Bodies…
Yes, there have been casualties. I wasn’t really even processing it until right fucking now, butJesus, it just hit me upside the head.
And now the adrenaline is pumping again as I steel myself for more…
Just a little bit more work. Hang in there… you’ll be sitting back with drink, maybe a smoke, and some fucking orgasms soon enough.
We’re in the homestretch.
“Hang back.” I grab The Ivory by the arm, striding in front of him.
He doesn’t appear in any way put out by me taking charge of the situation, which is crazy. I still can’t believe this is the same guy who’s been tormenting me for years. All because…what? He had a crush on me??
It’s insane. But also… sort of flattering?
And in the deepest corners of my mind, I can admit that while the punishments did suck, there were moments of it that I enjoyed. More than I care to admit, and more than I’ll ever admit tohim, though I’m sure he knows.
Regardless of everything we’ve been through, he does know me.Verywell.
My beef with him is infinitely more rooted in the emotional stuff. The head games—completely unnecessary, too.
Imagine the things we could have done if he’d just been normal and, like… made a move or something. I’m not saying I would have said yes, ordatedhim, or anything like that. But I was every bit as drunk on the power of this place as he was. Together, we could have made a truly terrifying, yet unstoppable, duo.
But he didn’t want that. He wanted a pet becauseheneeds to own all the power.
At least, until the kid came along, I guess.
Angel Alvarez has his work cut out for him with that one. I can’t imagine being in a relationship with Manuel Blanco.Butthat’s because I have the best partners in the world, and I can’t imagine being with anyone who isn’t them.
At the end of the day, I could have bashed his brains in hundreds of times over the years while he was reigning his dominance over me. But I didn’t because some part of me needed some part of what was happening. What Ididn’tneed was the emotional and mental torture;hisneed to dominate not my body, but my mind, is what brought us to right here and now. And for that, Idobelieve he’s as remorseful as he’s capable.
“Listen up,” I bark to the crowd. Ivory holds up his walkie, so the rest of his men can hear this too. “The war is over. We won.”
I wasn’t planning to pause there, but the rampant roaring cheers are loud enough that I have to stop for a moment. Grinning.
It’s so badass that we actually did it. This ragtag group of heathensactuallydefeated the cartel. And sure, maybe it wasn’t our brute strength that fired the kill shot, but that doesn’t matter. What’s important is that this isfinallyover.
And we’re victorious.
Youcandefeat El Diablo.But only if you’re devilish too.
“To everyone on our side—Team Alabaster—lower your weapons. Take a breath. We did it.”
I can almost feel a collective sigh of relief. As if the island itself is finally able to drop its shoulders andrelax.
We go about instructing our men what to do next, from both sides. But The Ivory is very clear that the cartel will handle all the clean-up. He’s also using his resources to get our injured medical attention, which he seems to be taking very seriously.
He’s a hundred times less aggressively barky than he has been in at least ten years… It’s pretty interesting to witness. I feel like I’m standing beside the Manuel Blanco I met thirteen years ago. Not agoodperson by any stretch of the imagination, but still so much more human than the person he became.
And part of me has to wonder if it was just this island that did it to him… More specifically, the prison. A combination of circumstances that all lead back to Alabaster Penitentiary. The dark mother who made us all into vile little monsters.
Thank God she’s dead.
Pedroia steps up to me, and I immediately square my shoulders. But he’s instantly a million times less smug than he’s been during all of our previous interactions.
“Whatever you need,” he says, tone deflated and tired.
Maybe he’s not happy about how this turned out. But at the end of the day, they were all just followings orders. This wasn’t their fight. They were bodies. Robots with one objective: do what The Ivory says.
