by Keta Kendric
A fire lit in my throat, signifying the volume on my scream, but I couldn’t hear myself. All I saw was Khane take two more deadly shots before his body fell with a powerful impact a few feet in front of us. He lay faced down, and the force of the bullets had turned him so that his head had landed at our feet.
“Khane! Khane! Get up! Khane!”
I scrambled over to him on my hands and knees, not caring that the men were pointing their weapons at me. They were yelling for me to stay away from Khane. He wasn’t moving, and I couldn’t see his face. His big body lay limp and twisted, as if he’d been hit by a car and left in the streets.
“Khane, please get up,” I cried out. The whole time I was yelling for Khane to get up, I could hear the men celebrating in the background.
“I can’t fucking believe it. I killed Khane “The Kannibal.” Mr. Animal himself. You saw that shit?” The man asked his friend. I hadn’t glanced up at them yet. I attempted to turn Khane over. It didn’t matter what they were saying. I had to look into Khane’s eyes. There was no way he was gone.
“No. No. No,” I repeated, shaking my head as tears dripped down my cheeks like raindrops. Patrena was at my side now, her hands next to mine on Khane’s body, attempting to help me turn him over.
It wasn’t the sound of the gun cocking that stopped me. It was the cold metal pressed to the side of my head. “He’s fucking dead. I did that shit. Now, stand the fuck up. Both of you!” the man yelled.
Patrena and I stood, lifting our hands in surrender. My watery gaze fell back to Khane at my feet, so still. He wasn’t gone. He couldn’t be.
“What the fuck are you shaking your head for? He’s gone. Now, which one of you is Desiree Evans?”
I squeezed my eyes tight after they had fallen closed, seeing over and over the images of Khane getting shot. I prayed like hell that I would open my eyes to the interior of a dark bedroom and wake up from this nightmare.
“Neither of us. You have the wrong people,” I heard Patrena answer the man’s question, her voice sounding distant, although she stood close enough that our raised arms touched.
“Me,” I replied when his question filtered through the horrific chatter crowding my mind. Patrena back-handed my arm for volunteering. “The hell are you doing?” she hissed in my direction.
Khane had been shot because of me. I couldn’t let Patrena get killed too. The best thing for me to do was give myself up and hope that they would leave her alone. The man eyed me up and down before his face filled with a devilish grin, my open robe adding fuel to the swirling chaos. While keeping his aim on me, he reached and gripped me by the hair before forcing me to my knees.
“Man, what the fuck are you doing?” the buddy asked. “You know he wants her alive and why.”
“I’m not going to kill the bitch. But, I do believe I deserve to celebrate, after what I’ve just done. You know how many motherfuckers have gone to hell trying to kill Khane? Not to mention how many we’ve lost today trying to get this bitch.”
When he fingered his zipper to undo his pants, I swallowed before glaring up and shaking my head at him. “Don’t do this, please,” I begged.
“We don’t have time for this. At least wait until we get the fuck out of here. Our people are out there fighting that dead motherfucker’s crew.”
A wicked grin came from the man’s throat as he shoved down his pants and fisted his hard dick.
“We brought a fucking army with us. They can wait five fucking minutes. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Do you have any idea whose daughter this is, and who she is about to become? You can keep the other bitch busy with your dick or your gun. It doesn’t matter to me.”
The friend exhaled a deep breath as his grip tightened around the gun he had to Patrena’s head. He started running the barrel through her hair as he unzipped his pants.
“What happens when whoever wants me finds out you assaulted me?” I asked, hoping the person after me wanted me alive and untouched.
“I’m family. He’ll probably shake my fucking hand.”
We begged and pleaded, but it did nothing but hype up the men’s eagerness to bless us with their chaos. The one standing over me pinched my chin in his bruising grip and held his dick in his free hand. I clamped my eyes shut and sealed my lips, delaying the degrading act.
“Let her go and back away before I rip your body to shreds with my bare hands.”
The hair on my arms and neck lifted at the sound of that voice.
Khane!
I hadn’t heard or seen him move, but he was standing behind the man, pointing a gun at his head. The man mouthed a silent “Fuck!” as he dropped my chin and his dick before lifting his hands. His dick bobbed in front of me as he backed away. My eyes roamed Khane’s body as I was sure I had seen him take three gunshots.
The friend backed away from Patrena as Khane had a gun in each hand, one he had snatched from the back of the man standing in front of me. The men had foolishly put their weapons away to participate in their acts of debauchery.
Once Khane had them disarmed and standing against the wall, they begged, just as Patrena and I had moments earlier.
“You…” Khane pointed the gun at the one who’d had Patrena. “On your fucking knees, now.” His tone rang so low and deadly that the man fell to his knees without protest. “Now, face each other,” he ordered. The men vigorously shook their heads, begging harder when they realized the position Khane was putting them in.
“Do what the fuck I say or meet my bad side.” Khane’s voice was like glass being rubbed into a gunshot wound.
The men faced each other, one on his knees in front of the other. “You, motherfucker that shot me. You wanted some head, so I’m deciding to be generous and let you have some.”
“Please. Don’t do this,” he begged, his eyes wide and watery.
