Love and Decay, Volume Seven (Episodes 5-8, Season Three)

by Higginson, Rachel

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Tyler, I’m not going to leave Page. I’ll kill him and then we’ll go back to her.”

  I looked away from him, afraid of his raw confidence. I hadn’t talked to Miller about Page or how it had felt to leave her. I wanted to downplay their relationship because she was too young to understand the intense emotion Miller felt for her and Miller was way too young to have the feelings that he did.

  Vaughan had taken Miller aside to explain our reasons for leaving Page behind and Miller had been furious for a while. But over the morning I had watched that misplaced rage become something else entirely.

  Miller was single-minded with his focus. He really believed the sooner we killed Matthias, the sooner we could get back to the bungalow and on with our lives.

  Oh, little brother, if only it were that easy.

  “Ready for this, Ty?” Reagan asked through the bars. I saw her hand in Hendrix’s and couldn’t help but smile at them.

  Finally.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I told her. “Don’t miss this time.”

  She flashed me a cocky grin. “Dodge my bullet once, shame on you. Dodge my bullet twice…”

  “Don’t encourage her, Tyler,” Hendrix growled at me.

  She looked up at him, full of innocence. “What? Is that not how the saying goes?”

  “Just stay as far away from him as you can,” Hendrix demanded.

  When was he going to learn that Reagan didn’t listen well to directions? Or rules… Or other people in general.

  “I’ll give it some serious reflection,” she mumbled. Her free hand reached behind her to finger the butt of her gun.

  Yeah, I was positive Reagan had already reflected as much on her decision as she was going to.

  “I mean it, Willow,” Hendrix growled.

  “That goes for you too,” a rough voice demanded and I knew the command was directed at me.

  I glanced to my right to find Vaughan looming over me. His entire body had pulled tightly with ready tension. He held his chin high and kept his shoulders squared. Vaughan was prepared for a fight.

  Vaughan was prepared to win.

  “If all of us are carefully staying out of harm’s way, who is going to kill Matthias?” By their silence, I knew my question was valid. I resisted the urge to tap my foot impatiently.

  Vaughan’s presence seemed to multiply around me. He didn’t physically grow, but I felt his emotions spinning like a vortex of focus and driven determination.

  “I will,” King volunteered listlessly. “I hate this bastard. I just want this to be over.”

  Well said.

  “Silencio!” Diego ordered when it was clear we were going to keep talking and arguing and arguing some more.

  Matthias chose that moment to open the outside door and step into the prison. We couldn’t have staged the moment any better.

  Diego’s face was actually purple with frustration as he turned around to face us with his hand thrust in the air. The rest of the Parkers, Reagan and I looked appropriately frustrated, but also a bit sorry.

  Our sheepish expressions didn’t stick around though. When Matthias stepped into our space, flanked by four armed men, the entire atmosphere shifted. He brought his evil aura with him, tainting our oxygen and poisoning our blood.

  I felt his cold eyes wash over us as if he had the power to remove all the vibrancy and energy from the room. Three seconds ago I had been living in color. Now, with my father hovering near the door, I felt submerged in a black and white existence.

  I had been surviving. Now I was running through town, the star of a Hitchcock horror film that I did not choose.

  I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to do this.

  I didn’t want to kill my father.

  But then again, I didn’t want him to kill me either.

  A sly smile lifted the corners of his mouth even while an army of Mexicans turned their guns on him. Diego’s men hadn’t been ready for him, but they were smart enough to know a threat when they saw one.

  The shifting and clicking of metal rippled through the room, infusing the atmosphere with crackling pressure. Diego’s men were furious they had been caught unprepared. Diego’s hand dropped to his side where he clenched and unclenched his fist, displaying his frustration with my dad’s bad timing. Only Matthias remained calm and casual.

  I knew Diego didn’t expect Matthias to simply walk in this place. There were men posted all over town protecting Diego and his headquarters. They were supposed to stop Matthias and search him and his men before he was allowed anywhere near us.

