Twisted Secrets: Book 3 of the Twisted Minds Series- THE FINALE by Keta Kendric (4)

Aaron frowned. “Behave, Ansel. She’s not like them.”

“Don’t worry, cousin. I’m on my meds this week.”

Aaron handed me his phone. “Call my father. Get him out here, but don’t tell him why. I don’t want everybody knowing I’m alive yet. I want to shock his ass too.”

My gaze locked on Aaron’s.

“He’s been a motherfucking beast since your death. I feel sorry for the members in Florida. They’ve all become his soldiers, and anyone who has something to say about it gets dealt with. Shark is handling things the same way I would have. Even if you’ve seen any news, the media is smart enough not to release that there are members of DG6 dying like a fucking plague is being spread. Over sixty members are dead so far, and he’s being smart about that shit by taking them out in different states and locations each time.”

Aaron couldn’t hide the flash of pride shining in his gaze, knowing that his family was waging war to avenge his death, and he wasn’t even dead.

Aaron’s gaze landed on his phone in my hand. “Call him. Get him out here. You know as well as I do that he could have made the decision to kill my ass for disobeying his orders and choosing Megan, but he didn’t. He could’ve killed her too, but he didn’t. You know as well as I do that he took a lot of shit because of my decisions. He could have been voted out and killed himself over the shit I pulled. He deserves to know that I’m alive.”

Reluctantly, I inclined my head. I was on my Uncle Shark’s shit list because he believed I’d approached avenging Aaron’s death the wrong way. He didn’t think I was doing anything to avenge Aaron, and for that, I had no idea what he was going to do once we met face to face.

Aaron stood, taking Megan’s hand. When they turned to walk away, I called after them.

“Wait!”

Grabbing an unopened bottle of water from the counter, I handed it over to him, fighting to hide my teasing smirk.  

“Pace yourselves,” my pointed finger bounced back and forth between them. “But, if you find that you can’t, we have a doctor in the house to patch you up.”

Aaron shook his head at my antics, but he took the water before leaving.

Now, I faced the hard task of calling my Uncle Shark and convincing him to come to California without telling him the true reason why. I hadn’t talked to him in months, so I prepared to receive a royal cursing.

 

Chapter Four

 

Aaron

 

As soon as Megan closed the door and the lock sliding into place sounded, I pounced. My lips and hands were all over her as our heavy breathing filled the space of her room. I backed off a bit, fighting to calm myself. For once in my life, I was going to take my time with this woman. She’d tried to take her time with me before and not only had I stopped her and rushed the moment, I’d later left her to go chasing after DG6 mercenaries.

This time, I was going to swallow a bit of my own advice and calm my raging hormones. “Let’s go slower,” I suggested. My voice was husky and filled with lust.

“Do you really want to go slower right now?” she asked through labored breaths.

“Fuck no,” flew past my lips before they landed back on hers. I filled one hand with her plump ass and the other with one of her tits. She’d lost weight, but I was glad she hadn’t let it all slip away.

The urgent flutters that only she had the ability to set off inside me had taken over my stomach and made my chest tighten, causing my heart to pound faster, louder, and harder.

She backed off this time. “God, I missed you,” she whispered harshly against my lips as she assisted with dragging my T-shirt over my head.

Once the task of ridding me of my shirt was completed, I dropped it on the floor and backed her up until we were standing on the side of her bed.

With my thumbs looped in the waistband of her pants, she started to wiggle out of them. I bent to slide the pants over her feet and kissed my way up her thighs until I was face to face with the only heaven I knew. As I gripped her thighs, my lustful, heavy gaze met hers.

“You have no idea how much I missed you. But, I’m about to show you,” I promised as I stood and allowed my fingers to sweep up the rest of her body.

Her tongue slid across her lips as she worked my belt loose with anxious fingers. I dismissed what she was doing. “Let me help you out of this shirt. It’s in my way.”

After easing her shirt over her head, her curls fell and framed her face. I stood staring before reaching out to cup her chin. “God, you beautiful.”

I leaned in and kissed her with a tender ease I never knew I could bring. Pausing for the briefest of moments, I expressed the words that only she would ever hear come from me. “I love you, Megan. Regina may have saved me medically, but it was you who kept me from dying.”

“I love you too, Aaron. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you,” she said, her voice sure. Her gaze was locked on mine, staring so deep that the impact of her words hit home. Her arms slid around my neck and pulled me back to her waiting soft lips. 

With my zipper down, she easily reached into my pants and cupped my steel-hard dick. I gasped into her mouth, devouring her lips. Easing her away from me was tough, but I sat her on the bed. 

“Climb all the way in and lay down.”

My gaze never wavered from her as I kicked off my boots and discarded my socks. I dropped my pants and boxers and climbed in next to her. My body sliding against her warmth filled me with a need that I’d been dying to satisfy. It also filled me with a deeper appreciation for the sense of touch. Every slide of her hand over my skin, every kiss and caress of her lips over mine, and my body sliding against hers was a blessing I’d taken for granted before.

I nipped, sucked, and tugged at the warm flesh of her neck and collarbone. When my hand reached the tiny metal hook at her back, I twisted it, popping her bra apart. I removed the straps, kissing the parts I revealed that were marked with a slight indention of where the strap had sat.

Once the bra was removed, I tossed it over my shoulder, not caring where it landed. I slid my hand up her sexy hip, loving the way her supple skin seemed to melt under my fingers. I didn’t stop my play until I had a hand wrapped around one of her plump tits with its hard chocolate tip that I couldn’t wait to get my mouth on.

“Oh,” escaped her lips when my mouth made first contact. Her nipple grazed over my tongue before my lips closed around it, pinching the tight bud with purpose. My action caused quick breaths to escape her throat before I repeatedly plucked the tight bud with my tongue.

Her back bowed, urging me to keep going. I took my time pleasing each chocolate tit until she’d gotten one of her legs wrapped around my hip. With her lower body pressed firmly against mine, she attempted to create enough friction to get herself off by rubbing her warm pussy against my thigh. There was no way I was going to let that happen when I had something that was going to cool her burning aches.

Kissing my way down her stomach, I tugged at her panties. She hurriedly raised her bottom off the bed so I could easily relieve her of them. Purple, she was still wearing purple panties. The scent of her arousal was calling my name, urging me to move faster. 

I balled her panties into the palm of my fist and brought them up to my nose, taking in a deep sniff, savoring the scent that caused me to salivate. She readily opened while I slid between her legs, placing one over my shoulder. Her breathing kicked up a notch as her chest rose and fell with need.

Her pussy glistened with her juices, and I intended to lick up every drop. I’d finally gotten back to the territory I’d marked as mine forever and wasn’t going to let anything go to waste.

My fingers slid across her wetness, and I spread her brown lips apart before I sent my eager tongue into her soft pink folds. “Mmm,” escaped, rising from my chest to throat as I lapped up her juices and alternated between sucking and licking her clit, making it poke out. Her pussy pulsed against my tongue as I licked every fold. I wasn’t about to miss a single spot.

She squirmed against the tight grip I had on her thighs, but she was as good as trapped because I was going to eat her pussy until I got tired. It had been too long, and we had been through too much. If Megan knew me half as well as I thought she did, she knew this was only the beginning. As crazy as I was for her, Dr. Regina was likely going to be pulling my ass out of another coma.

“Aaron!” she screamed as she thrust her pussy against my face. Trembles radiated through her thighs and crawled over her hips, vibrating against my tight grip. I had my tongue buried so deeply in her pussy that it was touching her G-spot. 

“Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Aaron, I missed you so bad!”

“That’s it, baby, tell me how bad you missed me.” I couldn’t help an arrogant smile.

I inserted two fingers and eased my tongue back, working her into a frenzy. When my lips clamped around her clit and I sucked, she exploded. Her body literally came apart in my hands as she shook and convulsed, screaming my name. Oh, how I’d missed that sound—her screaming my name as I made her cum. I kept sucking, decreasing the pressure as her shaking turned into light trembles. Only when I was sure that I’d dragged every ounce of pleasure from her did I release her clit and lick her essence off my lips. I eased her leg off my shoulder and moved up to slide between her legs. 

Pure satisfaction shone on her face as I moved, angling my face closer to hers and covering her body with mine. Her legs automatically spread wider to accommodate my new position. My lips met hers, giving her a taste of what I’d just had. My dick was so rigid that I was almost afraid I’d hurt her. But, if there was one thing I knew about Megan, she could take a good hard pounding.

I lifted my body, breaking our kiss as I reached between us. “I have something I want to give you. Do you want it?”

“Yes. I want it. Please,” she begged, her nails digging into my upper arm.

The swollen head of my dick slid over her slick opening, causing us to hiss out our heated response. After we recovered from the first intense contact, I kept my gaze locked on her as I forced myself into her pussy that was so wet and tight that I had to squeeze my eyes shut as I shook involuntarily from the delicious penetration.

“Aaron!” The loud cry of my name escaped her throat when I brushed past her special spot and inched deeper into her welcoming warmth.

“Shit,” I mouthed as I moved slowly, losing my strength to the weakening pleasure. I wasn’t all the way in yet and I had to stop or face cumming like it was my fucking first time. Megan had no idea what her pussy did to me as she moved against me, urging me to keep going.

“Wait, baby, I need a moment.” The words rushed out of my mouth in one breath. “Fuck,” I growled in frustration.

“It’s okay. Just let go. It’s been six months. It’s not like we’re not going to do it again.”

She had a good point, but I couldn’t go out like that, so I took a moment and calmed my dick down enough for my brain to enable me to move again. This time, I eased into her with more strength, shoving my dick as deep as it would go.

Her teeth sank into my shoulder as her moans vibrated against my skin, sending a chill down my arm as her snug pussy sent more hot lust marching back in the opposite direction until my entire body was ignited.

My measured movements were killing me, but the pleasure… Jesus, the fucking pleasure had me about to choke on my own damn tongue.

Eventually, my mind and body stopped fighting each other, and I started thrusting faster, hitting harder, and probing deeper.

“You’re fucking me so good,” she whispered in my ear. “Your dick is so good.” Her hot words in my ear were the kind of motivation that took you over the edge faster.

Every down stroke drove us closer to the brink as I gripped her tighter and used my thigh to spread her legs wider, placing one of mine under one of hers. Heavy grunts tore from the back of my throat as I fucked her with a relentless dominance. I forced her to take every inch of me as she clawed at my back, sucked on my neck, and bit into my shoulder to stifle her screams. We gasped, choking on our building intensity.

I was so far gone in pleasure that I didn’t know how close we were until her pussy squeezed my dick so tightly that I came immediately.

 

***

 

Megan

 

Aaron was laid flat out on his back with a big-ass, open-mouth smile on his face as he stared at the ceiling. I was laid out beside him, my legs still spread wide after he’d rolled off me. Our heavy breathing was the only sound that filled the space. My glazed and heavy eyes, my limp and satisfied body, and the wide mindless smirk on my face, were the aftermath of the only medicine I needed.

Like a flame stroking gas, his strong hand swept along my thigh and reignited my lust. The simple act of him touching and squeezing my warm, taut flesh caused his dick to jump right back up.

My gaze was locked on his dick as I rose from my position, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip. “You’re not going to let me sleep tonight, are you?” I asked him as lust hung heavily in my voice.

“No, baby, you’re not about to sleep. I’m going to tear that pussy up. If there’s anything left, I’m going to keep going until we’re both in pieces,” he declared, answering honestly.

I had a feeling we were about to have a repeat of the first time he’d fucked me. A smile laced my lips at the thought. I’d never been introduced to anything so addictive in my life. Most couples would have reunited with long drawn out conversations. Not me and Aaron. We would talk later after we were too tired to move.