“You don’t have to do this, man,” the other pleaded.
Khane scratched his head with the butt of one of the guns and took a few steps closer. “Open your motherfucking mouth.” The men were in tears at this point. Khane’s gun was aimed at the one standing, the one that had shot him. “You got the easiest part.”
He used his gun to wave the man forward, his dick inching closer to the mouth of the sniveling man kneeling before him.
Khane glanced back at me. “Desiree, you may want to turn around. I don’t want you having nightmares about this shit.”
It was like watching a car crash happen in super slow motion. I couldn’t turn away. “I’m sure I’ve already seen enough to create enough nightmares to last me two lifetimes.” I was talking more to myself than Khane.
Patrena was just as fixated on the men as I was. We were still on our knees, hugging each other. Was I embracing this vengeance because I wanted to see the men get humiliated?
The man on his knees was still begging when the one standing pushed his dick into his mouth. My wide eyes wouldn’t blink, and my parted lips wouldn’t shut. I took in the sight of their trembling bodies and listened to their desperate cries during the act they were forced to perform. When the men drew away from one another, Khane inched closer. “Go until I fucking tell you to stop.”
“Desiree. Last chance to look away,” Khane called back, his tone light like he wasn’t forcing one man to give the other head.
“Now, let me see if I can pierce your dick with a bullet while it’s in his mouth.” His words took a moment to soak into my brain, but the men had caught on immediately. He was close enough to direct the men exactly the way he wanted them positioned, like he was staging a piece of art for viewing. How the man getting sucked off hadn’t gone limp was beyond me.
“If you hold your mouth just right, it won’t get shot off, the bullet may pass right through your cheeks. And you, if you back your dick out in time, you just may get to keep it.”
Patrena and I hugged each other tighter while we continued to stare at the sight and listen to Khane’s wicked plans. Shrieking yells and guttural moans lit up the spac
e, horror filling every syllable of the men’s broken cries.
Khane made sure that the five minutes the men had wanted with me and Patrena wasn’t being wasted. They had broken apart long enough to face Khane, pleading with all they had. Their faces were red and wet with tears, lips quivering, and hands in prayer position.
Khane reached down and unsheathed his knife. “You push, and you suck, or I’m cutting the motherfucker off and making you eat it.” The threat put a fire under the men as one sucked the other off with more gusto.
When Khane backed away from them and took a knee, my gaze bounced rapidly from him to them. He aimed at the men, and my lips fell further apart as Patrena’s eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.
Loud desperate pleas were mingled with muffled ones. Like a scene snatched straight from hell, the gun blast sounded, without warning, and sent my heart into my throat.
The kneeling man’s mouth exploded from the impact of the bullet, parts and pieces flying into the air. The men fell apart, one missing a big chunk of his mouth, the other missing most of his dick. The two parts were in pieces, dick parts still inside of what was left of the man’s mouth as his body convulsed on the floor. The rest of the gore had splattered against the wall behind the men, including pieces of porcelain, teeth embedded in the matter against the wall.
The man who was missing most of his dick was clearly in shock as he stood in place, shaking from overwhelming horror, his wide eyes aimed downward. His shredded part leaked blood, the flow appearing to replicate the drip of cum.
Bam! Bam!
My eyes drifted closed after the gun blasts, but it was too late. I had witnessed every detail. The head of the one standing was snatched back, sending more blood splatter against the wall before his body stiffened and face planted to the floor. His brain appeared to jump from his head with a sense of urgency from the gaping hole left there. The one on the floor jerked once from the bullet’s strong impact before he went still.
Khane stood, admiring his handiwork before he turned and stepped back to us. He took each of us by an arm and lifted, helping us from the position we had been stuck in on the floor. Once I was sure I could stand on my own, my hands were on Khane, searching for bullet wounds.
“Are you okay? You were shot.” My finger poked at one of the holes in his shirt. “How?” I lifted the shirt and found another.
“Body armor,” was his reply. My finger brushed over the material of the undershirt that was made of what felt like bendable metal.
“You could have disclosed that to me. I thought you were dead.”
“I would be if they had aimed for my head.”
After gripping a good piece of the tight flesh of his arm, I pinched him hard.
“What was that for?” He hadn’t even flinched at my small act of punishment.
“Do you even care that you almost died? People care about you, Khane. I think I had a damn heart attack.”
“Will you accept my apology? I didn’t mean to worry you, but they had to believe I was dead so that they would let their guards down.”
I went crashing into him, throwing my body into his and my arms around his neck. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” I whispered against his neck. He returned the hug with one big arm around my back before he released me.
He reached out and closed my robe while keeping his eyes on mine. I had been so concerned about checking on Khane that my open robe hadn’t even registered. Only after I had finished tying the belt on the robe, did I sense Patrena watching us. I knew I was going to have questions to answer once she and I started the therapy we were going to need from the events of the past twenty minutes alone.
I had seen dead bodies, gunshot victims, and I had even seen my father torture someone. However, I had witnessed more horror in my days with Khane than I had seen in a lifetime as an Evans.
“Let’s get out of here. There are more outside, but my team is taking care of them.
