The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(128)
But Chuito still hated him.
He ran to the stairs, shoving Angel so hard he fell. “Save him for me.”
“Chu!” Someone shouted from behind him, but he wasn’t listening as he flew up the stairs. “Junior—”
He didn’t hear the rest. He got to the bedroom and jerked open the door because it was so f*cking quiet in there. His heart was thundering, and a part of him knew he was going to find Alaine’s raped, dead body.
He had to blink at what he found instead.
One dead Russian in the doorway that he had to step over, and Alaine sitting on the bed, wearing a hoodie that she had zipped up to the neck.
“Chu!” She jumped off the bed and into his arms before he could really process the rest of the scene. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he instinctively pulled her close, feeling that she was naked beneath that hoodie.
“I’m going kill you,” Chuito announced in Spanish as he looked at that Junior motherf*cker in the corner, who was holding a gun on a bleeding Russian. “And I’m going to enjoy it.”
“That’s Chu Jr.,” Marcos said behind him, also speaking Spanish. “He’s one of my kids. He told me where you were. He’s the reason we’re here. You have to put your gun down.”
“He didn’t rape me,” Alaine said quickly, her entire body shaking when she also noticed that Chuito had his gun leveled at Junior’s back. “He was helping us. Then the Russians came in, and—” She pointed to Junior. “He killed that one over there, and I sort of missed, but—”
“Why are you naked?” Chuito growled at her as he kept his gun leveled at Junior’s back. “Why is he naked if nothing happened?”
“Chu—” Marcos started behind him.
“Why is he naked?” Chuito repeated, and he sure as shit didn’t lower his gun.
Junior tilted his head, looking at Chuito over his shoulder, and said in Spanish, “We got undressed to make it look like I was raping her. I didn’t want one of them to get her, but then—”
“I think I want you to die anyway,” Chuito cut him off.
“Chu,” Alaine said in a quivering voice, even though she couldn’t understand what they were saying. “He’s a baby. Lower your gun. You can’t kill him. He saved me and—”
“Did you like making her strip for you?” Chuito asked Junior. “Did you like seeing her? She didn’t need to be naked, cabrón.”
“I think she did,” Junior argued. “If we’d had clothes on, we’d both be dead right now. I needed the extra five seconds to get a good shot in. It gave me the upper hand. There were two of these motherf*ckers. I wasn’t expecting that, and I still got it done. You need to step back and recognize.”
“Chu, he has been texting me,” Marcos cut in as if he sensed Junior’s challenge would just make Chuito angrier. “He protected her. He killed someone for her.” His voice was shaking as if he knew Chuito would shoot first and say sorry later. “Put your gun down. Leave my kid alone. He saved her, and you’re irrational right now if you can’t even see that.”
Chuito let out a manic laugh and turned back to his cousin. “Your kid made my woman take off her clothes and scream at the top of her lungs. I heard her begging, and they videotaped me crying about it. I want him to die. I think I need to see it.”
Marcos put a hand to his mouth, as if he alone understood what it meant for Chuito to break like that. Finally, he whispered, “It’s still not Junior’s fault. He didn’t rape her. He saved her. Do you understand that he could’ve actually raped her and not texted me? He chose saving her over siding with Angel. He risked himself for that. He risked his family. He has a f*ckload of sisters, and there is no other man in his family to protect them. He didn’t know if we were going to get here in time when he shot those Russians. That’s a lot to risk for one gringa he doesn’t even know. You wanna kill someone, kill Angel. Kill this Russian motherf*cker. Kill the one downstairs before your Italian bro does it for you.”
“Don’t—” Nova cut in from behind them as he came into the room, looking down at the Russian he had to step over. “Holy shit. Another f*cking dead Russian.” He glanced over to Junior. “Don’t kill this one. I need him alive. Can he talk?”
“Talk, motherf*cker.” Junior shoved his gun at the Russian, who was just sitting there, silently watching the exchange. “He can talk. He’s being difficult.”
Nova walked over and looked at the Russian. “Is he just shot in the leg?”
“Yeah, the gringa’s aim sucks.”
“Motherf*cker,” Chuito started with a bark of furious laughter.
“Junior,” Marcos warned him. “My cousin’s had a bad f*cking day. Save your shit.”
“He can kiss my ass,” Junior shot back. “I protected his chica and—”
“She’s naked,” Chuito reminded him. “You should die just for seeing it.”
“This is so much fun,” Nova said sarcastically in Spanish. “This makes my day, and I haven’t even had my coffee yet. Look, Chuito, you want to maim and torture some motherf*ckers, that works for me. I got a Russian down there with a bullet in his kneecap who still isn’t talking. I got this motherf*cker who’s clammed up too. Go crazy, but leave this kid alone. I like to keep my allies healthy.”