When he started to rise, I stopped him with a tender hand on his hard chest. Climbing over his muscular thigh, I repositioned myself between his strong legs. He’d lost some weight, but he was still the sexiest man I’d ever laid eyes on. And his dick was still thick, long, and beautiful.

My eyes had been locked on his growing dick the entire time. It was as if it was pulling me in with an invisible beam. The moment my hands wrapped around his smooth hard length, I relaxed as I used delicate fingers to apply light strokes.

My gaze remained locked on it until my mouth slid over the swollen head that had started to leak cum. My warm mouth slipped further over his hard, peachy flesh as my slippery tongue licked over the head, making him shiver and sink into the mattress.

“Fuck, baby, your tongue feels so good on my dick,” he roared. His words were rushed out before he was forced to suck in a deep breath. His attempt to sit up to see what I was doing. Instead, he fell back into his elbows when I eased his dick deeper, slurping on it as it slid to the back of my throat.

I gagged on it, knowing but not caring that only half could fit in my mouth. My body heaved, but it didn’t stop my tongue from licking the underside and sliding back up to the head. He worked his hips in response to the slick movements. “You’ve got me weak in the best fucking way,” he revealed, licking his lips before his fingers sunk into my hair and he fisted it in a tight grip.

His dick slipped between my wet lips, eliciting a lusty pleasure that put me in a ravenous state of mind. His delicious nectar coated my tongue. I couldn’t get enough.

The feel of his thick hardness sliding over my tongue and filling my mouth had my pussy clinching with anticipation as I hungrily devoured him. The sight of him, the way he smelled, and his decadent taste had intoxicated me. The way he moaned for me, the sensations he sparked within me each time we touched—Aaron was wrapped around all my senses, and I didn’t want to be set free.

His eyes widened in wonder as I flooded him with pleasure, making it build and fill him up. His muscles flexed, tightening into cords of steel and his breathing intensified to exhausted gasps. My loud slurps and suctioning noises filled the interior of the room as the expensive mattress beneath us produced a low crinkly sound. All it took was a few more solid strokes of my hungry tongue and that last hard strike of the head of his dick slamming to the back of my throat to make it swell and explode in my mouth.

I didn’t stop feasting on it and eased it deeper into my mouth as hot cum shot down my throat. He quaked with each hard burst, his harsh breaths sweeping through the air. I drank him all down, licking and sucking to ensure I didn’t leave a drop. He fell back into the same flat position atop the mattress, his satisfied gaze aimed at the ceiling again. Every muscle in my body seemed to be working to get oxygen into my lungs, but even as he struggled to breathe, a smile rested on his lips. 

 

***

 

Aaron

 

I must have dozed off for a second, but my mind wouldn’t allow me to shut down. I recalled Megan getting up and going to the bathroom. She’d even taken a towel and wiped my dick off. I didn’t have a clue as to how long our break was, but I was ready to be back inside her.

“Come here, baby. Let me see that beautiful ass of yours,” I whispered into her ear, as I squeezed one of her cheeks and watched her eyes flutter open lazily.

I directed her to the position I wanted her in while taking the opportunity to admire her beautiful nude body. With her kneeling in front of me, I sucked on the tender skin of her neck before I placed my hand in the center of her back and nudged her forward.

Her body was a splendid piece of living art that I bent to my satisfaction and angled with precision. I tilted my head as I admired the position I’d placed her in. “This is it,” I told her. “I’m about to fuck you real good, okay.”

“Hurry,” she called back to me as her tongue slid across her lips in anticipation. Her cheek kissed the mattress as she stared back at me, peeking around her ass, which I had perched high in the air. I had her so open and exposed there wasn’t going to be shit she could do to get away from me once I started. 

I leaned down and drank in her scent before I flattened my tongue and licked her pretty pussy until her legs started to tremble. When she tried to close her legs, I used my knees to inch them back open. When my dick started to ache for some of the action, I rose and aligned my body behind hers.

Her body had knotted into a hunched ball like a cat, so I placed my hand in the center of her back and pushed down hard to ensure her ass was raised just right. The head of my dick glided along her wet heat, and I tensed, knowing what was coming.

However, I was never truly prepared for what her pussy had the ability to do to me. I shoved past her folds, my thick peachy flesh sinking into her tight pink center. Holding her steady, I pushed deeper and deeper, my eyes slamming shut at the extreme levels of pleasure that swallowed me whole.

The sound of her harsh breathing mingled with mine as I eased back and plunged forward with a hard thrust that tore a loud groan from me, a ragged moan from her, and flesh slapping echoes from the impact of our bodies colliding.

I repeated the forceful pounding, unable to stop myself from going in deep. With me gripping each of her plump cheeks, the visual of my dick being swallowed by her tight pussy was killing my concentration. I plunged into her wet heat, the head of my dick throbbing when it hit home.

Thrust after glorious thrust, my dick beat against her walls, causing me to bite into my lower lip and hiss in oxygen. I plunged into her with a crazed passion, chasing the pleasure that surged into me and snatched at my core before encircling my entire body. She’d reached out for a pillow that she held in a death grip and screamed into.

The blood vessels in my dick were about to blow the hell up one by one if I didn’t simmer down and if Megan didn’t stop backing her pussy up on my dick so vigorously. But, I didn’t have to stop and neither did she. As soon as her pussy started to convulse, my dick exploded into pieces and killed us. We suffocated on the pleasure, letting it carry us away.

 

Chapter Five

 

Ansel

 

As I stared across the table at Dr. Regina Dominquez, I was surprised to see her gaze meet mine with confidence. She had a little bit of fire in her that I hadn’t seen before. She was being sized up, and she knew it.

“If you’re afraid because I wanted to kill you earlier, you don’t have to be anymore. I wanted to kill Megan too when I first met her.”

A smile teased those lush sexy lips. “It’s understandable. I share the last name and have blood ties to a bunch of heathens.”

“Why don’t we go into the den, so we can sit more comfortably?” I suggested as I stood and waited for her to walk by me.

Damn! Just as I’d imagined, her ass was so fucking nice and thick. I could already see my fingers sinking into those plump cheeks, my dick lying on top of it as I prepared to invade the valley below it.

Once we were seated on the couch, separated by the four feet of space she’d put between us, I started the conversation. It was only a matter of time before that space she’d created would disappear, so I remained patient.

“So, Doc, you want me to believe you’re going to sit by and watch us kill your family?”

She shook her head in the negative. Not what I’d expected, but I waited for the rest of her words. “No, I’m not going to sit by. I’m going to help you kill my family.”

The statement sent a spark of lust to my dick, making it harder as a sneaky smile crept across my lips. “You hate them that much?”

“I was their prisoner. My blood tie to them was nothing more than the reason they needed to turn me into one of their work mules.”

“Why don’t you tell me how you became your family’s work mule, as you put it? Tell me the parts of the story my cousin didn’t tell me. I want to know how the daughter of the infamous Emilio Dominquez became the family’s caged bird.”

Surprise flashed in her gaze when I called her father’s name.

“My father never wanted me anywhere near this life. After my mother was killed when I was seven, he put even more effort into shielding me from them. He sent me to the best boarding schools and visited me when he was able to. He’d never lied about what he was and what my family did, which made me understand why he’d chosen to keep me from them.”

That’s why she’s so prim and proper. The knowledge made me want to fuck every proper mannerism she had clean out of her. Her voice pulled me away from my impure thoughts.

“When I graduated from medical school, it was the best day of my life. Thankfully, my father was still alive to see it. He was later killed in a drug sting operation. Well, at least that’s what my family told me at his funeral. After his death, they left me alone for the most part, occasionally checking in on me from time to time. I was prepared to go on with my life without getting involved with them.”

Here was the part. The turning point in her life that sent her into a family she clearly didn’t want.

“My family left me alone long enough for me to become a practicing doctor and after nearly eight months into my residency, they showed up and blew up my life. They told me they needed me to work for the family. I refused, but soon found that there was no such thing as refusing my family, especially if my father wasn’t there to protect me.”

Her story had awakened my curiosity. “So, you were a practicing physician opposed to one of those people who bought the degree and labeled themselves a doctor?”

She nodded her head, struggling with the emotions that had started to flood her. “All I’d ever wanted to be was a doctor so I could help people. And my father had ensured that my dreams become a reality. But, my family didn’t care about what I wanted or what my father had wanted for me.”

She shook her head, the memories apparently stirring hard inside her.

“Since I hadn’t had any real contact with them, I had to learn my lessons about my family the hard way. I refused their request for me to leave New York and move to Texas to work for them. I’d been told about my cousin, Sorio, but I’d never met him. I met him face to face for the first time when I woke up to him sitting on the side of my bed inside my New York apartment with a gun aimed at my head.”

She glanced up, snapping herself from what must have been a vicious memory.

“Let’s just say my cousin didn’t give me the option to say no again. I put in my notice and left New York for Texas a week later. That was three years ago.”

She shifted in her seat. The hatred she harbored for her family had started to become crystal clear now. She probably wanted them dead as badly as I did. Although I didn’t voice my compliment, I was impressed with Regina. She had saved my dying cousin with limited resources while facing the stress of being imprisoned by her own family.

“I managed to escape them three times, but they tracked me every time. Each time they dragged me back it gave me a glimpse as to how vicious my family truly was. After three escape attempts in less than a three-month period, they finally put me in the one place they knew I couldn’t escape from unless they allowed it—the farm. Like an animal that no longer valued escaping, I stopped trying to run even when I was released on my breaks. It’s not that I didn’t want to run, but I knew if I didn’t have a good enough plan that would keep me from their grips, they would eventually kill me. When I found out who your cousin truly was and some of the things he’d done, I believed he was the chance I’d been waiting for.”

Studying her tense posture, I eyed her suspiciously. “If your father were alive, would you have rebelled against your family? What if he’d asked you to work for the family? How do you know that he wasn’t grooming you to be exactly what your family wanted you to be in the first place?”

She shrugged. “I honestly can’t say how I would have turned out. I whole-heartedly believe my father’s intent was to keep me away from them. Sometimes, I believe they killed him. Yes, he did some dirty deeds for the family. He murdered people, blew up buildings, and tortured people. Some of his stories are legendary, but he never let me see that side of him. I know it may sound sick, but I loved my father even though I knew he was a monster.”

You have no idea, sweet doctor. You’re surrounded by monsters, I thought as one of my brows lifted. 

“If he was alive, I honestly can’t say what may have happened, but I can only deal with where this life has led me. The opportunity to exact revenge on my family is in my grasp, and I want to take it even if it means my death.”

I was beginning to like this woman more and more by the minute.   

 

Chapter Six

 

Regina

 

What was up with these unusually attractive men who claimed they were bikers? They claimed to be members of an MC, but it didn’t take but a minute with each of them to find that they were so much more than they pretended to be.

Ansel, with his charming good looks that failed to hide that bad boy peeking out, was downright sinful. For goodness sake, the man was dressed in a tailor-made suit, and his house was something out of a magazine. I was attracted to Aaron for sure. What woman in her right mind wouldn’t be? Ansel, on the other hand, had my panties drenched each time his eyes stalked my body. And the worst part was I knew he would kill me if he had a reason to.

He stood and started removing his suit jacket and tie. I gave a valiant effort, but I failed because my gaze was locked on his every move. He took his time with the task with his eyes on me the entire time, watching me watch him. Neither of us said a word until he was done and had slung his jacket and tie over the back of the nearby chair.