Blood was trapped under Khane’s boot, so with each step, he left bloody footprints. Weren’t killers more careful about not leaving evidence at crime scenes?
We were leaving our clothes and purses, but given that people were dead and more bad guys were waiting for us, I didn’t mention it. The quick steps we took to keep up with Khane’s long stride caused our bare feet to slap and squeak against the floor that had lost its luster due to smeared blood and globs of body parts being left behind.
With a huff, we hopped across the man Khane had beaten and stabbed to death. I’m certain I was in a state of shock because I kept attempting to convince myself that I was in the midst of a dream that I would soon wake from.
The spa, a place designed for peace and tranquility, had been turned into Khane’s house of horror. How were they going to keep something like this from the news? This was the type of crime scene that the media would kill for.
Khane sprang the back door open, bathing us in bright sunlight, but ensuring he remained between us and sudden death. His big dark blue F-250 truck was already there, running and waiting.
Even with danger at our heels, Khane managed to open the truck’s back door and assist us with climbing into the back seat.
“No matter what happens, stay down,” he warned before slamming the door in our stunned faces.
Patrena and I huddled low on the back seat. The uncertainty of danger intensified my fear and caused my heart to spasm in my chest.
We jumped when Khane snatched the driver’s side door open and climbed in. The truck took off, the tires leaving a low screech on the pavement as the shift in gravity forced Patrena and me deeper into the leather cushion of the seat.
The engine’s growl drowned our harsh breathing as a severe sense of danger pressed down on me. The urge to lift my head and peek at what may or may not have been chasing us was overwhelming, but I stayed in place. A sharp turn had us clenching and clinging to the seat, then…
Bam! Smack! Thump!
The loud smacks hit the truck in rapid succession, sounding like boulders hitting with the sole purpose of breaking through and inflicting damage to our bodies. It took me a fear-drenched moment to realize it wasn’t boulders but bullets attempting to rip their way into the truck. Patrena had a death grip on me as her wide gaze roamed as hysterically as mine.
“You’re safe in here,” Khane reassured us. His update did nothing to dull our fear, as I attempted to remain strong for my friend whose hands trembled inside my shaky ones. Her body remained scrunched into a tight ball against mine.
Our view was the back of Khane’s seat and the top of the windshield and back windows. At our angle, the dark tint gave an outside appearance of late evening and provided only a roving glimpse of the sky.
Due to her association with me, Patrena had been dragged from a spa and was now being hunted and shot at. The fear that any friend of mine could end up caught in the crosshairs of my family put serious restrictions on how outgoing I could be, and how many close friends I allowed myself to have.
Now, Patrena was a witness to a mass homicide and almost assaulted, making my fears come to fruition. Why would someone be shooting at us? Why would they want me? Who was it? Was it an enemy of a family I hadn’t even married into yet coming to kill me? Was this how the Vallins lived all the time? Was my father’s gambling addiction somehow linked to this attack?
When the loud thumps continued to pelt the truck, I came to the realization that the shooters weren’t giving up until we were dead or I was caught. Patrena’s frantic breathing filled my ear, and we gasped together with every bullet thump to the truck’s exterior. The trembling grip we had on each other’s hand had my own hands tingling from the circulation being cut off, but neither of us were willing to let go of the other.
“I don’t know who the fuck they are,” Khane growled. “Run them off the highway,” he continued talking, on his phone I presumed.
When a strong gust of air forced its way into the truck from Khane opening his window, we gasped. The loud pops that followed h
ad us planting our heads under our arms while we attempted to push our bodies deeper into the seat.
Khane managed to keep us on the road with sharp jerks and screeching tires while the loud blast from his gun continued to release and use the interior of the truck as a base amplifier. I literally knew how it felt to be inside of a speaker with the base set on high.
I was frozen in fear and unwilling to move, let alone lift my head to be nosey. I had been in similar situations, but Patrena didn’t deserve this.
Since I was marrying into a family even deadlier than my own, she would face double-danger being associated with me. Therefore, I wouldn’t blame her if she were to run as far away from me as possible. If we survived this, our friendship would likely come to an end.
Our loud yells mingled with the screeching tires as we were tossed across the back seat when Khane made a sharp turn and another and another. The hands and arms we didn’t have clinging to each other flailed about while we fought being tossed like a pair of loose marbles. By the time we were on the smooth highway again, we were battered and freaked out. The roaring base of Khane’s gun blast had stopped, and I prayed it meant we were out of danger.
“Open up and be ready as soon as I get rid of these assholes,” Khane said to someone. There was no return answer or even a voice reply, but the individual must have acknowledged him.
More sharp swerves and a body shaking jerk was coupled with an ear-splitting crack of metal. The crash had lifted our bodies off the seat before I was slung into the door panel with Patrena’s body colliding into mine and adding more weight to the impact. It hurt like hell but I was too amped up to care and prayed we had knocked the other vehicle off the highway.
After a long stretch of straight road and the sound of the revved engine, the notion that we were moving up a steep incline took ahold before the truck came to a screeching halt.
Our free hands went to the back of the seat to brace us against the momentum of the quick stop. Khane cut the engine, plunging us into a soundless tomb where only our harsh breathing signified the presence of life.
