, and I lifted the gun in the air.

  Then I pulled the trigger. The sound was deafening, and the small kickback was enough to push me back into the chair to which my one wrist was strapped. Anne Marie stood there, her hands covering her face.

  “Relax, I didn’t aim it at you.”

  I almost laughed. She looked so pathetic in her utter worry.

  But my silly gunshot alerted the cavalry. First Danny, then Sean, and then Ryan. They all started speaking at once.

  “Anne Marie, what the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Grace. You’re okay. Thank God.”

  “You took my gun.”

  “I told you to stay at home.”

  “What were you thinking?”

  “Did he hurt you? Where’s the baby?”

  There were too many questions and I was beginning to feel as though I had been hit by a bus. I rocked my head back, letting it rest of the head of the chair, and closed my eyes.

  “Grace?” Ryan was at my side, cradling my face in his hands.

  I rolled to face him. “You knew?”

  “I knew what, Grace?”

  “You knew… about her… that she… that she was part of it?”

  He pulled back from me, allowing it to sink in. I knew what he had been hiding from me. He wouldn’t be able to bandaid this lie.

  “Okay, first thing’s first.” Sean stepped into the center of the room, breaking our stare. “Where did you get the gun, Gracie?

  “It’s mine.” I called out, pursing my lips together in defiance.

  “So what you’re saying is either the hospital allows you to deliver babies with a gun under your gown, or Danny drove you somewhere so you could grab a gun. See, I’m not buying either of those scenarios, Gracie.”

  He moved in closer to me, trying to read my lies, but Danny stepped in front of him.

  “It was me, Sean. She must have pulled my gun from under my jacket without me noticing.”

  He grabbed the back of Danny’s head, bringing their foreheads together. “That’s a crying fucking shame.”

  “I know, boss, and it’ll never happen again.”

  Sean smiled, offering a small laugh. “You’re right. It won’t.”

  With his free hand, he reached behind his back and pulled a gun from his belt. It was against Danny’s chest and the trigger was pulled before I even realized what was happening.

  “No!” I screamed as I rushed forward, pulling the chair with me. I managed to find myself above him, trying to apply pressure to his wounds, but it was too late. He was already dead. Ryan was quickly at my side, his strong arms wrapping around my fragile body. I didn’t care if I was angry with him; I wanted to be held, and I wanted to be held by him. Before today, I hadn’t known Danny aside from the crude threat he had attacked me with months earlier. Normally, his death would’ve meant nothing to me. But today… today, Danny helped me. Danny might very well have saved my life, and he was lying there dead because of me. I had made a decision that had ultimately cost him his life. I would forever have to live with that.

  “Now I’m going to ask you again, Anne Marie, what are you doing here?” He had her by the arm as he pushed her up against the wall.

  “I came to stop you!” She quickly protested his abuse.

  “And what do you think you can stop me from, my love?”

  She looked at me. “Killing Grace.” Then she closed her eyes. She was trying to protect me, but she was ashamed of her actions in the presence of Sean. Then her words became soft, almost songlike. “He loves her. Who am I to take that away from him? Grace,” she looked up, “it was a selfish act I did, pushing you away so that I could reclaim my first born son. I hope that you can forgive him, because he would forgive you of anything. And I don’t care if you forgive me, but please forgive Ryan. I had no idea that one person could love another so strongly. Know that I had no idea what I was ruining… again.”

  Again. I knew what she was talking about: my mother. She was apologizing for both of her crimes against me. At least now, she was trying to stop one before it went too far.

  I could at least respect that, and of course I could soon find a way to forgive her son, my husband, my Ryan. It was a vow I had made, and I intended to keep it.

  I squeezed his arm, letting him know that I would eventually find a way to understand what he had done in the name of protecting me.

  “I love you, Grace.” He softly whispered in my ear.

  “I love---“

  But I was cut off. I heard Sean yell some sort of profanity into the air, but it was more the feeling that consumed me. I fell to the ground on the first hit. Then there was a second, and then a third. I had been shot in the chest three times. I looked around, trying to find Ryan, but the view around me began to blur.

  I heard yelling in the distance, maybe a riot of sorts, among the two clubs trapped in the meeting room.

  Then… blackness.

  Ryan

  Three shots.

  Right to her chest.

  She fell. It was like slow motion. I watched her face turn white as she hit the floor.

  “Grace!” I called, but I felt as though I was stuck in water. I was above her, but she didn’t move. She lay there, motionless.

  “You bastard!” I screamed at him.

  “It was for your own good. You could be something…”

  But I didn’t want to be anything. I just wanted Grace. I wanted Grace and I wanted our daughter and I wanted nothing else. I had made my choice, and he had taken that away from me.

  One of the most recent prospects ran to the open door to let Sean know of the news. A handful of the Cupids had escaped, and they helped to release each other. It was now a full on war; the other side had escaped and were no doubt planning their next attack. My mother had ran from the room, hoping to avoid any more violence, but I heard the guys, both sets of my guys, yelling for their lives. It was a silly war… unworthy of the death toll it would most likely rake up.

  I pulled the gun Grace had used to scare my mother off of the floor, aiming it at Sean’s head.

