“We found you.” That resonated. We were in the middle of the fucking desert, the middle of nowhere.
“I think we both know they’re smarter than me. You’ll never get them.”
“True,” Vito acknowledged. He raised the gun to Ryan’s face.
“If you’re going to do it then get on with it.”
“Sorry, Ryan.” Vito shrugged without a trace of remorse.
I was surprised he couldn’t hear my heart beating. Someone was pointing a gun at the guy I loved. The only one I would ever truly love. I started to stand. Vito heard my foot scuff on the ground and lowered his gun as he pivoted to peer into the darkness.
Opposite me, a glass bottle spewing liquid flew into the light. It clipped the guy leaning against the sedan in the head then shattered against the car. He dropped to the ground. Damn, Reese could throw. Air suddenly rushed into my lungs. I didn’t even know I had stopped breathing.
Instantly, every man standing drew a gun. They rushed at the darkness. Vic saw Reese’s outline and aimed at her. I focused on his outstretched arm and fired. He dropped to his knees screaming. The goons were confused now. Vito was shouting instructions at them. Gino and the guy I didn’t know ran toward me. Suddenly, Gino pitched forward. On the ground he shuddered, red blossoming from his shoulder blade. Thanks, Reese.
I felt more than saw the moment his buddy finally made me out of the darkness. He started to raise his gun. Without hesitation, I shot him in the chest. My body was numb. I didn’t even feel the kickback. He jerked, stumbled a few steps, and went down.
I didn’t want to kill anybody, and I was afraid. Afraid of that place deep inside where my soul went as I pulled the trigger. That place where I didn’t care about pointing a machine made for killing at another human.
Christopher made me do it. They made me do it. When they threatened the two people who mattered most to me. They wanted one of them dead and the other they wanted something else from. I didn’t know why they wanted her, but it seemed, somehow, worse than death.
I pushed myself to walk by the bodies on the ground, without looking, trying to maintain the cold that pumped through my veins. To my left, Vito and Ryan were fist fighting, their weapons thrown away. I passed them to where Vic was kneeling cradling his injured arm. With a kick to his chest, he landed on the ground. There was blood everywhere. It made me wonder if I’d hit something important. Then I remembered the way he talked to Reese. That gave me the anger to place my foot on the wound and press down with all of my weight. The pain on his face imprinted in my mind along with screams to give me nightmares. Then, finally, he blacked out.
Behind me, Ryan and Vito were still grappling like little boys in a schoolyard fight. Vito was stronger, but Ryan was faster. It only took three strides to reach them. I gripped the barrel of my gun and hit Vito’s head with the butt of it. He collapsed. Five down. Where was Tommy?
“Thanks.” Ryan straightened and wiped a streak of blood from his nose. “Where’s Reese?” Shit.
I spun and surveyed the pool of light. Bodies, spilled scotch, blood, shell casings, no Reese. “Fuck. He’s got her.”
“Who?” Ryan located his gun in the dirt and put it in his holster.
“Tommy.” I crossed the pool of light to where I’d last seen her. Nothing. I turned back to Ryan.
The gun was back in his hand. “Where the hell are they? If he touched my sister, I’ll fuckin’ kill him.”
“But, Ryan,” a smooth voice behind us intoned. “She’s so pretty.”
We both spun to face him. Reese was standing in front of Tommy, pressed back into him by a long knife held flat against her belly. He had a gun to her temple and a feral grin plastered on his face. Something wasn’t right with that man.
“Let her go,” I said. The gun gripped in my hand hung like dead weight at my side because that’s what it was. Useless. Dead weight.
“Why?” Tommy used the barrel of his gun to pull her hair back. “I think she likes me.” He kissed the exposed skin on her neck. Right behind her ear.
That was my fucking spot to kiss her. Hot, sick anger rolled through me. The look on her face made me stay still. She was ice. Not a muscle moving. Her eyes gave away all the pain and fear, but to someone who couldn’t read her, nothing. Tommy couldn’t read her.
