It is not the Battle Born territory anymore, his focus is to kill me.
I splash cold water onto my face and clear my head. Keep moving forward. It will all work out. I’ve been telling myself this for days now, all while keeping my shit together.
That is until I receive an email. My hands freeze on the keyboard and I know without a doubt the attachment will tear my world apart. But how badly? My finger taps on the table and I steel myself before finally pushing play.
The screen blinks from black to the faces of the beaten Hoffmans. The torture and death of Jane and Danny, of days’ worth of collecting the different scenes into one very horrific movie. The video was filmed days ago. But I know they had made it to Europe because she called me right before this happened.
My chest heaves in pain. They were to never be hurt in this war.
“Kat, what is it?!” Spider’s raised voice snaps me out of my trance and over to him. He pulls the laptop to him and pushes play. I turn my back to it because I can’t watch it again, but he unmutes it. The cries and screams that fill the air don’t set me off, what does is when Matias says, “Happy Anniversary, mi amor. I hope to have my family back together soon.”
Panic sets in like a high from a drug overdose. My mind spins and the world gets blurry. I scramble up from the desk and to my bag, ripping out everything I have in it. I’m so lost in my head, I don’t even realize that I ripped off what I was wearing and dressed back into all black clothes, then started arming myself with guns and cash.
“Kat,” Tank yells for my attention. “It is a video and it’s bad what happened to them. But calm down! I need you here. We’ll get him!”
“You don’t understand,” I hysterically cry. “He has been playing our song over and over to make sure I would hear it. He waited until our anniversary to strike. He is ready, and he is coming today. It’s his idea of a gift.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Kat?” Blade steps over, along with Stryker, but there isn’t enough time for me to stop and explain more.
“He is going after Eli. He may kill him as a gift to me. Jane had to tell Matias where Eli was. Did you not hear her under the screams from Danny? She said, ‘I’m sorry, Eli, he’s coming.’ He fucking hunted her down and tortured her because of me!”
This pain is the torture only one Cursed King could inflict on me. Matias Castillo.
My husband.
Chapter 20
Matias
“Está aquí, is he here?”
I know my Katherine isn’t in Nevada. My sources tell me that she is in Texas. Smart pinche hija de puta, stupid cunt, is fucking with my business. I’m taking my son, and, depending on how she responds to her surprise I had done just for her today, he lives or dies. Today.
I never wanted kids of my own. I got her pregnant only to control her. But then, she left me because of the little bastardo. Maybe I will keep him alive as long as she does what I want and comes along quietly. I could turn him into her worst fear and make him more ruthless than even I have ever been. There’s a thought.
“Sí, señor, he is in the care of the MC.” This displeases me, that she would leave my pure blood with such garbage. She will pay greatly for everything she has done, and death is too good for her.
“Kill who you have to, and bring me el niño.”
Solo
“Tami, can you grab me a beer while you are in there?” I grab her hand as she walks past and place a kiss over her engagement ring.
She bends over and places a kiss on my lips. “Only because I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Her hand runs across my chest and shoulder when she leaves. Cash is inside the clubhouse, napping, and we brought Eli outside to play in the sun. He runs over to the swing sets we bought and put together recently. Axl and I went overboard and bought even more shit then necessary, but we figured that all these kids would use it at some point.
The sound of footsteps echoes off into the distance. I’m not sure what alerts me into action, but I jump to my feet and draw my gun, pointing it in that direction. My heart pounds and my eyes dart around. Eli laughs and goes down the slide. Next, the sliding glass door opens, and Tami is about to come out.
“No!” I yell at her. “Go back inside.” She pulls back but stops. Realizing that Eli is still out here with me, she darts for him. I chase after her and that is when the man dressed in black emerges and aims for us.
She grabs Eli on the run and his little body flies from the abrupt movement. I shoot to give Tami cover as she rushes back into the house, and the guy goes down with a bullet to the chest. But more come at me and I am outnumbered even with Axl’s help who I heard running from around the house. I hide behind a picnic table that I pushed over. Axl stands behind the garage wall and pops off a shot, killing one more.
“Lock the house down!” Axl growls at Hitch, an older member.
I see two men round the back side of the garage, looking to take Axl out. I can’t get a good shot from where I am crouched down, so I stand and send two bullets into their chests.
“Get the fuck down,” Axl screams and points his gun in my general direction.
Searing pain like fire lights up my chest and I fall, first to my knees. I look up to the glass door and the beautiful angel who has tears in her eyes, trying to fight Cuervo off her to get to me. But he holds her back. Why? My hand reaches for her. I want to get up and go to her. My body won’t work, though, and my arm drops like dead weight. What is happening? My vision blurs and I can’t breathe when I start choking on my own blood.
My world goes dark.
Tank
“Kat, you can’t go running right into his trap. How many fucking times are you going to die, woman?” She panics more and paces the room. “We can’t head back to Reno. He is drawing you out to distract us and find you. Fuego can take Eli and protect him. Trust the club, Kat. We are on the same fucking team. Now snap the fuck out of it.”
