“Who? You?” Lex mocked, then he turned serious when Xander didn’t smile. “I’m sure you had your reasons, and I’mthe last person in the world who’s going to stand here and judge you.”
“I do have my reasons, but now—”
A scream pierced the air, and Xander’s attention shifted back down to the shoreline. Scanned the gloom. “Essie!” he hissed. Up ahead, he saw a dark figure, but no sign of her. “That’s José,” he growled, picking up his pace.
“I’ve got your back,” Lex assured him, splitting away and moving deeper in the jungle. Meanwhile, Xander burst out of the tree line and jogged forward, searching for Essie.
Where the hell is she?
He nearly stumbled when he realized José was talking to someone buried in sand up to the chest. The tide was coming in and when it rolled back, he caught a glimpse of Essie struggling, coughing, spitting up seawater.No.He needed to pull her out of there before she fucking drowned.
José looked up and saw him. He swung his gun up, pointing it at Xander, but he ignored him.
“Essie!” Their gazes locked, and relief poured over her beautiful face. “Hang on, I’m gonna get you out.”
“No, you’re not,” José snarled, moving around the sandpit, and stalking closer. “You’re going to watch her drown, watch her die. And then I’m going to carve you up into pieces so small, not even the fish will find them.”
More waves rolled in, covering Essie’s head and she thrashed, caught in the quicksand and being pummeled by the waves. In less than a minute, the water would be above her head, completely submerging her, and she’d drown.
“Fuck. That.” Xander launched himself through the air, straight at José who lifted his gun and fired.
Chapter twenty-three
Xander prepared himself for the hot sting of another bullet piercing his skin. Would it suck? Like a sonofabitch. Would he gladly take it if it meant saving Essie? One hundred fucking percent. She was worth every risk.
Barrera pulled the trigger and nothing happened. Just the soft click of a gun with no more bullets.
Xander slammed into José like a ton of bricks, lifting the man off his feet. They tumbled to the ground, a mass of expletives and flailing limbs. Xander landed on top of him with all of his weight, driving his knee into the man’s gut. Barrera grunted in pain, struggling to escape, but that wasn’t about to happen. Xander unleashed his inner beast, allowing the fury to take hold. He powered his fists into Barrera’s face until his knuckles split and bled. Barrera bellowed out a cry of pain and fury when his nose broke, bringing Xander a sick sense of satisfaction. He wanted nothing more than to continue beating on him. To crack more bones, shed more blood.
Until he heard Essie cry for help.
Shit.He started to get up when he saw Lex sprinting through the water.
“I got her!” Lex shouted, dropping down beside the pit. He leaned forward, grabbing onto Essie’s outstretched hands and began to pull.
While Xander let his focus drift to Essie for mere seconds, Barrera managed to grab his jeweled dagger from his jacket pocket. Xander caught the quick movement from the corner of his eye and wrenched backward just in time. The blade’s tip swiped across his neck but only managed to nick the top layer of skin.
“Let her die, take your revenge,” Barrera said, making strange hissing sounds as he struggled to breathe through his broken, bloody nose. “My sister’s blood for your sister’s blood. Then we’ll be even.”
He made another wild swing with the blade, and Xander caught his wrist, holding it between their faces. His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed to slits. “That’s the difference between you and me,” he seethed.
They struggled, grunting, each man fighting to push the knife’s deadly edge into the other’s face.
“What is?” Barrera scoffed, managing to twist his wrist, lining up the sharp end with Xander’s left eye. Pushing it closer.
Xander felt himself losing. His arms shook as the knife’s blade edged closer and pain seared like a trail of fire up his wounded side, radiating down his arm.
“I’d never hurt your sister… the way you hurt mine,” Xander growled. Barrera slammed the jeweled dagger forward, missing his target when Xander jerked to the side. With the last of his sapping strength, Xander spun the knife back around and sank it into Barrera’s eye socket.
With a pained scream, Barrera flailed backward, tripping in the surf and landing on his knees.
Spinning around, Xander raced over to help Lex pull Essie from the suctioning depths of the quicksand. She fell forward, and he caught her, wrapping his arms around her as she coughed and choked on saltwater.
He pushed her wet hair back, searching her big brown eyes. “Are you okay?” A stupid question, all things considered, but he needed to hear her voice. Hear her confirm she was alive and out of imminent danger. She nodded, clinging to him. “You’re so damn brave,” he told her, wincing as she shifted against him. Pulling her into his uninjured side, he led her to a more stable section of shoreline.
“I thought I lost you,” she cried, clasping his face in her hands and looking at him as though he were the most precious thing she’d ever seen. “I thought—” A half-sob, half-hiccup escaped her.
“It takes more than a bullet to kill this devil.” He gave her a weary, crooked smile.
