Never Enough

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Never Enough Page 19

by Kristina M Sanchez


  “I guess you’re at work, huh?” She laughed like they were best friends. “Sorry. I’ll be quick. I’m just having trouble getting ahold of Mina.”

  “That’s probably because she’s not interested in talking to you.”

  Celeste’s smile faltered at that, but she pressed on with a laugh. “Such drama, right?” She rolled her eyes and shook her head with apparent fondness. “But she’ll like what I have to say.”

  Tuck cleared his throat loud enough that Val heard it from the front of the restaurant. “Just give me the message,” he said, not wanting to argue.

  “She’s got a final paycheck to pick up.”

  “Tell them to just send it.”

  Celeste grinned, playful. “Not that kind of job. It’s a lot of money. Enough to make it worth her while.” She shrugged. “Tell her it’s a meet. Tomorrow. I’ve already texted her the address.”

  She started to turn away, but he took a step forward. “She probably deleted the text. Tell me the damn address, and I’ll make sure she’s there.”

  Celeste hesitated, but then she nodded. “I’ll write it down for you. Make sure she gets it. This is important stuff.”

  ~0~

  Despite the fact he was supposed to be some kind of hardened criminal before he’d even turned eighteen, Val didn’t know much about crime. Prison, however, had exposed him to all kinds of criminals. He’d heard stories that still kept him up some nights.

  Organized crime. They were some truly terrifying people with a code of ethics Val didn’t really understand. Whatever money Celeste and her friends wanted to give Mina, it wasn’t just a final paycheck. That wouldn’t have had Celeste tracking him down to get it to her. A payoff, maybe. If she took the money, she couldn’t snitch about what she’d seen. Not that she’d seen anything besides people gambling and doing drugs.

  It seemed unlikely they would take such pains to get her where they wanted her just to kill her, but all this was well over Val’s head. All he knew was that he didn’t want Mina walking into whatever was going on here.

  The address proved to be a nondescript building. It looked harmless. Offices. Val glanced around as he walked.

  He was about to walk right by the parking lot when a movement caught his eye. It was a man. He cut an intimidating figure, but he was far enough away from Val that it shouldn’t have mattered. Still, Val’s step slowed. There was something familiar about the man. His danger sense went up several notches, like a ringing in his ears and a chill down his back.

  It was the bruiser, the one that had brought Mina home that night someone had hit her.

  Once he recognized the man, Val realized something else. The man was standing by the side of a car, his expression calm as he looked down at the driver’s side door.

  It was Mina’s car.

  Val watched as the bruiser got the front door open, reached down and popped the trunk. As he stood up, he glanced around. Val instinctively stepped back and out of sight. His mind and heart raced as he put together what was going on here. Were they really setting her up for a fall?

  It seemed far-fetched. This was something that only happened in the movies, on television. Surreal as that idea was, there was one thing Val knew for certain: nothing good was going on here.

  Val forced himself to wait a full three minutes. Then he peered around the corner. The parking lot was empty again. Taking one more glance around, he walked with a quick step over to Mina’s car. A fleeting thought went through his head. What if they had lured Mina here to rig the car?

  No. No, then the bruiser would’ve been under the car, not in the trunk.

  Christ.

  Val stared at the car, lost as to what to do next. The bruiser had gotten into the car easily enough. Despite the fact he’d been arrested in a stolen car, Val had never known how to jimmy a car door. He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing inside to see if he could figure out what was amiss. The fact Mina was already inside had him torn. Was she in trouble in there?

  He was in over his head.

  Or he could be exaggerating, turning all this into something it wasn’t.

  As he made his way around the car again, checking the doors to see if one was open, Val pulled his phone out of his pocket. He hesitated. Never in his life had he gone to the police for help.

  “Fuck it.” Val dialed 9-1-1 and pressed send. Before he could put it to his ear, a hand clamped down on his shoulder. Hard. “Can I help you with something?” a menacing voice asked near his ear.