He made some of the space I’d put between us disappear when he retook his seat. When he peered at me with those damn intense green eyes, I forgot my own name. Nothing about a man should be pretty, but Ansel had pretty eyes; the kind you admired while trying not to get caught staring into them. They were the kind that radiated a magnetism that entranced you.

His olive skin tone against his dark hair and stubbly face added a depth to his sexiness. And his body… Good Lord in heaven! He could make a woman have an orgasm by just taking off his clothes. I denied my eyes the pleasure of looking at him by diverting my gaze as often as I was able to.

He wanted to do things to me. I could sense it…naughty things. After being caged up in the cellar at my family’s farm with dead bodies for company and a man whose heart belonged to another woman, there wasn’t much I could do to control my attraction and reaction to Ansel.

A loud thud drew my attention away from him as the floorboards creaked above us. What the heck were Megan and Aaron doing up there? This house was easily a multi-million-dollar property, so it was well put together. If the couple was causing things to creak, they were enjoying one wild reunion. A telling smile crept onto my lips although I attempted to hide it.

“I can certainly see why Aaron didn’t want me. That’s for sure. He looks at Megan like she’s the only woman in the world.”

Ansel shook his head. “Tell me about it. When I first met her, I wanted to fuck her so badly, but he wouldn’t let me.”

“What do you mean he wouldn’t let you?”

“Doc, in our world, sharing a woman isn’t an uncommon occurrence.”

My lips fell apart. “You’re kidding,” I exclaimed, appalled.

“No, I’m not kidding. But, from the start, I could see how serious my cousin was about Megan, so I didn’t push the issue with her as hard as I knew I could have. After watching her lose her mind over his death for months, I just couldn’t go there with her.”

“So, you’ve never found anyone that you didn’t want to share? Don’t you want someone that only you can have all to yourself? Someone that’s willing to be only yours?”

The last thing I wanted was to hear was him say no, but he did, and I couldn’t figure out why I cared. My gaze fell from his as I took in his fit body. Under his long-sleeve, button-up shirt, tight muscles moved rhythmically in his chest and arm areas. My hungry gaze caught his muscular thigh flexing under his pants, and I quickly returned my gaze to his while rubbing the back of my neck.

“Haven’t found anyone like that yet,” he said, reminding me of the conversation we’d started. “I’ve never felt the need to look for anyone. Besides, I don’t do relationships. I fuck on a whim when I’m intrigued to do so, and I have subs that I call when I get a taste for them.”

My brows arched high on my forehead. “Did you say subs as in BDSM?” I whispered as if I was afraid to say it out loud. I’d heard so many negative things about people who embraced that life that I was almost afraid to know any of the details.

“Trust me, Doctor. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

I shrugged. “I’m not knocking it. I just don’t know anything about it, and the few things I do know would lead me to believe that all you do is get off on torturing each other.”

“You’re right, Doctor. You don’t know shit.”

He almost sounded as if I’d offended him, so I decided to change the subject. “So, what’s your big plan for taking down my family?”

He ignored my question. “You said my cousin didn’t want you, but it doesn’t mean you two didn’t fuck. Did you fuck my cousin, Doctor?”

My lips fell apart as my mouth went dry. Ansel was direct, so direct in fact that he’d rendered me speechless. His penetrating, green gaze bore into me, waiting for my answer.

“First of all, that is none of your business. But if you must know, the answer is no. I didn’t have sex with August. I took care of the man for months, so I saw every part of him, but there was never a spark between us. Was I attracted to him? Of course, I was, but I could tell almost immediately that he didn’t want me romantically. I consider myself a bit of a realist, so I accepted what was clearly in front of me. But, just because he didn’t want me in that way doesn’t mean I don’t care about him.”

I was rambling and talking about sex with Ansel, caused me to shift uncomfortably in my seat. I hadn’t intended to tell Ansel all that I had, but he seemed to have a way of getting things from a person no matter what they may have wanted. He hadn’t changed his expression. His face remained unreadable as he took in my words. He also seemed to be reading my body language. Although I was uncomfortable under his gaze, I found the confidence to continue.

“Once I was around him long enough, I discovered his heart belonged to someone else. It was an eye-opening experience to watch him struggle to remember his own name, yet he’d called Megan’s name countless times in his dreams. It was powerful magic at play. The idea of his mind building a bridge over a connection that the brain had lost was a miracle. Once we arrived here and after the way he reacted to Megan, it made me understand him even more.”

The information I had just shared raised Ansel’s eyebrows. However, a conniving smile spread across his sexy lips, which were perfectly moist although he hadn’t licked them.

Why did he have to be so damn hot? He knew it too. He was the kind of man who breathed confidence and sex appeal and didn’t give a damn about breaking a woman’s heart once he was done with her. Based on the way he dressed and the large, expensive fortress of a house he lived in, I’d say he was also smart and calculating.

His home reminded me of the kind of houses my family owned from the millions they made in drug money. This was the kind of house I’d grown up in. It had a manicured lawn, authentic classic paintings hanging on the walls, and expensive Italian furniture that had likely been imported directly from its manufacturer. However, Ansel had taken things a step further than fine furnishings and a professionally decorated home. When August and I first arrived and were met by armed guards, it made me wonder if August’s family wasn’t worse than mine.

My gaze raked over Ansel’s chest before it fell to the big bulge at the crotch of his pants. I directed my gaze in another direction, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Had he noticed what I’d been gawking at? Did he know what I was thinking? I shook off the distraction.

“Just like that,” he said before he snapped his fingers. “You accepted that he didn’t want you and stopped trying to tempt him?”

I laughed. “Who said I tried to tempt him? Besides, I didn’t think he’d be interested in me anyway because of our ethnic differences.” Shoot! My eyes slammed shut. I wasn’t supposed to let that part slip out.

Shaking his head with a wide grin, Ansel didn’t hide his roving gaze as it scanned my body, making my nipples harden. He was playing me like a fiddle, making me spill my guts even though I hadn’t intended to. I was telling him things that I’d never even told August.

“Memory or no memory, Doc, with a body like yours, my cousin had to have been out of his fucking mind not to at least touch you. I refuse to believe that bastard wasn’t tempted.”

Ansel’s head tilted like he was working an idea around in his brain.

“But, he and Megan…”

I could see a flood of memories flashing across Ansel’s expression as he contemplated his cousin and Megan.

“There is no coming between that. But, back to you, Doctor. Most women would have tried everything in their power to get a man to bend to her will, especially if you were the only thing keeping him alive.”

I shrugged. “Well, I’m not most women.”

“You sure the hell aren’t,” he stated matter-of-factly as his gaze fell to my lips.

His words were as stuck in my head as his eyes were stuck on my lips, distracting me until I forced myself to start talking again.

“I’ve been my family’s prisoner for three years. All sorts of plans started hatching in my head about how August may be able to help me escape them. He became the hope I’d so desperately prayed for just as much as I was hope for him.”

Ansel had no idea what his presence was doing to me. I could hardly think straight. The husky tone of his voice was laced with sin and seduction. He knew it and he wanted me to know he knew it. Yes, I’d been attracted to August, but it was a fleeting attraction that died the moment I realized he was in love with someone else. Ansel, on the other hand, set my mind on fire and my sex-deprived body had been thrown into a state of lust and confusion.

A series of knocks sounded that seemed to make the house vibrate. It was hard to sit with this seductive man knowing that August was upstairs screwing the hell out of Megan. I reached for the water I’d brought from the kitchen and took a quick swallow. A heaving breath left me as I pretended not to notice Ansel’s flirting gaze on me. I kept my sight on the coffee table and folded my arms over my chest to hide the fact that my damn nipples were hard.

“Can I ask you a personal question, Ansel?” I asked, finally glancing in his direction.

That sneaky smile on his face let me know what he was thinking, and his gaze traveled straight to my hard nipples when I accidentally dropped my arms.

“Yep. Ask me whatever you want, Doc.”

“The whole time I was with August, it had never occurred to me that Megan was an African-American woman. Forgive me for assuming, but I thought biker clubs like yours didn’t believe in that sort of thing. Do you all date outside your race?”

He pasted an are-you-kidding-me frown on his face before his gaze dropped and roved leisurely over me. I’d picked up on the signs that said he was attracted to me, but I wasn’t an aficionado when it came to men. 

I’d been so engrossed with school and becoming a doctor that I’d neglected men. It wasn’t that I didn’t have desires. I had them like any other woman. I’d just learned to suppress them and accepted that I was severely lacking in the area. My smart brain warned me that it was better that I remain standoffish, especially where Ansel was concerned. 

He straightened his posture, his unwavering gaze making me squirm. “Sweet Doctor, it’s a wonder you haven’t cum already. I’ve been fucking you with my eyes from the moment I saw you.” 

His voice was thick and course, sending prickles all over me as my heart hammered inside my chest. His explicit words had impacted my body and damn near made me cum. I drew back with a sharp, quick gasp. I was stuck between excitement and shock, but Ansel had no problem continuing.

“Was that your way of asking if I’d date a woman like you?”

I struggled to remember what I’d asked him. We’d gone too deep into this conversation for me to lie now. I recovered quicker than I thought I would. “Yes,” answered. “I guess I was asking, but not for myself. I was just curious.” I dropped my gaze, realizing I sounded like an idiot.

“It’s okay if you were asking for yourself. As a matter of fact, I was hoping you were asking for yourself.”

His direct statements made one of my brows lift, and I decided to be honest with him. Besides, what did I have to lose? I was on the run from my own family.

“I’m what the world considers brown, not white or black. I’m not light enough for some men, but I’m not dark enough for others. And as far as my body is concerned, I am definitely not skinny enough for most.”

Ansel didn’t offer a response, but the way his gaze assaulted my body revealed more than his words ever could. He made no attempt to hide that he liked what he saw.

He waved me closer with one finger. “Will you slide closer, Doc?”

What the heck had I gone and started? I was afraid of what this man would do to me, especially after he’d admitted that he was into BDSM and multiple women—if that’s what he’d meant by subs. I slid closer, despite my reservations. My voice sneaked from my mouth, my nervousness apparent.

“I don’t know anything about what someone like you likes. I’m not interested in being tortured or being someone’s love slave for that matter.”

“Who said anything about you being a slave? That comes later, much later, Doc.”

I damn near swallowed my tongue at Ansel’s words. “So, you actually make women your slave?” I asked, my voice a faint whisper.

If there was one thing I was learning quickly about this man, he was going to be honest.

“Fucking right, I make them my slaves,” he confirmed with no hint of remorse in his tone. He grinned at my alarmed expression as he eased closer. “You can let the shock slide right off your beautiful face, Doc. I don’t mean the kind of slave you’re talking about. I want a woman to be a slave to my commands and our desires and to my fucking dick.”

I cleared my throat, surprised that I was turned on by his sharp words.

“Come a little bit closer, Doc. There is something I want to show you.”

How much closer could I get? If I kept going, I would end up on his lap. The white leather of the couch creaked as I slid closer. My gaze was merged with his and the way it roamed my body. It had been a long time since a man had paid me that much attention. I didn’t cease my movement until my knee bumped his muscular leg.

Keeping me locked in his gaze, Ansel reached for my hand. He lifted it and placed it on the thick bulge between his thighs I’d noticed earlier. I attempted with little effort to pull away, but he squeezed my hand in a tight grip.

“My dick’s been hard since the moment I laid eyes on you, Dr. Regina.”

My gaze flashed up at his after I dragged it away from where my hand was sitting. There was a confusing mixture of shock, excitement, and speechlessness flowing through me.

“Dr. Regina,” he repeated with a devilish smirk. He’d made my name sound glamorous and dirty all at the same time. I trembled with a burning lust I’d never experienced before as my hand flexed against his hardness.