  “Go ahead, Ryan. Pull the trigger.”

  I cocked the gun.

  Just then, Rocky ran past the door, shaking his head at me. It could only mean one thing: the Cupids had lost. They were no match for the monsters I had created. My father’s legacy was now worthless because of me. But I could blame myself until I was blue in the face. There was only one person to blame: the monster who created me. Sean Cassidy. It was my turn to fight.

  “You don’t have it in you to kill me. I’ve watched you your whole life. You could’ve been something, yes, but you’re too soft. You’ll never be able to go that extra…”


  He didn’t finish his sentence. He couldn’t. I had fired the bullet that landed right between his eyes. He fell to the floor, never to say another word. Am I really too soft?

  I had finally killed Sean. A lifetime ago, I had promised myself that I would kill him if it were the last thing I ever did. And it would be the last thing I ever did. With Grace dead, I had nothing else. I had no reason to live.

  It was the truest thing I had ever said. I was nothing without Grace. My days were nights and my summers were winters. She was the only person who made me see the light that was still inside of me. Without her, I was certain to fall from grace.

  I turned the gun on myself, let another bullet into the barrel, and readied myself for the end. I took a deep breath and bent down to kiss her one last time.

  Ryan

  “Daddy!”

  I heard my baby girl come barreling down the hallway. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white polka dots and her deep red hair hung in curled pigtails. She was the spitting image of her mother, but with my bright green eyes.

  “Happy birthday, princess.” I laughed as I drew her into my arms and lifted her over my head.

  “I’m three!”

  “You are three. Soon you’ll be an old lady.”

  She bopped me on the head and wrinkled her nose up at me in disgust. “I won’t ever be old.”

  I pulled her into my chest, squeezing her tight against me. I couldn’t believe I had almost given up a life with this little one. I had almost sold my soul to the devil. Little did I know at the time, she would end up being my whole world.

  “You’re squashing me, Daddy!”

  I laughed as I set her down on the ground. “Sorry baby girl.”

  She grabbed my hand, pulling me over to the couch. She patted the cushion, motioning for me to sit so she could climb on top of my lap.

  “Daddy, tell me my birthday story again.”

  “You want to hear that silly story again?”

  “I do! I do!” She cheered.

  So I told her.

  “Well, the day you were born, I had to stop a very bad man from doing a very bad thing. So I handed you back to your mommy, and I ran off to stop him. But I didn’t get there in time and the whole place blew up!”

  “No!”

  “Yes! And then the very bad man got mad at me, so he started tying up my friends. And then, just when I thought he couldn’t do anything else that would make me so sad, he brought your mommy in and aimed a gun at her to scare me.”

  “That’s terrible!”

  “And then, because he was a very bad man, he shot the gun…”

  “And out came butterflies and glitter.” Her sweet but stern voice interrupted my story.

  “Uh oh, Mommy caught us.” My little girl curled into my side, hiding her face from her mother.

  “Ryan,” her eyes pierced me, “what are you doing telling our daughter that story?”

  “She likes it.” I cringed.

  Grace shook her head at me, but couldn’t hide her amusement at my slanted form of parenting. She held out her hand to our daughter, but never took her eyes off me.

  “Come on, Emily. Let’s go grab you a jacket, and we’ll take a walk down to the lake.”

  My girls left the room, leaving me alone with our beagle curled up at my feet. I thought back to the day three years ago… the day our daughter came into this world… the day I thought I lost my wife forever.

  Three shots.

  Right to her chest..

  Without her, I was certain to fall from grace.

  I turned the gun on myself, let another bullet into the barrel, and readied myself for the end. I took a deep breath and bent down to kiss her one last time.

  That’s when she blinked.

  “Ryan… stop… no.” Her voice was weak, but she was alive. The relief was almost too much to bear.

  “Grace?” I still had the gun at my head. “Grace, you’re alive? You’re really alive?”

  “Yes… I’m wearing a vest.” She still seemed to be in pain from the bullets I finally saw were lodged into the Kevlar under her shirt.

  “How?”

  “Danny… he gave me a vest.” She tried to sit up. “He had a feeling things would go as they did, and he gave me a vest from your club stash, you know, just in case.” Her voice was raspy, and she was having a hard time breathing, but she was my Grace, and she was alive.

  Danny had done one final act of goodness. I knew it was still in him somewhere. And he saved that goodness for Grace. He saved her life.

  “Okay, Daddy, we’re ready to go!”

  Emily’s voice shook me from my memory, and I stood to meet them. I wrapped Grace in my arms, whispering in her ear how much I loved her. Then I took her face in my hands and brought her in for a kiss to prove that love, to prove that she had given me everything I could’ve dreamed.

  “Bowie, let’s go.” Our beagle jumped up from his deep sleep and followed us as we piled onto the front porch. I lifted Emily onto my hip, and she wrapped her little arms and legs around me.

  “Daddy,” Emily whispered too loudly in my ear, “you have to tell me how the story ends.”

  I chuckled to myself as I took Grace’s hand in mine. “Well, my little one, it ends happily ever after.”

  I smiled at my beautiful wife as I closed our little red door behind us.