“I wanted to do it myself,” Julio tells me under his breath. “But this one seemed like he had a bigger score to settle.”
Shit. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do in this situation, but I can’t just let Keeler grind Ramirez’s head into the dirt. I don’t care if he kills him. I couldn’t care less if Ramirez checks out of this world in the most undignified, terrible way possible. I do care about Keeler’s mental state though. If he smears Hector’s brains all over the porch with his bare hands, that’s going to affect him. It’s going to take a piece of him that he won’t be able to get back.
I nearly take an elbow to the face when I wrap my arms around him, pulling him away from Ramirez’s body. “Get off me! Get the fuck off me! I’ll fucking kill you!” he wails, over and over again. I collapse onto the ground, Keeler braced against my body, and I hold onto him tight.
He shakes and cries, and I continue to hold him. I don’t let him go until his hysteria passes, leaving him limp and exhausted.
No one’s moved. No one’s tried to figure out if Ramirez is still breathing. Carnie and Alan stand in the doorway, watching on, and it feels as if the world is holding its breath, waiting to exhale.
“I’m sorry, man,” Keeler whispers. “I’m really fucking sorry. I shouldn’t…I shouldn’t have lost it like that.”
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Just take a minute. It’s all going to be okay, brother.”
But it’s not. It’s not, because that’s when the world exhales.
That’s when we hear the gunshot.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SOPHIA
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Cade’s voice sounds so disconnected. So inhumane. It’s like he’s flipped a switch somewhere and he’s not feeling anything. I almost find myself believing the words that are coming out of his mouth. But they can’t be true? Can they?
“She’s caused nothing but trouble since the day she showed up, man,” he says. “She’s distracted my friend. Brought Ramirez here. It’s her fault that one of my brothers’ girlfriends is dead. If she hadn’t come back to New Mexico with us, it would be status quo as usual. So no. I really don’t give a shit if you shoot her in the head. Have at it, Alfonso. Either way, I’m walking out of this basement, and I’ll be climbing over your dead body in order to do it.”
“Bullshit,” Alfonso snarls. “You’re just trying to rile me. She’s Rebel’s bitch. You wouldn’t just let me kill her.”
Cade pulls an ugly, disinterested face. “Only one way to find out. Test your theory.”
“How about you don’t test that theory.” I adjust my grip on my gun, sweating over every inch of my body. “How about you let us both by and none of us gets hurt. I just want to get my father and go.”
“And I told you, your father is fucking dead, whore. We killed him days ago.” He glares at Cade, shaking his head violently from side to side. “I’m not letting you walk out of here, asshole. No fucking way. You humiliated me. You scarred me. You’re going to wish you’d never been born.”
“You’d be surprised how many people have said that to me,” Cade muses. “None of them ever followed through, though. Some of them tried, of course, but…you know how these things go.” Alfonso looks like he’s boiling inside. I’ve never seen anyone look so angry before. Cade takes a step forward, eyes fixed on the man hovering halfway down the stairs, standing between us and freedom. “Once upon a time, I might have felt sorry for a guy like you, Al. I might have gone a little easier on you the other night. It was pretty clear you were a pathetic, weak, useless sack of shit. I might have just broken a rib or two and let you leave with your pride in tact, but I don’t know. After years of dealing with spineless, pitiful losers who can’t get anything done, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I just had to make you feel worthless. See, I enjoyed it.” Cade takes another step forward, smiling at Alfonso in the most arrogant way.
“Stop right there, motherfucker. Don’t you take another fucking step.” Alfonso briefly swings his gun around and points it at Cade, but then he swings it back, aiming it at my head. A jolt of adrenalin fires through me, mixed with a considerable stab of relief. I suddenly know what Cade is up to.
He doesn’t want Alfonso to shoot me. He wants Alfonso to shoot him instead, presumably so I can get a round off and put the bastard down. It’s a horrible, horrible plan that will never work, but I’m sure he knows that. He’s a smart guy. Why the hell would he even dream of risking his life on a long shot like this?