“I’m gonna carve up some enemies real good tonight,” Niall snarled and I glanced back at him, finding him strapping knives and all kinds of bangers and stabbies to his body. The look he and Jack shared told me they were about to do something crazy. And crazy was my forte.
“Wait for me,” I gasped as they ran out of the room and I heard the front door open.
“I can see you behind that tree, ya hairy cunt! Shove this up your arse!” Niall cried then a boom set my teeth locking together.
Mateo lunged forward, shoving my head down as the whole house trembled precariously, but we were safe in here, he didn’t need to worry his nelly about me.
“Bastardo loco,” Mateo hissed in my ear and a wild laugh rolled out of my throat as the tremor tickled my knees.
“You want more, baby?! I’ll give ya more!” Niall cried and another boom split the air apart.
The gunfire had ceased on the house and I had to guess our enemies were on the move, heading to meet Niall as he let his demons loose. Run, run, as fast as you can, you can’t get away from my unhinged man!
“Come on, Dead Man, I don’t wanna miss all the fun.” I wriggled out of his arms and ran for the door, keeping my head low as I went.
“Mi sol,” he growled in a command for me to stop, the heavy sound of his footfalls following me, but I didn’t stop. I skipped and jumped my way along with excitement zinging through my limbs.
Brutus joined me, barking loudly, his eyes bright like he was enjoying the chaos as much as I was.
“Let’s get ‘em, pup!” I whooped as I ran outside, spotting Niall and Jack racing down the drive and firing shots off into the dark. And now it was my turn to play bang-bang.
I raised my gun and hunted for a target, spotting a man taking cover behind a tree near the lake, his arm poking out the side.
I pulled the trigger, boom, boom, boom, the wind whipping my skirt up around me and making me look like some kind of epic supervillain. But that was when I remembered I had no panties on and realised the look was probably more super porn villain than DC Comics.
Brutus took off towards the guy, not a drop of fear in his soul as he charged him down. I kept shooting, making sure he couldn’t take any pot shots at my pooch while he was on his way over there to maul his face, but then a gunshot to my right made me flinch.
Mateo slammed into me, dragging me towards Niall’s cars to take cover.
We hit the ground on our knees and scrambled out of sight, the skin of my legs tearing open in little grazes and making me feel so freaking alive.
Dead Man got up, peering over the car and aiming his rifle across the yard, the bang of his gun and the animal snarl on his lips making me heady as I stared up at him. His powerful body was rock solid, every muscle coiled like a loaded weapon itself.
I peeped under the car to see Brutus collide with the tree man, taking him down and savaging him like a hungry beast.
“Go on Bruty!” I cried just as more gunfire rattled our way and Mateo dropped down beside me, his back to the car as he reloaded his rifle.
Niall and Jack were further down the drive, wrestling with a man by a fancy black sedan parked there. Jack was fully in his angries, swinging bone crunching punches, clearly preferring to kill with his hands. Niall was playing killer with the same man, choking him out with one arm while stabbing with his free hand. Blood was colouring my men red and it set off a beacon of light within me, making me smile from ear to ear.
A bang made the window of the car explode above me and I covered my head as Mateo shoved me forward to get me moving. Two sets of footsteps were following us around the vehicle and Mateo dropped onto his back, shimmying beneath the car beside us.
“Take the first, I’ll take the second,” he whispered, disappearing into the dark with a look that told me to keep moving.
I trusted his ideas, so I crawled around to the back of the car, staying low and raising my gun as the footsteps closed in on us.
“Where’s that big fucker gone?” one man growled.
“He can’t be far,” the other murmured. “Check that way. I’ll look over here.”
The thumping of boots moved closer while another set moved away.
I held my breath.
I was a cobra waiting, ready to strike and sink my fangs in deep. I’d unleash every ounce of venom on our enemy and show them what happened to people who attacked our family. My heart panged as I accepted that that was what we were now. A bonded unit. Dead Man, Hellfire, AJ, Bruty-tooty and little old me. I’d been alone for so long that I’d been waiting for this all to disappear, for me to return to my life on the streets where no one even cared to learn my name. But here, among these beasts of fury, I was somehow at the heart of their wants and desires, and I realised they weren’t going to leave.
I’d die defending them. I’d bleed and rot and turn to dust for them. But not today.
As the man rounded the car, he gazed down at me with a sneer and I pulled the trigger of my gun with a soul full of rage and his death singing a ditty in my ear. But there was a click as the chamber rang empty and I realised I’d been a foolish fool.
He grinned as he aimed his own pistol at me, enjoying the look of acceptance on my face as I realised I had no time to do anything but die. There was an entire eternity living in my final seconds on this bittersweet earth. I’d lived a life where all my nightmares had been realised, and all my dreams had come true. I wanted to kick and scream and throw a tantrum at Death’s feet because it wasn’t fair. I’d had so very little time to enjoy the good, to savour the cherry on top of the sweet ice cream of a life I’d finally been served.
A huge shadow rose up behind the maker of my ruin and with a bang that rocked me to my core, a bullet slammed through the back of his skull and out through the centre of his eyes, blood showering over me before he slumped dead at my feet.
Mateo was left standing there, staring down at me with a wild fury as he offered me his hand, his body glistening with the blood of his previous kill. I grabbed hold of him, letting him draw me to my feet as I tasted the blood on my lips and laughed in delight, my brush with death leaving me giddy.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were out of bullets?” he hissed, his eyes flashing with the fear of what could have happened because of my little blip.
“I didn’t know,” I admitted as he tugged me around the car to take cover again. He snatched my gun and loaded it for me as a deep frown formed on his brow.
I reached over to smooth out those angry little creases, but they wouldn’t budge. “Mateo-” I started but he cut me off, his eyes snapping up to meet mine as a world of rage stared back at me.
“Eres mi sol. Eres mi luz en la oscuridad. Nunca me dejes,” he snarled and my soul rumbled with the power of his words.
“Does that mean…you’re mad? And you’d like a cookie?” I translated.
“No,” he hissed through his teeth. “It means, you are my sun, my light. And I command that you don’t ever leave me.” He placed the loaded gun back in my grip and lunged forward to take a savage kiss from my lips. It lasted all of two seconds before he drew back and gave me that burn-the-world-down stare again.
“The next one’s mine,” I insisted and he smirked slowly.
“All yours, chica loca,” he promised before kicking the corpse on the ground and forcing it to roll over. “This is Tomas Alonso, which means these men are cartel,” he hissed.
“Like cows?” I breathed.
“No. Like enemies. Jack’s enemies. They must have followed us from the club.”
A whoop drew my attention to Jack and Niall and I peered over the car, spotting them running towards the man Brutus had on the ground. As the dog backed up, the man was left at the mercy of the new monsters on the scene and my heart beat rampantly as I waited for his death to come. There were no more gunshots, no more men crying out as Niall bore down on the man whimpering from Brutus’s bloody attack and slid a knife slow and deep into his throat.
I pouted, folding my arms as the silence stretched right out into the trees and beyond.