by Sam Crescent
“It’s fine. Xander said he’d watch her, and he pretty much shoved me out of the house. I’ll take her some candy, and when she’s better, she’ll be fine.”
“You’re a really good auntie.”
“Thanks. I only do what I’m sure a lot of other people do. Take care of family.”
She sipped at her milkshake, as they walked around the fair. Bradley was a really sweet guy, only she saw him as more of a friend than anything else. Her body didn’t come alive when he was close, nor did she mind if she never saw him again.
“They’re all character traits that are strong.”
“Great, I have strong character traits.”
“It’s not a bad thing. Crap, I’m ruining this date.”
“You’re not ruining anything. Don’t worry. Everything is fine, more than fine. It’s really good. I’m having a lot of fun.”
“Good. I do want you to have fun.” He stepped in front of her, and she really didn’t like the look in his eye. The way his gaze kept moving to her lips, and going back up again. She wasn’t an idiot, and knew what was going on in his mind, and yeah, she wasn’t going to deal with that, not yet, not today.
“Look at that, a giant teddy bear. How is your shooting?” she asked, rushing past him to look at the ghastly giant bear. The thing was huge, and ugly, but it had stopped him from kissing her.
Why make him stop?
Let him kiss you, and then you can stop thinking about Luiz’s kiss, and think about something far better.
If Bradley’s kiss is far better, which it probably isn’t.
Shut up.
“My shooting isn’t that great. Let’s see what I can do.”
Providing no more kisses happened, she was happy.
“You can do this,” she said, tapping his arm.
Smooth, Raine. Real smooth.
For the next hour she kept Bradley busy trying to win as much as he could. She won a few bears, and other than that, he wasn’t the best shot. For a second she wondered how good Luiz would be. With his line of work, he had to be good with a gun.
Bradley pulled up outside of her home, and she was so relieved to finally be there. “This is me. I had a really great time,” she said.
“I want to take you out again.”
“Wow, so soon,” she said. “Aren’t you bored with me?”
“I like you, Raine. I really do.”
“Oh. That’s nice.” She was really killing this. “Tell you what, how about I call you when we can go out again. I really want to make sure Christie is okay.” She was going straight to hell for using her niece to get out of the uncomfortable predicament.
“Of course. I’m so sorry.”
She climbed out of the car, grabbing her goodies. “See you later,” she said.
This time she didn’t linger on a goodbye, and she rushed into her home, slamming and locking the door.
“Have fun?” Xander asked.
“No, not really. It was a fucking nightmare to be honest.”
“Wow, cursing as well.”
“I’m done with the whole dating thing. I keep expecting Luiz to show up. Hey, is he good with a gun?”
“Bradley?”
“No, Luiz.”
“Of course he is. He’s the descendant of the mafia, sweetie. Guns are his life.”
“Figures.” She dumped the bears on the chair and walked into the kitchen. “I need hot chocolate. You want one?”
“Love it.”
“How was Christie?”
“She’s … sad.”
“Still struggling with her dad?”
“Yeah. The kids are calling her names at school, and asking if she really has a daddy.”
“Kids are such bastards.”
“Your language is showing through.”
“I know. I’m just having a really bad couple of days. You know how it is. I seem to be on stress overload.”
“Does this have anything to do with Luiz?” Xander asked.
“Yes. It has everything to do with him. Don’t you see that? We’re stuck here in this little rut, waiting for him to come to us so we can move on with our lives. Now I’m starting to sound like a baby. Tell me I’m not, please, please.” Replaying the kiss with Luiz was going to drive her insane.
“You’ve got a right to be pissy and childish. It doesn’t suit you though.”
She stuck her tongue out, teasing him. “Spoilsport.
Xander laughed, and stood near the window, looking out. “Luiz said he might be able to stop by tonight.”
“Oh.” She glanced over at the clock to see it was a little after eleven. “That’s late.”
The sound of glass breaking had her turning to Xander.
“Xander,” she said. The window had a perfect circle in front of it, and there was blood coming from his arm.
“Get out, go,” he said.
More gunshots were fired, and she screamed, going behind the counter. “Xander, what is going on?”
“You’ve got to go. Get Christie now.”
“What about you?”
“I’m expendable. I’ve got to protect you.” Xander had moved crouching behind her. She watched as he opened a couple of drawers, ones he’d told her to never touch. “Go get Christie. You protect her. This is what I’ve been asked to do.”
She stared at his bleeding arm. This couldn’t be happening again. Her parents, Lora, and now they were being attacked again. He handed her a gun. “Go.”
“Luiz will come.”
“Not in the next couple of seconds. Try and call him, go!”
She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, trying not to scream as gunshots rang all around her. Christie was at the top of the stairs, holding her bunny, and Raine didn’t wait around. Pulling Christie into her arms, she ran to the end of the corridor going toward her room. She could hear the gunshots, the shouting, everything just like she had seven years ago.
“Xander?” Christie said.
“It’s fine, sweetie. He’s going to be fine.”
She closed her door, locked it, pulling a dresser in front, and then moving toward the escape door.
