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“Hijo!”he hisses, dropping me on my feet and rubbing the sting at his side. I laugh loud, Romero chuckling beside me.
“You were about to show my ass to my brother,pendejo.”
Romero shrugs. “Not like he hasn’t heard you screaming upstairs.”
I strike out and pinch him too with a growl before shrieking, dodging their hands and running through the door, copying my brother when he ran for his life from Kat, and jumping in the pool for safety.
I should have known it wouldn’t do any good. They both jump in after me, their longer, more powerful legs launching them right to me.
All thoughts of guns and shooting flee from my mind as a pool fight ensues. Kat and Vicente jump in to join the fun, turning innocent pool noodles into weapons of mass destruction as we all gang up on one another.
It’s in moments like this, when I see all the smiles around me, that I realize this is the family I’d fight for. It’s always just been me and Vicente, now we’ve added more to us and each person is a piece I can’t lose.
A person I would kill and die for.
They’re my family. They’re the people I would actually think of when we’re apart, the people that make up a vital part of who I am now.
As Vicente lifts Kat to shoulders and Romero lifts me to his, I can’t stop the tears of joy slipping from my eyes.
Even as I lose my battle and flop in the water.
* * *
“Grip the handle tightly,” Romero instructs me and Vicente a few hours later. “Keep your wrist firm and use your other hand to steady the gun.”
“You’re gonna take the recoil in your dominant hand, the one gripping the gun. Make sure you keep that wrist as locked as possible,” Alvaro adds.
“Breathe in, set the sight. Breathe out, and squeeze.”
We do exactly as they say, both of us pointing directly at the targets a hundred feet away from us. When we squeeze the triggers, it’s at the same time. I feel it in my shoulders, my right foot digging into the ground slightly behind me as I keep myself from rocking backwards.
Vicente lets out a whoop, carefully placing the gun back down on the table. I copy his action and pull my ear muffs off.
“That was awesome!” I grin, the thrill of adrenaline pumping through me.
“You did good, baby,” Alvaro says.
“Aw, thank you,” Vicente says, making kissy faces at us.
“You did good too,” Romero says, clapping Vin on the shoulder, “for apayaso.”
Vicente chuckles, not at all offended by being called a clown…it’s not like he isn’t. My brother, the clown. The moronic, stupid, self-sacrificing clown.
“So,” I start, biting my lip before continuing, “has anyone heard from Marío?”
Vicente looks at me quickly, before looking back down at the guns laid out on the table in front of us as though he’s trying to pick one to shoot next. I should have waited to ask the guys when we were alone. Vicente and I may not be twins, but we’re as close as if we were. The intuition between us is strong.
“I talked to him this morning,” Alvaro says, lining a gun up to the target before pulling the trigger three times, each shot landing in the head area. “He asked for an update on Vicente. He thinks Romero has you on the no violence island.”
He pulls the clip out, keeping his eyes on the task of reloading it.
“Alvaro talked him into the week you requested.”
“Aweek?” Vicente asks, confused, fully facing me now. “How’d you talk them into holding off for a week, Vi?”
I turn to the guys. “Can you give us a minute, please?”
When Romero and Alvaro walk away, the former throwing a look over his shoulder at my brother, I turn back to him.
