Death of Cupids (The Blood of Cupids MC) (19 page)

Ryan

Three shots. 

Right to her chest.

She fell.  It was like slow motion.  I watched her
face turn white as she hit the floor.

“Grace!” I called, but I felt as though I was stuck in
water.  I was above her, but she didn’t move.  She lay there,
motionless.

“You bastard!”  I screamed at him.

“It was for your own good.  You could be something…”

But I didn’t want to be anything.  I just wanted
Grace.  I wanted Grace and I wanted our daughter and I wanted nothing
else.  I had made my choice, and he had taken that away from me.

One of the most recent prospects ran to the open door to let
Sean know of the news.  A handful of the
Cupids
had escaped, and
they helped to release each other.  It was now a full on war; the other
side had escaped and were no doubt planning their next attack. My mother had
ran from the room, hoping to avoid any more violence, but I heard the guys,
both sets of my guys, yelling for their lives.  It was a silly war…
unworthy of the death toll it would most likely rake up.

I pulled the gun Grace had used to scare my mother off of
the floor, aiming it at Sean’s head.

“Go ahead, Ryan.  Pull the trigger.”

I cocked the gun.

Just then, Rocky ran past the door, shaking his head at
me.  It could only mean one thing:  the
Cupids
had lost. 
They were no match for the monsters I had created.  My father’s legacy was
now worthless because of me.  But I could blame myself until I was blue in
the face.  There was only one person to blame: the monster who created me. 
Sean Cassidy.  It was my turn to fight.

“You don’t have it in you to kill me.  I’ve watched you
your whole life.  You could’ve been something, yes, but you’re too
soft.  You’ll never be able to go that extra…”

He didn’t finish his sentence.  He couldn’t.  I
had fired the bullet that landed right between his eyes.  He fell to the
floor, never to say another word.  Am I really too soft?

I had finally killed Sean.  A lifetime ago, I had
promised myself that I would kill him if it were the last thing I ever did. 
And it would be the last thing I ever did.  With Grace dead, I had nothing
else.  I had no reason to live.

It was the truest thing I had ever said.  I was nothing
without Grace.  My days were nights and my summers were winters.  She
was the only person who made me see the light that was still inside of
me.  Without her, I was certain to fall from grace.

I turned the gun on myself, let another bullet into the
barrel, and readied myself for the end.  I took a deep breath and bent
down to kiss her one last time.

Ryan

“Daddy!”

I heard my baby girl come barreling down the hallway. 
She was wearing a dark blue dress with white polka dots and her deep red hair
hung in curled pigtails.  She was the spitting image of her mother, but
with my bright green eyes.

“Happy birthday, princess.”  I laughed as I drew her
into my arms and lifted her over my head.

“I’m three!”

“You
are
three.  Soon you’ll be an old lady.”

She bopped me on the head and wrinkled her nose up at me in
disgust.  “I won’t ever be old.”

I pulled her into my chest, squeezing her tight against
me.  I couldn’t believe I had almost given up a life with this little
one.  I had almost sold my soul to the devil.  Little did I know at
the time, she would end up being my whole world.

“You’re squashing me, Daddy!”

I laughed as I set her down on the ground.  “Sorry baby
girl.”

She grabbed my hand, pulling me over to the couch.  She
patted the cushion, motioning for me to sit so she could climb on top of my
lap.

“Daddy, tell me my birthday story again.”

“You want to hear that silly story again?”

“I do!  I do!” She cheered.

So I told her.

“Well, the day you were born, I had to stop a very bad man
from doing a very bad thing.  So I handed you back to your mommy, and I
ran off to stop him.  But I didn’t get there in time and the whole place
blew up!”

“No!”

“Yes!  And then the very bad man got mad at me, so he
started tying up my friends.  And then, just when I thought he couldn’t do
anything else that would make me so sad, he brought your mommy in and aimed a
gun at her to scare me.”

“That’s terrible!”

“And then, because he was a very bad man, he shot the gun…”

“And out came butterflies and glitter.”  Her sweet but
stern voice interrupted my story. 

“Uh oh, Mommy caught us.”  My little girl curled into
my side, hiding her face from her mother.

“Ryan,” her eyes pierced me, “what are you doing telling our
daughter that story?”

“She likes it.” I cringed.

Grace shook her head at me, but couldn’t hide her amusement
at my slanted form of parenting.  She held out her hand to our daughter,
but never took her eyes off me.

“Come on, Emily.  Let’s go grab you a jacket, and we’ll
take a walk down to the lake.”

My girls left the room, leaving me alone with our beagle
curled up at my feet.  I thought back to the day three years ago… the day
our daughter came into this world… the day I thought I lost my wife forever.

Three shots. 

Right to her chest..

Without her, I was certain to fall from grace.

I turned the gun on myself, let another bullet into the barrel,
and readied myself for the end.  I took a deep breath and bent down to
kiss her one last time.

That’s when she blinked.

“Ryan… stop… no.”  Her voice was weak, but she was
alive.  The relief was almost too much to bear.

“Grace?”  I still had the gun at my head. 
“Grace, you’re alive?  You’re really alive?”

“Yes… I’m wearing a vest.”  She still seemed to be
in pain from the bullets I finally saw were lodged into the Kevlar under her
shirt.

“How?”

“Danny… he gave me a vest.”  She tried to sit
up.  “He had a feeling things would go as they did, and he gave me a vest
from your club stash, you know, just in case.”  Her voice was raspy, and
she was having a hard time breathing, but she was my Grace, and she was alive.

Danny had done one final act of goodness.  I knew it
was still in him somewhere.  And he saved that goodness for Grace. 
He saved her life.

“Okay, Daddy, we’re ready to go!”

Emily’s voice shook me from my memory, and I stood to meet them. 
I wrapped Grace in my arms, whispering in her ear how much I loved her. 
Then I took her face in my hands and brought her in for a kiss to prove that
love, to prove that she had given me everything I could’ve dreamed.

“Bowie, let’s go.”  Our beagle jumped up from his deep
sleep and followed us as we piled onto the front porch.  I lifted Emily
onto my hip, and she wrapped her little arms and legs around me.

“Daddy,” Emily whispered too loudly in my ear, “you have to
tell me how the story ends.”

I chuckled to myself as I took Grace’s hand in mine. 
“Well, my little one, it ends happily ever after.”

I smiled at my beautiful wife as I closed our little red
door behind us.