“I’ve been dying to introduce you to someone I think you’re going to like.”

His hand slid up my forearm, causing goose bumps to prickle on my skin and my heart to shift into overdrive.

I jumped when Ansel’s phone rang and zapped me from the trance he’d put me in. I removed my hand from what felt like a snake in his pants.

He lifted the buzzing phone to his ear, but his gaze remained on me. “Yeah,” he answered, his tone clipped. The voice on the other end was loud enough that I heard the muffled words. Ansel’s face fell into a deep frown that caused him to stand. His voice rang with agitation as he walked away from me.

I sucked in a deep breath, just realizing he’d stopped me from breathing.

 

Chapter Seven

 

Megan

 

Shuffling around Ansel’s large stainless steel and black marble kitchen, I hummed and cooked up a storm. I felt bad about leaving the doctor alone with Ansel, especially after I’d caught him staring at her like she was a scoop of ice cream that he couldn’t wait to devour.

A good hearty breakfast might make up for leaving them alone for nearly a full day.

The first person to make an appearance was Dr. Regina. She peeked into the kitchen before coming all the way in.

“Good morning,” I greeted her, trying to gage her mood.

“Good morning,” she returned good-heartedly.

As soon as she sat down, I turned and faced her. “I’m sorry for leaving you alone with Ansel yesterday. He didn’t try to drag you down to that dungeon of his, did he?”

“Dungeon?”

Thank God he hadn’t tortured the poor woman. My question left her forehead pinched with concern and her gaze lingering on me.

“Never mind.” I waved my question away. If she didn’t know about Ansel’s playroom, she might not have been in danger of becoming his next victim.

“What would you like for breakfast? I made biscuits and gravy, grits, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, ham, and potatoes. I also made coffee if you drink it.”

Regina gazed at me as she thought over the food choices. The thick bubbling of grits in the pot behind me sounded as the aroma of bacon made me inhale a little bit deeper.

“It all sounds so good, but may I have biscuits and gravy and bacon please?”

“I love a woman who’s not afraid to eat,” Ansel’s voice rumbled as he entered the kitchen and took a seat next to the doctor.

“Did you sleep well, Doc?” The hint of amusement in Ansel’s voice wasn’t lost on me.

“I slept fine. Thank you for letting me stay,” Regina answered.

They thought I was crazy. Well, maybe I was, but it didn’t mean I didn’t see certain things. Ansel was interested in Regina, and I didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing. He always complained about looking for a replacement submissive after he’d broken one. I presumed that lifestyle wasn’t for the weak-minded or faint at heart even if I didn’t understand it. I also noticed that Aaron cared for Regina the same way Ansel cared for me now. I didn’t believe Aaron was going to let Ansel turn the good doctor into some play thing that he’d break or throw away when he grew tired of her.

“What about you, Megan? How did you sleep?” Ansel asked. “Never mind. Don’t even answer because I know you didn’t sleep.”

There was no comeback to Ansel’s statement because I hadn’t slept. I think I’d passed out instead. Aaron had put a fucking on me that I’d never forget. My pussy was so sore that I couldn’t stand at certain angles and making sudden movements was out of the question. My damn body ached so good that all I could do was smile when a twinge of pain surfaced.

As soon as I placed Regina and Ansel’s plates in front of them, the doorbell rang.

Ansel mouthed the word “shit,” before his head dropped to his chest. Seeing him shake his head in dismay as he took a piece of bacon from his plate and walked out of the kitchen wasn’t a good sign. Having someone at his door wasn’t a good sign either. I’d been in the house for nearly six months, and this was only the second time the doorbell had ever rung.

Regina glanced at me, her curious gaze asking the question on my mind. I fixed myself a plate and sat, but a familiar roaring tone stopped me from taking my first bite. It was a voice I never thought I’d hear again.

Ansel re-entered the kitchen with Shark behind him yelling and cursing. “I’m fucking here now, so you need to tell me why the fuck…” His devilish words and hard, quick steps stopped when his gaze landed on me.

His stare became riddled with anger and rage before his mouth dropped open. His hot gaze shot to Ansel’s like a heat-seeking missile.

“You mean to tell me this bitch has been here with you the entire time? I told you to kill her. She’s the fucking reason my son is dead.”

Shark stalked around the table, coming for me as my fist clenched tighter around the fork in my hand. The storm clouds that gathered in Shark told me that if he got his hands on me, nothing was going to stop him from killing me.

 

***

 

Ansel

 

Could a reunion be any more twisted than a Knox reunion? As I hung on to my angry uncle, he spat every curse word he knew at Megan. If he really wanted to kill her like his angry words insinuated, he would have broken out of my grip no matter how tightly I held on to him.

My amused gaze fell on the doctor who sat, staring at the scene in obvious shock. She looked about ready to get up and start running.

“Doc,” I called to her over my uncle’s angry words as I kept a tight grip around his shoulders, pinning his arms down. He barked his words out like one of those old dogs who sought to bite people for the hell of it.

The doctor hesitantly took her gaze away from Shark to glance at me. When she did, I introduced her.

“Doc, this is my Uncle Shark, Aaron’s father. He slept with Megan too, but it was before she’d met Aaron. Aaron forgave her for it, but Shark hates her for getting Aaron to claim her and for getting himself killed.”

The doctor was in obvious distress over what I was telling her, taking in words that she probably thought I’d made up.

“Unc here…” I tilted my head towards the back of my uncle’s head as I allowed him to vent his frustrations at Megan. “…had ordered Aaron to kill Megan. Of course, Aaron didn’t do it. After Aaron was killed, Unc ordered me to kill Megan too, and I didn’t do it either. So, now he’s mad at the world and wants to kill us all.”

“You’re fucking right I’m mad at the motherfucking world,” Shark shouted, bucking against my tight hold. “Aaron was all I had left, and she’s the reason why he’s gone,” Shark spat his words, yapping at my face like a snapping turtle. 

“I’m not gone, dad,” said a strong voice from the doorway.

Shark went stalk still in my arms, frozen so stiff that the only sound in the kitchen was his heavy breathing.

After I released him from my tight grip, he gradually turned as if seeing too much, too fast might trigger his undoing. Like me, he stood staring at his son, eyes locked.

“Aaron?” he questioned, his face scrunched in a mixture of pain and confusion.

“I’m alive, Dad. It’s best that only a select few know it, which is why I asked Ansel to get you out here.”

“Aaron?” he repeated, as his head shook seemingly, involuntarily while he attempted to wrap his mind around what he saw.

I’d never seen my uncle tear up before, so it was a true testament to how much he truly loved his son. He ran to Aaron and gripped him in a tight bear hug, lifting him off his feet.

If there was one thing that could pull my uncle back from the edges of the darkened path he’d taken, it was Aaron. Not because it was necessarily the wrong path, but because Aaron was usually the one who carried out most of the MC’s dark deeds.

I clamped my hands above my head as I watched the father-son reunion. Even Megan smiled after almost being mauled by the vicious old dog that had threatened to attack her. The sexy doctor didn’t appear to know whether she should be smiling or running from the dysfunction that was my family.

Shark cupped Aaron’s chin before slapping his hand against it a couple of times. He shook his head in disbelief. His smile spread so widely that I could see it from his side view as he stared into his son’s face.

“Pop, will you ease up on trying to kill Megan? It’s not her fault that any of this happened. You know me. If I get it in my head to carry out a mission, no matter how deadly, I’m not going to back down from it.”

Smiling wide, Shark inclined his head once and pulled Aaron into another tight bear hug.

My gaze landed on Megan. “To be on the safe side, keep your distance from the old man. Who knows what kind of worm has gotten loose in his brains.”

“I can hear you, asshole!” Shark said without turning to glance back at me. “I suggest you keep your fucking distance too, you goddamn hard-headed son of a bitch.”

I clamped my lips shut and struggled to stifle a grin.

“Are you hungry?” Aaron asked his father. “Why don’t you have a seat, so I can tell you how I escaped death?”

Aaron waved a hand towards Dr. Regina. “Dad, this is Dr. Regina Davis.”

Megan’s gaze met mine, likely wondering the same thing I was. How was Shark going to take the news when he found out that Regina was a Dominquez?

Shark reach out his hand, taking Regina’s as he allowed his gaze to roam her body. “Nice to meet you, Doctor? They sure are making pretty doctors these days.”

“Unc, last time I checked you were a racist. In case you haven’t noticed, she’s not white,” I pointed out, not liking the way his gaze lingered on Regina.

Every eye in the room landed on me. Regina dropped her gaze and snatched her hand from my uncle’s, not doing a good job of hiding her alarm. My comment didn’t appear to have fazed my uncle. He reached and tapped the back of Regina’s hand a few times and threw his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at me. “Do you have any idea what that asshole does to women? If he comes your way, you’re better off locking yourself in a cage with a fucking wild lion. You’ll need a doctor by the time he’s done with you.”

“Doc, don’t believe any of that mess,” I reassured her when her face contorted in horror.

Megan placed a plate of food in front of Aaron and took the long way around the table to avoid passing by Shark. When she fixed his plate, I reached for it.

“Let me take that, sweetie. I don’t want those old teeth breaking your skin because you might catch something that can’t be cured.”

Just because Aaron was back, it didn’t mean I wasn’t still protective of Megan. Besides, my uncle was an old, uncompromising bastard. However, everyone at the table, including him, laughed at my remark about Megan catching something. It seemed to ease a little of the tension that had been swarming around the room.

Shark couldn’t stop glancing at his son. Megan couldn’t stop staring at Aaron either. The good doctor and I, on the other hand, were eye-fucking each other every chance we got. Based on the way I was fucking her in my head, it was a wonder she wasn’t pregnant already.

Aaron started the story of how he’d ended up in the doctor’s morgue, barely clinging to life. I sat and listened to the incredible story intently for the second time. Except for the occasional question from my uncle and the clink of silverware, no one said a word as Aaron retold the incredible story and referred to Dr. Regina for her point of view.

 

***

 

Aaron

 

Dialing D’s number was familiar even after all this time. Ansel had used my phone to contact him from time to time, so he was likely expecting to hear Ansel’s voice. I placed the phone on speaker as my father, Ansel, Regina, and Megan listened. I didn’t miss the mean eye rolls my father was sending Megan’s way, but with me back in the picture, hopefully, it would quell his desire to kill her.

“Hey, man, what’s up? Y’all good in Cali?” D’s voice came across loud and clear over the phone.

“Derrick Wesley Michaels,” I said into the phone with a smooth tone. I was one of the only people who knew D’s middle name.

“Who the fuck is this? Knox? Look, I don’t have time for no motherfucking jokes. Who is this?”

“It’s me D, Aaron.”

The line went silent. Had he hung up?

“Prove it, motherfucker,” he said. “Yemen, operation, how many, and why?”

“Black Death, five, nerve gas. We were stuck in that fucking place for four months.”

“Knox! What the fuck, man? How the fuck are you talking to me right now?”

“It’s a long-ass story, D. Death had me by the fucking balls, but that dark evil bastard wasn’t ready for me yet.”

“No fucking shit!” I could hear the shock and excitement in his voice.

“D, Ansel’s been filling me in on the plan y’all have been working on to take out the leaders of DG6. I’m not at full strength, but I’ll be damned if I sit around while you all deal with these poisonous serpents.”

“Man, I can’t believe this shit. Wait until I tell Dax that your nine-lives-having ass is still alive. Motherfucker got more lives than a Mortal Kombat character.”

D’s comment made everyone chuckle in the background.

