firing my gun and slicing my bullets through their heads. Adelita was rushing toward me. “Charley! Tanner . . . we need to get Charley!” Adelita fell into my side, and I searched the clearing for Charley.
Viking was closest to her. “Vike!” Viking turned his head as he fought off the Klan. “The bitch!” His head snapped to the side as Charley staggered around, clearly drugged and disorientated. She was trying to escape. Viking slung his arm around her waist and tried dragging her back. But the bitch was fighting him. Punching him in the face and striking kicks. She broke from his arm, just as a Klan solider rushed at Vike. Viking stabbed the fucker in the neck, then slashed his throat. But before he could get Charley, she was being pulled back to the cartel line by one of Diego’s men.
“No!” Adelita screamed. “Charley!” Cars and trucks from the cartel and Klan started roaring out of the clearing.
“Pull back!” Ky ordered as the Klan and cartel started to retreat. Adelita was fighting to break free and find Charley. I kept hold of her, refusing to let her go. The clearing was littered with dead bodies. But I couldn’t see Charley among them.
Viking rushed at Flame and started pulling him back from hacking at a body that was more than dead. Flame’s black eyes were insane as he fought Viking. But Vike held strong. “Flame. It’s Vike. We gotta go.” Clarity seemed to hit Flame. But not his brother. Ash had gone full fucking psycho, shooting at the dying Klan and cartel until their faces were unrecognizable, firing bullets into dead bodies just to see them fucking jump.
Styx grabbed Ash’s collar and started yanking him back. The kid started trying to fight Styx. “Get the fuck off me! I gotta kill them! I gotta fucking kill them!” he snarled, face red and eyes bloodshot. Fucker was lost to bloodlust. Styx didn’t even entertain the kid; he just kicked his guns from his hands and threw him toward the truck.
“He pushed me outta the way!” Ash roared, his voice breaking. “He fucking took a bullet for me and now he’s dead! That should have been me!” He punched his chest. “That fucking should have been me!” Flame rocked on his feet beside his brother. I could see by Flame’s tortured fucking face that the guy didn’t know what the fuck to do. But when Ash screamed and fucking roared into the air, Flame grabbed Ash by his neck and pulled him to his chest.
Ash fucking fell apart as Flame’s eyes squeezed shut, and he breathed fast. Ash clung onto to Flame, and it didn’t look like he was ever letting go.
AK came gunning toward us. He raced straight to Vike and Zane. He kissed Zane’s head. “You killed them?”
“They killed Slash,” Zane said. His voice was shaking, and I knew that Zane wouldn’t be a kid anymore after today. Once you took someone’s life, any innocence you had left was gone.
AK hugged Zane, then said, “Get in my truck.” AK turned to Ash, still in Flame’s arms. “Flame, Ash, you get in too.”
Ash broke from Flame. He glared at the bodies. “Ash, in the truck,” AK repeated. Ash turned on AK. AK’s eyes narrowed. “I said get in the fucking truck, Ash.” Ash looked like he was about to argue, but he turned and got in the back next to Zane. The kid’s eyes dropped to his hands that were covered in blood, and he started rubbing his fingers together, fixated on the blood.
“Home,” Ky ordered, speaking for Styx. “We convoy back to the compound.” I led Adelita toward the truck. She was quiet, too quiet. But when Smiler walked past us, covered in blood, heading to AK’s truck with a lifeless Slash in his arms, a cry ripped from Adelita. She watched them all the way to the truck. Smiler’s face was blank, but his eyes were full of nothing but fire and pain. My fucking chest tightened when he got in the truck and cradled Slash’s body to his chest. Tears started fucking streaming down his face as he kissed his cousin on the head over and over again, rocking him back and forth.
Adelita watched it too. Her face was wrecked watching reality slam home to Smiler. Slash was dead. His fucking cousin was dead.
“Lita, come on, baby.” But she didn’t move. She was numb and couldn’t tear her eyes from Smiler and Slash. I lifted Adelita into