Breathe out.
I am ready for this fuckery to happen and be over so that I can go home.
Something shiny catches my eye, and I turn my rifle in Alex’s direction. I notice a knife in his hand, but not just any knife... It looks like one of Rachel's knives. Where did he get that? Did she drop them? Did they unarm her? I know the way that Tyler is holding her around her chest that her arms are restrained enough that she wouldn't be able to get to any of them, but that's the white one she has been obsessed with since she killed Tony.
A chill rolls down my back, and bile rises at just the thought of Tony.
I move my eyes back to the scene unfolding in front of me. Alex takes the blade and stabs Tyler right in the neck, in that artery, what the fuck is it called, Carotid artery, I think? Who knows, the fucking jugular, then sliding it across his entire throat, flaying it open wide. His blood spilling out of the gaping wound in his neck, all over Rachel. His blood is caked in her blonde hair, and it is sliding down her back, covering her shirt and pants. Her red heels now have the darker crimson of Tyler’s blood sliding down them.
Rachel turns out of Tyler’s grip, and before I know it, the other Starr brother is on the ground with a bullet wound to the chest. Oliver has always been a good shot, but damn, that was amazing, dead fucking center. Before I even realize what is going on, Oliver grabs my hand and runs out of the woods to where Alex and Rachel are. Rachel's hands are moving all over the place as she talks to Alex.
"The fucker hit you with brass knuckles," I hear Rachel scream at Alex as soon as I am in hearing range. He grabs her wrist in mid-air and pulls her into his embrace, kissing the top of her head.
"Are you guys ok? What the fuck happened in there?" I am running to them now, completely out of breath. They don’t answer me and just open their arms, adding me to their embrace.
As soon as they close their arms around me, the world stops moving, the chaos ceases to exist, and I am home. It doesn't matter that the Starr brothers are on the ground, dead, next to us. It doesn't matter that Oliver is standing right there, watching us. Nothing matters besides Rachel and Alex. They kiss my head as Alex places his hand protectively on my belly.
"Let's call a clean-up crew and go home. I am done with today, and the only thing that will help this headache is some whiskey and pussy." Alex says.
Oliver damn near choked on his spit. "Alex, I love that you love my sister, but please don't talk about her pussy in front of me," he says, then makes a dramatic gagging sound.
"Shut up and go find Alessio. I see how you look at him. Ask pretty please, and I bet he would suck your dick." Alex shoots back at Oliver. I love that they are always joking with each other.
"You are being a smart ass while I have an AR-15 strapped to me?"
"You're going to shoot me? While your sister is so happy?"
I look over Rachel's shoulder and see Oliver roll his eyes and pull out his phone. Typing out a message to someone, then putting it back into his pocket.
"Come on..." I say, the metallic smell in the air finally makes its way to my nose, causing my stomach to start rolling. I step out of Alex and Rachel's embrace and turn to walk away, stepping on something squishy but hard. When I look down, I see Tyler's arm under my boot, and the ground is stained crimson from the blood under him. I look up from his arm that I just stepped on, moving up his body until I make it to his throat, sliced wide open, the flesh peeled back like fabric, showing every layer of muscles until you see the esophagus.
That's when everything I ate today comes right back out. I throw up so violently that I start to shake. Every ounce of throw-up lands on Tyler's face and in the gaping hole in his neck. Just that causes me to continue to throw up, and eventually, I am dry heaving. Rachel comes up behind me and starts to rub my back to comfort me.
"Please just take me home," I cry. Rachel mumbles a reply that I miss, and loops her arm through mine, pulling me away from the scene.
I have never been a squeamish person, but this pregnancy has my stomach fucked up. Being with a knife-happy woman and a trigger-happy man is going to be hard.
Chapter thirty-six
Alex
OliverandIarethrowing jabs back and forth, as we always do, when I see Rachel walking away with Olivia holding onto her arm. I have no clue what's going on, but I notice they are on a mission to get to the car.
"You know where they are going?" I look from the girls to Oliver, who is shaking his head.
"Olivia probably wants to go home and take a shower. She always takes a shower after throwing up and brushes her teeth. She says she feels like she just gave birth to a demon and wants to wash the dead off of her." That sounds like a very Olivia-like thing. I look back at them again, then at Oliver, trying to decide whether to go with them or help Oliver with the cleanup.
"Go. I can handle the cleanup. My sister needs you right now." I nod, not having anything to say back to him. I turn on my heels to walk towards my girls when I feel a hand pull me back.
"But since they are not here, and life isn't completely crazy right now. I want to let you know right now. My sister has been through enough hell in her life, and it took everything in her to let you back in. If you fuck up even an ounce, I will kill you, slowly, and more painfully than you could ever imagine. Olivia is my whole life. We have a special bond, and I refuse to let her get hurt after all the bullshit she has been through." The threat is clear, and the anger in his face is even more so.
"Trust me, if I hurt her, I will be crawling to your steps asking you to kill me. I don't want to lose either of these women in my life. The small amount of time that I lost Olivia is enough torture for me to never fuck up again." Oliver nods his head at me. "Go help my sister clean up. She has been a nervous wreck the whole time you guys were in the warehouse. She will need a little bit of TLC." I nod and walk off, letting all of Oliver's words run through my head, sinking deep into my soul.
All the bullshit she has been through…
Because of my family…
Should I even be with her?