“Aaron, after we thought you’d died, we fully intended to go ape-shit and kill as many DG6 members as we could, but Ansel stopped us. He got us to calm the fuck down and go at this how you would have. So, we slowed our roll and now, we’re in line to put DG6 out of commission. With the top gone, the rest of those fucking leeches are going to feed off and devour each other until there’s nothing but pieces and parts left.”

Hearing D talking about the plan to bring down a common enemy sent a different type of excitement through me. DG6 was going down, and I was going to bear witness to its downfall.

 

Chapter Eight

 

Ansel

 

Operation Take Six or OTS was what I had named the plan I’d created to take down DG6. Although I hadn’t fully revealed the plan to Aaron yet, he hadn’t hesitated to put a call in for more big guns—the fucking suicide squad, if I’d ever seen one.

Galvin and Luke had arrived and were from his old military squad since I’d had to send D and Dax to Texas for Operation WTF, Watch the Friends. WTF was a side operation that consisted of them watching Megan’s friends who’d apparently also become a target of DG6. D and Dax had also picked up targets to take out under OTS since they were capable and in the area. Galvin and Luke would come in handy if DG6 decided to make a chess move on our operation.

Galvin was one of the men in the woods in Texas fighting along with us when we’d lost Aaron, so he knew the back story. I had never met Luke, but as soon as Aaron introduced us, I learned that Luke and Galvin ran a security firm in Georgia, so he was as up on criminal knowledge as the rest of us.

Galvin reminded me of me. He liked to joke around, but when it came to business, he turned about as cold as an iceberg. Luke was the big and silent type. The damn man had to be seven-feet tall and at least three hundred pounds, not the type you’d want to go hand to hand with. Shit, I wasn’t sure bullets could penetrate his snow-white skin. With his crystal blue eyes, he reminded me of a big-ass Game of Thrones, White Walker.

Max, Finn, and Lucky were members of Aaron’s gun-running team. Max was butch and sexy, a fucking walking contradiction. She was a six-foot lesbian with a pretty face and nice body that she hid under loose-fitting clothes. With her short blonde hair and baggy clothes, it was easy to forget she was a woman until her delicate voice sounded. The shit was confusing even to me. But, Max had worked with Aaron for years. Her skills in electronics and explosives were impressive, and I’d used her expertise on a few side operations.

Each of the team members Aaron and I had brought into the plan possessed a special skill set that would come in handy when dealing with a group as dangerous as DG6.

My own suicide squad consisted of Dude, Rob, JG, and Hwang. Like Marcus and Scott, they’d been a part of my ranger team when I was in the military. JG and Hwang had come after I’d sent Scott and Marcus to track their OTS targets in Mexico.

The group stood inside my study, surrounding a large 3-D model of my house and its grounds. I’d built the house over three years ago and had started installing weaponized updates immediately. I was like one of those battle-scorned crazies, preparing for an apocalypse or a war that may never come.

The house was built on spacious acres of land in the foothills of California, my just-in-case-shit-went-bad escape hatch of sorts. I’d purposely chosen land that was semi-surrounded by large hills. Who knew it would play a pivotal role in my plan to take down DG6?

The nearest neighbors were a few hills away, about a half mile, but I’d deliberately been an asshole to them when they’d stopped by to be neighborly and introduced themselves. That had been over two years ago. I’d given them such a bad first impression that they probably wouldn’t pour piss on me if I were a walking flame. They had no idea my asshole ways were for their own protection.

“So, what is this master plan of yours, Ansel?” Shark asked with a hint of agitation in his voice.

“Since you asked, Unc, let me tell you. We went at DG6 twice, and each time we failed. First, we allowed them to get away with Aaron. Then, we went onto their turf in Texas with a quick rescue plan that ended up getting Aaron killed. That tough bastard beat death, but the reality is we lost in a life-changing way.”

Admirable gazes and smiles landed on Aaron. I was certain that everyone at the table would have died for him a hundred times over because they knew he’d do the same for them. I placed my index finger at my chest.

“I take full responsibility for each of those failures and I hate fucking failing. My quick temper and hyped-up ego has to take a back seat this time. I had to figure how to go at this thing in a way that would put DG6 at a disadvantage.”

Intrigued gazes were locked on me as everyone hung on to my every word. Aside from a few heavy breaths, silence reigned over the space.

“Since going after DG6 hasn’t worked, I figured I’d make them come to us.”

“How the hell are you going to make them come to us? What do you have that would make them want to come to us?” Shark asked, his menacing blue eyes locked on me and spewing heat.

Aaron’s squinting gaze landed on me, but he didn’t comment.

The conniving smile that danced across my lips was filled with venom. Aaron knew, without knowing the full plan, that I’d come up with a plan that was going to produce multiple deaths.

“I took their fucking guns,” I stated and paused, letting the statement hang in the air.

“I started taking DG6’s guns a few weeks after we left that farm in Texas without Aaron. Then, I started taking the guns of everyone who could re-supply them with guns.”

Aaron immediately caught on, shaking his head in my direction with a wide grin. Eventually, other gazes started to spark with realization.

“I didn’t just hit them here in Cali. I took it to those bastards nationwide. Aaron, I had your girl, Max, blow up one of their warehouses in Arizona. Scott, Marcus, and I took them for just about every damn thing that spat bullets in Texas. DG6 needs guns so badly right now that they’re willing to deal with the devil. So, you can call me Lucifer Knox.”

The pride on the faces of the men made me puff up my chest that was already poked out, but Aaron’s praise meant the world to me.

“The guns I didn’t burn or destroy, I traded them to the MC’s supplier for the guns that DG6 is planning to buy from me. About three weeks ago, I set up a small transaction with Fernando and Alonso, two of DG6’s top three here in Cali. I wanted to confirm my legitimacy and establish some type of rapport with them.”

A prideful smile crossed Shark’s lips as he side eyed me.

“That’s right, Unc. I haven’t been sitting around with my thumb up my ass. While you were killing off the minnows and keeping them distracted, I was trying to figure out how to take out the fucking shark. No pun, Unc.”

Aaron’s fist bumped mine. “Man, this is brilliant. I can’t believe you all did all this shit because you thought I was dead.”

“Fucking right!” I said. “They must fucking die,” my uncle declared sternly.

“We’re not chasing them anymore. We are going to lure them to our neck of the woods this time,” I said, glad to see that they liked the plan so far.

I pointed at the model I’d built. Aaron was the perfect person to plan this sort of thing and had already started to point out where he thought everyone should be located based on their strengths. My gaze locked on Aaron, ensuring he didn’t miss the best update I’d received since I’d started planning.

“I received a call yesterday, informing me that Sorio Dominquez would like to meet me. He’s going to be here, which means you’re going to have to stay out of sight, cousin.”

Aaron inclined his head. He didn’t care one bit about having to stay out of sight of Sorio as long as he was dealt with. After hearing the news that the evil bastard would be here, the smile on Aaron’s face made my evil grin look like a silly smirk. I could see hell’s flames dancing around Sorio inside my cousin’s mind.

 

***

 

Aaron

 

My cousin was a fucking genius, plain and simple. Except for a few minor kinks that had to be worked out, he’d come up with a master plan. The fact that he had four key members of DG6 in line to buy guns from him was remarkable. He’d hobbled their asses, taking their main source of power and weakening them so they’d be willing to make deals that they normally wouldn’t.

They didn’t know my cousin the way that I did. I’d seen him lure helpless victims in with charm and grace before he flipped the script and ripped them to bloody pieces.

I took my time observing each man surrounding the table. They had gone against an enemy who outnumbered our MC and friends by the hundreds to avenge my death. My heart swelled with gratitude and motivated me to do everything in my power to help them get rid of DG6 once and for fucking all.

Working on the plans for Operation Take Six and reconnecting with my old squad from the military as well as my gun-running team was the kind of therapy I’d needed. Time with Megan and her magic seemed to have cured me of the headaches I’d been suffering from my gunshot. Regina was adjusting, and seeing her smile was a far cry from the sadness she’d endured when we were stuck in that cellar.

Ansel had set up his study like a damn gallery. Another long table sat against the wall and consisted of an arsenal of weapons.

Clack! Clack!

The sound of Max shifting the level of a pump-action shotgun broke the silence of us drooling over the display of weapons that had taken our attention. Although we’d discussed the mission repeatedly, we continued to hammer home the details.

D and Dax were with Laura and Beverly in Texas, running side operation WTF. They were also planning the executions of their Texas targets for Operation OTS.

Our crew here in California were set to take out Tomas, an original DG6 member, his two sons, , and now Sorio. Marcus and Scott were in Mexico, tracking down the final two that made up the core power for DG6.

We all had our targets in our sights, but if we didn’t stick to plan and take out the identified targets, the entire operation could blow up in our faces.

Later that evening, I lay in the calmest peace I’d ever experienced. Megan was stretched out on top of me, butt-ass naked and sound asleep. Smiling, I bent my neck to kiss the top of her curls.

Our team was a week away from Operation Take Six. The pride I felt towards my cousin was immeasurable. Ansel had summoned patience and planned a mission that could very well take down one of the most formidable gangs in our country’s history.

 

Chapter Nine

 

Ansel

 

A week under the same roof with Grumpy Cat had me ready to lock his ass up in my playroom with five hookers. An amused smile teased my lips when my uncle’s gaze shot up to the ceiling in frustration. Although their voices didn’t carry through the thick walls of my house, the sounds of bumping and knocking made their way to our ears.

“Would you still want to kill her if she had chosen you over him, Unc?” I knew my uncle was not going to answer me, but I’d always been the most annoying motherfucker in the family who talked about the things no one else wanted spoken of again. “Frankly, I think she would have killed you.” I snickered, continuing to taunt him. “Your heart can’t take that much action.”

“Ansel, shut the fuck up. I’m trying to watch this game while praying the fucking ceiling won’t come crashing down on top of us.” 

The doctor eyed my uncle and me. She sat between us, but my spacious couch left about a foot too much space between me and her. The confusion on her beautiful face was apparent. She leaned in my direction and kept her voice low. “Am I the only one who thinks that this is…is…weird?”

“Dr. Regina, there is so much I have to teach you. Like I mentioned before, it’s not uncommon for MC members, especially ours, to share women. Aaron, my Uncle, and I have slept with…” After I leaned forward, my gaze landed on my uncle who pretended to be ignoring me.

“How many of the same women, Unc?”

Shark waved his hand through the air, brushing away my question with a grunt. He knew he’d enjoyed that shit. My nonchalant behavior on the subject seemed to baffle Regina even more.

“But, it’s just…” she uttered, searching for the right words.

My hand cupped her thigh. I’d been dying to put my hands on her again, and she’d been lucky I had decided to exercise control where she was concerned. Everything about her was natural and pure, sexy and alluring. I wanted nothing more than to drag her sexy ass down to my playroom and fuck her into submission. It was difficult to keep my distance from Regina, but my sexual discipline was something I took pride in.

I tapped my hand against her thick thigh, loving the way my hand bounced against her jean-covered flesh. I liked that solid sound it made. “I know, Doc. We take some getting used to.”

She inclined her head although I sensed that our fucked-up ways of doing things bothered her. The poor woman didn’t know the half of it. She was clueless, and if things would work out the way I wanted them to, I couldn’t wait to introduce her to my world.

“Excuse me,” I announced as I stood and headed towards my bar. After fixing myself a drink, which was something I didn’t do often, I slid the door open and stepped outside. I stopped at the edge of my pool.

There were more stressing concerns for me to worry about, and Regina’s distracting presence was shattering my otherwise unshakable willpower. Damn it, I wanted to be good, but Regina was making it hard. Clueless, she had no idea the kind of urges she had surging through me.

