The Bad Things (Book 5)

Chapter 15. Coward

            It had been a month since I took the chair. A couple of relations were lost completely, but it didn't matter much—at least that is what Angel and Mom told me. Part of me felt bad or like there had to be something I could do to fix it. Death threats were coming at me from four different street gangs we used to deal with, and this had Abigail concerned.

Our wedding date had been set, and Abigail kept herself mostly busy with those plans. Lucky for me, I didn't have to help too much with that. However, my work had been cut out for me too. It seemed that I had to fly off to some foreign country every couple of days. It resembled the life of a rock star—money, jets, people, and fancy hotels.

Some people even asked for my autograph because apparently, my family designed their favorite clothes or furniture—the expensive kind. Ridiculous is what I called it. I wasn't famous, but people treated me that way. If I said jump, they would ask how high. When you were the king of all Latin Kings, people bowed down to you.

Angel, Mia, and their kids had moved into another mansion a few miles from mine, which wasn't far from Mom and Dad. Angel and Mia did go on their vacation, but they were already back. The entire mansion had been left to me, Abby, and Stormy, but I hadn't been home most of the month.

I would finally be home in an hour, and I had been gone a whole week. Stormy stayed with my parents, and she would be home in the morning. Abigail would be at the airport to pick me up. I flew first class back home.

Angel and Mom took their private jets when they moved, and I didn't have time to look around for one yet, nor did I care.

One of the flight attendants smiled at me flirtatiously. I rolled my eyes and gazed out the window. The plane flew lower, and the airport came into view. Finally—I thought to myself. I missed Abigail like crazy. It had been a long week, and now I would get to be home until after our honeymoon was over.

"Welcome home," the blond flirty flight attendant said.

A light bulb turned on in my head. I tilted my head and pretended to be confused for a moment. "Mm, gracias, Señorita," I said and smirked.

She cleared her voice and nodded awkwardly. Surely, she understood enough Spanish to recognize what I said, but it stopped her from saying anything further to me.

I chuckled as I stepped off the plane. The airport wasn't very busy, and it was late at night.

Abigail sat in one of the seats, reading a book while waiting for me.

"Hey, bebé," I said as I approached.

Her head snapped up, and she dropped the book. "Babe!" she squealed excitedly. She jumped into my arms and smashed her lips to mine. She broke the kiss breathlessly and smiled. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. Let's get home."

Abigail grabbed her book, and we headed for the exit. We crossed the parking lot to the car. Abigail brought the BMW.

Abigail tossed the keys to me. "You can drive."

I didn't argue. We climbed into the car. The night air was warm but not humid or sticky, so we didn't need the air or the heat.

As we drove away from the airport, we talked about how things were for me away from home and how things went for her at home. There wasn't much traffic. We saw a car go by every couple of miles. We neared one of the bridges that headed out of town, and a gunshot went off. The gunshot shattered the back window.