I hid the blade against my forearm and walked to the top of the stairs, the way the layout of the place was I would be able to see the bar before I made it all the way down.
It was worse than I imagined.
There were two people down there. One of them had Devin against the bar, a gun flush to his head. The other was just looking on. Both of them had their backs to me but my gun was still in my old apartment. Talk about bringing a knife to a gun fight.
I knew that Devin had a gun behind the bar, if I took out the guy holding the weapon to his head, I hoped he would know to jump over and get the gun behind the bar and shoot the other one. I had to trust he would have my back.
I walked all the way down the stairs and I could see Devin was in a fucked up spot. He saw me creeping behind them but he never showed his relief.
“I told you before, I give what I have, I’m just a small fucking bar. I can’t pay that much.”
“Such a shame, Es una problema. That is the charge, if you don’t have, you have to pay a different way. Con su vida!” The man pulled back the hammer on his gun.
I had to act now! I took two large steps and pulled the man’s extended hand up and away from Devin’s head while I used the other hand to slip the large knife into the side of his neck. The mere force of me stabbing the man caused a spray of blood to coat the man to the side of us face, he was stunned. Long enough for Devin to reach over and grab his gun and pump a shotgun round to the man’s chest.
It seemed like forever, but both of the men were dead in their own blood within seconds of me stumbling onto the scene.
I watched Devin practically crumble from lack of adrenaline once he realized that it was over and he was still alive.
“Mikki!” I called up and could hear the door to the apartment swing open. “I’m ok, we are ok, keep the girls upstairs ok.”
“Yes. Ok.” The door closed and I focused my attention on Devin.
“You good?” I asked, bending down and pulling the knife out of the man’s neck.
“What the fuck, thank god you were here. Thank fucking god.” He stood up straight walked over to me and hugged me.
It was awkward but I would allow it.
When he was finished, he pulled back and swiped a shaking hand over his face.
“What the hell was this shit?”
“You don’t want to know.” He said looking away from me.
No, there is no way. My luck can’t be this bad.
“Whose men are these Devin?”
“Vilanuevas.” He said pointedly.
I threw my hands up in the air, I just couldn’t get away from this bastard.
“What the shit! Since when did this start happening? What are the cops doing?”
He shook his head and just sat down on one of his barstools. “Cops can’t do shit. No one can do anything. I didn’t tell you because I knew you were hanging on by a thread but since you and your boys left, the whole town, hell maybe the whole fucking state has gone to shit. Vilanuevas has flooded his boys in, the rate of kidnapping has gone up like thirty percent. He is shaking down most of the bars and strip clubs, especially if we have any ties to the Wings. You and your boys were the only thing holding them back.”
Life didn’t stop when I did. While I was off trying to find a hole to hide in, Vilanuevas and his fucking cartel was destroying everything that I have ever known.
“This is fucked.” I looked around the bar and luckily all the patrons were gone but there was still the problem of two dead guys on the floor.
“No worries, I’ll call Zed. They were sticking me up, everyone saw it. I have cameras to prove it. Self-defense.” Devin jumped over the bar and picked up the phone. I put my hand into my pocket and peeled off five hundred dollars. I gave him the rest, there was at least five thousand there.
“What the fuck is this?” He looked at the money and then back to me.
“Rent and putting up with my shit. You saved me. I shouldn’t even open my mouth to ask you for anything else, however I have another favor to ask you.”
“Whatever you need brother.”
“I need to borrow your car.”
He dug in his pocket and pulled out the keys, “It’s not like I leave here anyway, just bring it back eventually.”
I turned to go back upstairs and let Mikki and the girls know what was going on, Devin called out before I could make it to the stairs.
“Where are you off to?”
“I’m going home.”
Chapter 12
“I thought you said that the place burned down?” Vida asked from the back seat where she was scrunched up between Angel and whatever bags that they had.
“The last time I saw it, it was burning down, I didn’t look back and didn’t ask about it. It’s been almost seven months. If there was anyone left they may have tried to salvage it, and if not we will look somewhere else. We are going to find someone; I am sure of it.” I hadn’t even so much as asked anyone about any of my brothers. In fact, I was sure most people thought I was dead. The only person who knew where I was Devin and for the life of me I don’t know why he kept my secret, but he did.
I was instantly nervous as I pulled onto the road that I knew would lead me back to what I had considered home for the majority of my life. They had no reason to accept me, in fact they