By the time I made it back into the living room, my uncle had slid his ass closer to Regina. For someone who claimed to be a racist, he sure as shit didn’t shy away from women of color. I’d never seen this side of him, but he’d let the cat out of the bag the moment he’d allowed Megan to live with our MC and work as their maid. I think a sister had blown his mind in a way that he’d never recovered from. 

However, he still had a charm about him that I hoped to have by the time I reached his age. He was at least a hundred and fifty years old, but he had the ability to cast spells over younger women. So, I was keeping a close eye on him where the doctor was concerned.

The game he’d been so interested in on the television earlier clearly wasn’t as interesting as he found Regina. As a matter of fact, the volume on the television had been turned down low. Now, it was nothing more than a hum in the background. Back in the day, I wouldn’t have given a second thought to sharing the doctor with my uncle but seeing him viewing her with such desire in his eyes had me feeling possessive.

I plopped my ass down in the tight space between them, wiggling my body to make room to separate them. My uncle moved over with a frustrated huff as my hand automatically went to Regina’s thigh. I think I’d officially marked my territory and the doctor didn’t appear to mind one bit.

Chapter Ten

 

Aaron

 

Ansel slammed his phone down on the 3-D model, breaking off a chunk of the model’s clay roof.

“Mother fuck!” he shouted, his voice drawing gazes from around the room. The heavy silence filled the space as tension tightened our postures. We had all gathered like we’d been doing daily, going over the plan. We were constantly studying different scenarios and formulating reaction strategies for events that may or may not happen.

Rage, anger, confusion, and an emotion I couldn’t describe flashed over his face.

“Those motherfuckers are coming right now, a fucking day early. This is their way of showing me they don’t trust me. This is their fucking way of foiling any plan we might have to destroy them. The sons of fucking bitches!”

Attempting to calm him, I placed a firm hand on Ansel’s shoulder. “We know this plan like the back of our hands. If they want to get this started today, we’re ready.”

Eager voices around the room agreed. The devious smirk that inched onto Ansel’s face revealed the full story of the firestorm rolling through his twisted mind. He’d been itching for months to kill somebody…hell, anybody. And today he was about to get his wish. I didn’t believe that bullshit about him playing it cool while making plans to take down DG6. Ansel had dropped some bodies in the six months that I’d been away. I was sure of it.

My watch flashed 3:17 p.m. Before I could ask the question on my mind, Ansel answered it. “They are sending an advanced party, which will be here by 4 to check out the house for bugs and to ensure I’m not setting them up.”

“The fuckers don’t trust a soul,” Galvin stated.

“They don’t, but neither do we. So, let’s get ready. Let’s make DG6 disappear,” I declared with firm conviction.

“Either they die or we die,” Shark, Ansel, and I declared in unison, our gazes spilling over with hate and evil intentions. More expletives about dying pieces of shit followed as the room became filled with enough hostile intent to choke on.

 

***

 

Like a scene out of an old western movie, a tumbleweed blew over the flat portion of the hilly plains we were located in. Except for the plush vegetation of the interior yard, the grass grew in patches and was more beige than green along the hills. The only visible trees were the few that Ansel had bought and transplanted in his yard. The landscape was a vast portrait of rolling hills, some stories high, as far as the eye could see.

Clear plastic goggles kept dust out of my eyes as tiny particles swept against my face and peppered my exposed skin. Ansel had considered everything. I stood inside a foxhole that blended into the grassy ground a few hundred feet from the house at the bend of his fence in the front yard.

My location was the furthest from the front entrance of the house, but it gave me the best view of the front grounds, the hills outside the property, and a distant view of the street that dead ended at Ansel’s entrance.

There were four foxholes inside the gated property. Dude, Rob, Max, Hwang, and I manned those areas. At my suggestion, we’d dug three additional foxholes outside the gates in the nearby hills. My father, Galvin, and Finn manned those areas. We had JG and Lucky on the roof.

Ansel had planned for an all-out war. Each of the small underground foxholes contained enough reserve ammunition and weapons to support the war to come. I knew from experience that DG6 employed soldiers willing to fight their battles, so our efforts weren’t unfounded.

Fernando and Alonso Dominquez traveled with at least a four-man detail watching their backs. The family believed in backup, and if they were bringing an original member to Ansel’s front door, they were likely bringing a fucking army. Now that Sorio had decided to join the party, the army had grown.

From my vantage point, a small doorway that slid up and down allowed me to see above ground. Dust flew into the air in the distance. The subtle tremble in the ground registered as the roar of an engine traveled along the air and landed in my ears. At least two vehicles indicated that DG6’s advanced recon team had arrived.

Although unseen, I knew it was Rob and Max who were manning the front gate bunker. Two black Hummers sat at the tall iron gates waiting to be allowed entrance. The thick iron bars of the front gate entrance were wide enough to allow me to see what was happening outside the gate.

The metal screeched, filling the air with its whine as the gate slid open at a lingering pace. The bunker Rob and Max manned was double the size of the others and served as a small command and control center.

The gate slid closed, the heavy metal left its screeching cries in the air, signaling the start of OTS. I turned my gaze to the circular driveway as the Hummers parked side by side in front of the large bulletproof glass door at the front of Ansel’s large two-story home.

Four heavily armed men exited each vehicle. The first four climbed the steps and entered Ansel’s house after he opened the door. The remaining four divided into teams of two and went in opposite directions to inspect the outside of the house.

Ansel’s plan was to lure the flies into his web and destroy them. It was a great plan, and although we hadn’t counted on them arriving a day early, I believed we were ready. We had to assume that DG6 had access to just as much technology as we did, so we’d put in an emergency call to D to work on scrambling any spy devices they may have attempted to sneak in overhead.

Once the initial inspection was completed, two of the guards who’d entered Ansel’s house exited and took a firm stance at the front door. Two reappeared from the back of the house and positioned themselves in Ansel’s front yard. They hadn’t discovered any of our foxholes nor had they bothered to check outside the property.

An hour after the advance team had arrived, the sight of dust alerted us that the main party was on the way. This time, four SUV’s were granted access. With four men in each vehicle, we were looking at twenty-four hostiles so far. They parked the vehicles on Ansel’s grass, ensuring the two vehicles that contained the four DG6’s leaders were sandwiched between the outside vehicles. 

Four guards exited each outside vehicle and fanned around them with their weapons at the ready before one talked into a device on his wrist—his call to alert the others that it was safe for Tomas, Fernando, Alonso, and Sorio to exit the vehicles.

My body tensed up, every muscle threatened to snap when I saw his face. My mind, back in one piece, zoomed in on him like facial recognition software identifying a criminal. The cracking sound my bones made, echoed off the dirt walls surrounding me, and the blood in my veins had been replaced with liquid fire.

It was the face of the motherfucker who’d tortured me, the same motherfucker who’d sent men to track, hunt, and kill Megan. The motherfucker had also put his fucking hands on Regina. I prayed my face would be the last one he saw before the fires of hell opened and swallowed him.

The arrogant prick walked up to Ansel’s door with his cousins and uncle. He was the only one of the four who was on full alert as two guards led them and two followed. I could tell at a distance that the Hummers they’d exited were armored. Four of DG6’s top men were walking into my cousin’s house, and if we had anything to say about it, they weren’t going to be walking back out.

When the mic went live in my ear, I started talking. “Luke, what does it look like out there?” Luke was on roving patrol on foot. He’d gone about setting up distinct hiding spots along the path of the only street that led to Ansel’s house.

“They have a Hummer hanging back. Four inside,” he confirmed. His voice was scratchy in my ear, but understandable.

“Keep eyes on,” I suggested.

“Tracking,” Luke replied.

“Shark, what does it look like out there?”

“How the fuck do you think it looks? I’m on a fucking hill inside a hole in the ground.” 

The hint of laughter in my father’s tone made me smile. He was an asshole, but I loved his grumpy, old ass.

I went down the line checking the men’s status and ensuring our mics worked as I kept a keen eye on the targets entering Ansel’s house.

 

Chapter Eleven

 

Ansel

 

Two DG6 guards staked out my living room after they’d conducted their bug scan, and two stepped outside the front door. No words were exchanged between us as we awaited the main party. I sat on my couch and flipped through the channels of my television.

Thanks to D, I was actually using the remote to re-arm our listening devices so I could communicate with the rest of the team. D had fixed it so that all devices could be turned off and rendered undetectable in the event DG6 decided to conduct a scan. They had, and we’d taken the extra precaution to be prepared for them.

With a few clicks of my remote, we were back up and running and able to hear each other.

My device was on the lowest setting, but I could hear Aaron making a round of mic checks. The sound of the front gate sliding open alerted me that the main party had arrived.

My job was to escort the members of DG6 into the designated spots in my study while they inspected a sample of the guns they were prepared to purchase. If I succeeded in getting them to the right locations, our team could take their asses out with the flick of their trigger fingers. 

Aaron was outside, but he hadn’t placed himself in one of the locations that would allow him to take out the one I knew he wanted to kill most—Sorio. Aaron and I would have preferred to kill these assholes slowly with our bare hands, but there were times when you had to sacrifice self-gratification to complete the mission. Also, with the amount of armed guards DG6 had brought, we had to stick to the plan.

The first two guards, who had led the men, entered my living room and fanned out like soldiers. They strategically placed themselves at my windows and interior doorways, so they could protect the four bastards who’d followed them into my house.

It was time for me to put my acting skills to work. With a smile pasted on my face, I walked towards the four with my hand out, attempting to shake Tomas’ hand, since he was a well-respected original. The metallic click of weapons as they were drawn and aimed at me alerted me to throw my hands up in surrender. Little did they know, I’d had so many guns clicked at me, the sound did nothing but amp me up.

“I was attempting to shake the hands of one of my idols,” I explained, keeping my gaze on Tomas. Saying those words had damn near killed me. All I truly wanted to do was rack bullet after bullet and watch them fly into that asshole’s face until his head melted into pieces.

A smile crept across Tomas’ prune-like lips before he waved a disarming hand at the men and reached out his wrinkled hand towards me. The skin covering his face was cracked and leathery, and his pores were so wide that it appeared they’d been surgically enhanced. Gray and black hair dotted his head, and he was no more than 5’5”. It was hard to keep a straight face when all I wanted to do laugh before I brutally committed murder.

“Mr. Blake, it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard wonderful things about you.”

Antonio Blake was one of several aliases I’d had my friend at the FBI create on my behalf. I was sure DG6 had thoroughly researched me, so I’d left them a shadowy past that they would appreciate.

The identity I didn’t want them to find was the real me and my association with the August Knights. I’d quickly grown to trust D as much as Aaron had, and he was the only one I wanted handling the task of hiding my true identity: Tyler Ansel Knox.

I took the older man’s hand as the sack of shit, Sorio, eyeballed me, sizing me up before letting his gaze travel around my house. Fernando and Alonso were the two who I’d dealt with previously, so they were the most relaxed. I was smiling and shaking asshole’s hand, but I was also taking in our four targets. Were their lives so important, that although armed, they still felt the need for extra protection?

I waved my hand towards my study where I’d removed the mock model of my house. Only a table of weapons remained for them to view.

As I led them towards my study, two guards moved into position, first and last, placing the four DG6 members between them. Once inside the room, the guards again took up positions at the windows and exits. Fernando, Alonso, Tomas, and Sorio approached the table and started to inspect the weapons. Their tension seemed to ease when the cold steel of the weapons was gripped in their eager hands.

“I’ll deliver the shipment myself as a show of not only my gratitude for your business but also as assurance that I’ll do what is necessary to earn your trust.”

