Paid for by the Cartel

Chapter Sixty-Two

     "I'm gonna kill him," Itzel said, pulling the wrap around Tinsley's ankle tighter. Tinsley hissed, trying to pull her foot away from her sister. Itzel's fingers tightened around her foot, keeping her from moving it. A sharp pop of pain shot up her leg, a hiss escaping her throat before she could stop it. Itzel took notice but didn't say anything, just loosened her hold on Tinsley's ankle. Gilly appeared from the kitchen, holding a cloth covering a bunch of ice out to her. Tinsley took it and held it up to her bruised cheek carefully.

     "Who did this?" Gilly asked sitting down across from her, eyeing her blackening eyes. Tinsley glanced over at him, shifting the ice to her nose.

     "Don't worry about it. Angel put them in the ground," Tinsley said. Gilly nodded a few times, flexing his jaw.

     "Fuck them! What about your pinche hermano," Itzel growled, shooting a glare over at Gilly. Gilly's jaw flexed again, shifting his eyes back to his wife. "He left my sister to die in that bar by herself," Itzel seethed. Her anger was the quiet kind, but her grudges were to the core.

     "Not to die," Tinsley trailed off. Itzel flashed her harsh gaze back at her sister.

     "Look at you mana! You have a handprint on your throat," Itzel said, tucking the end of the wrap in on the outside of her ankle. Tinsley pulled her foot back from her sister quickly before she could do anything else, placing the ice on her aching ankle. Itzel pushed herself up from the couch, pacing around the living room.

     "I had it handled," Tinsley lied quietly. Itzel sucked her teeth, whirling around to face her sister.

     "Now you're making excuses for him?" her voice was raised. Tinsley shifted the ice from her ankle back to her nose.

     "You fucking started it," Tinsley muttered. Itzel's eyes flashed as she strode up to her sister.

     "I was trying to make you feel better. When I thought you were too stupid to see he was fucking someone else not that he left you there to die!" As soon as the words left her mouth, Itzel immediately wanted to cram them back down her throat. It felt like someone had slapped Tinsley across the face, all color draining from her face. She sucked in a harsh breath, her eyes never leaving her sister's. Even if she was able to keep herself from tearing up, Itzel could see the desire there in her eyes.

     "Hey! ¡Ella no quiere decir eso! " Gilly said, jumping up from his chair and putting himself between the sisters. Tinsley dropped the ice on the coffee table, pushing herself up from the couch with a wince.

     "Tins-I'm-I didn't-"

     "No, you said what you were thinking. No taking it back now," Tinsley said, stiffening her jaw to keep her bottom lip from trembling. Guilt flooded every cell in Itzel's body, her anger fizzling away almost instantly. She'd cut her sister deep, she knew it but she also knew there wasn't much she could do to fix it now. She'd used something she knew would hurt her sister, "Now that I know where everyone stands," Tinsley trailed off, snatching her phone off the table and shoving it back into her pocket. When she turned to walk around the table, she came face to face with her sister. With a tight jaw and fighting to keep her tears at bay, she glared up at her sister.

     "Wait, please don't go. I didn't mean it," she pleaded. Tinsley fought to keep her mouth from trembling, desperate to get out of the house before she started crying.

     "You've always been smarter than me. With your fancy fucking degree and your perfect fucking life with your house and your husband and your baby. But I'm not fucking stupid," Itzel had heard her sister voice this low before, heard this venom before but never heard it directed at her. She swallowed hard, trying to force the apology out of her throat but it wouldn't come. Tinsley stepped around her sister, a severe limp from her injured ankle.