“I need you to be very quiet.”
“We can’t leave him,” Christie said.
She pushed her hair out of her eyes, and knelt down to look at Christie. “This is what he wanted, sweetie.”
“We can’t leave him.”
“We’ve got—” The sound of a door handle rattling filled the air. Pressing a hand to Christie’s mouth, Raine listened.
Whoever they were, they were closing in, and she had lured them upstairs to Christie.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Where is Luiz? Would he be able to get here in time? Crap, don’t think about him. Xander is down there. He needs you, and so does Christie.
“Sweetie, listen to me. I’ve got to go out there, and stop him from getting to you. I want you to get out, and go to Mrs. Ruth’s. You know where it is?” She whispered the words.
“I don’t want to go without you.”
“I know, sweetie. I know, but you’ve got to do this for me. Okay? I love you so much. I’ll be with you soon.” She kissed Christie, held the gun, and left the room, making sure the door was locked.
She could do this. There was no choice. This was the only way to protect her family.
Xander had taught her how to shoot, how to fight, and how to protect herself. All the time she had trained with him, she’d thought about Luiz, and how she’d be able to protect herself and Christie. She really needed to stop thinking about Luiz right now. Thinking about him wasn’t going to help what was happening.
The gun was loaded, and the safety off.
You can do this, Raine.
For yourself, for Christie, and for Lora.
Moving into the main bedroom, she stood away from the door, containing her screams as the door handle was shot off. The door was shoved open. Raising the gun, she fired, and the man fell back. Grabbing the pair of scissors from the dressing table, she launched hers
elf at the man, and started to attack him with the pointy end of the scissors, embedding it into his flesh.
“Die. Die. Die. Die.” She just kept repeating the same word. The moment he was dead, she looked up in time as another guy tackled her to the ground. He landed a blow to his face, and she kneed him between the thighs.
He paused in his attack, giving her enough time to grab the gun. Just before she fired, she let out a little scream as his head exploded.
Turning toward the direction of the bullet, she saw a very bloody looking Luiz. His white shirt was covered in blood. He had a split lip, and even from here, she saw his knuckles were also covered in blood.
“We’ve got to go,” he said.
“Christie?”
“Is in my car. I saw her running, and I put her in the backseat. I’d bought her a gift. A DVD player, and I made her watch it.”
Pushing the guy off her, Raine got to her feet, and rushed past Luiz. “Xander!” She shouted her friend’s name in the hope that he would answer.
There was no answer.
Her heart was racing, and she was panicking. She couldn’t lose anyone else. He was her best friend.
Xander wasn’t in the kitchen. There were a couple of bodies, and she found Xander curled up, bleeding, pale, and she knew without a doubt that he was dying.
“Hey, sweet girl,” he said.
She went to her knees, grabbing his hand. “No, no, no, this can’t be happening.” He was the only father figure she had. She trusted him, and he was dying.
No, too many people had died in her life. She couldn’t lose someone else.
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not.”
“This is what was supposed to happen.”
“I don’t accept that, Xander. You should live.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine with this. I promise. You’ve got to take care of our little girl now, Raine. You can do this.”
“Not without you.”
“You’ve been doing it without me. Luiz will take care of you.”
Tears fell down her face, and her heart was breaking. This couldn’t be happening again. No, it couldn’t. She wouldn’t be able to survive another like this.
“I love you,” she said, meaning every single word. It was the love of a good friend, of a father.
“Being with you, and with Christie, was the best thing ever. I’m honored to have spent all this time with you.”
He stroked her face and died in her arms.
Chapter Five
Hours later
Luiz stared at his friends, and he didn’t know how to say the next words, but he did. “I’ve been lying to you guys for seven years.”
Donnie, Tonio, and Jake all tensed. Paige held onto Donnie’s arm, calming him, and Zara did the same thing to Tonio. This was the harsh world where their lives were nothing more than pawns to many.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jake asked.
“Seven years ago, I met the most amazing girl. I fell in love, and I got her pregnant. I was seventeen, and I thought I could handle everything. I thought I could keep her safe, that I could keep us all safe.”
“What happened?” Donnie asked.
“My father knew everything, so he ordered a hit on the family. It was his punishment of me, for thinking that I could have a life away from The Family. To live with happiness, with an outsider. Lora, she was the shining light in my life, and so was Christie. Our little girl.” He licked his lips, which were dry. For seven years he’d wanted to tell his friends the truth, but he’d been afraid, trying to keep them all safe. “I found out too late that my dad had ordered the kill. He wanted all of her family slaughtered, and my little girl.” He ran a hand down his face, remembering the chaos he’d walked into the moment he went to protect her. “The guards that were on my side were all dead, and so were her parents. Lora was dying, and I was too late to save her.”
He looked up to find Paige and Zara crying.
“Lora had a younger sister, Raine. She’d made her take Christie into the bathroom, and try to protect her. I saved them from being killed, and since that day, I’ve been protecting them.”
“Who did you have with them?” Donnie asked.