  It was the bruiser. Val had the presence of mind to slip the phone into his pocket as he turned to look over his shoulder. The man gave him a slight shove, keeping him faced forward. “You got no business here, and I know this isn’t your car.”

  “Ah, no. No.” Val laughed, trying to calm his erratic heart. He spoke with what he hoped was just enough volume and enunciated. “I was trying to get to the bank, but that’s next door to where we are, right? I was going to go to the Main Place Mall across the street.” He hoped the 9-1-1 operator he was connected to was taking the hint. Was he even connected to an operator?

  The man scoffed. “So you wandered behind the building to the parking lot accidentally?”

  “Just meandering.” Val tried to twist out of the man’s grip, but it didn’t do him much good. “Let me get out of your hair.”

  “I think not. I think you and I should go for a walk.”

  This wasn’t good. Val searched for the right words to get himself away from the man. The situation got several times worse when the door he was being propelled toward opened and Mina stepped out, walking with a man flanking her on either side. They looked anything but friendly. She looked white as a sheet, with confusion, fear, and anger written on her face.

  Val jolted, trying again to twist out of the grip of the man who held him. “Mina!” He cried out before he thought better of it.

  She’d spotted him a split second after he’d seen her. “Val?”

  The grip on his shoulder tightened to the point Val hissed in pain. “Just wandering around at random, huh?” the menacing voice asked near his ear. “Well, isn’t this a happy fucking coincidence, then?”

  “Val!” Mina called. She started to move toward him, but the men on either side of her grabbed her.

  A primal instinct took over as Val’s vision went red. “Get your fucking hands off her!” He wrenched out of the man’s grasp but didn’t get two steps before he was grabbed by the collar.

  The man shook him, yanking him back before giving him a hard shove right between his shoulders. Val stumbled, catching himself on the edge of a car. His phone fell out of his pocket, falling hard to the ground. He lunged for it, but the asshole behind him got there first. As Val twisted, hands clenched in fists to punch his way out of this, he finally got a good look at the man. More importantly, he got a good look at the gun in his hand.

  It all happened quicker than Val could process. All three of the men converged on him, shoving and shouting. Val wanted to fight back, but he couldn’t. Not when they had guns and one of them had Mina in a vice grip.

  “Don’t hurt him! He’s got nothing to do with this. Don’t hurt him. Please.” She struggled, and it occurred to Val they weren’t hurting her.

  His useless life was over. He knew that, but she could still get out of this.

  “Mina. Mija. Stop, baby. Shh. Listen. Listen.”

  She stopped struggling, their eyes locking. “No!” she shouted as they forced him to his knees.

  “I love you,” he said. “And I’m sorry. For everything.” He swallowed hard around the painful lump in his throat, trying to memorize her face, glad that was the last thing he was taking with him. His stomach churned when he heard what could only be a gun cocking close behind him. “Don’t watch. Don’t you watch.”

  He heard her scream, heard the shot fire. He felt something ram into his body and a heavy weight pressing down on his chest as his head impacted hard on the ground.

/>   It took him seconds to realize he was still alive. The men were shouting, sounding confused.

  “The sirens are close. Let’s get gone.”

  “Job’s not done.”

  “Let’s go!”

  Val heard footsteps running. His lungs were on fire, and his breath caught in his throat.

  Then came the most horrible sound he’d ever heard. There was a gasp and then a strangled cry of unbearable agony. The weight lifted from him, and he sucked in a hard lungful of air. He wheezed, head spinning as he pushed himself onto his arms.

  Mina lay crumpled on her side. The front of her shirt was soaked through with blood. Her eyes were open wide with fear and her voice whining with terrible pain.

  “Mia. Vida.” Val’s voice came out as a rasp. He coughed, throat still rough, as he crawled to Mina’s side. “What did you do? What did you do?”

  He looked her over, hands helpless as he tried to figure out where she was wounded. If he was hurt, he didn’t feel it. He hadn’t caught his breath yet, but it didn’t matter. None of it mattered.

  “Val,” Mina whispered and whimpered. She grabbed at his hands, squeezing hard as she cried out.

