The executed, p.6
The Executed, page 6
Mrs. Reyes continued to smile until she saw Fitri behind me, then her eyes turned curious. I was glad the kid wore oversized clothes and a cap. I didn’t need any more problems on my side of the street. Lord knows, Mrs. Reyes had been trying to get into my house from the moment I made residence here. She’s widowed, and lonely—a bad combination for me. A lot of these women had a worshiping complex for the men who went out on runs. They all craved a protector.
But the idea she had of me in her life was far from the truth. I was here to survive and make sure my men came back alive. That was it.
“Hello there! I haven’t met you before, have I? You must be new. I’ve never seen you around with Eliseo.” Mrs. Reyes wouldn’t let up with her mingling of my personal affairs. I had to do something before it went too far.
Fitri choked, and I lifted a brow at her reaction, partially unsure if she was waiting for me to save her from the widow or if she was going to save herself. With a house between where we stood and our destination, I almost tripped when I heard Sili’s voice come out loud and clear.
“Oh, yeah. Eliseo’s been hiding me away. You know how he is, doesn’t really like people in his business. And by the way, I’ve been feeding him just fine,” she batted her lashes with a hand on her hip.
Her feminine voice was on full blast now, compared to the way she usually spoke when around strangers. I was caught off guard, curious to see what she was up to.
“Oh, I thought you were—I mean—I’m so sorry.” Mrs. Reyes flushed deeply and put a hand over her chest. She looked like all her dreams had been shattered. Did it make me a bastard that I was trying hard not to laugh?
A hand touched me, and electricity rippled up my arm. Fitri’s delicate fingers were slowly caressing my skin, and I didn’t know if I should slap it away or see where this conversation was heading.
“Thought I was what? Or are you saying you thought Eliseo was bringing little boys to his house? I’m not sure whether to be offended for myself, or for the man,” she said in mock offense, blinking up at me then casting an accusatory gaze back at the poor widow.
Could this get any worse… or more entertaining? My focus zoned in on the little hand touching me as my ears continued to listen to this crap shoot.
“I didn’t mean—” Mrs. Reyes tried but was cut off.
“Of course, you didn’t,” Sili snapped in subtle female aggression. “You’re just following Eliseo around, trying to get his attention. Sorry to inform you, Mrs…” She cocked her head, and a laugh slipped out of me. I tried to mask it with a cough, failing miserably as they both jerked their gazes at me.
“Reyes,” she finished for her.
Fitri gave her a bright smile, and my eyes wanted to bug out of my head. The simple act transformed her face into something else entirely. I never knew she had dimples and now I can’t get it out of my mind.
“Ah, Mrs. Reyes,” Fitri continued politely. “I’ll be accompanying him tonight. I’m sure your husband is missing you?”
Shit, I didn’t get a chance to tell Fitri that—
“I’m a widow.”
“I see,” she answered easily as if prepared for it. “Sorry to hear. It’s the world we live in. Goodnight Mrs. Reyes.”
Fitri’s fingers went from caressing to digging her little nails into my skin as she dragged me down the street toward our destination. We reached my porch, and I was both impressed and suspicious. How did she discover which house belonged to me? Pushing the thought back, I asked her the other question that was burning to come out. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
There was that little brat again. I ripped my arm out of her grasp, stomped up the steps, and took out my keys. “You know what. Why would you have Mrs. Reyes think that? She wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
I couldn’t very well tell her I enjoyed watching the trainwreck.
“Pfft. She was sniffing you like she was in heat. I merely helped the conversation along, since it didn’t seem like you knew what you were doing,” she accused.
I turned to give her a piece of my mind when she shouldered me and went inside first. I slammed the door with my boot and stared at her, incredulous. “I knew exactly what I was doing. I was handling it.”
She turned with fire in her eyes, and my hand itched to do things. It appeared, now that she came out of her shell, she was nothing but trouble.
“You weren’t handling shit,” she spat. “Now, tell me where the weapons are so I can clear my tab and get the hell out.”
I laughed humorlessly at that. “Whatever. Fine. Let’s get this shit done so you can get back and rest up before training tomorrow.”
“What the hell?” she whinged. “Once I’m done here, I’m done. That was the deal.”
I kept walking until I reached the back of the house where there was a dented cabinet full of weapons. “The deal, Sili,” I started without looking at her just to annoy her, “was that you become part of my team while we keep pretending you're a boy. But with the way shit went down with Mrs. Reyes, I’m sure your cover will be blown by now. But who knows? She’s a recluse. You might get lucky.”
“Seems like she’s the one who wanted to get lucky. How did I end up with this asshole?” she grumbled under her breath, making me bark out a laugh.
I grabbed the first weapon closest to me and shoved it into her chest. She gave me a little snarl and yanked it out of my hand, walking toward the little table I had set up nearby. I watched as she sat down with more attitude than her little body should have and glared at me.
She shouldn’t look so attractive with that gun in her hand.
“Well? Are you just going to stand there?” she complained. “I need some rags, or whatever you use to clean this stuff.”
That little bite to her words had my insides boiling. Rags first. Discipline later. Narrowing my eyes, I ripped my shirt off and tossed it at her face. It fell into her lap and left her mouth hanging open.
