32. Duke
THIRTY-TWO
DUKE
A zrael is here.
He’s here.
Oh God. Why is he here ?
My heart pumped so loud in my chest that it was the only thing I could hear. The only thing I could focus on. That and him. His eyes. Big and bright and…focused.
Oh yeah. There’s a gun to my head .
I forgot about that. Which only brought back the worry.
Why was he here? Why hadn’t he run? Why hadn’t he left? He was going to die because of me. We all were.
“Of course it’s you. I should have known,” he said to Derek behind me.
My head craned even more to the side, pushed by the gun to my temple, and I winced under the strain on my neck muscles.
“Put your gun on the floor and your hands up. Now,” Derek shouted.
Azrael nodded and dropped his rifle.
“Kick it to me!”
Azrael glanced at me and, without blinking, kicked the rifle to my feet.
“Duke! Are you okay?” he asked.
“Hey!” I said. Derek pushed the gun until I yelped from the contortion of my head.
“Shut up. And you! Drop to your knees.”
“What’s the plan here, Derek?” Azrael asked as he went down to the floor by the staircase. “How do you think this plays out? How do you get out of this? There are about a dozen men out there ready to take you out as soon as you step foot outside.”
There were? Where did he find a dozen men to come for me, to come to my rescue?
“You’re going to instruct them to stand down and let me go, or your boyfriend will paint the walls red with his brains.”
“Brains aren’t red, idiot,” I said.
Derek smacked me on the forehead with the bottom part of the barrel, and I yelped.
“Shut your mouth, sissy boy.”
I growled. Like, literally growled like a feral dog.
“This doesn’t end well for you, Derek, no matter how you play it. I let you go, or I don’t. I make my men stand down or not. You kill him or not, you’re a dead man walking.”
“Well then, I should just kill him now and get him out of the way! He’s just a pest anyway. A weak, pathetic excuse for a man.”
I growled again.
“Wow, Derek. Where was this vile man all these years? You’re such a great actor if that’s all you were thinking of me all the time I’ve known you.”
“Yeah, well,” he grumbled, “you learn to put on a mask in this job if you’re going to survive.”
I laughed.
And laughed and laughed like a sad idiot who was about to lose his life.
“What’s so funny, dickhead?”
I shrugged.
“Nothing. Just…you talking about survival when you’re clearly shit at it, or you wouldn’t still be pointing the gun to my head.”
I had no idea where this Duke had come from. What kind of spirit had possessed me. All I knew was how wobbly my body felt, how fuzzy my head was, and how likely it was that I was going to die. Also, how likely Derek was to make it out of this alive. The odds weren’t in his favor.
“Shut your mouth, dick for brains. Shut your mouth before I shut it for you for good.”
“Hey! That’s my nickname for you. You’re a dick for brains. I’m just Dick. Okay?”
Derek huffed, but sadly not enough to let me go. I guessed I wasn’t that irritating.
“Now, Derek, focus on me. Please. Think this through. Think about what I said,” Azrael said.
“You think I’m stupid? You think I don’t know who you are? What you are? You think I don’t know your buddies can hear me through the shit in your ear?”
“You’re right. You’re one hundred percent right. They can. Which is why this doesn’t end well for you. But it can. If you put your gun down and let Duke and Penny go.”
Derek laughed.
“I ain’t doing any of that. You, on the other hand, are going to take your friends and get the fuck off this island, or my next move will be to call my friends and have your family, your son, blown to pieces.”
The innocent, almost angelic expression on Azrael dropped, replaced by hard lines and hatred.
“Oh, you didn’t think we’ve been watching you? You think we didn’t know you’d try something stupid? You should have left this island when you had the chance. We knew you’d come. We just hoped you’d choose your son over this fag.”
Azrael’s nostrils flared, his stare dripping poison in Derek’s direction.
My feet went numb. My whole body did.
Shit .
This was my fault. This was all my fault.
“Azrael, just go. Go, please. Take your family and go. Don’t sacrifice them for me. Please, just don’t.” My voice broke, my breath heavy and hard. Tears marked my eyes, stained my cheeks, and salted my lips. “Leave me. Leave, please.”
Azrael turned to look at me, but his face didn’t change, his expression still rigid and harsh. He must hate me. He must despise me for putting him through this.
“Duke…I…” he started.
“It’s okay. I understand. Just…leave me. Leave us.” I couldn’t even say the last words because I knew what they meant. For me and, more importantly, for Penny, who had done nothing to deserve any of this. None of them had.
Azrael let out a frustrated breath and turned to Penny.
“What have you done to her?” he gritted his teeth.
“What? Me? Nothing. I’ve done nothing to her,” Derek said.
I dared to move my neck so I could look at my sister. She was slumped on the floor, facing the wall. Her limbs were still. Her breathing was unnoticeable as if…as if nonexistent.
“Penny!” I shouted. “Pen!”
Had he done something to her? Had I been so focused on the shots raining down outside to notice Derek hurting my sister? Was it already too late for her?
I didn’t know how I could ever forgive myself for this. For any of this. Thankfully, I might not live for much longer to carry that guilt. I just…I just needed Azrael and his family to be okay. To be safe.
“Tell your men to stand down,” Derek yelled at Azrael.
“I’m not doing anything until I know she’s okay.”
Derek grumbled. “Of course she’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with her.”
“If that was true she would respond to her name.”
