Page 50 of Ties That Bind Us

He had come to me a few weeks ago about this whole thing. He had royally screwed up a weapons shipment for his dad and was trying to get it replaced before anyone caught wind of it. MS-13 was a gang—they didn’t run things like we did in the Mafia. It was fast and loose, and you couldn’t take much of what they said as truth. When he told me about the deal they offered him, I knew it was bullshit.

They said they would replace his guns, no problem. He just had to go to their supplier and get the replacements plus their next shipment. I knew getting involved with them in any capacity was a death trap, but Andrew wouldn’t listen.

“I know, I know!” he said. “I should have listened. But, shit, Nick. It’s bad.” Panic radiated off of him, and I knew he had to have bitten off more than he could chew. What he told me next, though, I would never have been prepared for.

“What happened?” I asked skeptically.

“You should have seen this place, Nick. Literally, fucking guns everywhere! Most I’ve ever seen in my life. No way they can keep tight inventory on that shit. I just figured . . .”

My heart nearly stopped. “Andrew, tell me you didn’t steal from them.”

“I only took a few! I didn’t think there was any chance they would even notice they were gone! My dad would have been ecstatic if I brought more home than we paid for. He’s always talking about what a screwup I am. For once I wanted him to trust me like he trusts Vince.” His voice was pained, and he was almost in tears. I knew the pressure he was under, but I didn’t understand how he could’ve been so damn reckless. “But they did. Now their supplier is after me and so are they.”

“I told you I’d get you the guns, man!” Now I was pacing as well. We had to figure this shit out fast. These weren’t people you messed with, and I was furious at Andrew for dragging us into this mess. This was way out of our wheelhouse.

“There’s no way you could have without my dad finding out!”

“And this is better? They’re gonna kill you, man!” I spat, furious that he had put himself in that position. Of course they were going to find out. These are weapons we’re talking about. Thousands of dollars worth of weapons.

“They’re not going to kill me, Nick.” He pulled a gun out of his waistband. “I’m going to kill myself.”

“You really are out of your damn mind. Put that thing away,” I hissed, growing angrier by the minute. He wasn’t thinking straight. We needed to go to our dads and figure out what to do.

“Nick, please. I’m here to say good-bye,” Andrew pleaded. “They’ll come after my family. They don’t care that this shit was my fault.”

“We need to tell your dad.” I raked my hand through my hair, trying to form a plan.

“No.” Andrew shook his head wildly. “This is my fault. If I get him involved, more people than necessary will get hurt.”

“This is insane. You can’t do this. How does this solve anything?”

“Their war is with me, and if I die, it’ll die with me.” Andrew continued to drone on, but I wasn’t hearing much of what he was saying. It was all nonsense. Him dying was no way to handle this shit. We’d figure something out.

“Andrew, this is ridiculous.” I pleaded with him, concerned about how much he had actually planned this out.

“Nick, I’m dying. One way or another. I screwed this up so bad, there is no way out. My dad can’t protect me, you can’t protect me, no one can. I’m okay with that, I’ve come to terms with it. But what I can’t come to terms with is anything happening to my family because of the shit I got myself involved in.”

“Andrew . . .”

“This is the only option, Nick. They’ll hurt my family, hell, they may even come after you if they’ve got eyes on me already.”

I stared back at him, stunned into silence. This seemed so drastic, but he was right. The second he agreed to that deal then stole those fucking guns, he signed his death certificate. God, I was so fucking pissed at him for being so stupid.

“Good-bye Nick.”

He reached for the gun in his waistband and I lunged, refusing to let this happen. I got a hand on the gun and Andrew and I struggled with it.

“Nick, let go!” he growled, pulling as hard as he could against me. There was no way I was going to let him go through with this. He was wrong—there were other options, we just needed to talk this out and decide what to do.

“Come on, man.” I grunted, trying my best to get a good footing so I could wrench the gun away from him.

We struggled against each other for what felt like forever, each of us trying to get the upper hand. Andrew was determined, and I had to fight like hell to stop this from happening. All of a sudden, Andrew’s elbow hit my chin, sending searing pain through my jaw. I lost my hold on the gun, and then a deafening shot rang out. Everything else happened in slow motion. Andrew’s face froze and he stumbled backward, clutching his stomach. His shirt seeped crimson with blood and he dropped to his knees, letting the gun fall to the ground.

“Fuck!” I shrieked, kneeling in front of him and trying to put pressure on the wound. It was no use, though, I could see Andrew fading quickly in my arms, and after a few seconds, he was completely gone. Tears pooled in my eyes as I stared at his lifeless body in front of me. How the fuck had this happened?

I didn’t even know if I pulled the trigger or if Andrew had, but it didn’t really matter. Andrew was dead and I hadn’t been able to stop it. What the fuck was I going to do now?

I sat next to him, trying to steady my breathing and figure out what to do. Finally, I did the only thing I could think of.

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