Now is the time of our revenge. I’ll get it for Cat and for Oscar, for myself and for this fucking country.
Our enemies have hell to pay, and I’m about to bring them the bloody bill.
29
Catalina
Angel and I ride in separate cars back to Juan’s place.
It’s probably for the best. The heaviness of our two hearts would probably cave in the backseat if we rode together. Still, I’ve never felt so lonely as we pull back up to the four-story colonial mansion that we left earlier this morning.
The sun has started to set and the wind is slowly picking up, but we find shelter in the isolated abode.
“What is this place?” I hear Angel ask, as I follow Juan in through the front door.
“It’s where I’ve been keeping my family,” he softly replies, almost as if saying it too loud would be dangerous.
“You brought us to your safehouse!?” Angel isn’t so quiet. I can hear the disbelief in his voice. “Juan, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did,” Juan sighs. “We’re connected forever now. Either we all win together, or we all die together. What we’ve started is bigger than any cartel; it’s bigger than the underworld, and far bigger than ourselves. This was the last place I could have sheltered Cat, and so this is where I brought her...”
Angel’s hand clasps around Juan’s shoulder and they share a respectful look. I’m still not sure what makes this place so special, but from the tone of the exchange, I understand that it was a great risk for Juan to bring me here. “Thank you, Juan,” I offer.
“For our families,” he toasts. “... Would you like to meet mine?”
I don’t have a chance to answer before Angel butts in for me. “No. I think it’s best if we don’t. Someday, this war will end, and things will go back to as they were. Family and work should be separated, it’s safest that way.”
Juan nods. I can’t tell if he agrees or disagrees but he doesn’t fight it. “I’ll show you to your room,” he says. “Hopefully you won’t have to stay long.”
I didn’t think I had slept, but a harsh buzz seems to snap me out of whatever daze I had fallen into.
The basement bedroom is dark; I reach across the mattress for Angel, but he’s not there. Did he ever come to bed? Could either of us bear to sleep with each other right now?
I wipe the gunk from my eyes and sit up. The source of the buzzing seems to escape me. It’s the cell phone, it has to be, but where the hell is it?
Suddenly, my heart is on fire.
... Could it be someone calling about Oscar???
I whip off my covers and scramble out of bed, but my legs are so heavy that I immediately fall to the floor. That hardly stops me. My hands dig into the carpet and I pull myself forward, towards the incessant buzzing, but the further I manage to crawl, the more distant the ringing seems to become.
Eventually, the buzzing almost sounds like it surrounds me. Frustration builds behind my eyes as tears blur my vision. I can’t stop. My helpless struggle continues until suddenly, the bedroom door bursts open and a stream of light locks me in place.
I look up through my tears and recognize the hulking figure standing in the doorway. He looms over me, half-devil, half-angel, and I don’t know whether to cry for joy or in fear.
The buzzing doesn’t stop. “... Help...” Even my own voice sounds so distant.
Angel doesn’t have any problem closing the gap between us. He marches forward, a man on a mission, until his giant hand is wrapped around my throat. What are you doing!? I try to ask, but the words don’t come out.
His rough fingers burn through my tender skin like a branding iron. Hot sighs escape my trembling lips. “The phone...”
Angel doesn’t seem to care about who’s calling, or for what. He picks me up off the ground and throws me onto the bed. I bounce on the mattress like a fallen leaf, completely useless—before I can blink, he’s on top of me. His sizzling skin burns off my clothes and his forearms cage me in a prison of his flexing muscles. The heat that falls from his bulging chest makes it hard to breathe... but the second his teeth sink into my neck, I’m overcome by a new vigor.
My limp limbs suddenly roar back alive and my hands find Angel’s fiery abs. At first, I try to push him off, but then his wild teeth retract and his lips suck down on my wound, and a new weakness washes through my body.
“Angel...” I whimper. His hard cock grows and grows until its bulging head fills up the space between my thighs. Molten lava flows through my belly as Angel’s lips work down my neck and to my tits. He latches onto my tented nipples and the boulder of sorrow that weighs down my heavy heart cracks. My back arches and Angel’
s thick finger finds my soaking petals. Without any decorum, he slips into me and my eyes roll into the back of my head.