  Diego had been waiting in here to purposefully make Matthias impatient for him.

  The original plan was for Matthias to be unarmed. The original plan was for Matthias to understand who was in charge here and that it was not him. We were already derailed and we had only been into our scheme for a total of thirty seconds!

  This was not good news for us.

  Matthias held up his empty hands and absorbed the scene in front of him with cunning eyes. “Miss me?” he grinned at us.

  Nobody said anything in return. I couldn’t remember how to form words, or thoughts or breaths!

  I was so shocked that he was here, in front of me. I couldn’t reconcile the image of him with reality. As much as I had mentally prepared myself to meet him again, I hated that I had to stand in the same room as him, breathe the same air as him, and speak the same language as him!

  I wanted to open my eyes and find myself back at Andy’s bungalow. I wanted this to be a nightmare I could erase by a strong dose of denial and an even stronger will to leave this horrible man and everything he represented behind.

  But I couldn’t do those things. And even with our carefully plotted plan circling the drain, I knew I could only move forward.

  We had a Plan B.

  Hell, we had Plans B through Z to fall back on. We had thought of every scenario and every possible outcome. We had spent twelve hours yesterday going over every single minute detail. We had memorized the small town. We had stashed weapons in every convenient and secret place. We had evacuated a village of innocent people and prepared ourselves as thoroughly as possible.

  “I expected to meet you outside,” Diego finally said after what felt like hours of stunned silence.

  It had probably been thirty seconds.

  “And who would you be?” Matthias’s attention reluctantly pulled from our group to face the Mexican warlord. My dad, the dictator, did not even flinch when he met Diego’s steely gaze. He did not show an ounce of fear or uncertainty.

  I gave myself a moment to regret that I hadn’t been born with that particular family trait. I wanted to be fearless right now. I wanted to be strong and calm.

  But inside I was a trembling mess. Everything that I was made of quivered and shook as if my very foundations were crumbling.

  My brothers had been gifted with double portions of bravado while I got stuck with poor aim and lethal doses of anxiety.

  Basically, the gene pool screwed me.

  “I am Diego Garcia,” Diego bit out, his accent thick with frustration. “You are in my territory.”

  My father sent Diego a condescending smile and declared, “I would introduce myself, but I have a feeling my reputation has proceeded me.”

  Diego’s hand stretched and flexed at his side and I could tell that he was struggling not to pick up his gun that rested very peacefully on his desk.

  “I know who you are,” Diego bit out. “You are here because I asked you to come. I have something of yours that I know to be of great value to you. I thought you might want it back.”

  Matthias’s eyes flickered back to us and his grin lifted higher, became more obvious. “You do have something of mine. Some things of mine.”

  “And yet you walk into my house without respect.” Diego moved to the side of his desk. He left his large handgun on top of his desk and didn’t bother to glance back at it.

  Matthia
s’s eyes sparked with fire and brimstone. “Maybe we have different definitions of respect. These people are mine. They belong to me. And yet I had to come all of this way to retrieve them.”

  “You would have me bring them to you?” Diego laughed, shocked by my father’s audacity. “They are on my land. I do not have to give them to you at all.”

  “You shouldn’t have offered,” Matthias spit. “You have greatly inconvenienced me.”

  Diego was silent for a full minute. I wondered if he was trying to come to terms with my father’s arrogance.

  “Do you think I have been convenienced?” Diego finally growled. I tried not to smile at his word choice. “Do you think that I want to hold these people for you? They haven’t wronged me. I would be glad to let them go and never see them again.”

  “Then do it,” Matthias challenged. “My men will hunt them down and then I will be released from the silly notion that I owe you something for catching them for me.”

  Diego wasted no time this round, “If I decide to do business with you, you will owe me something. That is how this must work.”

  “You will owe me something if I decide not to kill you and your entire town,” Matthias countered.