“A guy called Xander,” Raine said, coming out of the backroom. She was covered in blood, and hadn’t washed yet. Neither had he. He’d been more focused in getting his friends here for them to know the truth. “He was Luiz’s old bodyguard, and he was our friend.” Her gaze met his, and he saw the pain inside her eyes. She was hurting really bad.
She’d screamed at Xander to come back to her.
Luiz had had to pull her away against her will to stop her, and to protect them all.
“Christie asleep?”
“Yes, she is.”
“Your daughter?” Paige asked.
“She’s seven years old.”
“In a couple of weeks she’s seven,” Raine said. “Xander and I were going to take her out to the mall.” She stopped, and he saw the tears flowing down her cheeks. “Do you know who did it?”
“I’m getting to that now.”
“Excellent.” She pulled out a chair, and took a seat.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m waiting to see who you think it is. I take it you’re going to exact revenge, right? Make them pay.”
“I don’t think you should be here.”
“You think you’re going to stop me?” she asked. If looks could kill, he’d be dead by now just from the look shooting at him.
“I don’t want to get into an argument with you.”
“Then save it, Luiz. I’ve been living with your decisions for far too long. You think bringing me here is going to help the way I feel? I’ve seen the security this place has. You’re surrounded by friends, and by people who respect you.”
“Raine—”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore. For seven years I lived with Xander. I put up with your instructions because you thought you knew what you were doing.”
“I did.”
“Xander is dead!” She yelled the words.
Everyone else fell silent, listening to them.
“I know.”
“He died in my arms, and if we had been here, surrounding by your damn friends, he could still be alive. Your thoughts, your beliefs are total bullshit, Luiz.”
“You’re not thinking straight.”
“I watched my family die. I had to hold Christie, your little girl, while I listened to my family die. Tonight, I’ve just done the same thing, and if you think for one second that you can dictate to me, think again. I’m not fifteen years old anymore, Luiz. I won’t be stopped. Not now.”
Silence filled the room.
“I like her,” Tonio said.
“Me too. We could totally be BFFs. What do you think, Paige?” Zara asked.
“Totally. I’m Paige, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you,” Raine said.
The fight didn’t once leave her, and when he threw one of the IDs that he’d gotten at Donnie, he waited for his answer.
“Wait, he was connected to Maria’s husband, who we put in the ground.”
“Rafael?” Luiz had killed his sister’s husband as he was a fucking wife-beater, one of the foulest creatures to ever walk the planet. Months later, Maria, his sister, had killed herself, and her unborn child. “What do you think it means?”
“When Rafael died, his entire estate went to a long distance relative. I was dealing with a lot of shit at the time that I didn’t look into it. This man, he was on Rafael’s guard. I recognize him. He served my father many times.” Donnie threw the ID into the center of the table.
“Why would someone from your past want to kill us? Kill Xander?” Raine asked.
“To take over from The Family,” Donnie said.
“I thought you guys were supposed to be dangerous? Feared?” Raine looked at each of them without even flinching. Luiz admired her spirit. He only wis
hed it hadn’t come at the loss of another person she held dear.
When she had told Xander that she loved him, he’d been struck by jealousy, and he hated that. His friend had been dying, and even though he looked at peace, Luiz had hated himself. Xander was a good man, a troubled man, and now he was gone, not knowing how much Luiz loved him and respected him.
“We are,” Donnie said.
“Clearly not that well for some distant relative to have a go,” Raine said. “You take out all threats.”
“How much do you know about us?” Donnie asked.
“Everything. Xander told me everything. He figured my life was fucked up enough that I had a right to know what I was getting myself into.” She grabbed the ID, and he saw the hatred in her eyes. “When you find these people, I want to be there.”
“No,” he, Tonio, Jake, and Donnie said in unison.
“Why not?” Raine asked.
“You’re a woman. We can’t allow that.”
“You’re being sexist now?” Zara asked, looking at Tonio.
“We don’t want her getting hurt,” Tonio said.
“I’m fine. I can handle myself.”
“Your face is bruised, and you were struggling,” Luiz said. “You could have easily been killed. I told you to go with Christie. To run, to get out.”
“I made sure she was safe, but by the time I got there, someone was already trying to get in, Luiz. It wasn’t a good plan.”
Luiz turned to his friends. “I’m sorry that I’ve kept this part of my life secret. I need some time to talk to Raine.”
“We want to meet her, Luiz,” Donnie said. “You didn’t have to keep her from us.”
“Raine is right. We could have protected them all here. Xander would have had backup.”
“See, even your friends agree with me.”
Luiz hated that they were all right. He’d fucked up, and miscalculated. All he’d wanted to do was protect them, and instead, he’d gotten his friend killed.
After seeing his friends out, he entered the kitchen to find Raine breaking into his stash of whiskey.
“Do you think that is wise to do?”
“I’m covered in blood. My face hurts. I’ve been attacked, almost killed, and I just had a friend die in my arms. Yeah, this is the most sensible and wise thing I’ve done all week.” She poured herself out a shot, and downed it in one gulp. “Are you ashamed of us?”