by Tillie Cole
“Tann?” Beauty’s voice sailed to my ears. “Let me take her while you sort everything out. I promise I’ll look after her. You can trust me.” Adelita’s hands shook as they held on to my wrists. She looked at Beauty, and when I could tear my eyes away from Adelita, so did I. Beauty smiled at me, then turned to Adelita. “I’m Beauty.” She held out her hand. Adelita looked wary, but she shook it. “You have my word that no one will hurt you.”
“Go with her,” I said. Adelita still held on tightly to my wrist like she didn’t wanna let go. I slipped my hand into hers and kissed her again. “Trust me.”
Adelita nodded, then let Beauty lead her away. I fought a smirk when I saw her hold her head up high like the princess she was. My brothers stared at her as she walked past. AK and Smiler fell in line behind Beauty. My eyes tracked Adelita until she was out the door. My instinct was to follow her. But we needed to sort this shit. Once and for fucking all.
“That’s Quintana’s daughter?” Ky asked, translating for Styx. I nodded. The room was quiet.
“Time to explain,” Ky translated for Styx. “Right the fuck now. And no more fucking lying or missing shit out. This is your last fucking chance.”
My jaw clenched at the order. But then I thought of Adelita’s eyes filling with tears as Ky had hit me. Of how scared she was. It was enough to reduce the raging fire in my stomach to a low burn. I crossed my arms across my chest and spoke. “We met when my old man and Quintana struck a deal. I didn’t know it at the time, but it must have been the trafficking shit. He kept me out of it. Didn’t include me. That’s when I met Adelita.”
“And what? Klan Romeo and Cartel Juliet fell madly in love?” Ky’s shitty attitude pissed me the fuck off.
I fought it and explained, “She made me see things differently. She made me see that the shit I’d been raised to believe was all bull.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Got out after that.” I looked Ky square in his face, getting a sick satisfaction out of seeing his lip was still bleeding. “Remember? I came here and gave you the intel you needed to get your woman out of that fucked-up cult. So let’s not pretend you don’t get me and why I’ve done what I’ve done. That you don’t understand that you’ll do anything to get the one you love.”
“You should have said something,” Tank said. “You should have told us. Shit, brother, you should have told me.”
“It was too dangerous.” I exhaled and tipped my head back to stare at the ceiling. “I was planning to get her out somehow. Work out a way . . . then we went to war.” I laughed a humorless laugh. “Not only with my fiancée’s father but with my family too. Anything I thought could work suddenly went out the fucking window.” I glanced at the chair she’d been sitting on. “Believe me, I didn’t bank on her being the one taken. I never thought she’d be delivered right into my hands.”
“If she’s your old lady, why the fuck was she marrying someone else?” Rudge said, asking the one question I had been thinking myself. I knew they’d all be thinking.
My heart started pounding as pictured her in that white dress. That ring on her finger and that guilty look in her eyes when she saw who was before her, looking at the evidence of her betrayal. “I don’t know,” I said hoarsely.
“Shi-it, brother,” Rudge said, whistling low. “You walked away from the Nazi crown for her, and she gets hitched—or almost gets hitched—to someone else?” He shook his head. “That shit’s gotta sting.”
It did. It was fucking destroying me.
“We have Quintana’s daughter.” Ky moved to stand next to Styx, shaking his head. “Daddy dearest is gonna be pissed. It was bad when we thought we only had the cousin. He’s gonna bring the fucking rain now we have his little girl.”
Styx lifted his hands. “We’re going on lockdown,” he signed; Ky spoke. “Get your old ladies and anything you need. We go on lockdown in four hours. No one leaves until this shit is dealt with and we know where we stand.” The brothers started filing out of the warehouse. Styx, Ky, and Tank stayed behind. Styx stepped even closer to me. “You’re gonna tell us all you know about Quintana. Every fucking thing.”
“It ain’t much. I told you, I was kept out of the deals. Found out about the trafficking when y’all did.”
“You tell us who works for him. The tactics he uses. Anything you can.”
“What about Adelita?” I asked when the tension had grown thicker again.
“She stays in Tank’s room, under guard,” Styx said.