“Just let her go, Tommy.” Ryan was trembling. “Make this easier on everyone.”
“Drop your guns,” Tommy said.
“No.” When faced with intelligence and anger, the anger won. I wasn’t doing a damn thing he wanted.
“Okay, you can just watch if you want.” Tommy lowered the knife from her stomach. “She wants me, you know?” He used the blade to lift her skirt and traced it along her thigh. “They say I have a way with women.”
I was going to vomit.
“Funny.” Ryan managed to stop shaking. “I’ve always heard you had a way with men.” He shrugged. “Or they have a way with you.”
“Shut up.”
“They always said you were a faggot.” What the hell was Ryan doing? “Only put up with you because they had to. Fuckin’ pansy.” Since when did Ryan spew shit like that?
“You want to see how much man I am?” Tommy raised the knife another inch. The tip dug into Reese’s flesh. A small stream of blood trailed down her thigh. I wanted to kill him. I was going to kill him.
“Man enough to fuck a girl?” Ryan laughed. “Seriously, dude. Cooper can do that.” I finally caught on to what he was doing.
So did Reese. “She’s good at it too.” She made it a benediction.
“Shut up, bitch.” Tommy pressed the gun into her skull harder.
“You don’t have the balls to kill someone though, do you, Tommy?” Ryan asked, taunting him. “That’s why no one ever liked you. Said you could never finish the job. You always had Vito do it for you.”
I kept my mouth shut and prayed Tommy would forget I was standing there.
“That’s not true,” he spat at Ryan.
“Really? I don’t think you have it in you.” Ryan let his gun fall. “You afraid of something?” He held up his hands, a silent offering.
Tommy took it. “I’m not afraid.” He moved the gun from Reese’s temple to point at Ryan.
It was instantaneous. Reese twisted Tommy’s wrist away with both hands and dove for the ground. Ryan hit the dirt as Tommy aimed at him. I raised my gun and fired.
Three bodies hit the ground. Reese, Ryan, Tommy. I remained standing, my gun pointed at air.
Ryan picked himself up, his shirtsleeve turning crimson. Reese disentangled herself from Tommy’s dead weight. I dropped my gun. Both twins hit me running. Reese threw her arms around my neck. I wasn’t even thinking when I kissed her. I just needed her, real and alive, consuming me. She kissed me back, pulling me into her. Tears ran down her cheeks, wetting mine. Ryan, with his arms thrown around us, didn’t notice. Right away.
“What the fuck?” Ryan said when he realized what was happening. He took a step back. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Reese and I broke apart.
“No, no, no.”
“Ryan, it’s okay.” I held my hand out to him. The other was firmly around Reese.
“No, no, it’s not. What the fuck?” he yelled. “You and…And you. No, no, no, no.”
“Ryan. Listen to us,” Reese tried.
“She’s my sister,” he screamed at me. “My sister.”
“I know.”
He turned to Reese. “And…and she’s my best friend.”
“We’re sorry,” Reese told him. “We wanted to tell you. We just…” She shrugged.
“Couldn’t,” I finished.
“Great. Now you finish each other’s sentences? What the fuck?” Ryan gripped his arm. Blood started slowly dripping through his fingertips. Damn, he was really hurt.
“No,” Reese and I shouted. That was unfortunate timing.
“Isn’t that just fucking adorable?” Ryan retrieved his gun. Uh-oh.
“Put the
gun away,” Reese demanded.
He did. “You think I’m going to shoot either of you?” He laughed without a trace of humor. “I can’t. You’re my best friend and my sister.”
“Let’s just talk,” I suggested.
“No,” Ryan screamed. “How could you?” He waved his arms around dramatically. “And how could you not tell me?” He tapped his chest with the flat of his hand. It left a bloody print behind.
“We were afraid,” Reese said.
“You should be.” He pointed at us and took a step forward. “Throwing away everything we’ve got just so you could get fucking laid?”
