Chapter 25 #3
We rolled as we fought over the gun he had in his hands.
I needed to get his pistol away from him before he managed to put a round in my gut.
Until I disarmed him, I had to be careful.
Letting go of his wrist—leaving only my left hand wrapped around it and keeping him from leveling that gun into my face—I landed a blow into his side.
Ethan wheezed in pain, but his grip didn’t falter.
He knew once he lost that gun, it was over.
He was pinned beneath me and I was willing to do whatever it took to come out on top in this fight.
Ethan wasn’t a trained fighter, but the coward was a fucking snake.
A desperate snake, and desperation could give men ridiculous strength.
I didn’t see what his other hand was doing until it was too late. He took a handful of sand and tossed it in my face. Grit entered my eyes, making them burn and water. Everything was blurry and the piece of shit managed a punch to my jaw.
He wriggled out from under me while I was trying to rub the dirt from my eyes. I blinked hard a few times and looked up. He was standing over me, a wicked grin on his face as he started to bring the gun up.
“No!”
We both looked over right as Sloane swung a mesquite tree branch into Ethan’s face. The resounding crack of the wood slamming into him made me grin. Once again I was up and moving.
This time I managed to knock the gun from his grasp as I took him down to the ground for the second time that night. My hands were wrapped firmly around his neck while he sputtered and clawed at my wrists.
The more he struggled, the harder I clamped down.
“Shouldn’t an Earth God be able to smite me for doing this, Ethan?
” I taunted him. His eyes bulged in response.
Looking over my shoulder, I saw Sloane standing there, watching.
“I can’t leave him alive,” I told her, hesitation in my tone.
Was she going to blame me for killing her father?
Anger slid into her gaze. “I want you to kill him,” she told me. “He means nothing to me.”
I turned my attention back to the man who’d hurt her so many times over the years.
“You’re lucky I don’t have the time to torture you to death.
You deserve to have your fingers, toes, and dick sliced off for daring to injure my wife.
I should bleed you out, let the desert sand soak up your useless lifeforce before leaving you out here to fucking rot.
” I leaned in close and growled into his ear as he began to die.
“I wonder, if you’d known that it would come to this, back when you hurt Sloane for the first time, would you have ever dared to touch what belongs to me? ”
Pulling away, I did exactly what I’d wanted to for so long.
Ethan’s lips moved, but he was lying still.
His life faded before me, but I still kept my grip strong around his neck for a few minutes more.
I wanted to make sure the asshole was really dead.
Last thing I needed was him popping back up like a fucking jack-in-the-box.
“He’s dead, Rip.”
I glanced over my shoulder and found my brothers from the village standing there. Lockout had been the one to address me. Both Butcher and Toxic were standing on either side of Sloane, silently offering their protection to her.
Hush came over and held out a hand, pulling me to my feet. “We sent Ricochet and Priest back to the vehicles with Hellfire.”
“We need to find the girls,” Sloane said, finally speaking up.
“The girls?” Toxic asked her. “Which girls?”
“I ran into them on the way here,” I told her, kicking sand over Ethan’s motionless body.
It wasn’t to hide him. We’d end up bringing all the bodies to our friend with the funeral home.
We didn’t need the cops finding a massacre out here.
No, I just did that as a sign of disrespect to the Earth God who’d made his daughter’s life hell for her whole life.
“I directed them back to the vehicles, so we should head there first.”
Walking over, I pulled Sloane into my arms. She sank into my embrace, fitting perfectly against me.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you that Ethan was my father,” she whispered. “I tried so many times.”
“It’s okay, Angel. I understand why that would have been hard to admit. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
We started walking back toward the vehicles, my arm draped over her shoulders.
“Thank you so much. Thank all of you,” she said a little louder, “for everything you’ve done for us tonight. It couldn’t have been easy, but we’ll forever be in your debt.”
“There’s no debts with us, Angel,” I replied. “We’ll help everyone get settled and learn how to live life the way the rest of us heathens do.” I grinned down at her and enjoyed her laugh as it echoed through the darkness.
We had a lot to figure out now that we weren’t stuck inside The Order, but she and her people being free was a good place to begin. We’d figure everything out from here. I’d half expected to die tonight, certainly would have for her, but now we’d get to move forward together.