Page 73 of War

Tears leak to my cheeks, and I mouth, “I love you.”

A crack shocks the air, carrying the sound on a wave.My eyes squeeze closed, waiting for the end, but it doesn’t come.

“Argh!”Tyler yells, jolting away from me.My eyes spring open as his gun clatters across the asphalt.He holds his bloody forearm to his chest.“No.No.No!”he roars, attempting to make for the gun.Kings swarm like bees around him, wanting their vengeance.

Fists hit flesh.Groans, guttural and broken, cry out amongst the snarls of anguish.

Callan drops before me, taking my face in his hands.“Did he hurt you?”

Throwing myself into his chest, I wrap my arms around his neck and cling to him, needing to feel his heartbeat against mine.

“Not anymore.”I breathe.“Never again.”I pull away and take my gun from his grip, getting to my feet with his help.

Brothers part like the Red Sea for Callan and me.Tyler lies in a heap with blood dripping from his mouth and nose, and cuts splitting his skin in ugly red strips.Cackling with hysteria, he gurgles and chokes.“You’ll always be mine, Princess.Maybe not here”—he punches his chest—“but up here.”He jabs a finger to his head.“I’ll live with you forever.”

Maybe that’s true, but it will fade, and Callan and I will fill the spaces with happiness, goodness, and life.

Raising my gun, a calm bathes me.Harley’s smile blossoms in my mind.

“Goodbye, Ty.”

“I’ll be seeing you, Princess.”

Hell bared its teeth tonight and lost.

“No, you won’t.”I squeeze the trigger, firing one for me.

Pop.

“Fuck!”he hollers, clutching his knee.

One for the Kings he slaughtered while they slept.

Pop.

“Bitch,” he spits through bloodied teeth, placing a hand on his stomach.

“And one for Harley,” I say out loud, a tear tracking down my cheek.

Pop.

His head thuds back, eyes glaring to the heavens he’ll never reach.

A whiney pitch sounds behind us, drawing our attention to Green holding a thrashing Georgina by her hair.

“Look who I found trying to escape in one of the SUVs.”

He tosses her forward, and she stumbles, her legs entangling in her dress.She collides with the asphalt, her eyes expanding like saucers when she sees Tyler’s dead body.

“He forced me to help him, said he would kill me.”She slithers, trying to get away, the snake shedding yet another skin.Playing the victim doesn’t suit her, and no one is buying it.

Callan eats up the space, lifting her from the floor by the neck.Her hands claw at his wrists.Her feet dangle.A gasping gag chokes from her lungs.“Callan, please,” she begs.With a sneer, he pushes his arm forward, releasing her straight into Monster’s chest.

Palming her chin with one hand and the back of her head with the other, Monster twists, cracking her neck.Fast.Ruthless.Deadly.

CHAPTER19

KINGS OF SIN

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