My hand is slipping from hers, as the man pulls me down. “You’ll pay. We’ll torture the fuck out of you. Rip that tongue of yours out, beat the shit out of you, and then…” Silence. I hear the sound of the gun being shot but am not sure if it is his gun or someone else’s.
I turn around to see the man lying on the ground, a pool of blood already starting to form around him. Then I look back up and see Bree at the edge of the wall, her small body shaking, the gun is in her hand and she looks scared shitless.
I don’t say anything to her, but I am fucking proud. I am more than proud. I am now the one indebted to her. The second she has me over the wall, my body goes limp. I know Jared will come. I just need to hold on a little longer. It doesn’t last, though. My mind slips from my body and suddenly everything goes black. I hope to fucking God I am not dying. I need to tell Bree how fucking hot it is that she not only shot a gun but that she killed a man.
Chapter Ten
Bree
“Is he going to be okay?” I implore, asking Jared over and over again as I look at Zerro’s lifeless body. He has been a douche nugget of all kinds of sorts, but I don’t want him to fucking die. My body is still shaking, I am scared to death. Never in my life had I been shot at until I met him. I had only shot a gun a couple times with my dad. He wanted me to know how to shoot in case someone ever attacked me. I don’t think this was the type of attack he meant when he taught me, though.
“He’ll be fine. We need to get to the cabin, then I can remove the bullet so he can heal.” Jared is acting as if I haven’t just told him Zerro has been shot.
“You’re acting as if we weren’t almost killed. This is fucking crazy.” The gun is still in my hand since I am afraid to let go of it. It is the one thing that is keeping me sane and alive. I’m barely able to sit still as I grip the gun firmly in my hand.
My gaze lands back on Zerro. Blood seeps into his white shirt, his blood red tie is ripped and tattered, as is my dress. I move to apply pressure to his wound. My eyes glide down to my feet. The shoes he had gotten me are long gone from the rush to jump the wall. His face, though covered in a sheen of sweat and dirt, still looks as dashing as the first time I met him. I hate him for everything that he has done, for the person he is, but I also kind of like him. I knew what he was doing as I felt his fingers slipping from my hand. He was going to save me, and even though when he wakes up he won’t ever admit it, I know it in my heart.
“What happened back there?” Jared asks me, turning down the radio. The men will be after us. I am surprised we even made it out of there. I want to tell Jared, but the truth is, I don’t really know what they were talking about, who the pig is or what is going on. I know that Luccio was a bad man, and the FBI killed Zerro’s mother and came for him. I don’t know what I have to do with it, though.
“I don’t really know. There was some talk about someone being a pig, and Luccio accused me of being one. Then he told Zerro the FBI is onto him and that they will take him out if he isn’t careful. He told Zerro who killed his mother.” I am rambling because I am scared and nervous. Will I ever be safe again? Will I be able to go back to school? Back to my dad?
“Whoa, slow down…” Jared says, in an attempt to soothe me. His eyes shine brightly at me through the rearview mirror, and after everything that happened, I wonder if he can be trusted. Can anyone who Zerro worked with be trusted? What kind of sick and twisted game is this? If Luccio was supposed to be family to Zerro and had betrayed him like that, what could anyone else do?
The gun is still in my hands and I will use it if need be. I can save Zerro and us from all these people. I eye it, wondering what I should do next. Zerro must’ve trusted Jared at least a little bit if he called him over anyone else.
“Put the gun down, Bree. I know that look. You’re scared, and that’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you guys. Zerro is my friend. I’m his driver. I’m taking you to the safe house.” He is speaking calmly, and I stare at him and then look down at Zerro. He is still breathing, his chest moving up and down, and I know that if I want to save his life, I need to have Jared get us where we need to be.
“Fine,” I reply after hesitating a moment. I put the gun down on my lap, making sure I can grab it if need be.
“Now what happened?”
“They wanted to kill him,” I huff out, my head landing on the head rest. My eyes and skin hurt so badly. My head is pounding from all the noise, and my body aches as if I have run up a hill fighting a bear.
“Kill him? Why?” he asks, profoundly dumbfounded.