“I wasn’t able to get in contact with him.” Javi’s grumbled voice says from behind me. I turn around and can tell from his somber expression he has no idea where our brother is.
“Shit, this isn’t good.”
“Yeah. I get Angel running off the way he did, all things considered . . . but Tadeo could’ve said something to someone else.” Javi adds.
“Yep, you’re right.”
“Did you off the bastard?”
I give Javi a knowing look, “Obviously. I wasn’t going to let him fuck with our familia.”
“Good. I would’ve done it myself.”
“You would’ve gotten caught.” I comment, getting a laugh from him.
“How’s Amara holding up?” Javi asks.
I shrug, “She’s resilient. I’ve never met a woman quite like her. She reminds me of Mom, if that isn’t weird.”
Javi chuckles lowly, “It’s so weird, but I see your point. It’s the Latina in her. She doesn’t take any shit. No matter how often she does get knocked down, she gets right back up and is ready to try again.”
“Damn, she’s so fucking strong. Isn’t she?”
“Yeah. One day maybe I’ll find a good woman like her.” Javi comments.
“You do realize you have to stay out of prison for a relationship to work, right?”
“Oh, stop being a fuckin’ smartass. I can stay outta prison when I want. You ever consider I use it for a vacation to get away from you?”
I furrow my brows and stare at this idiot. “Wanna try that again?”
“Fuck off.”
“What’re you two bickering about?” Amara pipes up from the entryway.
“Dante is being an asshole, per usual.” Javi states while rising and walks over to Amara and gives her a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room.
“What did you do to your poor brother, hmm?” Amara teases.
“Javier is just being Javier.” I reply.
Amara makes her way over to me and plops her ass down on my lap. She wraps her arms around my neck and burrows her face against the crook of my neck. “You came to bed late last night.”
Fuck. I didn’t want to have to tell her about this. “I had a late-night errand to run.”
“An errand? Is that code for familia business?”
“Mmm.”
“Dante, you’re going to have to tell me these things eventually you know.”
“I don’t like telling you more than you need to know.”
“Who are you to say what I need to, and don’t need to know? You could think you’re protecting me when in reality you’d be damming me.”
“I hate it when you’re right.” I groan, tilting my head back, I stare up at the ceiling before I speak. “We had a threat against the familia. I dealt with them, but my father doesn’t know, and he can’t know. He’s trying to find the murderer of this man, when the reality is I did it. I had to, Amara. Angel would’ve suffered if not. Now I’ll be wondering if we’ll have a war with Bolivia on the horizon.”
“Okay, many questions. Bolivia?”
“The son of their Cartel leader was who I killed.”
“Okay . . . why?”
“He threatened Angel. I already told you that.” I grumble. I’m not a fan of repeating myself.
“His life, or?”
I lift my head up and look at my woman. I contemplate for a few moments about what to do, but I can’t lie to her. “You already know Angel is gay, mi reyna. Our father doesn’t know. Only Javier and I know the truth. Gia isn’t even aware. I need you to keep this close to your heart.” Amara pulls her face away from my neck.
“Dios Mio. The poor sweetheart.” Amara gasps all of a sudden. “He has to marry that Fatima, right?”
I nod, “Yes, he does.”
I know this marriage is damming my brother, but I had a choice. I could choose to put him above my own needs, or I could’ve pushed the one thing I’ve wanted more than anything else away. The choice wasn’t easy, however it was one I had to make.
“How was your day?” I ask, changing the subject.
“It was good. I really enjoyed seeing my sister.”
“And your brothers?” I question with a chuckle.
“Ashton and Lyon are a riot, but Damon and I . . . we bump heads.” I see her expression immediately falter.
I take my hand and brush her stray hair back behind her ear. “Did something happen?”
“Nothing really. Damon’s just upset that I don’t want to go back to America.”
Did I just hear her right? Is she fucking with me right now? “What did you just say?” I’m unable to hold back my smile.
“I want to stay with you, Dante.”
“I hoped you’d say that.”
A smile breaks across her face. “There’s something else I need to talk to you about, and it’s quite serious. Before Damon left, he asked me something.”
“Okay, what is it?”
Amara slides off my lap and runs into the other room, then comes back with something in her hands. It appears to be wrapped in some sort of cardboard paper. “I can only guess what this is, but I think I know. Damon had talked to me about coming back to Las Vegas and resuming my position as VP for the club. When he found out I wasn’t going back, he left for a couple hours and came back.”
“Alright . . .” I mutter, not understanding where she’s going with all this.
“Dante, my brother asked me to be the president of the Chihuahua charter. He wants me to be the strength and the brains behind our first international charter. I told him I’d need to think on it.”
“Do you?” I question, cocking a brow.
“Huh?”
“Need to think about it. What do you want, mi reyna?”
“I want . . . I want to explore this life with you, but to experience what I’ve always known. I want this, Dante. I know I can do it, and I’m not trying to toot my own horn but . . . I think I can do a damn good job.”