“Use that. The old rags were too worn out. I expect half of that cabinet to be done by the end of today.” Turning, I walked away toward the downstairs restroom and slammed the door.
The doctor’s puncture wound on my arm still itched. The fucker probably didn’t even sanitize his needles. Leaning my hands against the sink, I stared at my foggy reflection in the dirty cabinet mirror. I cracked my neck as the aches from today caught up with me. I really was getting too old for this crap. Opening the cabinet door, I grabbed the bottle of painkiller I had stashed away. There were only a few pills left. I popped one into my mouth and ground down with my teeth, letting the bitter chemical taste fill my mouth.
As I continued to torture myself, swallowing particles of the pill down dry, I stared at the old wounds I had on my chest—each one a memory from a time I couldn’t seem to forget.
The smell of flames burned my lungs as I ran toward my home, hoping nothing had happened to her.
The crackle of the fire, the screams of women and children pierced my ears like razors while my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. I almost slid past the door as my hands grabbed the edge to stop my momentum. Waving my hand in front of my face to clear the smoke, the strong metallic smell overwhelmed my senses.
My heart stopped.
There, lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood, was my wife, with her stomach and legs mutilated beyond recognition. Her eyes were glazed over in an expression of fear, turned to the side.
My pulse throbbed against my ear, drowning out the screams and flames. Darting my eyes around the room, I took tentative steps, trying to see if our unborn child was alright… but there was nothing. Nothing but the blood of my wife christening the grounds of the place we once called home.
My fist landed on the mirror, coating it with red cracks. The pain in my knuckles dislodged the memory as I hung my head and buried my face in my hands.
4
FITRI
It had been strange around these men the past few months.
After clearing my tab and completing training with them to their satisfaction, I found a sense of camaraderie growing between us—one I didn’t expect. When Gunner and Reed found out about my truth, they didn’t skip a beat. Everything was business as usual. They had been good about keeping my secret around others, and that was something I appreciated greatly.
They were good to me. I still couldn’t understand why. I was a nobody brought into their tight-knit team out of the blue. I thought back to our last training with a confused smile.
“Again!”
I threw my punch toward his face, but he dodged, twisted, and shouldered me in the back then elbowed me into the ground swiftly.
I groaned and turned over, staring at the sky, trying to catch my breath. What the hell? How did he move so fast?
His hand stuck out in my direction and I grabbed it, letting him lift me up easily. Reed’s smile took over his face as he released my grip and got back into position.
“Come on, kid,” he called out. “You’re getting better, but it’s not good enough. What if you call for backup and we don’t make it in time? You need to stay alive long enough for us to make it there.”
He was right.
“Quit yacking, you two. Again!” Eliseo’s voice boomed, and I flinched subtly. Asshole.
Reed’s eyes sharpened on me but he didn’t say a word, he simply lifted his hand and curled his fingers in the come hither motion.
Rolling my neck, I got back into a fighting stance and we circled each other. My eyes scanned for any possible openings or advantage points. Reed was almost as big as Eliseo, outweighing me by almost a whole other body. Most of the men on the team did. At five foot four, I stuck out like a sore thumb amongst these guys.
I lunged and twisted at the last minute, dodging his block, spinning until I could leap onto his back and wrap my arms around his neck and head with a firm grip.
He used his strength to throw me over his shoulder. Landing on my feet, I lunged again toward his right leg, pulling him onto the ground where I straddled him with my hands around his neck.
He stared at me with his chest heaving, nostrils flaring while I stared back, waiting for his next move. But I couldn’t anticipate what happened next. His eyes flamed with an emotion I couldn’t name, and it scared me as his pulse rose beneath my palms. My grip loosened, but he grabbed my wrist before I could pull away, keeping me locked in position.
The tension in the air between us became thick and heady, my own chest rising and falling more than it should. Suddenly, I was pulled off him by the back of my shirt with a hard jerk, landing me on my ass.
“Alright, that’s enough,” came Eliseo’s voice. “Get your ass up, Reed. You’re embarrassing me. You just got your ass handed to you by a girl.”
Reed brushed off his insult with a chuckle and continued to stare intensely at me beside him. “I’d gladly let the kid do it again. She’s getting better, quicker.”
“She’s going to spar with one of the other guys,” Eliseo barked out.
What was up his ass? Reed had been the easiest to work with so far. His instructions were the simplest for me to understand with how he broke things down.
“Whatever you say,” Reed mumbled, dusting himself off.
“I don’t—” I tried to pipe in.
“Gunner! Get your ass over here!” Eliseo instructed after glaring at Reed with more attitude than normally called for.
Gunner ran up, his forehead already gleaming with sweat from sparring with Samuel. “Good. That asshole Samuel fights dirty and always smells like pussy. I’m tired of that shit.”
A laugh burst out of me and I doubled over at his blatant comment. We all knew it. We all thought it, but to hear it out loud was something else.
Eliseo’s scowl softened right before he chuckled along with me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe. He was such a hardass most of the time, it was rare to hear laughs slip out of him like this during training sessions. It made him more relatable.
