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Bones crunched under my raw knuckles. Women screamed.
My throat burned from yelling obscenities.
Finally, my brother’s arms were around my torso, yanking me backward to the ground as Mateo put himself bodily between me and CJ.
I lunged forward again, but my brother held me back.
“No!” he hollered in my ear.
“Don’t!” Mateo yelled at the same time.
I fought and kicked and struggled in Tobias’s hold as furious tears streaked down my hot face. “Let me go!”
“He’s not worth it, brother!” Tobias growled.
“He took fucking everything!” I yelled, my voice cracking with the exertion.
Mateo opened his mouth to say something, but CJ sat up lightning fast and reached around him, grabbing the pistol he had concealed under his jacket and aiming it at me.
Mateo’s eyes popped open wide. “CJ! Drop the—”
I used every bit of my strength and bucked from my brother’s hold, fueled by every day I’d been locked up away from Faith, every moment I’d stayed away from her while she was laid up in that hospital, fighting for her life, every second I’d had to lie to her these past weeks. Every word she’d kept from me...
By the pure hatred I now had for CJ, who was inextricably tied to the reason for so much of it. Who had cost my Faith so much.
I lurched toward Mateo, knocking the pistol from CJ’s bruised hand.
It clattered to the wooden deck with a solid thud.
Mateo reached for it, but I beat him to it. In one smooth move, I cocked it and had it pointed directly between CJ’s eyes.
“Adam,” Mateo said, his breathing labored but his voice low, like he was talking to a wild animal. “Don’t.”
CJ stared up at me, and suddenly I saw someone I didn’t know. An evil actor playing a part. In my life. My brother’s life.
My index finger itched on the trigger. It would be so easy to end his pathetic existence for what he’d done to Faith. Too easy.
“Please, Adam,” I heard my brother plead. “He’s not worth it. Think about Faith.”
But I was. Didn’t he see that?
“Come on, bitch,” CJ taunted, his half smile sinister in his battered and broken face. “Don’t be a pussy. Do it.”
The air around me was tight. Tense with possibility. I could snuff out the asshole who’d caused my woman so much misery. He deserved no less. Prison was a small price to pay for the peace of mind... and yet, all I could think about was her face as she’d run from the party absolutely terrified. The drive to make that right suddenly weighed on me more.
“Adam...” Mateo tried again.
I narrowed my gaze at CJ. “Rot in hell, you piece of shit.” I fired once, aiming just past his head. Screams echoed behind me as the bullet splintered the deck a few inches beyond his left ear. I knew he’d have one hell of an earache.
He squealed like a bitch, which gave me a small measure of satisfaction.
I turned slowly and handed Mateo the gun, then walked away to go find my girl and see how broken she was.
The events ofthe party lost focus in my mind as I jogged out to my bike, yanking out my cell and dialing Faith’s number as I went. It rolled right to voicemail, her sweet voice asking me to leave her a message.
“What are you doing, baby?” I growled as I pocketed my phone, then straddled my bike.
I roared away from the bungalow and headed for home. I knew it was a long shot that she’d go back there since she’d already packed up all her stuff and taken the dog, leaving the place feeling as cold and empty as a tomb. Still, I had to start somewhere. I had to hope.