Kat is gone and the Black Widow stares deep into my eyes. “If you try and stop me—”
“You’ll what? Put a bullet in my head? Fucking do it already, Kat.”
She glares and breathes fire with each intake. “I won’t lose my son.”
“Then snap the fuck out of it! I promised you once that I would protect you even from yourself, and I meant it. Go against me. I dare you.” One step forward and then another until I have her pinned against the wall. “Submit,” I demand.
It will take a lot to reach her, and I am not sure, with all the shit that has been programmed into her head, that it can ever be fixed. One thing I do know, though. Kat needs to dominate, and she needs to feel in control.
Her husband would beat the submission into her. I won’t ever do that, but I have no problem tying her up with love.
When her eyes close, she silently relents. I bend forward and relax her with a kiss on her forehead. “Come on, K-Love, we have work to do. Calls to make and a small dick to find. Get back on that computer and track him down like only the Black Widow can.”
What I don’t tell her right away is about the call we received from Axl. The Cartel ambushed the house. Eli is safe. But the rest might destroy her, so I hold that piece for now.
Chapter 21
Tami
Facing the same window that I watched Solo die from haunts my soul. My hand rests on the cold glass and I stare out into the back yard. The cold is welcome and feels normal as it’s seeping into my flesh. The world has no color. Night and day have no meaning to me anymore. I want to hate Kat for his death. If Eli wasn’t here, Solo would still be alive.
We weren’t even able to have a funeral for him because of the fear that we all could be gunned down for standing out in the open, and, worse, as a group. I hated them all for that.
My heart, whether I want it to or not, is pulled back to that one night a month ago.
My body shakes with fear as I watch a man creep up behind Solo. “No. No. No.” I grip the handle of the door, about to rip
it open, to yell at him to get down.
But Cuervo stops me. “You want him to aim that pistola at your head?” His strong arms wrap around me and hold me back from saving Solo.
“Let me go! They are going to kill him,” I plead as I watch my worst nightmare unfold before my eyes.
In that next second, Solo falls to his knees after a shot is fired, and his hand reaches for me. I swear he said, ‘I love you’, right before he hit the dirt. The shot sounded like thunder that shattered the course of my life. My heart just died with him. Harley comes to my side and gently pulls me away from the sight of him lying in his own blood. I can’t even say why I go with her.
My body shakes from the agony and shock, and she rocks me back and forth where we sit. I crumble into nothing. From the first time I met him, he took my sorrow and buried it and gave me wings to fly. And now he’s in heaven.
I don’t remember anything that is said, just Harley’s soft touch and presence that I crave. I can’t take it. She is my beacon and I follow her. Needing someone to pick up the pieces where they fell.
The agony breaks the dream and my head jerks, but before I can stop it, my mind drifts away from me again. A prisoner of my own thoughts, and the flashbacks stay on repeat…
Axl and Fuego stand by the side of where they buried the man I had promised my life to.
“After this is all said and done, we will get him a headstone, I promise.” Axl’s arm gives me a half hug while I stand in the graveyard. I nod at him in understanding.
Words and feelings have left me, like him. I stare at the grave that’s marked with an almost undetectable, small, white cross. That is it. The only thing to show for his life when he had been so much more. A white cross.
In darkness, I look up at the stars that shine so bright, where I am sure that he is now. I’ve cried so much that I am surprised more tears fall like a river down my cheeks. The unmarked grave feels disrespectful toward him. That this cruelty exists disgusts me, because he deserved everything.
We deserved everything.
Axl and Fuego stand back and I sit in the grass next to the fresh dirt pile in the graveyard.
“Hey,” I whisper to a ghost, “I don’t know what to say. We were robbed of our promises, and I can’t live. I feel dead inside without you. I have Cash, and I guess he is the only thing keeping me from completely falling into oblivion.”
I rip the grass that is poking at my fingers and toss it aside. “You blew me away, Solo, with your love. You taught me what love was. You gave me the first ride on your bike. You were so many of my firsts. I was so many of your firsts, too.”
My fingers twist the ring on my finger around. “I wish I could lie down beside you and wake up to your face in the morning, just one more time. Sometimes I dream of our wedding and I wake up crying for you, alone.”
I talk to him for hours and pray that he hears every word. I hold on to the ring that I bought for him, that is now on a chain around my neck. Some moments I just cry and others I scream at how pissed off I am at everyone. There isn’t a person whose name I don’t curse and blame by the time I am done.
“I promised you always and forever, Solo.” My voice croaks but I have enough left in me to rasp, “Your soul is a part of mine, and, for now, that is all I have. I’ll spend my life wondering what our story could have been.” My eyes grow increasingly tired and I close them just for a moment. They feel so heavy and are painfully swollen.
I wake to my body being lifted and wish I would have died there. To lie with him, to be left beside him. I am taken away from the cold, wet grass and to my family, the Battle Born MC. And the executioners of dreams and happily ever afters.
Solo blew me away on the day we met and he just buried himself away with my heart.
Chapter 22
Kat
Tank and I are sitting outside where he just told me the horrible news. Solo has died because of me, too. I want to be angry for him not telling me right away but days later when they buried him, without a funeral, with only a few members at his side to say goodbye.
