“You did what?” I screeched, looking at Camden wildly. “Why the fuck did you leave him, he was shot!?”
“I had to come get you,” Camden said angrily. “We didn’t know that you were going to be having dinner at his house. If we’d known that, I would have never let you leave today.”
“So where the fuck is Gus, Javier?” I asked, my eyes slicing into him.
He rubbed nervously at the dried blood that was smeared all over his forehead. “He’s gone.”
“Dead?!”
He smoothed his hair behind his ears. “No. They have him.”
“Who the fuck is they?”
He looked at me like I was an idiot. “Who do you think? Los Zetas.”
“How the hell did they get him?” I looked between the both of them and slammed my hands down on the dashboard. “The fuck!” I screamed.
Javier sighed and looked away. I was so close to clocking him upside the head and reopening a few wounds, I didn’t give a shit if he came and got me and Camden out of there. I knew him rescuing us couldn’t have been because he had a change of heart. He licked his lips and gave me an apologetic glance. “After Camden left, I waited until I could hear the ambulance. I left Gus there and went into the building. I knew the cops would show up soon after, Zetas cops, once the medics discovered Peter and Raul’s bodies and that I’d be as good as dead. I went upstairs to hide. I watched the ambulance come. He was alive. They put an oxygen mask on him. They took him away. They got to the end of the street. Then a black car came out of nowhere, stopped the ambulance. Shot the driver. Opened up the back. Took Gus out, shot everyone else. They put Gus in the car. And then they drove off.”
My mouth was open. It took effort to close it. “And that was Travis? He was at the party …”
“I guess Raul orchestrated this. We won’t know because I shot him. And he, by the way, is the one who shot Gus, not me.” Javier cast a furtive glance over at Camden and continued, “I’m guessing they mean to take you, Ellie.”
Camden cleared his throat. “They would have taken Ellie at the party. I was watching Travis’s face, he was truly shocked when he found out about Ellie and her mother.”
“He was probably planning on taking Ellie later, for vengeance, without knowing who Ellie really was. Now, he probably has Gus. And this whole fucking thing is far from over. Now, Travis knows everything.” He scratched at his chin thoughtfully, “Your parents won’t be around for much longer either.”
That was enough. I took my elbow and smashed Javier right in his already broken nose. Then I crawled over Camden and jumped from the Jeep, running down the road until I tripped over a pothole and went flying to the ground.
Camden was soon at my side, helping me back up. I waved him away, just wanted to lie there, let the rain wash me away.
“Ellie, come on,” he said softly, bringing me up to me feet. My dress was all dirty from the mud, as dirty as I felt.
I blinked back the tears and stared up at him, the side of his face illuminated by the headlights. “What do we do now?”