“I know you can do a good job. What’re you waiting for? Open it.” I tell her, and she shreds apart the cardboard, pulling out a leather cut. It has her name, her officer title and the Reapers logo on the back stating she belongs to the Chihuahua charter.
Amara doesn’t know this, but I had Eduardo call Damon yesterday and catch up with him. They spoke about quite a bit, but one of the subjects was how Amara is enjoying Mexico. Eduardo put the bug in Damon’s ear about starting a charter here. I’m just glad the man took the bait. Not only will Amara be happy on multiple levels now, but this will only solidify the relationship between the Reapers MC and the Cartel.
Hopefully things will be calming down very soon, but who knows if they will. Only time will tell, but enemies are always lurking around every corner.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I will choose you, even when you make me mad. My love for you won’t fade simply because we are angry. I know we will fight, we will be frustrated, we will be human. Still, I will go to battle for you. Still, I will choose you. I will choose you, and I will keep choosing you every day.
~ Unknown
Dante
Two Weeks Later . . .
“Well, what do you think?” I ask Amara, who’s walking around what she doesn’t know is hers already.
She comes to a complete stop and turns her head to look at me. “I still don’t like the idea of you or your family paying for this. Zane won’t like it. Never in the Reapers history has someone else paid for the construction of a club, Dante.”
“Mmm, you’re right. Though, you’re also wrong. In this vast history have any of their members ever married the son of a Cartel member?” We both already know the answer, and thus she’ll back off.
“Don’t be an asshole. This isn’t how things are done and you know it.” She huffs, walking further across the newly poured concrete floors. I saw this property become available the night Damon asked her to be the president of this new charter. It was perfect, and so I purchased it right under her nose. They
didn’t even have walls or concrete poured so I paid some local construction companies very well to come in here and start the process. The electrical isn’t in, and some of the plumbing isn’t sorted . . . but this is a very good start. It’ll give Amara the opportunity to decide what she wants to do with it.
“Answer my question. Do you like the location?”
“It’s massive,” She murmurs in response. I informed her the club has well over ten acres. It’s just off Interstate 16 but is tucked back a couple miles so they’ll have some sense of privacy. She doesn’t know it yet, but I will get a ten-foot-tall chain link fence around the compound. Only the best for mi reyna.
“Plenty of room to grow, no?” I retort.
“You still have yet to tell me about other clubs in the area. Is there a reason for that?” She’s right. I haven’t told her about the local clubs because they won’t be an issue. Once they find out my soon to be wife is running it, they won’t touch it. Nor will they attempt to. Lord help them if they try.
“No. There is simply nothing to discuss. They won’t be an issue.”
She cocks a brow and crosses her arms in the way she typically does when she’s getting annoyed. “You know I hate it when you give me half answers. That’s what you’re doing right now. So, you might be saying they won’t be a problem, but there’s a reason they won’t be, so how about you cut the shit and shoot it straight with me?”
I stifle out a chortle. “You still don’t fully comprehend it, do you?” I walk forward to her and take her left hand in mine, sliding a beautiful diamond ring I had made especially for her on her ring finger.
“Whoa. What are you doing?!”
“What I said I would. We’re getting married, mi reyna. I’ve said it since the beginning. Everyone will know this club is run by a Lopez woman, and no one will touch it. The Cartel offers protection in a sense.”
“The Cartel also puts a target on my back, no?” She retorts.
“Stop playing around. You know we provide more benefits than potential issues. Now, let’s talk about our wedding. We’ll have it very soon.”
“No, we won’t. We’ll have it a year from today.” Amara declares, firm in her decision.
A smile crosses my face and I pull her to me. “For once you didn’t put up a fight about it. The marriage I mean.”
Amara shakes her head and laughs, dipping her head back a bit. She runs her fingers through my hair and smirks. “Dante Lopez, when will you understand how relentless you are? I didn’t even have a choice, and you damn well know it.”
“Oh, mi reyna. I love you more than I’ll ever be able to express.”
“I love you, Dante.” She smiles, darting her eyes from mine down to my lips. I know what she wants and dip my head closer to hers. Her lips meet mine and while I think it’s going to be something sweet-and-sensual, she surprises me. Amara is all about ravaging me right now.
I snake my hand around her and fumble with unzipping her jeans while my cock springs to action. Both of our breathing intensifies and out of nowhere she pushes. It feels as though I was just punched in the center of my chest, and I do end up taking a couple steps backward.
I don’t say a word at first, wanting her to fill in the blanks. “You haven’t let me ride your cock since we’ve been together. Get on the floor,” She hisses through clenched teeth, shimmying out of her jeans.
I’m not the type of man she can order around, but dammit if I don’t want to watch her body convulse on top of mine. I do as she says, keeping my eyes fixated on her body. She removes the rest of her clothes, slowly, like she’s part of a fucking striptease. I don’t mind it at all. It only makes me want to plow my cock inside her even more.
She sashays her way over to me. I’m sitting on the floor, cock standing to attention as she lowers herself over my hips. Amara takes her left hand, grabs my shaft and guides it into her entrance while she slides over me.