My head hangs down to my chest. Desperation, regret and fear take me down their deadly path. This is what happens to people at this stage in the game. I killed everything important to Matias to bring him down to his knees, and, literally, he is doing the same to me.
The violence has caused so much grief and evil that it has consumed us all like a virus. The victor gets to live with it all. What a prize and badge of honor to be left with.
“Hey. You did what you had to. This was going to come to what it has at some point. You saved more lives than killed in the long run.” Tank holds the tequila bottle out to me, and I take it from him and drink the fire.
“Tami. Will she ever talk to me again?” I ask because I really want to know. I need him to reassure me that I won’t lose her.
“No way will she blame you for being a mother who protected her baby. Kat, she ran out there and grabbed Eli when bullets were flying. She’s not going to blame you.”
My head falls to his shoulder and I wrap my arms around his much larger one. The feel of his strength and the heat from his body are a comfort to me. Somehow, he transfers what I crave, forgiveness.
“How are you?”
Tank rests his head on top of mine. “I’m hurting, Kat. I loved that kid. He was my brother. He and Pawn were my little pups and I was teaching them how to run with the big dogs. I feel like I failed him somehow, and Pawn, too. I brought them into the club together.”
“Remember the first time they saw Tami? It was like something struck them both like lightning.” I blink the tears back.
“Yeah, the three of them had this bond we all could see but they were too scared or too young to see it?” Tank’s chest heaves. “We would sit around in the garage and talk, and I would teach them how to be a team. I’m gonna miss him, K-Love.”
“Me, too, Tank. I’m going to miss the hell out of him, and I vow to make Tami’s life better. She needs love, Tank, the kind that makes the world believe in miracles. I’m going to help her find it.”
Tank’s arm wraps around my shoulders and he pulls me close to his body. “Kat, this is going to get bloody. I am going to torture Matias like you have never seen in your life. I need you to understand that and not see me as a monster. There is no other way for me. I can’t survive this kind of anger without finishing this in the ugliest way possible.”
“I’ll be there to support you, whatever you need.” My hold tightens around his body just as the call we have all been waiting for finally comes through from the Carson State Penitentiary. It was difficult getting him a burner phone on short notice.
Tank
Kat and I slide off the bench outside and walk into Spider’s hotel room. That’s where I answer the call. I place it on speaker, setting the phone on the table. Stryker, Blade and all the other guys join us around it.
“Pawn,” Blade starts speaking and tells him everyone who is in the room. “We have news that you need to hear. Solo died from an ambush from the Cartel. Tami and Cash are okay and are staying at the clubhouse.”
The silence in the room is paralyzing. The group hangs their heads and we wait for Pawn to process the news. “How is she doing alone?”
“Not well,” Blade gives the full story in detail to him. “She’ll get better. We will help her get back on her feet and make sure that Cash is okay.”
“I can’t help with him. Fuck.” Heaviness coats his words. “I- uh- shit, I can’t do anything. I can’t say goodbye to him. He’s been my best friend.” He takes a moment and requests, “Make that fucker pay.”
“Aye, brother.”
Pawn says he has to go, that his time is up, and I can’t blame him. I don’t want to talk about this any more than he does.
Looking around the room, I demand, “Matias is mine to kill, and he will die after I am done torturing him.” My gaze stays firmly on Blade and Stryker, the Presidents of the MC. If I have their approval, then it is done.
&n
bsp; They both nod with approval at my request, and Stryker grips my shoulder, “We are finishing this to the bitter end. No more tears.” He, too, holds each man’s gaze. “Remember who you are and what you are. That you pledged to me and what the wolf symbolizes. Strength, leadership, intelligence, protection and, most of all, destruction. We savagely take what we want and make no apologies for it. Life and death are a part of this world. Let the guilt go. Remember who we are, a pack of killers and protectors.”
Chapter 23
Tank
I can’t lie and say that losing Solo hasn’t left a dull ache among the brothers. Kat has definitely felt the repercussions of this life as well. She suffered at the hands of cruel men for most of her life. He tried his best to strip her down, but she still fights. Never giving up.
I watch her as she takes the pain in and allows it to consume her. Then, she accepts it, like a warrior.
Kat and I have called Tami as much as we’ve been able to. Tami never has anything to say. The shock hasn’t worn off and she hasn’t healed from the loss yet, if she ever will.
It pains me to see these women struggling through this life. In a perfect world, we should have been there to protect them from all this. I would do it for them. Take away all the hurt, like a savior, and bear their struggles as my own. Truth is, none of us can escape life, the good or the bad.
The memory from last night comes back to me, when I held Kat to me while she cried in my arms.
“Be patient, K-Love, I will get us all through this.”
She is curled up in a ball and my body wraps around hers while hers is shaking with sobs.
“Pawn was never supposed to go to prison. Solo should have never died while protecting my son. I feel like, had I stayed away, this would have all been so different.” She gasps for air, “I want to take it all back.”
Fighting for Forever: Tank & Kat's story, Part 2 (Battle Born MC Book 6) Page 10