“I’m not leaving her.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ve just got her back. I’m not losing her again. She can stay with me in mine.”
“The club you’ve joined just kidnapped her and is holding her against her will. You think she’ll be okay with you after that?” Tank asked.
I sighed, feeling fucking exhausted. “She doesn’t know what her father is involved in.”
Tank’s eyes grew suspicious. “You sure about that?”
“Yeah, I fucking am. She doesn’t know about the trafficking. The drugs, yeah.” I felt my chest warm. “Lita isn’t naïve. She was brought up in the cartel life as much as we were the Klan and you guys were the club.” I pointed at Styx and Ky. “She isn’t some young delicate wallflower. She’s a fucking queen who knows how to thrive in a fucked-up life.”
“Match made in heaven,” Ky muttered, but I could tell the brother had calmed down from earlier. If this had been his bitch, he wouldn’t have hesitated to do anything to get to her. Fuck, the guy barely let Lilah out of his sight.
“She can’t be given contact with her family. Or anyone, for that matter. And she ain’t leaving this club.” Styx’s hands moved as Ky verbalized his signs. “We took her for leverage.”
“She ain’t fucking leverage—she’s my bitch!”
“Quintana won’t attack this club if he knows she’s here. Right now, she’s fucking leverage.” Styx turned to leave the warehouse, but then signed, “You can stay with her. But try to get her out from under our noses and I’ll slit your throat myself.” He stepped closer to me and raised his hands once more. “Right now I regard you as a brother. You’ve been good for this club. I trust you. But if I find out you’ve joined us just so you can get her out, or if you try to double-cross us in any way, we’ll make you pay. I’ll make you pay.”
“I’m a fucking Hangman,” I snarled. My muscles twitched in anger. “I owe this club. It’s my home. I’m not gonna take Lita and cut and run. I’m not a fucking coward.” Styx studied me, then nodded his head. He and Ky left me alone with Tank.
As soon as the door was shut, I exhaled and felt my head begin to pound. Tank ran his hand across his face. “Jesus Christ, Tann.”
I sagged down to the seat Adelita had been tied to. “No one would allow us be together.” I looked up at my best friend. “You don’t know what that’s like. To find a bitch who you know is yours, but you’ll both be killed if you dare touch her.”
Tank put his hand on my shoulder. “Tann, I ain’t claiming to understand, but . . .”
“But what?”
“All the cartel-Klan-Hangmen shit aside. She was marrying someone else, brother.” Pain shot through my chest like a spear. “You’ve done everything to be in the best position to make it safe for her to be with you. Protected. But what the fuck has she done? She was marrying—”
“There has to be a reason,” I interrupted, praying like fuck I was right. “There has to be a reason she was getting married.” I looked around the barren warehouse, emptied for the war and any captives we might get. My eyes blurred as I remembered her life in the hacienda. “You didn’t see how it was for her. Trapped, no friends. No one to talk to outside the staff and her priest. Well, she had her best friend from California, but she wasn’t a constant. Wasn’t there all the time. Another family friend was killed when I was there one visit. Adelita had to do anything her papa told her. She was like a Mexican Rapunzel or some shit, locked away so she couldn’t be found.” I nodded my head like I was convincing myself to bel
ieve she had no other choice but to do as her papa said. “She was forced into it. She had to be.”
Tank held out his hand. “Come on. Styx and Ky will want that Quintana intel before you see her.” I went to argue, but Tank said, “Beauty’s with her. You know she’ll take care of her. Beauty loves you like a brother. She’ll do anything for you. Adelita will be fine for a couple of hours while we get this squared away. Club first. Personal life second. It might be good for Beauty to speak to her before you do. Calm her down first.”
I let Tank pull me to my feet. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to go to her right then and make sure she was safe. But he was right. I had to get everything straight with Styx and Ky. I had to do it so I could keep her close. “Fuck, Tann, you sure know how to attract trouble,” Tank said as we walked out the door.
And it’s just beginning, I wanted to say. Once Quintana finds out it’s the Hangmen, he’s gonna bring darkness to our door. So far it’s been child’s play. The real war hasn’t even started yet.
