Blood & Water

Chapter 12

Carrie downed her second drink. "Still?"

"He was the guy you dated before we got engaged, right? When your dad died?"

She nodded.

"He was locked up," Kevin remembered. "That's why you came to me."

"No," she turned. "You offered, Kevin."

"You're right," he admitted. "I did."

"And you knew I was dating someone," she added.

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't know it was my cousin."

Carrie scoffed. "Would that even have mattered?"

"Guess not, clearly didn't matter to him," Kevin spat.

Looking away, ashamed of herself, Carrie poured her third drink. "I'm sorry, Kevin."

Kevin didn't respond to that. "What now?"

"What now?" She laughed, turning to face him. "I'm just trying not to get killed tonight."

"Get killed?" He pulled his head back and looked at her with furrowed brows and a scrunched forehead. "What are you talking about?"

"Miguel Galindo," her voice shook as she said it. "He saw me and Angel together, looked into me and saw... well, he saw you."

"Fuck," he groaned, the gears in his head now spinning rapidly. "How do you know?"

"Because he took me, tied me to some broken down church pew in a gross basement and questioned me."

"Jesus Christ, Carrie." He didn't care about Angel anymore as he rushed toward her and enveloped her in his arms. "Are you okay?"

"This is why I married you," she began to cry, hugging him back. "You're a good man, Kevin."

"I try," he said sadly.

"I never meant for any of this to happen," she whispered. "Really.  I didn't."

Kevin found himself growing too emotional so he quickly broke the embrace. "I believe you. That was EZ on the phone wasn't it? Right before we split."

"Yeah, the deal terrified me, I was just trying to keep-"

"What happened to your dad from happening to EZ?"

"Exactly," she whimpered. "My dad influenced everything I've done and it hasn't made me a happy person."

"My dad never made me happy either," he huffed. "I've been trying not to do that to Joey."

Carrie's heart jumped into her throat when he said it but she was saved quite literally by the bell as her phone rang on the table. Kevin dashed across the kitchen though, beating her to it, to see it was EZ. Anyone else and Kevin would have let her answer but he needed some answers.

"Hey cousin," he said after snatching up the phone.

"Jimenez," EZ groaned.

"I already know she was involved," Kevin told him. "What I need to find out now is where the hell Galindo is."

"Border Patrol," EZ told him. "Some fluke, I think, when he was coming back from Mexico."

"Border Patrol," Kevin sounded just as confused by the news as everyone else. "Doesn't make sense."

"I don't know, man," EZ said with exasperation. "Can I talk to Carrie?"

"Why?" Kevin asked, his interest now piqued.

"Give me the phone," Carrie said as she grabbed it from his hand. "Hey E, are you okay?"

"Sore," he groaned. "Woulda been nice to get a heads up."

"I was dealing with my own mess over here, sorry."

"You're in the clear, pretty much," EZ told her. "If you wanna come down instead of staying with him you can."

Carrie checked the time and sighed heavily. "I'm really tired."

"It's been a long day," he agreed.

"No, it's more than that," she laughed sadly. "Where's Angel?"

"I don't know," he lied boldly. "Came after me then bolted."

"It'll be okay, he'll understand, we'll make him understand EZ."

EZ wasn't so sure. "I'm gonna be carrying this shit for a long time, Carrie. You should come down, we'll talk about it. I think we could both use it."

Looking across the little table at Angel, EZ felt intense guilt for lying to Carrie but it paled in comparison to how he felt about betraying his brother.

He ended the call and nodded at Angel. "She's on her way down, I told her I'd meet her at the gas station by her place."

"Good," Angel huffed and headed toward the door. "I gotta take care of this shit tonight but makin' that call for me doesn't change anything, it doesn't fix shit."

EZ nodded, knowing he was far from out of the woods when it came to his brother. He watched as Angel left to fix the Kevin problem and secure his and Carrie's safety and their future together.

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