Tomas and Fernando nodded. Sorio studied the gun in his hand with an unreadable expression on his face.

Alonso was the first to speak. “Thank you for seeing us. We weren’t sure you were going to be able to accommodate a request a day early for such a large order.”

“I’m a businessman. My goal is to provide what my client wants, whenever they want it.”

Fernando took a step closer and handed me a briefcase. “As soon as we receive the shipment and our people inspect it, the other eighty percent will be transferred.”

Easing a smile onto my face, I inclined my head when Fernando stepped back to the table. They’d handed me a million in cash like it was nothing. All I needed now was them standing in place at the table. The area surrounding the table was a key location, a kill zone, our snipers needed that would allow them to light those bastards up.

“Hey, don’t I know you?” one of the guards standing at the entrance said, pointing at me. His words drew Sorio and Alonso away from the weapons to focus on me. I ignored the man’s question, but he continued to scrutinize me. Attempting to release the knot of tension that had gathered in my neck, I tilted my head to the side. Stop looking at me, motherfucker.

The guard lifted a crooked finger and pointed it at me again, before reaching down and drawing his weapon. I kept my cool, but shit was flowing downhill fast, all because asshole face thought he recognized me. Tension saturated the room. Every man’s chest bobbed as gazes locked on me and more weapons emerged and pointed in my direction.

“You were in the woods in Texas. You were one of the people who attacked us when you came to rescue your buddy.”

Of all the motherfuckers that Sorio had chosen for his detail, he’d pick the one man who’d remembered me from a dimly-lit stretch of woods. My fucking cover was blown, and I had eight guns pointed at my head.

My gaze darted around at the mean faces glaring at me, studying their body language. The fact that I made no attempt to correct the guard made them even angrier. I scanned the room, weighing my options. My ass was toast unless I knew how to stop eight guns from making my head look like a big glob of overcooked oatmeal.

I viewed things in slow motion, my eyes catching every nuance of their body language. My breathing had slowed, but my heart was pumping like the pistons in a revved-up Bugatti. The moment Sorio’s finger slid around his trigger, I yelled my ass off. “I’ve been made! Phase two! Phase two!” The last sound to cross my ears was a series of loud pops before my body dropped.

 

Chapter Twelve

 

Aaron

 

The vision of one of the DG6 guards at the window taking a direct hit to the head before his body disappeared from my view was a welcomed sight.

The DG6 guards outside sprang into action, gathering near the Hummers. One made a foolish attempt to climb into one of the Hummers, but one of our snipers painted the side of the black SUV with splatters of chunky dark red dots.

Two attempted to re-enter the house. When they couldn’t get in the traditional way, they started shooting the door and discovered that they weren’t going to shoot their way through the bulletproof glass.

It didn’t take long for our snipers to light their asses up. One’s brains went flying into the door he’d tried to get into. His body fell and tumbled sideways over the side of the steps in a dramatic fashion. The other dove for cover behind the thick bushes that lined the house.

After I climbed out of my foxhole, I dove right back in when a barrage of bullets pelted the ground and pinged against the camouflaged metal of the door. If those assholes thought they were keeping me in this damn hole, they were sadly mistaken.

Bending at the knees, I slung my rifle across my back before I snapped the cover off the large pipe that would take me into the crawl space under Ansel’s house.

The suffocating tightness inside the pitch-black pipe caused me to struggle for every breath as the weapon on my back clinked, hitting the top of the thick metal. The burning ache in my kneecaps and elbows as they dug into the dirty underbelly of the metal shot waves of pain straight to my brain. 

Although I knew it was seconds, the closed-in confines had me thinking it was hours that I’d been crawling. The dark, suffocating tightness had my lungs burning as every breath echoed around me and moved over my exhausted body like shivering fingers. I seriously doubted I was breathing air. It was more like a mixture of dust and carbon dioxide.

The darkness was so thick that I didn’t know I’d made it to the end of the pipe until my head thumped into the rounded metal door. My anxious fingers reached through the darkness as my nails scraped metal, searching for the latch.

Finally, my fingers locked around the latch and sprang it free. Fresh air flooded my lungs and almost immediately renewed my strength. Each of our foxholes contained pipes that led to a different location under Ansel’s house. Although confined, I was able to stand in the tight space leading to a secret entrance into the house. I punched in a combination that would open another small door into Ansel’s study, the area where the bullets had started flying first.

I waited, listening for signs of movement before opening the door. Had Ansel been able to avoid the barrage of bullets that had been sprayed? I inched the door open, knowing it would lead to the inside of the small closet in Ansel’s study.

My head turned robotically at the sound of muffled gunshots. I pushed through the opening, being careful to remain quiet. The sound of the repeated clapping of weapons met me as soon as I stood. Bullet holes were what filled my view after I tipped over to the closet door and inched it open.

Where was Ansel and where the hell was the four? The condition of the study would have you believe the Taliban had been invited to this party. The bodies of the two DG6 guards who’d been posted at the window lay crumpled in bloody heaps. There was no sign of Ansel. Had he survived this shit? Maybe they had taken him as a hostage.

A quick glance from the cracked window showed two more dead DG6 guards stretched out on the lawn. The front gate was closed, and all the Hummers were in the same place. My main goal now was to find my cousin and kill any asshole I came across.

Following the sound of gunfire, I peeked into the wide open space of the living room. Two guards shot from the window, as Tomas stood there waiting for them to fight his battle. They were going to try to get Tomas to one of those armored vehicles. If they succeeded, it would be hell to get him out of one of those Hummers unless we had a tank.

Like a bat out of hell, I sprinted into the line of fire and fired off a shot that sent Tomas’ brains splattering against the wall behind him. Using the momentum I’d built, I tucked my body, dived, and rolled behind Ansel’s thick leather couch. Bullets pelted the couch from two directions, sending chucks of wood, pieces of leather, and fibers raining over me. The angry shouts of the men blended with the unapologetic blast from their weapons. The couch would only protect me so long before I was forced to create an exit strategy.

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

Ansel

 

I was thankful that Aaron had strategically placed Galvin, Finn, and my grumpy-ass uncle out in the hills that partially surrounded my house. They were three of the best snipers we had on our team. They were in locations that sat at a distance and high enough on the hills that it allowed them to fire into the study as well as various other parts of the house and grounds.

Someone out there had put a bullet in Sorio, who’d been aiming for my fucking head. He hadn’t waited to hear me attempt to explain what was going on after the guard recognized me. The bullet had struck Sorio in the shoulder, sending his gun in one direction and his body in the other. Right before Sorio released the first shot, I yelled for backup, hit the small clicker I’d sewn into the inside of my shirt and braced myself for the short free-fall into the bed below in my playroom.

The assholes up there were probably wondering where I’d gone. The muffled sound of gunfire caused me to scramble to get back into the fight. I reached blindly under the bed and pulled out an AR-15. I slapped in a magazine and grabbed two extras. Before I exited the room, my gaze swept over the shelves of sex toys that hid the door to the safe room where we’d stashed Megan and Regina.

I prayed that Megan would keep her little ass put. She had a way of stumbling into the craziest types of situations, and this one was certified the craziest as we were engaged in an active war with known cartel members.

Easing from the room, I shut the door quietly behind me and tiptoed up the stairs that would lead into my kitchen. Gunfire erupted, splintering the wood of the door as it slipped from my hand and creaked noisily open. I tucked my body behind the doorframe, listening for a chance to engage. The heavy thump of footsteps softened, the person retreating into their hiding place.

Motherfucker better hide. I ran from the doorway, dashed over the short expanse, and dived between the area of the stove and sink in my kitchen. The momentum of my movement was still in play, but it didn’t stop me from preparing my weapon to shoot. My gaze locked on a flash of black scampering away like a wild rabbit. The targets couldn’t get out of my house unless they went through a window, in which case they’d end up dead. So, they were still inside, hiding.

The hard taps of gunfire came from my living room, so I ran in that direction. A quick glimpse at the situation revealed a blood-spattered wall and two guards who hadn’t spotted me because they were busy aiming at my couch, letting off round after round. 

I checked my rear before stepping into the doorway and letting the gun spray bullets over their bodies as I gifted them a one-way ticket straight to hell. Their bodies had barely dropped when none other than Aaron emerged from behind the couch.

“Thanks, man. How the fuck did you get out of that study?”

“You’re welcome. Trapdoor,” I answered as I took in Tomas splayed out on the floor with a hole pierced through the center of his forehead. And then there were three.

Aaron shook his head and made a circular motion with his hand before angling his head towards areas we needed to search. We split the living area in half, sweeping and peeking into the dining room, den, and halls.

As I walked towards Aaron to meet at the stairs, his frozen gaze over my shoulder sent a chill inching up my back, alerting me that death lurked behind me. Before I’d fully turned to shoot the asshole behind me, Aaron’s knife swished past me, landing in Fernando’s gun arm. His weapon fell to the floor with a loud thud. I raised my weapon, preparing to blow the man’s brains out, but Aaron stopped me.

“I got him,” he said, his voice as cold as an Arctic glacier. I shrugged and stepped aside to allow Aaron to pass. Who was I to get in the way of a man and a fresh kill?

Fernando must have known death was approaching him. His eyes widened to twice their normal size, and he was either too afraid or too stunned to run. Aaron calmly placed his hand over the man’s mouth as he snatched the knife from his limp arm. Fernando attempted to fight, but it was too late.

A deep frown creased my face when Aaron sent the knife plunging into the man’s belly. Fernando’s muffled, throat-scratching groans filled up the living room. Next thing I knew, the ripping sound of the knife sliding through the man’s flesh and abdominal muscles sounded. Aaron pressed his forearm forcefully over the man’s face, muzzling his anguished cries as he used his strength and body weight to keep the man in place. Fernando’s quivering body thumped against the wall as his bladder released right before a bundle of his internal organs spilled onto the floor with a noisy splat.

The man stopped fighting Aaron with his good hand and clawed at his protruding organs, attempting to put them back inside his body. I choked back the vile odor that assaulted my nasal passages. My fucking cousin was a damn lunatic who disemboweled people like a twisted butcher. Aaron could say what he wanted, but those damn bullet fragments in his brain had made him meaner.

He stepped away from the man, letting him slide to the floor as his internal organs dangled from his belly. His bloody intestines continued to slither out like a bunch of wild red snakes. A hissing sound escaped the man, some punctured organ releasing air.

My enlarged eyes tightened, lids thinning as I took in the gruesome sight. The fact that Aaron had released someone’s internal organs and hadn’t gotten a drop on his clothes or boots froze me in place. “Really?” I asked him.

He shrugged and glanced up the stairs like he hadn’t just done some horror-movie type shit.

We climbed the stairs as sporadic gunfire reminded us of the fight outside. As soon as we crested the stairs, I cut a right and Aaron went left. Everything appeared to be normal until bullets started flying, coming from Megan’s room at the far end of the hall.

A bullet missed my face by an inch, but the next came hissing through the air at an inescapable speed and caught me in my shoulder. The force of the impact twisted me in a full circle before I was able to straighten myself out and take cover inside Regina’s room.

Closing my eyes for a second, I sucked in a breath and swallowed the pain. I peeled my shirt back and glanced at my wound. Blood seeped from the hole, thick and dark, as my left arm blazed in searing pain. The pain captured my arm, rendering it useless, and the blood continued to flow. I ripped off a piece of the bed sheet, stuffing it inside my shirt to help staunch the bleeding. I’d not worn a Kevlar vest, to keep my cover with our four targets.