“Alright, Gunner you’re with Sili,” he instructed. “Reed, with me.”
“You got it.” Gunner slapped me on the shoulder, and I almost fell over. He laughed it off before getting into position.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the way Eliseo tackled Reed with full strength, taking him down to grapple. It reminded me of the first time he took me down, and my heart kicked up.
“Pay attention!” Gunner yelled before he swept my feet from under me, landing me on my back again.
I groaned and rolled to the side, rubbing the sight of impact. I didn’t know how I felt about a group of men actually being kind to me. It had never happened before. The last man that was kind to me ended up in a pool of blood—
“Sili,” Eliseo gritted out, pulling me from my thoughts. “Quit standing around staring off into the distance. We got a trip to prepare for. Go get strapped up!”
Lifting my lip in a curl, I stared daggers into him. He merely chuckled at my reaction and waved me off. Eliseo and I had come to more neutral ground between one another, my initial paranoia about him dissipating the more I was with him, witnessing how he operated with his men. I could see why they were loyal to him. He had taken more of a protective, fatherly role with me since I joined his team, always making sure I stayed on my toes and kept others away from me when I started to get overwhelmed.
I didn’t change the fact that he was still an asshole, and still got on my nerves from time to time. I honestly didn’t think that would ever change.
The men were already strapped and headed to the front community gates. I jogged back toward my house and up the stairs to slip some blades into my boot, pistols into the waist of my pants, as well as grab the crossbow and bolts we found on the last trip. The weight felt good in my hands.
I ran downstairs with renewed energy and almost slammed into a large body. The familiar masculine musk hit me before the tanned, tattooed arm held me steady.
“You need to pay more attention to your surroundings.” Eliseo’s deep timber was so condescending. Or, maybe my pride was hurt by his assessment. I was trying to hurry because he was commanding me to.
Not only had I been forced to learn all forms of weaponry, the guys had been challenging me with hand-to-hand combat in case they didn’t get to me in time during reconnaissance. My head was swimming with so much knowledge that I occasionally became distracted by what was expected of me. Who was he to nitpick my weaknesses?
I said nothing. Eliseo hated insubordination, and always had a gleam in his eye when my mouth got the better of me. It sent chills down my spine in more ways than one. Thinning my lips, I shouldered my way past him with emphasis. He chuckled behind me as he locked the door and slammed it shut. When we both reached the front of the community, there was already a decent group forming.
“What took you so long, kid? Was Eliseo holding you up?” Reed grinned, and his face softened. It made some of the tension brought on by Eliseo melt away. He was quite a handsome guy when he let his guard down. I shouldn’t be thinking about how handsome he is.
Shrugging one of my shoulders, I broke his eye contact by pretending to pat myself down to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be.
It took me a while to understand how these men mentally operated. Samuel always had sexual innuendos, Gunner was the quietest, more patient of the bunch, Reed was the most level-headed, and Eliseo…
I turned to look at him with a sour expression. “You know how he is.”
Reed and Gunner both laughed as Eliseo joined in with a chuckle while putting his hand on my head, digging his knuckles into my cap. I hated it when he did that, and he knew it. I scrunched my nose and slapped his hand away.
“Alright, where’s Samuel?” Eliseo asked. “Is he rounding up the groups?”
“Yup, he should be done any minute,” Reed answered.
“Alright, listen up!” Samuel commanded. Everyone around us stopped their conversations and turned to look at him with respect. “Team A is taking the Humvee, Team B the truck, and Team C the Jeep. We’re heading out of Ashborne in the next fifteen minutes. This trip is going to be one of our longer ones, since we’re heading farther up northwest than usual. It gets cooler up there guys, so make sure you’re dressed appropriately. I don’t need shivering fingers getting trigger-happy. Take note that we’ll be close to Clan Sira and Lekim territory, so keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Stay together, safety in numbers.”
When Samuel got down to business, he had a similar authoritative presence as Eliseo. Once his speech was done, everyone started to break up and murmur amongst themselves about what they might run across.
“Whose team am I on?” I asked the men.
Reed smiled and opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Eliseo. “Mine. Get your ass in the Humvee.”
Frowning at the jerk, I gave Reed an apologetic look. He stared at Eliseo’s back for a few moments before he waved me off and headed toward the Jeep. My eyes followed Reed, wondering what just occurred.
“Sili!” Eliseo snapped, and I stood at attention, running toward him.
“Geez, calm down. Samuel said we’re leaving in fifteen,” I retorted.
I grabbed the handle to the back passenger door, pulling it open, when Eliseo slammed it shut and caged me in with his body. I turned with wide eyes, staring at his chest. With his proximity, I could feel the heat come off his body. His scent enveloped me and I breathed harder through my mouth as I tilted my head up to look at him, curious as to what I did wrong now.
“Sili.” There was that tone again, the one he was always using when he wanted me to know I was testing him.
Was I? I mean, I was definitely annoyed he didn’t let me go with Reed’s group. At least he was fun to be around. Eliseo’s eyes bordered with fire and mirth. I didn’t know how to read him, always confusing the hell out of me with words and actions that didn’t match.
“You’re going to have to move if you want me in this Humvee,” I told him.
