Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
I turned, panting, and glared at Ky. “And I fucking belong with her. With both of them!” Tears of rage built behind my eyes. If Cowboy were here, he would be telling me to calm down. But he wasn’t. They’d fucking taken him . . . taken her . . . and I was out here on my fucking own.
“Let’s speak the fucking truth, brother. It’s because I’m black. You didn’t want your sister with a fucking half-breed, right? A mongrel?” I knew I should shut my mouth, but I couldn’t stop now I’d started. “The coon failed on protecting your sister—your sister who you’d just thrown to the fucking wolves, no protection of the ranch, because she was fucking a spook. If it had just been Cowboy, you wouldn’t have given two shits. But because I was there too, it became a real fucking issue for your Aryan self. Yeah, VP?” Ky opened his mouth, but I couldn’t stop. “This fucking club! You’re all just like everyone else! You only just started letting anyone of color in ten years ago. Only white brothers up until then.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. My stomach twisted with dread. “Four hours,” I guessed, and felt my fucking heart shred. “It’s been about four hours since they were taken.”
“It ain’t because you’re black.” Ky’s voice was like thunder in the silent room. I worked on breathing. I worked on calming my pulse. I just worked on not falling apart when my best friend, my fucking brother, and the bitch I was fucking in love with . . . the only ones I’d ever let in . . . had been taken by a trafficker. A sadistic bastard who wanted to own Sia . . . and would probably kill Aubin for the inconvenience that she loved him too.
Ky’s boots entered my peripheral vision. “I couldn’t give two shits that you’re black. Fuck, you could be neon pink, or even a ginger—”
“Hey!” I heard Vike protest.
“But it ain’t because you’re black.”
“You get seizures?” AK asked. Looking up, I saw that Styx’s hands had been working.
“I’m coming to Mexico. I’m not staying behind. That’s my fucking bitch and best friend they’ve taken. I’m not getting grounded. And if I ain’t going with you, I’m going alone. I had a fucking seizure, and they moved me. Hid me, so I wasn’t taken. I don’t know why they didn’t hide too.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I woke up to fucking carnage, and them gone.”
Styx’s jaw clenched. He lifted his hands. “Not grounding you,” AK said, translating. The massive brother came to stand next to Ky. “You should’ve told us,” AK went on, following Styx’s hands.
“How do we get them back?”
“Church, now,” Ky ordered, and we all followed.
Ky spoke, translating for Styx. “We know where he lives. We’ve been there before.” I thought back to Sia, to how she said she managed to get out. Styx glanced at Ky, then the rest of us, and said, “I’ve been in close contact with Chavez, the Diablos’ prez. He agreed to help if shit went south with Garcia.”
Styx paused, and Ky, this time, spoke for himself. “Garcia is part of the Quintana cartel. When we went in before, he had a small operation; now it’s huge. Alfonso Quintana, the cartel boss, invested heavily in Garcia’s business.” Ky rolled his hand into a fist on the tabletop. “He doesn’t just traffic bitches now. He moves guns and snow.”
Styx signed and Ky said, “They’ve been encroaching on Diablo turf. Snow, mainly. Chavez is pissed.”
Ky looked at Styx. “Sia’s my sister. So I’m going in. Styx is too.” He glanced at me. “Hush will be in. Cowboy’s there too. Don’t know what they’ll do with him . . . if he’ll even make it to Mexico. It’s my sister he wants.”
My fucking heart cracked. My hand started shaking at the thought of Aubin gone. My leg bounced. I fucking heard his voice in my head. Calm down, mon ami. I wouldn’t believe he was dead until I saw his fucking cold body.
I wouldn’t be able to function if I did.
“The Klan works with them too.” Ky looked at Tank and Tanner. Tanner was paler than usual. His hands were gripping the edge of the table, and his eyes were unfocused. “They’re already at our throats. And Chavez heard that if we go against the cartel . . .” Ky looked to Styx. Styx nodded. “We’ll be going to war.”
The room plunged into a tense silence. I roved my eyes around the table. The brothers were all still, some looking at others, as Ky’s words hung in the air. War. I’d never been at war for the club. This chapter had been against the Diablos only a few years ago, but New Orleans had never been called in to help. I knew most of these brothers had fought in that war. The war that cost Styx his pop. And cost Ky and Sia both parents.