Darkness Embraced (Hades Hangmen 7)

Shade Nash was the most handsome man I’d ever seen. The minute I saw him, and he smiled my way, I was his . . .

Chapter Six

Tanner

“Shit, darlin’. You’re making me nervous with all that leg twitching and hand rubbing. You okay?” Beauty pointed her knife at me over the table. “Don’t even try to tell me my brisket ain’t good, because then I’ll know you’re a liar, Tanner Ayers. And I don’t tolerate liars.”

Beauty’s voice ripped me from my head. Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously on me, which made me smirk. “Nah, Beauty. You know your brisket is the best.”

She smiled and sat up straight, shaking her shoulders. “That’s what all the boys tell me.”

Tank raised his eyebrows at his woman. “All the boys?” he said dryly.

Beauty tapped Tank’s cheek with her red-taloned finger. “You know I weren’t no virgin before you came riding into my life, darlin’. So yeah, a few boys have tasted my brisket . . . ” She leaned closer to my best friend. “And they fucking loved the taste . . . as do you.” Beauty got up from the table, winking at me before getting us some more beers from the fridge.

“Tann?” Tank asked. “You thinking of Adelita?” His head tipped to the side as he watched me. Tank sighed. “Tann. Fucking speak. Fucking say something! How the fuck are you still not telling me a thing?”

“She’ll know by now. She’ll know her cousin has been taken.”

Tank’s eyes narrowed. “She’ll understand in time.” I ran my hands down my face. I wasn’t so sure she would understand. Tank didn’t know Adelita. She’d be pissed at me. Pissed I didn’t stop it. But what the fuck else was I supposed to do?

“You not feeling the club anymore?” Tank asked quietly. “You’re not wanting out, are you?”

My stomach fell. “Fuck no.” I meant every word. Of course, I wasn’t sure how the rest of my brothers felt about me and Adelita. Didn’t know if Styx still wanted me around after I kept this from him. “I’m good,” I said. Tank looked as though he didn’t believe a fucking thing I was saying. “Tank . . . It’s the first time I’ve ever felt like I belong somewhere. Everything else in my life has gone to shit. But I want in this club. Never fucking doubt that.” I cleared my throat, changing the subject. “You heard anything from AK and the others?”

Tank stared at me for a bit too long. But then said, “They’re almost home. Clean retrieval.”

But I knew Quintana. He’d be losing his shit, and no doubt planning on bringing hell to the Hangmen’s door. I could only imagine Adelita. The fucking fire that lived in her igniting over this. How that fuck Diego would use it as the excuse he needed to truly bring the force of the Quintana family to Texas.

“You know—” Tank started to say, when suddenly our cells went off. I ripped mine from my pocket and read the text. “They’re back.” Tank got to his feet, went over to Beauty, and kissed her. “Gotta go to church, beauty queen.”

Beauty slapped Tank’s ass as we walked out. “Gonna go see Mae.” Tank waved over his shoulder, and we jumped on our bikes. My heart pounded as I tore up the few miles of road between Tank’s place and the club. The gates were open, the prospects waving us through. The second I parked up, I was off my bike and gunning it to church. I stood at the back of the room and waited impatiently for everyone to get the fuck in.

When the door was closed, Ky spoke. I held my breath as he looked each of us in the eyes. Then he smiled. “We got her.” The brothers nodded their heads, and the excitement built in the room.

“This means war is imminent, right? Actual tearing fuckers apart?” Rudge said from next to Vike and Bull. Bull’s eyes were fixed on Ky. Fuck, everyone’s were. “I feel the need to cut up some cartel flesh,” Rudge added.

Styx hands started to sign. “We’re gonna let the fucker stew for a while. Left no trace it was us.” Ky paused as Styx’s hands stopped. Styx looked at me. “Tanner said no one knew about those tunnels.” Styx’s lip curled in a sort of smirk. “They might question if it was us.” He sat back. “But they’ll question the Klan more. They would know we got no way to know those underground getaways. And let’s just say Shadow was good at laying a trail that might lead them back to Governor Ayers’s door.”

My breathing stopped for a second when I thought of my brother having to take on the cartel and the Hangmen. Then I pushed him from my head. I had to let that shit go. Beau wasn’t the brother I used to know. If he fell under the cartel, then that was the way it had to be. But the pain in my chest never left.