“Stand down!” Derek repeated.
“You’re the one with the gun, Derek. Not me.”
“You know what I mean,” he hissed.
“And I told you nothing’s going to happen until I know she’s okay.”
Derek spat and moved me to the side as he got closer to Penny and gave her legs a kick.
“Hey! You fucking bitch! Move.”
She didn’t. My stomach sank.
“You bastard,” Azrael roared.
“She’s fine,” Derek said, his tone wavering slightly. “There’s nothing wrong with her. Look.” He kicked her legs again. “Get up!”
Nothing.
“I said get up!” he shouted and aimed the gun at her.
My breath stilled. My throat constricted, and even though I could barely think, barely move, barely act, I made a fist with one hand and used my other for extra support as I rammed my elbow into his stomach and dropped to the floor.
Derek groaned and stumbled back. I only looked up at Azrael for a second. He put his hand behind him and pulled a gun.
I turned to the floor and covered my head and ears.
Bang. Bang. Bang .
Each shot made my insides pulse. Made the hairs on the back of my neck rise and goosebumps spread through the rest of my body.
“Hostile neutralized,” Azrael said, and I heard his footsteps as he approached me. “Duke? Are you okay, Duke?”
I peeked up at him and found him crouched before me, a strained smile on his face.
“I…is he dead?”
“Yeah. He’s not going to touch you again.”
I sat up and looked behind me. I didn’t get the chance. Azrael grabbed my head and turned it back to face him.
“Don’t,” he said.
“I…I don’t know why I did that. I didn’t know if it would help.”
Azrael put his hand on my shoulder and gave me his other hand to help me up.
“That was very brave what you did. Good thinking.”
He smiled, and I exhaled.
Okay. Maybe I wasn’t completely useless.
“I…thank you,” I said and glanced away from his burning gaze. “Oh shit. Penny!”
I pulled away from Azrael and ran to Penny all the while highly aware there was a red blur in my peripheral vision.
“Penny! Pen!” I shook her and she looked up, one eye open, one closed.
“Did it work?” she asked.
“Did what work?”
Azrael came to stand behind me, his build casting a shadow over Penny and me.
“Is Derek done for?”
She sat up and looked to the side. She gagged.
“I guess it worked.” She raised her hand to shield her face and looked from me to Azrael. “You can thank me later with dinner. For, like, the rest of your lives.”
“I have no idea—were you faking it?” Azrael asked.
“Yes! I saw it in a movie. It distracted the serial killer, and the good guy took him out.”
I rolled my eyes and hugged her.
“My crazy-ass sister,” I mumbled, and she laughed.
“You need to tell me what the fuck is going on because I very much doubt this happened because of a disgruntled supplier.”
I let her go and nodded.
“I will. I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”
Azrael offered both of us his hands to help us up, and once I was standing again, I looked at him, the blood draining from my face.
“Azrael! Your family! What happened? They’re in danger?—”
Azrael shook his head and wrapped his arms around me, holding my head and pressing me to his big, strong chest.
“Don’t worry. They’re fine. They’re safe,” he whispered. “We’re all safe.”
I let go of him long enough to look into his eyes, to find the truth in them. They always radiated nothing but the truth.
“You came for me,” I said.
“I’ll always come for you, baby. Always.” He took my hands and kissed the back of them one at a time before claiming my lips.
I hadn’t realized how much I needed that kiss until I was already drowning in it, his essence.
“Ewww! We almost just died, and you’re talking about your comings and goings? No one needs to hear about your bodily fluids!” Penny gagged, and I broke away from the kiss, laughing.
“Pen!” I glared at her.
“Yes? What? Save it for after you’ve explained to me what the fuck happened over steak dinner.”
A tall figure appeared at the staircase and, for a moment, made the room so dark I couldn’t tell who it was, but with another step, I realized it was Wyatt Goodman.
“You all right, kid?” he asked in his typical growly voice.
I nodded. “Yeah. I…I am now.”
“Good!” He put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You scared us there for a second.”
I let out a huff.
“I scared myself for a second too.” Parker appeared behind Wyatt, and I waved at the dark handsome man.
“Is there really a dozen guys out there? And why does this feel like the beginning of a very kinky adult movie?” I asked, realizing too late I’d said that aloud.
“No. Not a dozen. But it’s always good to bluff the bad guys. Put the fear of God in them,” Azrael said, taking me back into his arms.
“Trust me. You didn’t need to bluff to put the fear of God in him. He would have shat his pants as soon as he saw half of you.”
Azrael chuckled.
I stared at his face for longer than normal, as if memorizing it for the very first time.
And to think I almost never saw it again.
“Whe—where are we?” I whipped my head around to Wyatt, and the room started spinning.
Fuck .
“Bone Island,” Wyatt answered.
“Pfft.” I rolled my eyes. “You call an island Bone Island what do you expect to happen in it?” I muttered.
“A lot of boning?” Slade asked. I hadn’t even noticed him coming down the stairs.
I blinked and chuckled.
“That’s supposed to be my line,” I told him.
“Okay.” He put his hands up. “I’ll take it back.”
“Thank you. So considerate.” I said. “What do you expect to happen? A lot of boning and a lot…”
I had to stop and take a breath.
The room didn’t just spin. It went dark.
“A lot of…bad…juju,” I remembered saying before I fell into the darkness. Fell right into it, head first.