The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(125)

“Marcos, your boy Chuito’s cousin, he’s my bro. His wife, Mrs. Rivera, she’s my teacher. She’s helping me graduate so I can get a real f*cking job for the green,” Junior explained simply. “I owe them.”

“Are you still in high school?” she asked. “Why are you here? Why would you get yourself in a situation like this?”

“You should be happy I’m here.” He snorted in disbelief. “You think I love this? I needed to protect my family, chica. I got four sisters. Four. Can you imagine what that’s like in the hood when motherf*ckers like those bastards downstairs are around every corner? I thought Angel was different. That was my mistake. Now I’m gonna f*cking die to save your spoiled gringa ass. You don’t want to know what my people do to traitors. Unbelievable. Scream again before they come up here.”

Alaine screamed, but her heart wasn’t into it anymore, and it made Chuito start up again downstairs. He was still speaking Spanish, and maybe that was better, but it didn’t seem to help Junior.

“You better f*cking tell him the truth,” Junior warned her when she stopped. “’Cause he is really creative. I mean, I’ve heard things about your boy, but ay carajo.”

“I don’t want you to die,” she whispered, because he reminded her of Chuito in more ways than just the superficial. “Thank you for not hurting me. We need to go down and help them. Stop them. What if—” She choked as she considered the consequences. “He’s not okay. Chu is not okay right now. They could kill him.”

“If we go down there right now, we all die. Help is coming. Keep him alive. Keep yourself alive until help gets here. You have to get undressed.” He sighed. “Maybe, if they come up here, I can convince them I’m not done and—”

“Oh my God,” she choked, and tears rolled down her face again. “What happens when they come up here?”

“We just have to hold them off until Marcos gets here.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone, texting someone. “I’ve told him where we are. I’m letting him know what’s happening. He has backup.”

“How far away is he?”

“Scream again?” Junior said rather than respond.

“I don’t want to,” she argued as she looked at the door. “It’s hurting him. Can’t you hear how much it’s hurting him?”

“It’s keeping him alive. Scream your ass off, and he can smoke enough bud to forget about it after we get out. Scream, chica.”

She screamed, because there was nothing she wanted more in that moment than to somehow keep Chuito alive.

“Say stop,” Junior added. “Be as creative as your boy downstairs. I believe his shit.”

Alaine tried to be creative, reminding herself again that it was keeping Chuito alive, even if it was ripping her soul out. She begged Junior to stop, and it wasn’t a hard stretch, because she wanted everything about this situation to stop.

When she was done, she looked at the door, for the first time not hearing Chuito downstairs, and it scared her. Her throat was raw. Her heart was still pounding, and her stomach was churning so hard she thought she might throw up.

“They’re still ten minutes out.” Junior sounded concerned. “A lot of shit can happen in ten minutes. You have to get naked. I’m sorry.”

She wanted to argue, but she unzipped the hoodie instead, keeping her back to him. She slipped it off and then looked at him over her shoulder. Junior turned his head when she did, because she wasn’t wearing anything else under it.

“I hate this,” Junior whispered as Alaine unbuttoned her shorts. “This really isn’t my thing. I promise. Please believe me, because—”

“I believe you.” She stood up and kicked off her shorts, keeping her back to him. Then, rather than ask him if it was necessary, she went ahead and kicked her panties off. “Jesus, you’re barely legal. I’m corrupting you.”

He laughed. “Please, chica, I’ve been f*cking since I was twelve. You don’t have anything I haven’t seen.”

“Really?” she choked out in shock. “That’s worse than Chu.”

“Where did he find you? Fantasyland?”

“Your poor mother,” Alaine whispered as she looked at the ceiling, searching for any topic that’d keep her from totally freaking out and getting them all killed.

“My mother’s dead,” Junior said as he undid the zipper to his jeans. “But I don’t think she’d give a shit about it even if she wasn’t. My father’s dead too, before you do something completely white and ask.”

“Who do you live with?”

“My sisters,” he said and then added, “But why do you care, chica? You got worse shit to worry about.”

She really wasn’t going to explain her desperate need for a distraction now that she heard his pants hit the floor. He stepped up behind Alaine and held out something to her. She tilted her head, seeing that it was a gun.

“I have two,” he said as he put it in her hand. “They come in, we’re gonna jump on the bed. You keep the gun between our bodies. Don’t shoot until I tell you. Do you know how to handle a gun, or are you gonna shoot my ass in the process?”

“I know how to handle a gun,” she whispered. “My boss loves guns. She thinks all women should know how to handle one. She made sure I knew how to use one. What about yours? Won’t they see you holding it?”