Page 79 of Hunter
Ed:
He’s here.
Te amo, mi cabrón.
I stall the fuck out reading her words, and the fucking love that I have for this girl is powerful enough that it jump-starts my heart.
The fucking fear that her cousin, Gabe, is gonna hurt her, tops off a deep, cavernous hole in my gut, and I can feel it pumping into my veins like gasoline.
So when Jake hits a red light, I jump the fuck out of the backseat and run the rest of the way. Because her cousin can’t fucking take her from me. She’s mine.
CUARENTA Y OCHO
“Yup, that’s her,”My cousin confirms as he shifts his weight, clasps his hands together in front of his stomach, and rolls his head to the side with his face tipped back.
“This is who killed your guy, man,” Gabe says with a fucking accusatory tone, and my brain rewinds to that piece of shit gangbanger that I fucking stabbed to death. Of fucking course he’s somehow tied to this. Because I’mliteralmentethe unluckiest bitch in the world.
“IT WAS YOU?! YOU FUCKING KILLED ONE OF MY OLDEST FUCKING FRIENDS? YOU STUPID FUCKING BITCH!! He screams at the top of his lungs, and Alvi’s men keep his ass restrained, as I stand tall behind my desk. I feel fucking proud of myself.
“SHE KILLED MY FUCKING BOY! I HAVE THAT SHIT ON VIDEO!!” blondie guy screeches out, and he sounds like a little bitch having a tantrum, “SHE OWES ME!!” Yeah, this dumbass man can get fucked. I owe him fucking nothing.Na-da, wey.
His fucking ‘boy’ deserved it. Men who try to hurt women deserve to die, and I don’t feel fucking bad that this motherfucker is out here grieving garbage. I don’t give a shit how fucking butt-hurt he is, I’d stab him, too, if he came after me.
“There’s no debt to be honored after the shit that he tried to do to her,” Alvi assertively commands, “You can fuck right off with that.” Mr. Fucking Blue Suit looks like he’s fucking butt-hurt, and I sincerely hope that motherfucker catches cancer fucking early. Bye, bitch.
“I don’t know about all that. We can tack it on to the fifteen months she owes me. There’s a fucking price tag on that shit,”mi primoadds. I can feel the hate rolling off of him, and I feel hot under everyone’s eyes as they catch on.
“¿Verdad, prima? (Right, cousin?)You good out here? You're living a nice life, going to this fancy-ass college, huh? That’s alright, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re a fucking rat.¡¡¡TU PINCHE SOPLONA, WEY!!! (YOU FUCKING SNITCH!!!)”He spits out in a loud, venomous voice, like he’sone of those poisonous copperheads found in the Bronx.And here I thought I was the only snake in the room.
He lunges forward with these big, bugged-out black eyes, and he looks like he wants to fucking kill me just as two of Alvi’s guys grab his ass. I scream like a little bitch and drop down behind the desk before my shaky fingers pull my beanie down over my face.Lo siento mucho, Hecate, pero I’m so sorry, Hecate, butI can’t be brave anymore.
He’s never gone after me before. He’s never yelled or been violent with me, and he’s never fucking hurt me.Pero,this isn’t who he was; he isn’t the same man.
He’s fucking bigger and meaner. And it’s not just because of the terrible fucking neck tattoo that he now has of Payton. It’s his whole persona. This is who he was going to be, no matter what.
He’s a version of himself that thecapos were tailoring him to be. And he’s using all of his special talents. This right here is why the OG’s were grooming him for next generation shit; he’s fucking patient,yhe preparesyhe fucking plots…yhe never forgets. We both have perfect fucking memories.Must be a family trait.
“¡PINCHE SAPA! ¿A TU PROPIA MALDITA SANGRE? (FUCKING SNITCH! TO YOUR OWN FUCKING BLOOD?)”He yells over all the other noise in the room, making sure to call me a fucking rat over and over. The strain in his voice sounds like a battle cry, and I crouch down as low as I can to shield myself from being hit with his words.¡LO SÉ, VAL, LO SÉ! (I KNOW, VAL, I KNOW!)
“I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID! FOR WHAT YOU FUCKING TOOK FROM ME!” He screams, and it snuffs out the bell above the door as it opens.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YELLING AT MY GIRL LIKE THAT?!!” Hunter shouts as he bursts into the shop.The energy of his presence is so strong, it feels like he’s led a million-man army to save me.
I cautiously stand up from behind the desk and catch my man stepping up to my still restrained cousin as he gets in Gabe’s face. I feel like my pastypresent are about to smash into each other; ValentineyEdison, New YorkyVirginia, The BronxyHavenwood, GabrielyHunter.
“I FUCKING HEARD YOU FUCKING SCREAMING AT HER FROM OUT-FUCKING-SIDE!!” The two tectonic plates of my world are colliding in real fucking time as Alvi’s guys struggle to keep them both separated. My man’s hands reach above literal bent bodies and clamp around my cousin's neck, before he screams in his face, “YOU PIECE OF SHIT, MOTHERFUCKER!”And it’s like the whole fucking place shakes.
“CALM THE FUCK DOWN!” Alvi shouts as he tries to pry Hunter off of Gabe, who fights the strong-ass hold that my man and the neighborhood guys have on him. “LET HIM GO, HUNT!”
“GET HIM THE FUCK OFF ME!” My cousin bellows, and Alvi pulls this pendejo away.
“ENOUGH! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!” Tattoo guy shouts as Gabe takes in big gulps of air while staring at me with angry fucking eyes and steam coming out of his big-ass nostrils.Carajo, wey,he’s fucking pissed.
He looks like one of those bulls that are about to charge.Maybe it’s the red stitching on my man’s hockey hoodie that I’m wearing.
“DON’T FUCKING LOOK AT HER! LOOK AT ME, MOTHERFUCKER. SHE ISN’T YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM, I FUCKING AM. FROM NOW ON, YOU TALK TO ME,” Hunter roars from Alvi’s bear hug grip as he tries to get him to calm the fuck down, and the two other guys pull Gabe further away.
“BABY, YOU OKAY?” he calls for me, and my voice box feels like it’s been taped shut. “ED?! FUCKING ANSWER ME!”
