"I don't think you can ever make my girl squeak, Jeremy." Tristen said, walking inside his HQ as his feet claimed every inch of the land.
Lavender's smile widened when she watched him turn up to save her, just in the right time. Tristen's white shirt was covered in splashes of blood. His face looked as if he had torn someone apart that sprayed those red drops on his cheek.
For the first time, Lavender loved the way he looked in his mafia avatar. He shot the two remaining guards, who fell down with bullet holes deep in their chests. Lavender felt Juggy's grip starting to loosen up as his legs started trembling. She grabbed a broken piece of flower vase, the one that had fallen when Juggy shot her, and stabbed his thigh with it.
"AHHH!" Juggy growled, as Lavender managed to crawl away from him. "That's my girl." Tristen smirked, opening his arms wide for Lavender. She saw it, but when she tried to get up, she just couldn't. He waited and waited, as his smile started to fade away gradually.
Why can't she get up? He wondered. He saw her struggling, trying to move her leg desperately to stand up. He then saw it; the gunshot in her calf muscle. Tristen felt his arms dropping to his sides just like his wide smile.
He rushed towards her, holding her by the arms. "You got shot?" He spat in a whisper. "I'd take a bullet to my heart for you." Lavender weakly smiled, making a pun out of the wedding ring she had gifted him. "Lavender..." Tristen's heart cried, as he hugged her to his chest.
"Tristen... don't let your guard down. I'm not going to die with a fucking bullet in the leg." She panted as her breathing started to follow unusual patterns. "I know..." He whispered, kissing her forehead. "You're so dead, Jeremy." Tristen spat, turning around only to find Juggy pointing his gun at him with a lot more men in the room.
They were all pointing their guns at them; there was no escape.
"What now, bud? You're gonna ask us to spare her and kill you?" Juggy scoffed. "Try shooting, bastard." Tristen said in a low growl. "Well, it wouldn't matter much if you die and we throw her in a brothel. But what if we kill her and make you live that?" Juggy laughed manically. "You can kill me after that, but it wouldn't even matter because that bitch would be dead."
"You know what?" Tristen scoffed, helping Lavender up. She couldn't stand without holding his collar or his hand supporting her body. She looked at him with tears in her eyes, as his eyes spoke something to hers. "Y'all, I think we just reached the filler episode of the series. Go get your washroom breaks and shit." Juggy yawned as his men started to laugh, lowering their guards.
"Have her." Tristen spoke, taking away Juggy's laughter. "What?" He widened his eyes, and so did Lavender. "You wanted her. Take her." He said in his usual cold mafia tone. The tone that never cared for anyone. For a moment, Lavender's heart stopped. She stared at him in disbelief. How could he, the one who she was supposed to get married to, sell her out like that?
"Wait, what?" Juggy shook his head. "I never repeat myself twice." He said, standing still while holding Lavender in his hands. She was desperately clinging onto him, flabbergasted. "Why would you do that?" Juggy asked, lowering his gun.
"If you ever questioned, 'whom would you choose between a 10 year old friendship and an eight month old relationship?', what would be your answer?" Tristen asked. Slowly, a small grin spread across Juggy's face.
"I KNEW IT! You were just playing with me all this time? I knew it. I had a bet with myself. And I won it. I knew you would never betray me, Tristen." Juggy went nuts. Tristen only watched his manic friend show his madness while he held his girl closer to him. Lavender tried to get away from Tristen, disappointed, but he was not going to let go.
What were his real intentions? Was it his soft side wanting to save her? Or was it his cold mafia side wanting to give her up?
"Tristen?" She whispered. He maintained his eyes on the crackhead in front of him.
"You didn't have to shoot me so many times, bud. It hurt so much." Juggy complained. "Is that so?" He muttered. "Obviously! One or two bullets, max. But you emptied your revolver at me, dude. Not cool." He folded his arms like a brat. "That's the thing, Juggy." Tristen chuckled.
"You count the bullets that you could take for me. I have someone who will give their life for me." He said, his eyes getting blood red. He looked at Lavender as he rubbed her back gently.
Tears formed, and one rolled down his cheek. Bullets started firing as he spectated the scenario of people dying in front of his eyes. Lavender, startled, shut her eyes tightly and held onto her husband, wanting to cancel out the deadly sounds. He caressed her head in a way to say that it was alright. He would not let her die.
He watched how his own men were shooting Juggy's. His glass walls had shattered, which was when he advised Lavender to take cover behind the living room walls. He helped her down, putting her hair behind her ears. "Sorry, if I took you by surprise out there." Tristen mumbled, breathing through his mouth while he pulled Lavender's wounded leg out straight.
"F-For a moment, I-I really thought... I.... I'm sorry, baby. I almost thought.... I shouldn't have doubted you." She started to cry. "No, it's understandable." He replied, tearing off a portion of her dress from the end. "Given that you're carrying another life, it must've hit you like a bullet train." He grinned, checking his body for a sharp knife.
"Tristen... you really think you should be making a pun out of bullets in this situation?" Lavender rolled her eyes, partly in pain.
Mostly.
"I'll try to be as gentle as I can, but it's going to pain nevertheless. But it will be out in the blink of an eye." Tristen consoled, patting her tender cheek while he held the sharp pocket knife in the other hand. "What?" She asked, already preoccupied by her pain.
He dove the knife straight into her shot leg. "WHAT THE-" Lavender bit her tongue, tolerating the pain as well as she could. "It's not shot deeply, I found the bullet." Tristen said, quickly scraping it out of her body like it were some piece to repair. Lavender dug her nails into his shoulders, which probably pierced him deeper than the bullet in her leg.
The little ammo popped out of her leg and fell onto the marble floor with a clank, as Tristen wasted no time to stuff her wound with the torn cloth before finally wrapping it around her leg. "What in the motherfucking world did you just do to me?" Lavender spat in anger.