And it was the truth. Because how the fuck I was getting me, Adelita, and the Hangmen out of this shitshow unscathed, I had no fucking clue.
Chapter Seven
Adelita
I met every one of them in the eye. Even though my hands were shaking at my sides, I would not let them intimidate me. I would stand proud. These men might want me and my father dead, but I would not let them see my fear.
The truck we were in drove up a graveled path. Beauty rubbed my arm. I didn’t know this woman for her to be this affectionate. But I did know of her . . .
“Tell me about you, Tanner,” I said as I ran my fingers over the tattoo of an eagle on his stomach. I traced the intricate feathers on the bird’s wings, the tips a vibrant shade of red that faded into a golden yellow as the many feathers led down to its body.
“What do you want to know?”
I looked up at Tanner and rested my chin on his chest. “Do you have friends?”
For a split second I saw a flash of what looked like pure pain in his blue eyes. Tanner’s muscles twitched beneath me. My stomach fell. He looked so sad. “I . . .” Tanner cleared his throat. “I have a best friend.” His voice was low and raspy, as though it hurt him to admit those words.
“In the Klan?”
Tanner picked up a piece of my hair and ran it through his fingers. I smiled to myself as he became lost in the motion. Tanner Ayers, beneath the muscles, the tattoos, and the menacing stare, was the most beautiful of men. “He’s not anymore.” My eyebrows rose in surprise. “He left.” Tanner inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “Did time inside, then lost his faith in the cause. When he came out, he was done.”
“And your brotherhood was okay with it?”
“No,” he said. I tried to decipher the expression on his face. Wonder? Confusion? No. It was pain. “Just like they would never understand about you,” I said. It would be way worse, I imagined. He was the heir.
My heart started beating too fast for my breathing to remain steady. We never talked about what our lives were like outside my room. Tanner had been back to Mexico three times now. He would return once more before the Klan–cartel business was complete. And every visit, he came to me every night. Traveled with me each day through the secret tunnels that ran under the hacienda. And every time he left to go back to Texas, I counted the hours until he was back by my side.
He was never meant to mean anything to me. He was meant to be a man I loved to hate. A man who, for whatever reason, I felt pulled toward, but who was meant to be disposable.
I did not count on falling for the infamous White Prince of the Ku Klux Klan.
“His name is Tank. I met him when he joined the Klan several years back. We were near the same age, he was just a bit older, so we kind of fell into a friendship.” Tanner’s lip lifted at the side, and my heart melted on seeing that small whisper of a smile edge across his mouth. It was rare, like a blue moon, and just as enchanting. “He was my right-hand man. He was always with me. Stood beside me when I needed him . . .” The pain that had clouded his eyes before returned.
“And where is he now?”
Tanner’s small smile fell. “With another gang. A new brotherhood.”
I took Tanner’s hand. I was compelled to soothe him. I squeezed his hand and brought it to my lips. “But you still see him? Against your father’s wishes?”
Tanner nodded. “He has a woman now. Beauty.” His smile returned. “She’s a total ballbuster.” He paused, then, flicking an almost shy smile my way, said, “Like you. I think you’d like her. I could see you being friends.” I couldn’t help but smile back, my heart expanding, at just the thought of meeting some of Tanner’s friends as his . . . his. Tanner stared at me. I waited for him to speak. I had quickly learned that Tanner was the type of man who spoke only when he had something important to say. “When Tank left, I couldn’t understand how he could walk away.” Tanner glanced down at his hand in mine. Then his eyes tracked the tattoos on his arm. “When he left, I changed. I felt betrayed. Immersed myself in the Klan more than ever.”
“Tanner . . . what is it?” I asked after a minute of tense silence.
Tanner sighed. “But now I can.” My stomach flipped and my pulse lurched into a sprint. I didn’t know what to say. Tanner’s eyes dipped as if he was embarrassed to have said such a thing. “Now I think that maybe the life I’ve lived . . .” He shook his head. “The things I’ve done and the beliefs I had . . . now I think they could all be wrong.” Tanner hooked his hands under my arms and pulled me to lie over his chest. I gasped as I felt his hard muscles against my breasts. Tanner cupped my cheek. “Adelita Quintana. You’re making me want things I never dreamed I could want.”
