Page 38 of Never Say Die
Aiden slid his jaw from side to side, leveling a quietlet’s goto Georgia and Shay as he trudged toward the front door. Outside, his cousins dispersed, little ones following teenagers. Aiden scooped his palm around one of their heads, pushing them playfully. Camila leaned against a pink pillar connecting the wooden banister to the storm drain, sucking on a slender vape pen. She gave Shay a once over, snorting through a laugh that sounded like Aiden, like their mother, like an ice cube cracking.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Camila murmured, transferring her narrowed eyes to Aiden. “En serio?”
“We need him,” Aiden said.
She laughed again. “Like a knife in the back.”
Shayalmostsmothered a sarcastic smile. “In the front, actually. Right through the belly.”
“Shay, enough,” Aiden snapped, bristling. He lowered his voice. “Don’t.”
Georgia heaved a sigh. “We’re here to celebrate Blanca, Camila. Not argue about the band.”
“Oh, is that right? Here to celebrate our mother after ripping my brother’s heart out? Nice.” She clapped and pushed away from the pillar, stepping into Shay’s space. “You’re lucky they’re desperate.” Her eyes flicked to Aiden again, and she waved her hand, gesturing lazily to Shay. “Eres mejor que esto, no?”
“No,” Aiden said.I’m not better than this. “He’s the best chance we’ve got, Cami. The only chance.”
“Uh huh.” She hummed, winding her neck like a cobra. “Hurt him again and I’ll kill you,” she said, and smacked her knuckles against Shay’s sternum. She opened her mouth to speak and choked instead. The air stilled, like that night under the full moon, weighty and watched. A rigid gasp shocked through her. She sucked in fast, frightened gulps, and stumbled backward, clutching her hand to her chest.
Georgia reached for her. “Jesus, Cami. Are you?—”
“Donottouch me,” Camila said, heaving.
Fucking brujería bullshit, Aiden thought, immediately followed by,what the hell am I going to tell her?He stepped in front of Shay and flashed his palms in surrender. “We’re done, okay? You’ve said your piece. He hears you,Ihear you, let’s move on.”
“We’re far from done,” Camila whispered. Her wide eyes lingered on Shay’s tightly closed mouth. “Tukákame.”
“Ay Dios mío. . .” Aiden inhaled another tired breath and shook his head. “They’re dental implants, Camila. He’s not a fucking?—”
Camila took his wrist and dragged him into the house, flicking cautious glances over her shoulder. She shoved him toward the stairs, pushing until he climbed, and ignored his whines and barks—Camila, stop! Seriously, come on. This is bullshit. Enough!—until they were in her bedroom with the door firmly shut. She shook out her hand and paced, dark hair swinging, bottom lip worried between her teeth. Sandalwood hung thinly in the air. Sage and lavender bushels dangled upside down from a rope clipped above her bookshelf and wax pooled beneath pillar candles on the repurposed vanity in the corner. Amethyst clusters lined her windowsill next to variations of the Weeping Virgin and Santa Muerte.Typical.
She wound a garnet rosary around her knuckles. “He isn’t right,” she said, striding from the window to her closet. “You know he isn’t. There’s no way you don’t, Aiden. You’re a Ramírez whether you like it or not, and Iknowyou know?—”
“Keep your bruja bullshit to yourself, all right? There’s nothing wrong with him,” Aiden said, frowning. “You’re jumping to conclusions over a new haircut and some expensive dental work.”
“You can’t lie to me about this, so stop trying.”
“What the hell do you want me to say, Cami? That Shay—like,ourShay, the Shay you’ve known for ten years—is a man-eating demon from the underworld? Do you hear yourself?” Honestly, she might’ve been onto something. Aiden made a mental note. He scoffed, dramatically. “You’re acting insane.”
Camila opened the shallow drawer on her vanity and unscrewed a white bottle, dumping blessed water into her palms. She stomped toward him. Pressed her wet hands to his wrists, under his shirt, his cheeks, and finally, his neck. The moment her hand found the almost-healed pinpricks beneath his ear, she froze. He did, too.
Oh, fuck. Here we go.
“Camila,” Aiden said, the same way he would to a baby bird. “Cami, it’s fine. It’s not what you think. It’s—it’s—” He paused, jaw slackened, searching for an excuse. Something,anything. “It’s a sex thing,” he blurted, nodding frantically. “A fully consenting, non-demonic, one-hundred-percent normal sex thing.”
She kept her hand there, perched on his pulse point. Her eyes gentled. Fingertips framed his jaw, tenderly at first, then squeezed. “You’re my blood.” Anger scorched each syllable. She pushed against the bitemark. “Brujo,” she spat, shaking her head, “youcan’tlie to me. You think I don’t taste your helpless fucking yearning? Jesus Christ, Aiden. If Shay Bennett wasactuallydicking you down, you’d be a lot less tense. But it’s been a decade—an entire decade—and not a damn thing has changed. You love him, you hate him, he loves you, he hates you, you two donothing?—”
He stepped away, smacking her hand. Shame stung high in his nasal cavity and burned hot in his cheeks. “First of all, fuck you. Second, there’s nothing wrong with him.”
Camila tapped her foot, hands perched on her hips. “This is why you went to Kelly.” She let her head fall back, eyes drifting shut. She sighed and met his gaze. “You went to her to get help,didn’t you? To get answers? Well, listen tome, hermano. There’s something inside him. Not. . . notsomething, but his presence, his spirit. Shay is…” She opened and closed her hands. “He’s becoming—no, he’sunbecoming. It’s like I saw his life reversed, like I felt him…” Her fingers uncurled, hovering open between them. “He’swrong, okay?”
“Like you felt him, what?” Aiden deadpanned, clinging to hidden hope. For answers. For a lead.
She chewed on her lip again. “Cheat,” she said, and shook her head again. “It’s like I’d touched a ghost. Someone displaced. What’d Kelly say, hmm?”
Aiden let out a tightly held breath. Damn, his brilliant, annoying, powerful sister. “I figured you’d talked to her already,” he admitted, thinking back to the phone call in Vegas. “She warned me not to go to Colorado. Said something about protecting theRamírez bloodline,” he said, mockingly. “Nothing about Shay.”
Camila’s lips peeled apart. She blinked, taken aback. “You should listen to her, Aiden. She might use smoke and mirrors, but she knows her shit, okay? No, no,don’tdo that—don’t you dare?—”
