I hear it before I get to the next door. The labored breathing and hiss of pain. That fuck has no clue he’s being pursued. No damn clue he’s about to see the last person he ever will on this earth. He thought he was running from some bad people, but he has no fucking clue.
He’s about to meet his worst nightmare.
And for touching my girl, I’ll make sure it’s slow.
Starting with his hands.
We enter the room, the door silent despite the fact it looks like it’s about to rot off the hinges. Thanks to the glasses, I can see him in the corner before I even take two steps.
Back to the door.
Fucking moron.
Asher and I move our guns up and train them on him in perfectly synced movements. It would be so easy to just take out the trash like this. Something he won’t get the satisfaction of being blessed with.
“Ray.”
He jerks when I call his name.
“Who’s there? How do you know my name?”
I turn my flashlight on, already trained on him, and feel my lips curl. Well … I’ll have to remember to pull those out of his cheek when I’m done here. If the purple puff ball is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure those are Ella’s keys.
“Seen better days, hmm?”
“Who are you?” he slurs. I imagine it’s difficult to speak with the new accessory.
“You made a mistake, bud. You should have just stayed dead.” His eyes widen at my words. The irony in them not lost on me.
“What? Look, if this is about the guns, I can tell you where they are.”
“Do I look like I want your guns?”
“I can’t really see you, with the light and all.” He follows that bullshit up with some weird giggle.
This motherfucker. I move my aim and let one silent bullet fly. It hits him in the thigh, and his scream gives me a little satisfaction. I crack my neck and breathe in deep, feeling the odd gratification of knowing my last hit will close the door of one life while knocking all the walls down that separated the two. I get to be both men and step out of the fucking shadows.
“The fuck was that for?”
“Only one person will ever be allowed to be a smart-ass with me. On her, it’s cute. One, you don’t have her laugh. Two, you damn sure don’t have her sweetness. And lastly, you don’t have the ability to make me forget who the fuck I am.”
“Who … Who are you?”
I step forward, Asher’s light shining behind me while I keep mine trained on Ray. It looks like he’s huddled in my shadow now.
“You tried to take something from me today, Ray. Something I care a whole lot about. Care to tell me what that was?”
“Look, man, I don’t want any trouble.” He holds his hands up, Ella’s keys jerking and jingling against his cheek.
I’m going to make sure that girl gets whatever the hell she’s ever dreamed of for this. I knew she fought since she damn well broke two of her ribs. However, it seems that Evan left out that she stabbed Ray in the face when he told me what went down earlier.
When I’m right in front of him, he seems to realize just how fucked he is. My smile grows as he weakly tries to grasp his gun. His arm reaches out and falls a few times.
Dislocated.
Goddamn Ella, the fucking magnificent.
Going to buy her a car for that one.
I bend, picking up his handgun. “Is this what you want, bud?”
He whimpers but doesn’t speak.
“You know, this would have ended much differently for you, Ray. You just had to put your hands on my girl.”
“Look, man, I didn’t know she was yours. I was just getting the kid.”
“The kid?” I whisper, deadly and low. It sounds evil even to my ears.
“THE KID IS MY GIRL!” I roar, grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him to his feet. Well, his feet dangle somewhere above the floor, the short fuck.
“Wh-What? That’s my daughter,” he gasps, hands trying to pull at mine to release him. His feet knock my shins while he struggles. “What the fuck, man? Let me go.”
“Not your daughter. You lost that right when you killed her mother, you piece of shit. That beautiful little ball of happiness doesn’t have a single ounce of you in her. She’s my girl. You’re one lucky bastard that her aunt cared more about her innocence than she hated you. There will be no more stories about how her daddy died some good man, either. From this day forward, you will never be spoken of. There will come a day when she’ll come to me, the man who raised her like she was his daughter, and she’ll say…” I tighten my grip and bring him closer. “She’ll walk up to me, smile on her beautiful face that looks like her mama’s side, and say, ‘Daddy, tell me about my birth father,’ and I’m going to sit her down and tell her just what kind of man you were. She’ll take it hard because she’s got her aunt’s heart. But she’ll be just fine because that girl will be so loved that anywhere she lands will be soft.”
“The fuck you will,” he spits, waking up to the fact he’s not getting out of here alive.
“Oh, I will. I earned this shot. You earned one, too, buddy … just not the kind of shot you’ll like.”
His eyes widen.
I take a deep breath, and I get to work ridding the world of the trash that wishes to pollute it. I feel each layer of pain I had carried over the years fall off my shoulders. The incredible freeing feeling that I never thought I would feel again slams into me when I step back from Ray’s prone form.
I’ve killed my last name.
And with his last breath … I took the first full one I’ve had in two long as fuck decades.
I enter my apartment and nod at Zac, sitting in the kitchen facing the door. Waiting. The place is dark, and I can tell Riley is sleeping by the lack of noise. The only time the apartment is this still is when she isn’t here … or sleeping.
I drop my keys on the table just inside the room and toe off my tennis shoes. We had all brought our change of clothing, burning everything we had worn before we left the run-down area we found Ray in.
“Is it done?” Zac asks, his deep voice rumbling through the vast room like thunder.
“It’s done.”
I walk toward him, taking a beer from the fridge on the way. “You want one?”
“Yeah. Now that you’re back, I’ll have one.”
“Good boy,” I mutter.
“Nice keys,” he says, pointing at the table I had dropped them on earlier.
“Not mine.”
“I’m guessing there’s a story there?”
“Oh, there’s a story there. Story for another day, my boy. I need—” He holds his hands up with a wide smile, stopping my words.
“Say no more, Pops. You’ve got one hell of a good-looking family waiting for you in there. I’m glad to be part of that and so fucking happy you’re alive.”
“Fuck,” I whisper, his words slamming home and mending the last piece of my heart I didn’t know was still broken. “Me too, Zac. Me too.”
He nods, smile still bright and eyes full of pure joy. “Try to get down to visit before I end up with another sibling. Would like to get to know the one who comes with your Olivia for a little first.”