On Hands and Knees
**MICKEY**
Listening to Alex romance Don Angeletto over the phone is getting tiring and the longer I stare at the cottage on the beach, the more I want to head down there on my own.
Whatever Alex is bartering for is of no interest to me. The only thing that matters is getting to my doll.
With one last, frustrated glance at Alex and company, I head for the tents and the corpses that litter the ground. The first handgun I see is a Beretta still in its holster and resting near the body of a rather large Sasquatch that I know without a doubt is one of Ruby’s kills. How do I know? The asshole is still smiling, despite the two deep gashes in the side of his neck.
Removing the pistol and the box of ammo in the sheath, I stash both on my person and then proceed to search for the quickest way down the cliff.
“Not that way,” an extremely deep voice sounds at my back.
“Not *what* way?” I snap, flipping around to face Santos. “I was only arming myself.”
The big bastard grants me a joyless smile. “My mistake. Carry on then.”
Then he hurries past me, shifting his weight so that he can slide down a slight incline beyond the very last bush.
“Wait a fucking minute!” I snarl, following suit and nearly tumbling to my death when I miscalculate exactly how steep the slope is past the bush. The moment my feet hit the free air, my arms shoot out to grab hold of something, *anything* I might use to anchor myself and find my footing.
I end up with my hands clamped around a random tree trunk that just seems to have popped out of the earth.
“Shit!” I gasp, trying like hell to find a foothold that isn’t loose fucking rock and pebbles.
“Grab on,” Santos says from above me and for the first time I see that I’m not holding a tree trunk at all. Nope. What I am holding is one of Antonio Santos’ rock hard calves. He smiles, bending over to snatch my forearm in his grip. “You’re going to have to let go now, Scavo. Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall.”
*But now I kind of want to.*
**ROMANY**
Don Angeletto steps out onto the patio with his phone call and my ears instantly begin to burn. It’s a very real fight for me to keep myself from screaming for Alex outright. Instead, I stalk Don Angeletto with my eyes. Watching his facial expressions, the strain of his wrists, the way his nostrils flare wide with anger despite that I whimper, I can’t help myself, and when I do Ruiz’s father snickers, kneeling in front of me with a disgustingly evil smirk on his face.
“Do you really think DeMarco gives two fucks about you? After the way he sold your body? The way he had you passed around?” He’s reprimanding me the way one might do to a small child… or an idiot. Coupled with his tormented mug, and all the grooves and creases his weatherbeaten skin provides him with, you could *almost* see him as I’m tempted to spit in his face. “You know what it looks like, little whore?” he spits, eyeing the ice pack his own son gave me with open disdain. “It looks like your bitch of a cousin may have abandoned you to save her own neck. How do you feel about that, eh, Puta?”
“Not just her neck,” I hiss, because I’m obviously an idiot who can’t help but mouth off. “Her eyes too. God knows how much damage mine have already incurred just by looking at you for the past hour.”
*THWACK*
Of course. He hits me again and not only do I see enough stars to make me an astronaut, but I hear the gong of the Buddhist temple go off between my ears. The ice from my pack sprays across the couch and for the strangest moment I think the little ice pellets are my teeth, but after a couple of good chomps I’m convinced my teeth are still in place.
“Padre!” Ruiz complains from behind my head. “It is enough now.”
Ruiz’s father snarls, “I will decide when it has been enough and when it has not. I don’t need you telling me when I need to stop. *You* are *not* the boss, Ruiz. Contrary to what you may believe. I am still-””
The sound of something crunching onto the dark oakwood floor in the hall freezes his words and that quickly the entire room falls as silent as a tomb. Turning toward the stairs, every single person seems to hold their breath.
“What the fuck is that?” Antony crows, training his gun on the dark of the living room,
My eyes are close to being swollen shut, yet I still manage to recognize what has just been tossed onto the polished wood floor like the Sunday paper.
It’s a head.
And not just any head. It’s Anna’s.
*Holy shit.*
“Son-of-a-bitch!” Antony hisses. “She’s here. She’s inside.”
Ruiz’s father laughs right then, and something in the sound raises the hairs on the back of my neck. I tighten my grip on the revolver, angling it upward as my blurry gaze fixes on the terrible man in front of me.
He is stepping back and smiling when I look at him and right away I know I’ve already waited too long. His gun comes up too swiftly, with the barrel pointed right at me. It’s all I can see now and as I close my eyes to accept my fate.
Ruiz gave me this gun for a reason. He told me not to hesitate.
I failed.
“Don’t do it, Delgado,” my cousin’s voice floats toward me, competing with the sound of my breathing that has somehow gotten so loud I can hardly think through it.
“Ah, the Red Puta,” Delgado spits, his slobber splashing me in the face. “Have you come to finally pay your debt?”
Opening my eyes I scan the dark living room for Ruby, but all I can see are the shadows from before. My vision is still blurry, but something tells me that even if it wasn’t, I still wouldn’t be able to spot her.
“That depends,” my cousin says, her voice echoing as if from afar. “Are you willing to let my cousin go?”
Delgado chuckles darkly, shaking his head in anger. “Absolutely not. How stupid do you think I am, Puta, eh? You want her to go? Lay down your arms and show yourself. Deliver yourself to me on hands and knees. Then, once I’ve slit your fucking throat I will consider letting her go.”
The sudden sound of heavy footsteps approaching from the kitchen has Delgado smiling from ear to ear as he attempts to push his gun into my mouth.
“Not one step closer, Raider or I’ll-”
“I’m not the Raider. I’m your nephew. Put the gun down, Tio, while you still have a chance.”
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