Page 184 of Requiem for Love

The axe fell from his hand.

“Eesh,” he walked toward her, “I’m so sorry.”

She started for him, but then he spotted the hole in the trunk and came to an abrupt stop.

“Eesh, wait.” The bullet that made the hole couldn’t have belonged to Lavigne’s gun. Both the size and the trajectory were off. “Mike, someone else is out here. Lavigne’s not the original shooter.”

“On it,” Mike said.

“Me and Gage are headed to you with medkits,” Dez said. “EMS is en route. How’s Eesh?”

“She’ll…she’ll need a medkit.”

“Joel,” Ayesha called. “Can I come now, baby?”

Mike’s voice sounded in his ear.

“I’ve got eyes on the shooter.”

He nodded. “Yeah, you can—”

“Get down, get down!”

The second the command left Mike’s mouth, he heard the shots—four. The world blurred for a moment as he took Ayesha in from head to toe. If it was a head shot, she wouldn’t survive, and already, he felt air seeping from his lungs. She’d continued living for the boys after Curtis was killed, but he couldn’t for sure say he’d ever find the will to live without her.

“I’m not hurt,” she said. “I didn’t get hit, baby.”

Behind him, he heard a wet, straining cough, and his face went ice cold. “You piece of shit. You fucking piece of…” He turned around, caught Adrían before he fell, and eased him down to the ground. “Adrían, you son of a bitch. You son of a fucking bitch.”

“You…are okay?” Adrían asked.

“Shut up.” He retrieved a knife and sliced through Adrían’s shirt. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

“That…you would…be shot. I saw him. It’s Wesley. He…was not…dead. Lavigne…lied.”

“Shooter’s down.”

Joel rolled Adrían onto his side. “Two entry wounds. Upper chest. Right side. Two exit wounds.”

“That’s good, no?” Adrían asked. “Exit…wounds. This…is good.”

“I said shut the fuck up, Delgano. Dez—”

“I’m here.”

Dez kneeled beside them.

Ayesha kneeled on Adrían’s other side and pressed her lips to Adrían’s forehead, teardrops falling onto his skin. Adrían smiled and cradled the back of her head with a bloody hand.

“Olá, querida. Did you kiss me? Am I already in heaven?”

“Was that your motive all along?” Joel asked. “Take a couple of bullets for me so I’d let my wife kiss you?”

“This is…what it…would have taken…no?”

“You better not die.”

Adrían forced out a weak laugh. “See? We…are…friends.”

---