“Ryan, stop.” Reese held up a hand. “Please. You don’t understand. We’re not just fucking.”
That made him stop. “You what?”
“We’re not. And we’re not trying to hurt you,” I said. I couldn’t bring myself to say I loved her. That would just be too pathetic.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have fucked my sister.” Ryan nodded in her direction.
“I’m not fucking your sister.” I let go of Reese to step closer to Ryan. “And show her some respect.”
“You show her some respect.” Ryan got close enough so our faces were almost touching. “Oh, wait, you don’t respect women do you?” He shoved me back with a shot to my chest.
“Coming from you, that’s real nice.” I stepped closer then pushed him back a step.
“Hey.” Reese stepped between us. “Enough.”
“How you going to get out of this one, Coop?” Ryan peered around Reese to taunt me. “Cheat on her, stop answering her phone calls, or maybe you could just be an asshole until she dumps you. That seems effective.”
“Ryan. Shut up. She’s different, okay?” I stopped pressing against Reese to get to Ryan. “She makes me different.”
“What?” Reese turned away from Ryan to gaze at me.
“What the hell does that mean?” Ryan wanted to know too.
“It means I don’t feel…” I didn’t know what I felt. “Trapped. She makes me want to be better. Not an asshole, you know?” I acted like I was telling Ryan, but right then I didn’t give a shit what he thought.
“Babe.” Reese’s eyes turned to gray.
I did what I knew she wanted. I kissed her. Her pelvis tilted forward, shoulders back, teasing me. I circled my fingers at the base of her spine, willing her closer.
“Well, that’s just fuckin’ great,” Ryan scoffed. “Stop. You’re making me want to hurl.”
Reese pulled away with a smirk on her lips. Tease.
“I really am sorry we didn’t tell you.” I finally met Ryan’s eyes. They were gray too. But a different sort of gray. “But I’m not sorry it happened.”
“I’m sorry too.” Reese reached out and petted Ryan’s hair, pushing it away from his face.
“Yeah, well.” He studied the ground, then returned his gaze to my face. “You fuck up, I’ll kill you.” I didn’t believe him for a second. “Same with you.” He pointed at Reese.
“Sure you will.” Reese pulled him in for a hug. “Now can I look at your arm? You’re bleeding all over the place.”
“It hurts really bad.” There was the Ryan I knew. Reese released him so I yanked him closer to hug him. He let me.
“What happened to your arm?” I asked once Ryan let go of me.
“I think Tommy shot me.” His face was a bit pale, eyes filled with pain.
“Fuck. Why didn’t you tell us?” I pushed up his sleeve, and sure enough, there was a deep streak across his bicep. The bullet hadn’t penetrated, just grazed him. Still, it couldn’t feel good.
“Dunno.” Ryan closed his eyes and turned away.
“Reese, go see if we have anything to tie on his arm.” She thought I was crazy. “To slow down the bleeding,” I explained.
“Just a sec.” She went back to the 4Runner and came back with a shredded T-shirt.
“Thanks.” I took a strip and tied it as tight as I could around his upper arm. “That’ll have to work for now. Let’s hurry though. I want to clean that.” Ryan nodded, eyes still pressed shut. “So what are we going to do about these assholes?” I asked.
“Leave ’em,” Reese suggested.
“Yeah, fuck ’em,” Ryan said.
“Guys.” They both looked at me. “If we leave them, they’ll probably die.” Both seemed uncomfortable with that. “Let’s just, like, check them.”
They nodded. I started to walk and they followed me. Apparently, they wanted me to do the checking because neither made a move to touch the bodies. In fact, they stayed in a single file line behind me. Vic was definitely alive, enough that I was afraid he’d come to when I touched him. I tied another strip of material around his arm like I’d done for Ryan. Good enough.
“Babe, check those two.” I pointed at Vito and the guy by the car.
Reese sauntered off looking anything but happy. Ryan stayed still, watching us. Now that we were acknowledging that he was hurt, he was going to milk it.