  “I’m right here.” Carefully as he could, he moved so her head was on his lap and tried to get a good look at her back. There was just as much blood staining the back of her shirt as the front.

  So much blood.

  The sirens were close now. Loud. Val knew he had to put pressure on Mina’s wounds, but he couldn’t figure out how. There were two, one in her back and another in her front. He remembered only one shot. Had the bullet gone through her? “I have to get help. I need more hands.”

  She grabbed his hand again. Her lips moved, and he had to bend near her to hear her whisper in a slur. “Isss too late.”

  His heart clenched, and he shook his head hard. “No, Mina.”

  “Juss hold me. Please.” Her grip on his hand was weakening. She groaned as she struggled to lie on her back. “Don’ leave me. Please.” Her eyelids began to droop.

  “I’m right here. I won’t let you go. I promise. Open your eyes. Mina.” He took her face in his hands, startled when smears of blood marred her cheeks, all the more garish as her skin drained of color. “You gotta fight for me. They’re coming.” His voice broke, and he held her gaze as she fought to keep her eyes on his. “Help’s coming.” He could hear shouting, running, sirens.

  The pinched, pained look on her face went slack, replaced by something more serene. Her lips curved ever so slightly at the corners. She spoke without volume, but he didn’t need to hear the words to know what she said. “I love you.”

  Then, her eyes closed and her head lolled.

  “No. Mina. Open your eyes.” He gave her head a little shake, but she didn’t stir, didn’t twitch. She was so still. He bent his head close to her and felt the slightest puff of heat against his cheek. “This isn’t how this ends. Baby, please.”

  He could end like this, his blood spilling out in a parking lot. This was a fitting end to a worthless life, and not a soul would mourn him. This wasn’t the end of her story. It couldn’t be.

  He held her, one hand pressed over the wound near her shoulder, bent over her so he could feel her breath on his skin. He kept his last promise, holding her even as cops converged on them. He counted each precious breath until they stopped.

  Chapter 26

  Mina existed, but that was all she knew. She was a presence with no body, and with no body, there was no pain or thought. There was peace and little else.

  Someone very far away was in pain, but it was an image, the idea of agony. She heard it in his voice, his pleas. He screamed something that might’ve been her name.

  That vague impression and the scream that echoed stayed with her even as nothingness sharpened into a shape. A woman. There was something about her both familiar and awing. She smiled, a beam that was golden and warm, and reached out, making a motion as though to stroke Mina’s cheek with the back of her knuckles with a motherly touch.

  Mother. Her mother.

  She could go with her mother, be enfolded in loving arms. There would be peace and happiness. She knew this innately, as though the knowledge was a part of her.

  But that pained voice. It echoed even here in infinity.

  Her mother smiled again, gentler now. “I love you, my darling girl, my only sunshine.”

  Mina heard the song. She remembered being little, the last time she felt really safe, falling asleep as her mother sang to her. The outline of her mother blurred and went black, as if her eyes closed.

  But rather than drifting to sleep, she was slammed downward, thrust back into her body with the violence of a hurricane and an earthquake all at once. Rather than weightless, she felt every inch of her body. Her skin was razed raw, nerve endings blazing. Her stomach churned, but there was a cry caught in her throat that wouldn’t let anything else past it. Her body seized, sending licks of flames through her veins, then freezing the core of her bones to brittle, painful solid.

  “Good girl. Good girl, sweetheart. We got you. We’re going to help you.”

  That wasn’t the voice she’d followed back. She didn’t know that voice. She wanted the other voice.

  “Val.” She thought she shouted his name, but it didn’t come out that way. It didn’t really come out at all.

  “Just keep breathing. This ain’t so bad, sweetie. You just gotta keep breathing.”

  The darkness came again and took her, but it didn’t take her back to the peaceful place. Not to the weightlessness. Not to her mother. She was scared. The fear and confusion filled the darkness. Her mind, like the rest of her body, was back, but there were no concrete thoughts in her head. Trapped in the fog, she ached for safety.