  Diego’s chest puffed out and he tossed his head back with a bitter laugh. His men stayed trained on Matthias without wavering. They stood their ground with military precision, without wavering, without leaving their leader vulnerable in any way.

  I had detested these cells at first. We all had. Vaughan and Hendrix had been afraid they were meant to be a trap and Reagan had argued that we would be an easy target for Matthias if he stormed the building.

  I had simply been claustrophobic and hated the idea of the fish bowl perspective my father would have of us.

  But now I was almost grateful for them. An army of twenty men stood between Matthias and us.

  When it felt like all he had to do was reach forward and clamp his hand around my neck in order to shake the life from me, the truth was that there were deadly men between us that would keep that from happening.

  I just wasn’t sure if Matthias had realized that yet.

  “You are a foolish man,” Diego taunted my father.

  “Not any more foolish than you.” Matthias stepped back and gestured toward the front door. “See for yourself. You are surrounded.”

  Diego contemplated Matthias’s invitation for a long minute. Diego’s head cocked to the side and I watched his narrow shoulders lift and settle with his concentrated breaths. I wondered what was going through his mind.

  Would he stand up to my father, who had proved to be so clever in just minutes? Or would he honor his agreement with us?

  New fear slithered through me. What would we do if Diego double-crossed us? How would we get out of this one?

  Diego tipped his head and one of his men stepped forward. He kept his gun aimed at Matthias until his back pressed against the door. With swift, precise movements, he swung his gun around, opened the door a crack, peered through the small space and closed the door just as quickly.

  I held my breath while he nodded once to Diego and barked something in Spanish.

  Diego didn’t move. His shoulders didn’t deflate, his head didn’t shake with confusion and his chest didn’t puff with air or deflate with an exhale.

  “So,” Diego started. “You have my men at gunpoint, yet I have you here at gunpoint. Which one of us is more at risk?”

  “My men have strict instructions to kill all of yours if they hear me so much as cough in here.” Matthias was gloating. I had seen this so many times before. He was nothing but a spider, spinning his web, and the moment his prey was caught, he couldn’t help but revel in his victory.

  I heard Diego’s smile when he declared, “You think I care for the men outside? You are the only threat to me and I have you exactly where I want you. If those men outside die today, it is of little consequence to me. I will simply get more men.”

  Matthias’s smile faltered, but barely. “You will be outnumbered.”

  “And if you die, you are certain your men will still carry out your plan? They will follow the orders of a dead man?”

  Matthias’s triumphant grin flattened. I couldn’t believe my father. He was so conceited and sure of his ways, he had never considered what would happen if someone actually killed him.

  Maybe he thought he couldn’t die. Maybe his pride had swelled and bloated until he believed he was immortal.

  Until he believed nothing in this world could kill him.

  Maybe nothing could.

  “Let’s slow down for a minute.” Matthias’s voice was gruff and irritable. He did not like giving up any of his control. The corners of my mouth twitched and I wanted to smile so badly. “I’m not really here to wipe out your quaint little village and you’re not really here to kill me. We’ve talked tough. We’ve pissed all over the place to show our dominance. Now let’s get down to business so we can end this day on a positive note.” My father’s thick southern accent sounded like home and my childhood. I wanted to wash my ears out with bleach.

  Diego crossed his arms over his chest slowly, deliberately. Then he nodded once. “Yes, business.”

  Matthias’s gaze moved beyond Diego and his men to find us again. He looked over the Parker brothers with simmering rage, but when his eyes fell on Reagan that simmer became a boil that threatened to bubble over and burn everything it touched.

  Slowly he tore his attention to Miller and me. He stared at us for longer than I was capable of enduring. My entire body itched. My skin crawled and my insides churned. I wanted to look away and cower in the corner. I wanted to feel anything but the sickening acid wash of Matthias Allen’s attention.