Tristen sat there in her awe, falling in love with her all over again. "Baby..." He muttered, placing his palm on her thigh. "What is it?" She winced.
"Would you consider joining me as a maf-"
"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?" She yelled, making his shoulders jump. "Alright, we'll discuss that later." He patted her arms. "Just stay here, do not move away, okay? If something happens out there and, hypothetically, we lose, you need to RUN through that back door. It will lead you straight into the streets of Bilsburg. Juggy does not know that, so take advantage." He said, before pulling out his revolver. "How will I know if I need to run away?" She asked. "When everything's gone silent, and you hear Juggy laughing like a crackhead, you will know." He said before he exposed himself through the door to join in with the gunfight.
Lavender panted heavily, wanting to just pass out. She was ready to give up, leave it all to her husband to handle, for she knew that he would be there to save the day.
Night, actually.
She shut her eyes to take some rest, but the images of him, her, them together, her baby, his baby, them together with their baby, it all flashed before her closed eyelids like they were some projector screens. No, he needs me. I cannot throw anymore responsibilities or burdens at him, he already has a lot on his shoulders, she thought as she stared at him.
Tristen sat beside her with his back to the wall to take cover from the bullets being fired at him. He pulled out more bullets to reload his cylinder, took a moment to stable his breaths. Lavender watched in awe, remaining immobile at the situation.
This time, he went outside and joined the fight.
He was successful in bringing two men down. Brendon, Cady and others were busy handling the men outside the HQ while Tristen and a few handled the inside. Juggy had joined the fight outside, given that he had more escape options from there.
After turn of loading-reloading bullets, the scenario had drastically changed. All the intruders were laid dead inside the house. Tristen's men were not dead, but gravely injured. Tristen went to check on the fight outside, only to find his crew laying injured on the grass.
Including Brendon.
Cady was lying near the bushes, soon to be unconscious. She had managed to get a hit on Juggy, though.
But, the question that came to his mind was, where the hell did Juggy go? Did he die? Did he escape? Was he injured, laying unconscious somewhere?
Or was he...
"Game over, bud." Juggy smirked with the gun pointed to the back of Tristen's head. He shut his eyes in anger, realizing that he was outsmarted by his ex-best friend, once again. "Any last words? They're going to be your famous last words, so choose wisely." He smirked, pushing the hammer. "Keep your fingers off my girl." Tristen muttered, slowly turning around.
Juggy, as expected, started laughing, demonstrating his insanity once again. "YOU THINK YOU'LL DO SOMETHING AFTER YOU DIE?" He choked on his own laughter. "I will touch her, Tristen. I will touch her everywhere. All over her body, and parts deep inside. WILL YOUR WANDERING SOUL COME AND HAUNT ME? I FUCKING DARE YOU, BITE ME!" He stuck his tongue out to reveal a new kind of cackling laughter, that was more than enough to send kids to their beds.
This must be enough for her, Tristen thought, hoping that Lavender would escape while he made the mad man linger for as long as he could.
Lavender had her cue. She was told to escape. She heard it all too well. But, was she really going to? "Tristen told me to go, but he will die." She panicked. "What do I do?" She bit her lip while she stared at her leg. She couldn't even move and he had asked her to run.
"You have really lost your mind, Jeremy." Tristen muttered. "YARGGHH!" Juggy forced a weird 'bleh' out of his mouth. "Why do you keep calling me by my real name? MY NAME IS JUGGY!"
"Because you aren't the same person you used to be, Jeremy. You changed the moment you gave yourself a new name." He replied, preparing to take the situation under his control. "Oh, people change. And for their own good. But you changed for your worse, Tristen. YOU WILL DIE!" Juggy screamed, throwing his head back to stare at the moon like some werewolf.
Tristen took that chance and pushed his gun away, making him shoot a bullet in some random direction. It made Lavender's shoulders jump, while she was crawling her way out.
"YOU WASTED A BULLET!" Juggy bulged his eyes out as Tristen punched him hard, making him drop the gun. They were soon involved in a fist fight. Tristen did not give a chance to Juggy to even prepare for an attack.
Forcing him on the ground, he sat on top of his chest and started punching his face to disfigure it. It was covered in blood, and so was his hand. Juggy used his knee to hit Tristen's lower spine, catching him off guard.
The tables had soon turned.
Juggy managed to get a few blows to Tristen's handsome face, bleeding it out just like he did to him. With one kick to his face, Tristen was on the ground. "I AM GOD! YOU SHALL DIE!" Juggy spread his arms out while he screeched like some creature, madly finding his gun.
"WHERE IS IT?" He growled, stomping everywhere like a giant. Tristen got back up, pulling out his revolver. "JEREMY!" He yelled pointing at him. He spun around as immense fear took over his mind. Tristen wasted no time and pushed the hammer, pulling the trigger.
Juggy shut his eyes, knowing that Tristen's stance aimed for his head.
Nothing happened.
Tristen had run out of bullets. He stared at his own gun in disbelief. "No fucking way..." He muttered. "AAAHHHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHA! Time for Russian roulette? Just die already!" Juggy started laughing again. He unfortunately found his own gun lying in the grass, and was quick pick it up.
Tristen, for the first time, fell to his knees realizing that his life had come to an end. That was because he had a weakness, unlike the past. The same weakness was going to take his life.
But he was ready.
He knew that Lavender was a smart girl. She would know where to go. She would go to Granna.
"I'll take your privilege of saying your famous last words, Tristen. Goodbye." Juggy gritted his teeth, pushing the hammer down. Tristen shut his eyes and accepted his fate. There was no time wasted in pulling the trigger this time.
Soon, the gun was shot.