The Fall of Sky (Part Two) by Alexia Purdy

Liv. She’d have to pull the veil over everyone’s eyes, including mine. This fact alone made my heart clench, and the maddening anger surged through my veins, burning like lit gasoline as it pumped through me.
    How dare that little bitch do this to us? We had a good thing going on here in Los Angeles. The bars were plenty, the music never stopped, and we’d gained a small following that wanted to see us perform every weekend and followed us from bar to bar. She was going to cause it all to implode on us if she didn’t stop what she was doing. Her and Emilio behind Jonas’ back wasn’t going to go unnoticed for too long, and if the wrong ears and eyes found them in this precarious position instead of me, what would happen to us then? What sort of wrath would Jonas pass onto his own brother and lover? What would happen to me and Saul? How thick did their blood run?
    I ran across the way to the door of the bar, slipped my fingers into the crack where it hadn’t quite shut behind me, and slipped through again, hoping Liv and Emilio hadn’t seen me. Liv wouldn’t care, at least I think she wouldn’t, but I didn’t know Emilio that well, except that he was one of Jonas’ mercenary killers. How did I know this? I’d done my own research as well, and the word in town was Jonas’ cartel was a pretty unforgiving one.
    Which meant eventually, the eyeballs posted all over town would definitely land on us all in due time. Just when the clock would run out on us, though, was a mystery I didn’t want to solve ever.
     

Chapter Nine
     
     
     
     
    Liv
    “Look at that! Two stories!” I couldn’t believe my eyes as we pulled up to the pale yellow house with side paneling that’d been replaced recently and quaint small windows that reminded me of the tiny ones I’d seen in houses back on the east coast, when we’d visited some of Rachel’s relatives on one cross country trip. This house didn’t have the vast wrap-around porch I would die for, but the tiny porch out front with two rocking chairs slowly swaying in the breeze was as good as it got here.
    “I fucking love it!” If I wasn’t already giddy, I’d be skipping around from the excitement. I held back, just because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.
    Emilio’s smile only added fuel to my happiness. I loved his smile and the wicked gleam in his eyes as he parked in front of the tiny picket fence yard, complete with a small yard of emerald grass and a bed of flowers lining the edges. It was love at first sight for me, and I couldn’t help sighing blissfully as I leaned against the truck’s door and memorized the house we could possibly rent.
    Emilio had suggested we needed a more permanent place weeks ago. Saul had been dropping hints about the same thing. Audrey and I were reluctant at first, but then decided it was for the best since we’d be here for a while with a couple contracts already signed to perform at several fall festivals. The bars were busy at this time of the year, too. I was excited. We hadn’t had a permanent place to ourselves since Rachel got sick. I was more than ready to lay down some roots.
    I wasn’t positive Audrey liked the idea, and surprisingly found her fighting it more and more as we got closer to finding a place we liked. If one of us was more likely to want to find a real home, I would’ve thought it’d be her. To find that it turned out so differently, that I was the one wanting a more permanent place, that I was the one needing to stay put and not roam about for once, was shocking. I think she found herself in a precarious position watching me be more like her and her more like me. I didn’t get it. I didn’t think she got it either.
    “Let’s check it out.” The realtor waved to us from the porch since she’d just come out of the house, her mouth wide in a fake smile as she waited for us. Everyone was so fake, but they were paid to be fake, to always be nice, to let the customer win and never let them turn