“You didn’t answer me in the car about Keane and Jax.” Rafe digs his hand into his front jeans pocket again. He’s been doing that for the past ten minutes since we got here.
“I didn’t answer because I’m not going to get into an argument with you.”
I know exactly what Rafe will say. He would want me to tell Keane and Jax about my plan to lure Julio out and kill him. Rafe would want the guys here with us. The three of them may be on opposite sides right now, but I know how deep and strong their bonds of brotherhood go. They’d have Rafe’s back against his family. And mine. But I also know how controlling Keane is, and this is my show. Not his. I can’t allow him to rush in, guns blazing, and take over. This is my fight with Julio and Alejandro. They think they own me. Bought me from Max like chattel. They’re about the find out that they’ve fucked with the wrong woman.
I tilt my head and look up at Rafe. We parked on the dark side of the street away from any streetlights. The crescent moon in the sky isn’t bright enough to cast too much light, but it’s enough for me to see the blue of Rafe’s haunted eyes. I can’t presume to know how he feels right now. There is no love lost between him and his father or Alejandro. Like me, Rafe was a pawn and overlooked by his family until they wanted something from him.
“We also need to deal with Rita,” I tell him.
At this point, I don’t even care why she secretly met with Julio. It doesn’t matter. Rita will go down along with the rest of them. My dear cousin is insignificant and holds no real power. Uncle Domenico’s men won’t rally around her or follow her. She’s been nothing but spoiled and pampered her entire life. Rita has no clue about what goes on behind closed doors in the ‘family business.’ All she cares about is her next pair of high heels, or which expensive sparkly bauble to drape around her precious neck and dangle from her ears.
When Rafe reaches into his pocket again, I lay my hand on his arm to still his movements.
“Hey. This is going to work. Then we’ll both be free.”
He looks down at where my hand is touching him, then back up at me. “And then what, Andie?”
“I don’t think I understand.”
When he takes his hand out of his pocket, he’s holding a very familiar bracelet. The one I gave him many years ago. The one I saw in his room at the cabin the day I went snooping around.
Lifting my wrist, he slides the bracelet over my hand and tightens the leather cording until it’s snug. The well-worn leather bands are soft against my skin. I stare at the trio of engraved silver bead charms.
Alexandria + Rafael
“Those two people don’t exist anymore,” I tell him, a great sadness filling me up as I experience all over again the loss of what we used to have.
“No, they don’t. The people we used to be were just kids. But we’re not kids anymore,” he replies, stroking the bracelet before letting my hand go.
Once upon a time, I loved this boy with everything I had in me. I still love him. But too much damage and too much time has passed. We’ve both changed. We want different things.Iwant different things.
“Rafe, I—”
I hear a faint popping near my ear, kind of like how sound muffles when you’re underwater or when there’s a pressure difference and your ears decompress. I carefully turn my head and scan the area. Things are as dark and as quiet as they were before. If anyone had arrived, Tessa and Liam would have immediately alerted us.
“Did you just hear anything?” I ask Rafe, twisting slightly to look back in the direction Liam said he would be. It’s been over twenty minutes and Julio hasn’t shown. Taking out my phone, and seeing that there are still no messages, I open the contacts to text Liam, when Rafe grips my hand, crushing it tightly.
“Rafe, what the hell?”
Time slows as if it’s stuck in tar. It takes scant seconds for an entire lifetime to flash before my eyes. Image upon image, flying one after another. The first time I saw Rafe and fell in love with his sky-blue eyes. The first time he kissed me when I was thirteen. The first time we made love. Rafe tucking a single rose in my hair and calling me hisdolce rosa. Us lying in the grass and looking up at the stars as we talked about our hopes and our dreams. It’s funny how you only remember the good times when something horrible happens.
I scream when I see a bloom of red spreading like a sunburst across his upper chest, the blood soaking his shirt.
“Oh Jesus.”
Rafe’s blue eyes dilate black as he looks down at me, his mouth agape with shock but no sound comes out. Then he topples forward and collapses against me. I try to hold him up, but his weight is too much, and it takes us both to the ground.
“Rafe. Baby, please,” I beg, my trembling hands useless as I try to figure out where he’s been shot. Thick crimson coats my fingers as I cradle his lifeless body. He’s not moving.
“Rafe! Baby, wake up!” I cry, shaking him.
Not like this. Not like this.
“Kellan! Do something!” I scream at my dead brother as memories of hearing him shot and taking his last breath send me down a spiral of darkness. It’s happening again. I can’t lose someone else I love. Not again.
Whimpering, I plead, “Please, Rafael. Wake up. Don’t leave me. I just got you back.”
I kiss his still warm lips, wanting him to take my breath into his lungs. I would give up my life so he could continue to live his.
