Twenty-Eight
Her Destiny
Saint
Liv’s beauty was striking, and I couldn’t retrain my emotional response to her commitment to us. To me. But everything happened so goddamn fast. One moment I was in all my glory with our girl sealing the damn deal, happy as can fucking be, and the next, complete chaos.
The high-stakes moment slowed down as if it were my last moment of life—a pitiful replay of everything, but only the good times were with Liv.
All my existence flashed past me and brought me to a new beginning.
A wide-open door my wife held for me, with a fresh start at the rest of my days on Earth with her.
Happy. Magical. All I had wanted until a bullet whizzed past my head, narrowly missing my brain, which would surely have splattered all over my beautiful bride.
I reacted. Fast. Precise.
Zane called out. I already had my hand on my wife, and I pulled her along with Sin, who was reacting behind me. Not even a beat off. He, too, sensed the danger, took out his weapon, and fully prepared for a dangerous encounter.
I pulled a gun out of my waistband and fired three shots. Two missed. One grazed the ground and ricocheted dirt into the air. The other hit a grave. Only one clear headshot caused brain matter to fly through the air.
One down. Many more to go.
This was the dire situation I had come locked and loaded for.
Sin blasted shots off beside me, and we shielded Liv behind us.
We knew it was a strong possibility Phoenix would show us no mercy on our date of wedded bliss.
He wanted us to pay for our sins and the brother we had taken from him. Mr. Pitrone wanted revenge.
I was doubtful the bastard would show his face. He was probably hiding somewhere. Preferably miles away while his henchmen did his dirty work. He’d remain hopeful they’d kill everyone at this ceremony and make headlines for him to read with his morning Frappuccino.
Hey. The asshole struck me as the girly type. Especially since Phoenix sent his sissies to do his dirty work for him.
A goddamn crappy job too. Fuck! These guys needed to learn how to shoot. Bullets were flying everywhere. The shots hit everything but human targets.
“Give me a gun!” Liv yelled while she held Rocko safely in her arms.
“No can do, wife. This is all we’ve got,” I replied over my shoulder. Fragments of dirt hit my cheek, and a sharp graze of a stone cut in deep. “Ah, shit!”
The bastard took a cheap shot. Lousy damn aim. I returned fire. Bullet to the brain.
Take that, asshole.
“Are you okay?” Liv asked while touching my back.
“I’m fine.” I clenched my teeth.
“Here!” Zane tossed Liv a gun. “Catch!”
Liv reached to retrieve the catch and fumbled the weapon but caught it. “Got it!”
Liv clicked off the safety and cocked her weapon.
“This isn’t a shooting range, darling,” I hollered over my shoulder.
“I know.” Liv placed Rocko between her bent knees. “Trust me.”
“I do. I’ll prove my faith in you too.” I heaved a sigh. “I’ll take the bastards on the left.”
“I’ll kill the assholes on the right,” Sin said.
Liv popped her head up between our shoulders. “Let’s end these motherfuckers. No one messes with my wedding and lives to talk about it.”
Liv took three shots.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
The handgun recoiled in my ear. My eardrums rung. I ignored the brief hearing loss and eyed a target who made a run for it. I didn’t need my ears because my eyesight would guide me.
“Sneaky little prick,” I whispered and fired my weapon.
Bullet in the back. Asshole went down. No movement.
Wait…
Far left. Someone pulled a pin. An object flew through the air.
“Grenade!” I yelled.
I turned around and grabbed Rocko.
“Wha—” Sin heaved Liv to the side, and his body covered hers.
I joined Sin with Rocko underneath me as the explosion rocked the ground. Dirt flew, debris hit my backside, leaving nothing but a deafening silence. A few seconds later, there was a loud buzz.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
“Is everybody okay?” I asked.
My voice was unrecognizable.
Slowly, the surrounding sounds returned. Rocko meowed. Poor fucking cat would be glad to go home.
“Yeah,” Liv mumbled.
“I think I pulled a muscle in my back.” Sin groaned and rolled off Liv. “Hurts like a son of a bitch.”
Gunfire started again.
“Stay down! Take cover!” I scooped Rocko up and shielded Liv until we sat safely behind a gravestone. “Come on, Sin!”
“No one messes with my family.” Sin rolled over onto his stomach.
Sin took aim, didn’t hesitate, and blasted caps at the attackers’ asses.
Zane rolled into action, to the side, and through the gunfire. He waited a heartbeat and shot off six rounds at the enemy. Bodies dropped to the ground. Smoke came out of the muzzle crown, and he blew on the cloudy haze.
Sin joined us behind the tombstone. Zane took shelter at the one next to ours and peered in our direction. His chest heaved as he took a chance and poked his head up over the grave. A bullet hit the stone.
Zane crouched back down and pulled out a cigar. “Hey, guys!”
“Yeah?” I called out.
“The marriage ain’t official yet.” Zane lit his stogie and puffed on it. “Want me to finish?”
“Hell yeah!” I hollered back with excitement.
Shots hit the tombstone. Liv covered her ears with her hands. Sin tensed at her discomfort and waited for the assholes to reload. He popped off a few rounds over the top of the headstone.
Silence.
The return fire lessened.
Sin crouched down and grinned at Liv. “Pucker up, wife.”
Liv blushed. She found herself trapped between us. Nowhere to run. No place to hide. She was ours. But the expression on her face told me she was right where she wanted to be.
“Husbands?” Zane asked.
“Yeah?” we answered in unison.
“You may kiss the bride,” Zane announced.
I bent in to capture my wife’s lips on the right side and Sin on the left. Liv parted her pretty mouth, but more chaos continued. The threat loomed closer and closed in. We all hesitated.
Fuck me! Can’t we catch a damn break?