  But I refused to let him see my weakness. I refused to let him see the trembling coward he raised me to be.

  “My long lost children,” he breathed. There was more than anger in that one statement. There was pain too. And longing.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to let his feelings affect mine. “Daddy,” I clipped back. Vaughan’s hand landed on the small of my back and I felt infused with his strength. I didn’t need to be afraid of this man anymore. I opened my eyes and met his chilling gaze. “How’s life on the farm?”

  His smile turned into a sneer and if I had been standing close to him, he would have slapped me. My daddy hated being a farmer. Sadistic dictator was much more his style.

  Whatever sentiment had been there a moment ago disappeared as quickly as it came. His words scraped at my skin and clawed at my chest when he said, “I didn’t know if y’all knew your mother was dead. Or that your brother was also dead. Hell, you couldn’t have known right? Otherwise you wouldn’t still be strapped to those killers next to you. I know that if you knew that your mama and your big brother had been murdered by those… those… ingrates that you wouldn’t possibly be hanging around them any longer. You would have come home to your daddy. To me. You would have come home to the only person in this world that really loves you.”

  “You don’t love us!” Miller shouted. “You’ve never loved us!”

  “Shut your mouth, Son,” Matthias snapped back. “Before I make you shut it.”

  And there was the father I knew and loved.

  “We know what happened to Mama,” I told him simply. “And to Kane. We still choose our friends over you. Every single day.”

  His eyes flashed to mine and promised pain. I struggled to hold my ground, but Vaughan’s hand caught me as I swayed back.

  “Kane didn’t die because of us,” Reagan spoke up. “Kane died for us. There’s a big difference there, Matthias. One that you don’t seem to get. Your children don’t love you. I don’t think they’ve ever loved you. And all three of them left you as soon as they got a good opportunity. So why don’t you save us all the façade of you being a family man and let’s get down to business. You want to kill us. Well here we are.”

  “You snide little bitch.” Matthias stepped forward, pulling a slick, black hand
gun from the back of his pants and aiming it at Reagan. “I should have put a bullet between your eyes when I had the chance.”

  The room exploded with action as Hendrix stepped in front of her, shoving her behind him. Vaughan did the same thing to me. The Parkers started shouting at Matthias at the same time Diego’s men moved forward to try to subdue him. Matthias’s men took aggressive steps forward, making their intentions clear. Matthias yelled back filthy obscenities while Diego watched it all with amused fascination.

  Diego lifted his hand and the rest of us fell silent. He glanced back at Reagan with his dark eyebrows raised and a look of disbelief sparkling in his black eyes. “I think you have a gift, Reagan. His hatred surpasses my own and I am wondering how it is that you have all of these enemies and yet still live. Are you a ghost?”

  I watched Reagan swallow back her sarcastic reply. “Maybe I am a ghost.”

  “And maybe you are just a dead girl walking,” Matthias snarled.

  My weapon seared the skin on my back. I wanted to pull it so desperately. I wanted to snatch it from my pants, shove it in my father’s face and pull the trigger.

  But Diego had demanded that we wait to shoot him until we were outside. He said we were likely to hit one of his men instead of Matthias. Plus, we had to worry about the men being held at gunpoint.

  This had come up around Plan E or F.

  As good an actor as Diego was, he really couldn’t afford to have all of his men killed. He needed them. And in a weird, psychopathic way, he cared about their lives because of their loyalty.

  If we could just get outside, we would be able to finish this job.

  “Our deal,” Diego spoke up. “What can you give me for them?”

  Matthias studied us intently before saying, “That depends. Where are the rest of them?”

  “The rest of them?” Diego countered. He turned around to count us, pretending to be confused.

  “There’s another brother,” Matthias growled. “And the blonde one. Where is the little girl?”

  I swallowed thickly and tried not to let my face betray me. My stomach surged with new nerves. I wanted to believe our lies would come across as believable. After all it had truly been a miracle we had all survived this far.