I went to where Gino and the guy I’d shot in the chest were. Both alive. Not doing so good though. There was blood fucking everywhere. Not much I could do about it. Fuck.
Tommy was the last one, the only one I didn’t give a shit about. I’d like to say I hit him right between the eyes, that would be beautiful, but I didn’t. The hole in his forehead was slightly off-center, a trickle of blood ran down his forehead. No pulse.
“Check them for cell phones,” I shouted to Reese.
“Why?”
“Just find me one.”
“Fine.” She glared.
A minute later, Reese gave me a phone.
“You guys ready? We’ll need to drive fast.”
“Sure.” Reese grabbed Ryan’s uninjured arm. “Let me put him in the car.”
I waited until they were strapped in. Ryan was in back, Reese in the passenger seat. I dialed 911, listed off the body count and GPS coordinates, hung up, and tossed the phone. Then ran like hell for the car.
We hit the highway and pulled out. As I sped up and moved into the fast lane, a single police car with its lights on appeared in the distance. It pulled to the shoulder as we sped away.
*
None of us could stomach the idea of giving Ryan stitches. So Reese and I poured half a bottle of peroxide on his arm and made sure the wound looked clean. Then I filled the gash with superglue and slapped a piece of duct tape over it, it was stronger than Steri-Strips. He didn’t seem to mind. Peroxide, superglue, and duct tape were almost as good as the emergency room. Right.
The three of us left our no-name motel room, clean and bandaged, or in the case of Ryan, duct taped, as the sun was coming up. We were crossing the Mexican border by mid morning, just college students looking for summer fun. Nothing out of the ordinary.
By then, we should have figured out how to tell if we were being followed. Too bad none of us thought to check.
About the Author
Ashley Bartlett was born and raised in California. She is from Sacramento, and her life consists of reading and writing. Most of the time, Ashley engages in these pursuits while sitting in front of a coffee shop with her girlfriend and smoking cigarettes.
It’s a glamorous life.
She is an obnoxious, sarcastic, punk-ass, but her friends don’t hold that against her. She currently lives in Long Beach, but you can find her at ashbartlett.com.
Books Available from Bold Strokes Books
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Pride and Joy by M.L. Rice. Perfect Bryce Montgomery is her parents’ pride and joy, but when they discover that their daughter is a lesbian, her world changes forever. (978-1-60282-759-2)
Timothy by Greg Herren. Timothy is a romantic suspense thriller from award-winning mystery writer Greg Herren set in the fabulous Hamptons. (978-1-60282-760-8)
In Stone: A Grotesque Faerie Tale by Jeremy Jordan King. A young New Yorker is rescued from a hate crime by a mysterious someone who turns out to be more of a something. (978-1-60282-761-5)
The Jesus Injection by Eric Andrews-Katz. Murderous statues, demented drag queens, political bombings, ex-gay ministries, espionage, and romance are all in a day’s work for a top-secret agent. But the gloves are off when Agent Buck 98 comes up against The Jesus Injection. (978-1-60282-762-2)
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Silver Collar by Gill McKnight. Werewolf Luc Garoul is outlawed and out of control, but can her family track her down before a sinister predator gets there first? Fourth in the Garoul series. (978-1-60282-764-6)
The Dragon Tree Legacy by Ali Vali. For Aubrey Tarver time hasn’t dulled the pain of losing her first love Wiley Gremillion, but she has to set that aside when her choices put her life and her family’s lives in real danger. (978-1-60282-765-3)
The Midnight Room by Ronnie Black. After a chance encounter with the mysterious and brooding Lillian Gray in the “midnight room” of The Griffin, a local lesbian bar, confident and gorgeous Audrey McCarthy learns that her bad girl behavior isn’t bulletproof. (978-1-60282-766-0)
Dirty Sex by Ashley Bartlett. Vivian Cooper and twins Reese and Ryan DiGiovanni stole a lot of money and the guy they took it from wants it back. Like now. (978-1-60282-767-7)
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