Chapter Thirty

POW! POW! POW!

The sound of fireworks travels through the windows of the living room at a supersonic speed. My body is thrown to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The ringing in my ears fades out the loud screams and people yelling, "GET DOWN!"

I lay on my back, feeling a heavy weight on my body. Josiah's laying on top of me as a shield. My head lays in his large strong hands that protect it from the impact of hitting the floor.

"Are you ok?" His breathing is heavy, and his voice is low as he whispers in my ear. He looks at my face for confirmation before he scans the rest of my body for other injuries.

Doni cries as he crouches and run toward me forcing Josiah to move to the side. Doni's voice is thick with fear. "Are you hurt?" he asks in a concerned tone scanning my body looking for any signs of injury. "Shorty are you hurt?" he yells when I don't respond.

"I'm ok." I say, trying to shake the blurriness from my vision. Doni grips the back of neck, pulling me close to his face. "Don't ever do that again." He says through clenched teeth. His deep blue eyes are full of anger and hurt.

Seb crawls his way over to us. "Are you ok?" he asks as he searches for assurance in my eyes.

I nod.

He kisses my forehead and pulls me away from Josiah and into his arms.

Seb looks to Doni. "You need to get her out of here."

A look passes between Seb and Doni in understanding when he nods.

"Don't fucking fight it, Shorty. Just fuckin go!" Seb whisper yells at me like I'm a fucking toddler. I've seen that dark look in his eyes before. It's the same look he gave me when Christian beat the shit out of me a few months ago. The hatred in his eyes was enough to convince me to get my ass off the floor and run.

"I need to get to Tia." I cry out to no one.

Another round of gunshots tears through the kitchen and living room, followed by voices I don't recognize. Tia screams as Ash throws her on the ground, shielding her with his body.

Doni wraps me underneath his arms, covering me from the shattered glass. We go down hard.

"Fuck!"

"I'm hit!"

"Get down!"

Another gun shot.

"Ahhhh! Oh my god!"

"GO NOW!" Seb yells as he crawls toward the windows with his gun in his hand.

I feel dizzy, and my heart is hammering against my chest, fearing things are going to get a lot worse. Tia slams her body into mine as tears fall from her face.

"What about Josiah?" I cry out.

"Don't worry about me, sis. Just go NOW!" Josiah yells, making me flinch.

"No! Jo, come with us!"

"Get her out of here!" Seb yells to Doni over my shoulder.

"Babe, get it together! We have to get the hell out of here," Tia snaps at me.

We stay down and crawl toward the cellar when several more gun shots are heard from behind the house.

We finally get to the cellar when Gio begins to shut the door.

"What are you doing?" My voice cracks. "Wait!" I hold the door from closing. "Come with us."

"Babe, you have to stay here. If he gets a hold of you..." There's worry in his eyes, eyes that slightly glisten with tears that are unwilling to shed.

"Come on, Shorty. Let them take care of it," Doni coaxes as he lifts me from the top step with his arm wrapped around my stomach, pulling me against his body.

Doni cradles me in his arms, leading me downstairs.

"Come on!" Tia cries, waving us to move down toward them as bullets continue to fly through the house. There are only a handful of people in the room, including Telle, Lupe, and Tiny, who are all huddled together in the corner. When they see Tia and I unharmed, relief pours out of them as they run toward us, almost knocking us down. We hold each other for what seems like forever until gunshots ricochet off the house.

Little screams are heard from a few of the girls who are hiding out with us. They look disheveled from their hair, the runny make-up smeared all over their faces, to the torn shreds on their costumes. The fear in their eyes will haunt me for the rest of my life.

My body starts to shake when I notice the blood spatter on my shoes and on my costume. Doni must've sensed the feeling when he literally carries me toward the back concrete wall and sinks to the floor with me on his lap. I curl into his chest, grasping his shirt as I bury my head in the curve of his neck, trying to block out the gun shots and helpless cries.

"Baby. Are you sure you're not hurt?" he asks as he rubs my back down to my thighs. Not in a sexual way, but in a comforting and soothing manner.

With my eyes shut, I shake my head while still buried in his neck. I count to ten in my head as I try to control my breathing. Knowing that I'm wrapped up in Doni's arms makes me feel so much safer. I know he won't let anything happen to any of us.

I need to get to my baby girl. I can't die today. I won't leave her behind. What the fuck was I thinking giving myself up?

"Let me take your shoes off baby, ok?" He slowly removes my shoes splattered with blood and tosses them on the floor.

"It's going to be ok. Shh. You're safe," he comforts me in a soothing tone.

Someone else's hand touches my feet. I slowly look up to see Ash subconsciously caressing my feet, staring straight ahead while Tia's legs are wrapped around his waist, her head laying on his shoulder facing me and one hand on her back holding her in place.