Motherfucker. She’s not only wet as hell, but tight. Our bodies were made for each other. I’ve told her this many times. I fucked many women back in the day, and none of them could take my cock the way she can. They’d always complain it was too big, how the girth was too fucking wide. They’d complain, but I’d fuck them anyway. They weren’t telling me to stop, but they told me how it was uncomfortable. There’s just something about fucking a woman that drives me insane.
But what makes me go even crazier? Amara. She has never once complained about my size, or the way I fuck her. Whether it’s sensual or savage like an animal. She takes whatever I give her. I love watching the way her expression changes like it is right now. How she presses her lips together and releases a soft moan, or when I feel the dribble of more satisfaction coming from her core.
She’s always given me the strangest sensations. My cock often feels like it’s burning alive when I fuck her, and the only release is when I spurt my cum inside her, coating her walls. My balls tighten up and her speed grows increasingly faster. “God dammit, mi reyna.” I hiss, digging my nails into her hips, I place my mouth over one of her nipples, and nibble down on the hardened nub.
The second I clench down on her breast her pussy tightens up and she begins to halt. It’s the only signifier I need that she’s on the edge and she wants to edge herself so she can keep fucking me. Fuck no. She’s not playing this game with me.
I hook my arms underneath her legs and lift her up like she’s a weight at the gym. Every time I pull her in the air, I’m pumping my cock into her with as much force as I can muster. She quivers and moans, throws her hair back, and runs her hands through my hair. “That’s it, cum for me.” I grumble against her breast, wrapping my tongue around her nipple.
Her walls close in around me and I know I’m a goner as the heat shoots through my cock. I release myself inside her, continuing to fuck her the entire time. My load keeps going far longer than I anticipate, so I pull her off my cock, grab her by the back of the hair and shove her mouth around my dick. “Clean up the mess you made.”
Amara’s dark almond eyes meet mine and I don’t miss the smile that pulls at the edge of her lips. “This place is already yours, by the way.” I inform her.
The reality of what I’ve just said sets in and instead of being gentle with my cock, she goes to town. Dios Mio, this woman will be the death of me. One thing is for certain— I’ll die the happiest man who ever lived.
Epilogue
You can disappoint people and still be good enough. You can fail and still be smart, capable and talented. You can let people down and still be worthwhile and deserving of love and admiration. We all make mistakes sometimes. Take a deep breath. You are allowed to be human.
~ MarcAndAngel
Amara
One Month Later . . .
Life is what you make it. My mother always told me that. From the age of seven she was giving me monumental life lessons. When I was fourteen and snuck out of the house for the first time, she made it a point to give me another lesson, but also make me realize how I was the one who was to blame in my punishment.
Though, my lessons weren’t always about decisions, or punishments. She made sure I understood the art of forgiving myself. Something I’d pushed to the back of my mind. For years I punished myself, always about mistakes, but specifically a big one that altered my life.
When my mother was alive, I told her of what happened, what I did. She let me cry on her shoulder because she knew as much as I did that my life was going to change in every way. She was the one person I spoke to when I realized my relationship with Widow was one of convenience and not love. She gave me the courage to speak up to him about my true feelings and end our relationship.
Now, the only thing I have left of the woman I loved so fiercely for so long is a red crystal pendant which hangs around my neck. It was made using her ashes, keeping her as close to my heart as I can. Rose has one as well, and so do my brothers. Although, they have rings. Doing this was actually my father’s idea, and one that we were all extremely grateful for.
I’m sitting on the back balcony of the home I share with Dante. It connects to our master bedroom and directly below us is our pool. Unlike his father, Dante’s home is within a private community. It overlooks Chihuahua from the hillside and his neighbors are about a quarter of a mile away.
Being with Dante has instilled a lot of changes in my life. I’d lived at the clubhouse before, but he made it a point to say that we won’t be living there. I’ve never been one who balances personal life and work very well, but I’m willing to learn now. Dante suggested we follow the rules of the Cartel, or even apply some to the club. At first, I wasn’t too happy with him trying to come in and alter the way I do things, though I do understand. After a while I was open to it.
He suggested I live here with him, in our home, and I go to the clubhouse for specific duties, or to spend time there. However, we come home, to our house, to our bed. He says everyone who’s in an officer position should do the same. It would create less chaos, especially if they’re in a relationship.
I accepted his suggestion and even spoke to Zane about it via a video chat. He agreed it was something that he’d be supportive of if I chose to move forward with it. I did, and I’m a bit ahead of the game. The clubhouse shouldn’t be done for another month or so, but it’s coming along smoothly.
It’ll be a total of two stories. The first level will be where we have our kitchen, meeting room where we hold church, a huge dining room so we can have dinners together like a true familia, and a massive living area.
When I find those who are destined to be in my club, they will become part of mi familia. We will have dinner together, with our partners, kids, and whoever else they want to bring at least once a week.
Mayhem: A Reapers MC Boxset Page 41
