The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(134)

“You told them about my mother,” Chuito reminded him. “You used that.”

“They’re all dead now. I knew I was gonna kill them. I knew you were gonna help me kill them. Who gives a shit what a buncha dead motherf*ckers think?” Tino shrugged as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I couldn’t let you die, but I am sorry. I’m so f*cking sorry, Chu. I didn’t want this to happen.”

“Alaine didn’t know,” Chuito choked out. “I didn’t want her to know that about me.”

“I’m sorry,” Tino whispered again and swallowed hard as if he was fighting completely breaking down. “We’re gonna destroy the phones. No one’s gonna know what happened downstairs. That Junior motherf*cker didn’t see what happened after he took her up.”

Chuito shook his head and turned to leave. “You can crash at my mother’s place. I own most of the street. We’ll make an alibi for your boys.”

“Chu—” Tino called out.

“Don’t talk to me,” Chuito said as he opened the front door. “You said you were willing to deal with me hating you. So f*cking deal with it.”





Chapter Forty-Three


Alaine cried the whole way to Chuito’s mother’s house, and his cousin didn’t say a word. He let her cry like he understood her reasons for it. Not just for the trauma they had all suffered through, but knowing that they had left Chuito behind to deal with everything.

The fear and horror of it made her arms shake, like she was freezing, though it was shockingly warm for October. She didn’t even care that she was going to meet Chuito’s mother for the first time practically naked save Chuito’s hoodie that still had his scent on it.

She was folded over in the seat, crying into her knees until Marcos pulled the truck to a stop and turned it off.

“Ay, bendito. Stay there.” Marcos hopped out of the car in that same quick way Tino was apt to do. Then he came around to the other side, opened her door, and reached for her. “Come on, chica, I got you.”

As horrible as it was, Alaine let him sweep her up in his arms, because she was still shaking and barefoot and crying, and Chuito’s cousin had an oddly soothing way about him.

“What happened?” a woman asked frantically as the front door opened. “Where’s Chu?”

Alaine covered her face with her hands and started sobbing harder.

“Ay Dios mio,” another woman choked out. “?Lo mataron? No, lo digas, Marc. Por favor no lo digas. ?Está muerto mi hijo?”

“Cálmese, Tía. He’s not dead,” Marcos said gently. “He’s coming behind us.” More car doors slammed in the driveway as Marcos walked into the house with Alaine in his arms. “Katie, deal with the boys. Tía, come with me.”

“But Alaine knows me,” Katie argued and then grasped her arm. “Honey—”

“No,” Marcos cut her off. “Katie, deal with the boys.”

“Is she naked under that?” Katie’s voice became low and panicked, and Alaine realized she was terrifying all of them. “What happened at that house? You just said Chu needed help. You didn’t say Alaine was with him. What happened?”

“I’m sorry,” Alaine sobbed, because the last thing she wanted to do was scare anyone else.

“Ay Dios,” the other woman whispered, as if she suddenly understood everything, and then switched to English. “Put her on the bed and then get out.”

“?Que?” Marcos snapped.

“Get out!” the other woman shouted. “No muchachos! Katie can come in. You can’t. Tell Katie to bring food.”

Marcos laid Alaine on a huge bed and said, “This is my Tía Sofia. She’s gonna take care of you, okay, chica? He’s coming back.” He brushed her hair away from her face, so that Alaine was looking into his light eyes swimming with concern. “I promise you, he’s coming back.”

“Get out!” Sofia shouted behind him.

“You can’t just yell and scream! She’s had a hard day, Tía,” Marcos shot back at his tía and then switched to Spanish.

The two of them had a heated conversation, but all it resulted in was Marcos stepping back closer and closer to the door until Sofia finally slammed it in his face.

Sofia pushed her long dark hair away from her face and turned to Alaine. “Okay, no muchachos. That’s better, right?”

“I—” Alaine stared, because she was honestly stunned at how beautiful this woman was, with light eyes as startlingly blue as Marcos’s were, flawless, tanned skin, and a body Alaine would kill to have. “Um, yes.” She nodded as she fought the tears, and the shaking. “I’m sorry to inconvenience you and, um—”

“Oh, no, chica, it’s okay,” Sofia assured her. “You want to take a bath? A bath makes it better. Yes, you want one.”

“Please,” Alaine agreed because she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more in that moment than a bath, but she need not have bothered, because Sofia was already in the master bathroom, running the water. “What does, um, tía mean? Is that sister? Does that mean s-sister? Are you Marcos’s sister?”

“Tía means aunt, bendito. I’m his aunt,” Sofia called from the bathroom. “Mamá is better, right? Chu loves you. Marc says he loves you. So I like mamá, not tía. You call me mamá, and I’ll take care of you. That’s why he sent you here. He knows I’ll take care of you.”