A tear runs down Tia's face and the look of vulnerability in her eyes is one I haven't seen since the last night her father beat her. I reach for her hand and hold it as we wait for our fate.

Suddenly, the gun shots cease, and the cries stop. I hear footsteps above running toward the cellar. Doni stiffens the same time Ash does but they relax when we hear Josiah yell my name.

"SADE!"

The door flies open, revealing a very disheveled bloody Josiah with his chest heaving. Seb is not looking any better when he follows Jo down the stairs.

When Jo spots me, his shoulders sag with relief. "Fuck. Sade. God, I'm glad you're ok."

"Were you ever going to tell me that you were related to Shorty's ex? What the hell, man." Doni demands, taking an aggressive step toward Seb.

"Didn't think it mattered."

"You didn't think that kind of information should've been shared with me?"

Seb shrugs. "Honesty? No. Just because I'm related to him doesn't mean I care about the fucker. I will always take her side, no matter what. Blood doesn't mean shit to me. I will never betray her."

"We don't have time for this shit." Jo snaps. "We need to get her out of here."

We make our way back upstairs. As soon as we make it past the kitchen, my heart stops. No words can describe what I'm seeing.

We carefully step over the bodies that are lying still on the floor. Blood is pouring out of a redhead girl's body dressed in a cat suit. Another girl dressed as the Black Widow is holding a blood-soaked T-shirt over a boy's abdomen. He looks younger than we do. Her face is smeared with her eyeliner from her tears as she wails at the dead boy in front of her.

Spiderman lays flat on his stomach on the stairs as if he was trying to run away from the bullets, but he wasn't so lucky. There are four bullet holes in his back. We step over Joker who is lying on top of Harley Quinn, as if he can protect her from death, but the bullet between her eyes says otherwise.

"My god!" Tia cries as she covers her mouth.

Doni spins me around and holds my face in his hands. "I'm going to carry you out of here, ok? Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them."

I do what he says and shut my eyes followed by tears. Doni brushed them away when they hit his hand.

His lips brushed lightly over mine. He places a kiss on the tip of my nose, and one on my forehead. I looped my arms around his neck when he hooks his arms underneath my knees and lifts me off the ground and carries me bridal style. I cringe from the sound of crunchy glass as Doni walked throughout the house. I bury my head in his chest and cry.

"I've got you, Shorty." Doni whispers as he kisses the top of my head.

I feel dead inside.

"People are dead because of me." I choke out a cry, unable to hold back my guilt.

"Don't do that. Don't blame yourself. This is all Christian and his fucked-up games," Seb tries to convince me.

"Donnie. You and Ash need to get the hell out of here and go back home. Tia, take Shorty home with you and call your aunt. Make sure she's home with you both tonight." Jo shoots out orders to everyone.

"You're out of your goddamn mind if you think I'm letting her out of my sight," Doni argues, tightening his arms around me as if someone was going to snatch me up.

My body shudders when I feel a cool breeze. I lift my head to see if we finally made it out of the house when Tia grabs Doni by the arm, forcing him to face her. "He's not trying to be an asshole, but he's not wrong. You and Ash are not safe here. They already know who you are and will stop at nothing to hurt Shorty, which means hurting you."

Tia's right. Doni looks down at me with pain etched on his beautiful face.

"Listen to them, D. This shit...is so fucked up." Ash tries to convince his brother.

"Jo will follow you back to Tia's house." Seb says but in a forceful way as if we have no choice in the matter.

Doni looks at me with helplessness in his eyes. I need to comfort him the only way I know how. He sets me on my feet but keeps me close to his chest.

With one hand on his chest, I reach for his cheek with my free hand, and he leans into my touch. "It will be ok. You can follow us to Tia's." I pull him down to me and place a soft kiss on his lips, hoping it will keep him calm.

It must work because he pulls me into his arms and buries his head in my neck.

"If anything happens to you…"

"She'll be safe. I would never put my sister in danger," Jo promises. Doni still looks torn as to what he should do, but he nods and looks down at me with pain laced in his deep blue eyes. "What about Sophie?" Doni asks.

"She's safe with Abuela. No one knows where she lives. I made sure of it," I reassure him.

"Ok." He breathes heavily.

"Let's go," Josiah says with urgency.

The sounds of sirens roar in the distance. As we start to walk toward the front door, Tiny grabs my hand and gives me a hug and whispers in my ear to stay safe. Telle and Lupe follow suit, along with Tia. I give hugs to the rest of the guys before we settle in Tia's car.

"You know what you have to do, right?" Tia asks as she turns the key in the ignition.

"Yeah, I do," I whisper, staring straight ahead and feeling numb as regret takes over my soul.