“And the cartel slut-bride?” Cam, a member of the Frisco chapter, asked. “Where’s she? What’s the plan with her?”

Styx lifted his hands. “She’s in the warehouse. We take shifts watching her.” My heart beat so fucking loud I barely heard Ky talk to me when he translated, “Tanner. We need you on cameras, so you need to push the connection to your bitch shit aside and focus on the job. Need more surveillance setting up. Quintana is gonna come in strong when he discovers it’s us.” He paused, glaring at me. “I find out you’ve been going against orders, I’ll knock you out myself.” I nodded. Bastard.

Styx addressed Tank. “Need Beauty in on this. Need her around to deal with the cartel whore.”

“Done,” Tank said. I caught his suspicious eyes, but I looked away. Beauty was in. I could use that. I could get intel on Adelita from Beauty . . . somehow.

Styx went to sign again, but the door to church opened and AK walked in. The brother was covered in dirt. That’s what you’d get after three days on the back roads from Mexico. AK looked at Ky and Styx. “She’s awake.” AK shook his head. “And fuck, but that slut is tapped. Spewing Spanish at us and trying like fuck to get free.”

I knew the plan. Shadow would have drugged her until they got home, Edge watching her to be sure they didn’t kill her or some stupid shit like that.

“Nice.” Vike rubbed his hands. “Love me a feisty Latina. I’ll take the first shift.” He got up.

“Sit the fuck down, Vike,” Ky said. Ky looked to Tank. “Get Beauty here. You and Bull will take first shift.”

Tank nodded, and I knew this was my chance to see the cousin, whoever she was.

“The bitch was in her wedding dress,” AK said and shook his head. “She’s in that warehouse, in that fucking wedding dress, her nose stuck up in the air like she’s the fucking Queen of England, hurling insults at us. Fuck knows what she’s saying.” AK shrugged. “That bitch is pissed. Fucking stunning, but pissed. Looks like Uncle Quintana taught her well.”

“I’m hard. Anyone else?” Vike said. “I like a slut who screams insults at me. Shut your mouth, you ginger cunt. I’m gonna rip you a new asshole—fuck, never were sweeter words spoken.”

&nb

sp; Styx lifted his hands, ignoring him. “I have duties for y’all. We’re on high alert. And warn your old ladies now: we hear one word that the cartel know it’s us, and we’re on lockdown.” Heads nodded. Jokes stopped. Styx slammed down the gavel.

Church was done.

Tank jumped on his bike and disappeared in the direction of the warehouse. I ducked into my bedroom and searched the cameras. I focused on the ones around the warehouse, seeing the moment Bull and Tank arrived to relieve Crow. Slash, Ash, and Zane were there too. I needed to get cameras inside the warehouse. Fuck my orders and the threat of Styx’s fists, I was speaking to that bitch about Lita.

I upgraded what I could with what I had, then I ordered more cameras from a local store and jumped into one of the club’s trucks to go pick them up. By the time I got back and installed them around the club, it was dark. I checked my screens. Tank and Bull were still by the warehouse. Beauty must have been inside. I assumed the prospects were near too.

Sitting back in my chair, I closed my eyes and took a long, deep breath. What the fuck would I say to Lita’s cousin? How the fuck would I get her to trust me? To get a message to Lita?

“Fuck!” I spat. But Adelita’s face was immediately in my head. Driving me forward. Fuck, since the day that bitch had entered my life, she was all I could see. The one who controlled me.

Snatching the camera and tool kit from beside me, I left my room and walked past the bar. Brothers were inside, as usual. But I ducked past and got in the truck. My pulse raced faster the closer I got. For the first time in two years I was going to speak to someone who knew Adelita . . . someone who, after she was released, could get a message to her.

Tank stood off the wall he was leaning against as I parked up the truck. “Cameras?” I nodded, pointing at the stuff in the cab. Bull came over and started taking the cameras into the warehouse.

“Bitch still calling y’all out?” I said, gesturing to the warehouse.

“Yeah,” Tank said. “Beauty’s been in there a while, and that seems to have shut her down some.”