Diablo kept a steady pace for a solid twenty minutes. Then, he stopped suddenly and let out a low growl. We froze and quietly drew our guns while we listened for any kind of movement.
I opened my mouth to insist we keep moving when a twig snapped to my right. Diablo barked seconds before a gunshot echoed through the night. We returned fire in the direction of the gunshot as we quickly moved behind trees for cover.
I looked down and realized Diablo wasn’t with me. “Diablo,” I whispered and peeked around the tree, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. “Fuck,” I hissed. He hadn’t yelped or made any sound to make me think the shot had hit him, but it wasn’t like him to run off. In fact, he’d been trained not to.
“Diablo,” I whispered again.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I needed to find Ink and look for Diablo, but I couldn’t do either and risk getting shot. It would have been so much easier if shit wasn’t going down in the middle of the night.
As I was contemplating my options, a sorrowful howl echoed through the forest. “Diablo!” I gasped and took off running without a second thought.
“Diablo!” I yelled, needing him to howl again so I could find him.
Moments later, he howled, followed by several loud barks.
Edge tapped the light on his gun and swept the area. Diablo appeared from behind a tree, turning in a circle and barking insistently. The relief I felt at knowing he wasn’t hurt disappeared the moment I saw what he was standing in front of. Ink was on his side on the ground, pale and unnaturally still.
“No,” I rasped, dropping to my knees and closing my eyes. “I can’t fucking do this again.”
I watched in horror as Evie closed her eyes and her body went limp.
“No!” I yelled and rolled her onto her back. “Stay with me!”
After checking for a pulse and not finding one, I started CPR. I knew I needed to call for help, but I couldn’t stop what I was doing. “Help!” I shouted between breaths. “Somebody fucking help me!”
I wasn’t expecting a response and almost sagged with relief when I heard Ink’s voice. “I’m here!”
Edge’s hand landed on my shoulder and pulled me out of the flashback. “I can,” he said and nudged me out of the way.
I watched in complete shock and horror as Edge rolled him onto his back and checked to see if he had a pulse. “He’s got a pulse, but it’s weak. Get your shit together and call Phoenix.”
That snapped me out of my daze. “We found him,” I said as soon as I heard the click of connection. “We need an ambulance.”
“Send me your loca—” The sound of another gunshot interrupted Phoenix.
I dropped my phone and whirled around as bark exploded from the tree trunk. The dumbass was standing in the open without an ounce of cover. Without conscious thought, I raised my gun and shot his left thigh, then his right. He screamed like a bitch and leaned forward to grab his wounded legs, putting his head at the perfect height for me to punt with my booted foot. He landed on his back with an audible thud and stared up at me with fear in his eyes. “Oh, you fucked up, buddy,” I told him before I grinned and put a bullet in each shoulder.
“Dice!” Edge yelled. “Stop!”
“No, that wasn’t Dice. I mean, it was. He’s fine,” I heard Edge say. “Yeah. That’s right. Okay. Got it, Prez. Hey, man, Prez says you need to move that body and get your brass before the paramedics get here.”
Sighing, I reached down and grabbed the baby bitch by his boot and dragged him out of sight. He was moaning andgroaning for all he was worth. I looked down at him and said, “Sorry, not sorry,” before I kicked the shit out of his head, silencing him for the time being.
When I returned to Edge and Ink, I kneeled beside them and looked down at my friend. I opened my mouth to tell him he needed to wake the fuck up when I felt something wet on my knee. I moved and a distinct smell filled my nose. “Dude, am I kneeling in your puke?” I asked Ink.
Edge pointed his light at my knees. “Yep. I’d say that’s exactly what you’re doing. He’s going to laugh his ass off about this later.”
“I hope so,” I said solemnly.
29
PRESLEY
Hours had passed.Hours. And there was no word about Ink. Meanwhile, my daughter remained unconscious, yet stable. She had a large laceration on her scalp that had to be closed with staples, much like my mother’s. Ariel’s skull wasn’t fractured, but she had a small brain bleed, and her brain was swelling. So, as far as I was concerned, she was nowhere near stable, no matter what they said.
“Presley, please sit down,” my mother said. “You’re making me a nervous wreck with all your pacing.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I can’t. Sitting makes me feel like I’m not doing anything. I know it’s not rational, but I can’t help it.”
