Tank let out a little moan that I know he felt all the way past his dick to his toes and back up again. “I was going to tell you regardless.”
“But this is more fun.” She grinned, kissing the side of his neck, distracting him enough to grab the gun from his hand and point it at him. He had two guns on him; it was going to be either him or the guy that did this.
“Cute,” Tank said in an amused voice. “And his name’s Benji.” As he said it, his eyes darted away from Serena’s face and locked onto mine. “And he’s standing behind you right now with a gun.”
“Well, that’s fun,” I muttered and slowly turned to face the guy who thought he was tough enough to try to take out Ash, me, and my family, my blood. Rage like I’d never known coursed through my system as the little shit-looking freshman pointed a gun that I was one hundred percent certain would turn out to be stolen at my face.
I would be shocked if he could grow a mustache. “It’s always the quiet ones.”
He shoved his glasses up his face. “It’s your fault!”
“My fault?” My eyebrows moved up in surprise. “My fault that you decided to cut the brakes on Ash’s car? My fault that the love of his life just died while you sit here ready to piss yourself? Do you even know how to fucking shoot that thing? Because the safety’s on.”
He looked down at the weapon he held. And that was all the time I needed as I kicked him in the stomach and smacked the gun out of his hand. Ash picked it up immediately.
And just like that, little Benji had nothing.
He held up his shaking hands and spat on the ground. “It was worth it. You guys all deserve to die for what you did to our parents!”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Serena said in a chilling voice. “Because we did nothing, just like you did nothing. We were all born. Some of us in the right place at the right time, some of us in the wrong place. We can either fight or join sides. Benji’s chosen his. What about the rest of you?”
She looked around the stunned expressions. Nobody said anything.
And then she looked back to Benji. “Looks like you’re the only one stupid enough to try to hurt what’s ours.” She held up her gun and then whispered, “Ash, I’ll let you do the honors since this is your loss.” She moved away, and Ash stepped forward. He grabbed Benji by the shirt and slammed him against the wall.
Benji’s head made a crunching noise against it as he started to cry.
“No.” Ash gritted his teeth. “You don’t get to cry. You don’t get to beg for mercy. My soul mate is dead because you thought you had something to prove, revenge gets you nowhere, just ask our parents.” He shoved him to the floor. “Too bad you won’t get the chance to.”
I was shocked Ash made it quick.
Two shots directly to the forehead, and it was done.
No torture.
No screams.
Ash pulled out his phone and barked into it. “Cleanup on campus. One dead.”
He hung up and held out his hands to the rest of the students on the floor. “Speak up now if you have a problem.”
They were silent.
“Good.” He put his gun away. “Don’t forget curfew’s at midnight, and mid-terms start in three weeks.”
And just like that, he walked away.
And just like that, we followed.
The hush hung heavy in the elevator as we rode down.
The minute we got outside, one of the Escalades pulled up, Dante jumped out and sighed. “Just one body? You sure?”
“He’s sure,” I said quickly. “Hey, let the parents know we’re all crashing at Nixon’s, and no shit about all of us getting ridiculously drunk, okay?”
Dante nodded solemnly. “Two twirls, man.”
“Two twirls,” I repeated and looked at Ash.
After a few seconds, Ash finally repeated, “Two twirls.”
Tank got into his truck with us and started the engine. “What does two twirls mean?”
“Everything,” Serena said, tears in her eyes. “It’s a long story, but it means that you need to capture every moment when you get it, don’t waste life doing just one twirl when you can do two.” She stared straight ahead but slid her hand toward mine and gripped. “Life’s too short to worry about too many twirls, take as many as you want, and be thankful you have the opportunity to twirl in the first place.”
I squeezed her hand right back.
Tank pulled out into traffic. “But why twirling?”
“It’s a long story,” I answered for everyone. “The point is, we lost someone today, so we aren’t going to go home and get sad. We had our vengeance; now we get drunk.”
Ash was deathly silent as we drove the entire way, his jaw clenching and unclenching every few seconds like he was about to lose it, so when we got to Nixon’s, I grabbed a bottle of whiskey and pushed him toward the basement door. “Just don’t kill me.”