“Tanner . . .”
“You’re giving me something I’ve never had before.” I held my breath, anxious to hear the answer. “Hope,” he whispered. “Hope for more than what I know . . .”
“We’re here, darlin’.” The sound of a stranger’s voice pulled me from the memory. Even just thinking about that night, my heart beat louder and quicker. My breath came faster just remembering Tanner’s face.
Hope.
Tanner had inspired that in me too.
The man who had driven the truck got out and waited for me to move. “It’s okay,” Beauty said. I allowed myself to look at her. She smiled. “I promise you’ll be safe. I’m gonna take you to Tank’s and my room here. Let you get cleaned up and eat something. You must want that.”
I flicked my eyes to the men coming out of the building we were parked in front of. There were many of them.
“Trust me, Adelita.” I turned back to Beauty. “No one’s gonna hurt you. I won’t let them.”
I took a deep breath and followed Beauty out of the truck. The man who had driven us here led the way. The second man jumped from the bed of the truck and took up the rear. I was stared at, and just like before, I kept my head high. Though my feet were unsteady, we made it to the room.
“We’ll be out here keeping guard,” one of the men said.
“Thanks, darlin’.” Beauty shut the door, and I glanced around the room. There was not much to it. A large bed sat in the center. There was a television in the corner and a small bathroom to the right.
“It’s not much, but it’s better than where you just were.”
Beauty’s eyes traveled down my body to the dress I was wearing. I could see the confusion in her face. Before she even had a chance to speak, I said, “I love him.” Beauty met my gaze. “I love Tanner with my entire heart.” I gestured down to my dress, feeling the need to explain. “This . . .” I shook my head. Tears sprang to my eyes as I remembered Tanner’s face when he saw it was me who had been taken . . . when he saw what I was wearing.
He was hurt.
I had hurt him.
“I didn’t know if he was ever coming back,” I whispered. My fingers ran over the engagement ring on my left hand. I slipped it off, the metal feeling like it was burning my skin. I squeez
ed it in my hand and looked up at Beauty. “I hadn’t heard from him for so long.” I shook my head again. “I couldn’t keep putting them off anymore. My father . . . he was pushing me to Diego. And Diego, he was relentless in his pursuit of me.” My nails dug into my palms. “I had no one to turn to. No one to help. I . . . I didn’t know what to do.”
“Shh, darlin’.” Beauty wiped a falling tear away from my face with her thumb. “You don’t gotta explain nothing to me. And as for Tanner . . .” She smiled. “I just saw him with you in there. The guy went all beast-mode to protect you. He might be pissed now, but that man is gone for you, sweetie. Hook, line, and sinker gone.” Beauty moved behind me and started unbuttoning my dress. “Now, let’s get you out of this and cleaned up. I got some clothes you can wear.”
I was in a daze as the wedding dress came off and I was ushered into the bathroom. When Beauty left me alone, I stared at myself in the mirror above the sink. My hair was disheveled and my skin was pale. The steam from the hot shower quickly eradicated my face from view, yet I stayed staring at the place my reflection had been. My brain was consumed with thoughts. Of my father and what he would do when he found out I’d been taken. Of Diego, and the vengeance I knew would be coming this way.
But most of all I thought of Tanner. I thought of how he was no longer with the Klan. He was here, with the Hades Hangmen . . . My stomach fell, and I had to catch a sob before it fell from my mouth.
We were at war with the Hangmen. The Klan was at war with the Hangmen. Tanner was no longer with the Klan. He was now a brother of the Hangmen.
I rubbed my hand over my sternum, fighting panic as the truth filtered into my fogged-up brain.
It was worse.
I didn’t think it could get worse for us.
But this, now, was exponentially worse.
I stepped into the shower and let the hot water fall over my head. I washed my hair with the shampoo and conditioner Beauty had left out for me. And I thought of the past few days. Thought of waking to find the Hangmen looking down at me. My hands and ankles had been bound with rope. Fear had flooded my veins, but I never let them see.