  Memories whispered. She was a little girl again, terrified because her mother was gone and this new family didn’t understand her. They expected her to be something she wasn’t, and she was scared they would send her away if they found out. She was a teenager, in and out of trouble, still just a little terrified that if her family knew, they’d be done with her.

  She woke in lulls, finding Momma Cora, Dante, and Carlito by her side, but never safety. Never Val.

  His name was the first word she spoke when she could find her voice again. Her eyelids were made of lead, her limbs and bones plagued by lethargy. Her lips and her mouth were dry, but before she asked for water, she asked for him.

  Dante, his hand cupped at the top of her head, hushed her. “Don’t you worry, mijita.” Though his words were gentle, there was an edge to his tone, a well-contained fury. “He’ll never hurt you again.”

  Rather than comfort her, as he so clearly meant to, Dante’s words sent terror through her. Was Val dead? She remembered the rush of deranged strength that had gone through her when she saw one of the unnamed asshole raise a gun to Val’s head. One wild word had gone through her: no. No, no, no. Not him. Not because of her. She’d charged at the gunman. Obviously, she’d been shot. Didn’t that mean Val hadn’t?

  Time after the first gunshot got fuzzy in her head. She couldn’t remember what happened. The assholes had probably shot them both.

  That sent a rush of panic through her, burning energy she didn’t have. Sleep claimed her again.

  She woke again with a gasp, her sleep too full of terrible dreams to be restful. It was Momma Cora by her side this time. She scrambled with her hands, tugging at the sidebar of the bed and at Cora’s arm. She opened and closed her mouth, smacking her lips to find her voice. Her throat was sore, her mouth dry. She coughed with the effort of trying to speak.

  “Hold on. Hold on. You’re okay. It’s okay. You have water right here.” Cora brought a straw to her lips.

  Annoyed and not quite rational, Mina pushed the water away at first, but when she couldn’t stop coughing, she relented, calming enough to drink. She did so impatiently, swallowing hard until she could say one word, the most important word, with a raspy rattle.
“Val.”

  “What?” Momma Cora bent closer to her.

  “Val. Tell me.” Her throat burned. “Is he dead?”

  “Dead?” Cora sat up straight. “Aye, hija. You were the one shot, not him. You were the one who almost died.”

  Mina exhaled in a gust and rested back against the pillows, eyes closed. For a minute, she let herself breathe, tired from her outburst. She waited for exhaustion to pull her under again, but she remained, hazy but conscious. “He’s not here,” she whispered. If he wasn’t dead, why wasn’t he there with her? “Where is he?”

  “Jail, where he belongs,” a hard voice responded.

  “Jail?” Her eyes flew open, focusing on Carlito whom she hadn’t noticed hovering across the room. “Why? For what?”

  “You don’t remember?” Cora asked, her voice uncharacteristically tremulous and small.

  Carlito scoffed. “You think he told her what he was up to? That’d be giving her a fighting chance. No, Mina wouldn’t have stood for that if she’d known.”

  Mina gritted her teeth. “Known what?”

  Cora took her hand and squeezed it ever so slightly, as though she feared Mina was breakable. “He had drugs in the trunk of your car. He took you to the middle of a drug deal.”

  Mina’s blood went cold. “Oh, God. What the hell did that moron do?”

  “That’s as much as he’s admitted to as far as we can tell,” Carlito said. “He’s being uncooperative, or that’s the impression I get anyway. The police have been in our business, trying to get us to lean on him, as though he’d say anything to us even if we wanted to talk to him.”

  “He’s not saying much, because he wouldn’t know,” Mina snapped, her jaw clenched. “This has nothing to do with him. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “Like hell, Mina. You don’t have to protect him. He already confessed.”

  Cora patted her hand, her features pinched. “I know it’s a hard thing to accept. Valentin…” Her eyes went glassy and unfocused. “It’s not that he’s a bad person. He has a good heart. It’s just that he does bad things.” She sighed, a tired and resigned sound. “He just doesn’t know how not to get himself in trouble.”

 

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