Our team was dangerous enough to fight in hell, but the radio silence was a matter that concerned me. The thud of gunfire had never ceased outside, but the silence let me know that I’d lost communication with our men.

As soon as my arm started to twitch back to life, letting me know that I hadn’t permanently lost the use of it, I inched the door open and prepared to trade shots with the bastard who’d shot me. I slapped a new magazine in my weapon and aimed it down the hall, preparing to turn Megan’s room into a sheet of target paper.

I carried and fired the weapon with my one good arm, letting off burst after burst that shook my body with intense force. Each blast also kept the shooter hiding and allowed me to step out into the hall and closer to the target. After only three steps closer, my target stumbled out into the hall after he’d thrown out his weapon. “I give up,” he shouted. Dumb fuck!

Unfortunately, it was one of the guards and not one of our targets. He’d been shot in his torso region as he clamped his hand around his wound. The crisp white shirt he wore under his black jacket had been painted red. His weak legs wobbled under his weight, and he let his body slide down the wall into a sitting position.

The ache in my shoulder reminded me that this was the asshole that had shot me. I took a knee in front of the man. “You should have kept shooting,” I told him, shaking my head. The man’s eyes filled with fear when his gaze locked on mine, just realizing that he’d surrendered for nothing.

“Let me help you,” I offered. A sinister smirk bent my lips as I planted my knees on the man’s thighs to keep him in place. My good hand rushed forward and clamped tight around the man’s neck. His fist pounded against my locked arm. His fingers clawed, raked, and scratched uselessly at my arm that was dead locked around his throat. He jerked mercilessly as his feet thumped against the floor and he bucked under me.

Both his hands were wrapped around my arm, but I didn’t feel them. His horror-filled gaze was locked on mine. My eyes were nothing more than black orbs of pure death. My mind had descended into that dark place I embraced whenever I killed someone.

I felt none of the emotions I should have; no remorse, regret, or sorrow for taking another life. Instead, the thrill of seeing this asshole die filled my psyche. I enjoyed seeing the man’s life seep from him, fading with each breath I failed to let him take.

Peering at his ghost-white reflection, I squeezed tighter. Red branches of blood vessels sprouted in his bulging eyes as they frantically darted left and right in a desperate search for help. His tongue fell limp past his lips as his eyes started to flutter. He stopped fighting the inevitable. He stopped fighting me. He’d accepted the great fires of hell as his forever.

 

Chapter Fourteen

 

Aaron

 

There was only a large entertainment room off the hall. Being careful not to stand directly in front of the door, I stood off to the side, before I turned with a quick hard kick, slamming my foot below the knob.

The door went flying inward, and I expected bullets to come flying at me, but none came. The room was clean as far as I could tell. Where were the rest of the assholes we needed to kill? I crept over to the window to survey the scene below since we’d lost radio contact again. The muzzle flashes from our snipers in the hills flashed like hidden gems. I couldn’t see any of our crew on the ground, but they had the DG6 guards pinned down, stuck on this compound with us. The sound of gunfire on Ansel’s wing prompted me to scramble for the exit.

By the time I arrived, Ansel was marching in my direction with his hand clutching his hunched shoulder, and his gritted teeth were bared. A large patch of blood was visible on his shirt. I hustled closer to check out his wound.

After checking his shoulder, I slapped the rag he’d been using to stem the blood flow back into place when I noticed that the bleeding had stopped. “It’s going to hurt like a motherfucker, but you’ll live. Can you still shoot?”

“Tell me some shit I don’t already know, asshole. And yeah, I can shoot.”

Laughing, I shook my head at him and proceeded back towards the stairs. At the top of the stairs, a loud, angry squeal sounded in my ear followed by an elongated stream of scratching.

Our mics had been on the fritz since the shooting had started, but the connection had now been restored to our communications devices. I tapped my finger against my ear a few times. There was so much commotion going on outside that I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying because they were stepping on each other’s transmissions. I pick out what I could understand.

“Shark, say again you’re last. Over,” I spoke in an elevated tone, hoping he could hear me.

“A heli…pter! Don’t…”

Ansel and I glanced at each other with wide eyes before we took off running. “Did he just say a fucking helicopter is coming?”

“I don’t know, but it’s going to be hard to hide that shit if there is one coming. We didn’t plan for a fucking helicopter. It could be the media or DG6’s backup.”

The last thing we needed was the media getting a hold of all the shit that was going down in these hills. If DG6’s backup was a fucking helicopter, we were in deep shit.

We traveled through the garage that had a door that led outside. Ansel punched in a code to get us out of the door. The first image that filled my view was of two of our team members firing at one of the Hummers. Two of DG6’s guards were in the front, and Alonso was in the back, ducking as the driver attempted to ram the vehicle through the thick barricade that Rob had raised. Somehow the guards had managed to get him out of my house. If the vehicle broke through the barricade, they were going to try to ram the front gate. I was happy to see more of DG6’s guards laid out dead on the lawn.

Another of DG6’s guards appeared from the corner of my eye, running towards the gate nearest him. I raised my gun, aiming to take him out, but Ansel stopped me. “Let him go,” he said in an uncaring manner. “Max, you copy, over.”

“Copy,” Max replied.

“Activate the gate,” Ansel said.

“Tracking,” Max replied with a hint of excitement in her voice. However, Max and Ansel’s exchange didn’t explain why no one bothered to light the running guard’s ass up. He was about to attempt to go over the gate. And where was this helicopter that my father was yelling about?

“You’re letting him go?” I asked Ansel as I dropped my weapon and eyed him suspiciously before putting my gaze back on the fleeting man. “What the…”

As soon as the man’s hands reached out and gripped the thick bars of the gate, he started dancing and his hands automatically clutched the bars tighter. The high voltages of electricity radiating through him emitted fleshy pops. Although most of our people and snipers weren’t visible, I knew they were out there watching the scene just as I was.

The wind carried the stench of frying flesh that assaulted my nostrils and taste buds and forced me to scrunch my face up as I choked down a gag. When Ansel said that DG6 was coming into his place and not getting out, he wasn’t kidding. He hadn’t revealed all the tricks he had up his sneaky sleeve.

Now, we had to find a way to get the guards and Alonso out of the Hummer. The powerful thrust of the tires scratching against the cement driveway sounded as the driver attempted to force the vehicle through the barricade. A thin sheen of white smoke billowed out from under the hot rubber. The sound of the helicopter drew my attention away from the Hummer. Why wasn’t our team lighting that damn thing up?

When Ansel and I raised our weapons to take aim at the helicopter, I heard “Don’t fire! Don’t fire! The Hummer! Pop smoke! Pop Smoke!”

It was Galvin calling for us to pop smoke, alerting us to mark the Hummer with smoke so the helicopter would know exactly where to aim. It meant the helicopter was a friendly force and not DG6’s backup.

A knowing smile spread across my face, catching on to Galvin’s call. The smile on Ansel’s face indicated that he’d understood the call as well. My father’s broken call earlier was likely trying to warn us not to take out the helicopter. The bird made a pass over us, the roar of the engine demanding attention as the swish of its rotors swept dust in our faces.

“Rob, Dude, Hwang, do you have any smoke?” Ansel asked.

“No,”

“November Golf,”

“No go,” they replied.

Since Dude and Hwang had exited their foxholes to assist in fighting, they didn’t have access to their munitions. I’d taken inventory of everything inside my foxhole and knew exactly where the smoke was.

“I need to get back to my foxhole!” I yelled. “Shark! Finn! Galvin!”

“We got you. Go,” my father barked in a scratchy voice.

A wild, mindless rush shot through my veins, and I zipped into the opening, unsure of how many of DG6’s guards remained on the loose. I ran past the Hummer, the driver nearly killing the engine in an attempt to get away. He hadn’t accepted the fact that they were clearly surrounded by death.

Our team’s bullets couldn’t penetrate the armored vehicle, so for now, Alonso and the two guards were at an advantage and could possibly escape if they found a way to ram the front gate open. The whereabouts of that sack of shit, Sorio, crossed my mind as I ran towards my foxhole.

A bullet pounded the ground at my feet, spitting up dirt. It reminded me that DG6 was still in the fight and aiming to kill us. I ran in a zigzag pattern, unsure of where DG6 was and having faith in our snipers to keep a bullet out of my ass.

Once I made it to within a few feet of my foxhole, I slid into the small opening and made a wobbly landing on my feet, which sent my back slamming into the tight space of the dirt wall. I rummaged through the wooden box containing the ammo and grabbed two smoke grenades. After I’d attached them to my waistband, I scrambled through the hole just as fast as I’d slid in.

I was unsure, due to how fast I was moving, but it appeared Lucky was in one of the upstairs windows, slitting the throat of a guard that was trying to escape.

With the team keeping a bullet out of me, I sprinted back towards the roaring vehicle that had broken through the barricade and was backing up so it could ram the front gate. Our team riddled the Hummer with bullets, attempting to stop it from getting away. The black dot in the sky in my peripheral grew larger. The helicopter was about to make another pass. 

Stalking the Hummer, I jetted forward, edging close to the vehicle that was revved up and ready to pounce the front gate. The Hummer roared forward and struck the gate with maximum force. The impact of crunching metal sent vibrations through me. Our team, aware of what I was trying to do, stopped firing at the vehicle and prepared to lay down cover fire for me.

The impact of the vehicle against the charged metal gate stalled its momentum. I inched closer, being careful not to draw the attention of the occupants. It was too bad the tires were stopping the assholes inside from being electrocuted.

“Max, cut the power!” Ansel shouted.

Parts of the front gate were dented and broken apart, but not enough to allow the vehicle to get through. The pop of electricity in the fence stopped. I ran towards the vehicle that was gearing to back up. I pulled the pen on one of the smoke grenades labeled green and tossed it onto the windshield. It slid down between the windshield and hood, which was the perfect spot that would keep the grenade in place on the vehicle. 

I ran at full stride, searching for the nearest foxhole to drop into as green smoke spewed into the air in a large colorful cloud. The roar of the helicopter grew closer as I pushed my body to move me further away from the marked vehicle.

Rob must have seen me running in his direction because he’d cracked open the camouflaged door to the foxhole nearest the gate. I dived into the open door, scrambling for cover and nearly toppled Max as she sidestepped out of my way in the nick of time.

An explosion erupted, vibrating my eardrums inside my skull as the ground shook around us angrily. Rob’s hands covered his ears. When the ground stopped shaking, he pointed at a set of monitors mounted on the wall. This foxhole was also a little surveillance center.

Plumes of green smoke and fire filled the monitors. The helicopter had done its job by taking out the Hummer before they had broken through the fence. One more impact from the vehicle probably would have set them free.

However, the smoke and fire of the Hummer were going to draw attention we didn’t need. I climbed out of the hole, preparing to hunt down the last of the four targets, when I was met with the sound of the helicopter making its approach again.

“Incoming!” a chorus of voices yelled in my ear as soon as I stood up.

The mics were phasing in and out, so I’d missed something. I dropped to the ground and searched for a clue as to what was happening. The heat from the burning Hummer and the black and green smoke clouded my vision.

Why the hell were they yelling incoming?

When it smashed into me, so breathtakingly cold, I could do nothing but lie there and let the impact of its crushing blow pound me. The helicopter had dropped what had to have been a ton of water onto the burning vehicle. 

I hadn’t a clue as to who’d ordered us a fucking helicopter, but they may have saved us from becoming a national news headline. I could hear the helicopter making another approach, only this time it was behind me, the powerful wind sweeping up grass and dirt as I struggled to watch it land on the front lawn near where my foxhole was located.

As the whirl of the rotors slowed and the engine’s roar turned into a wheezing hum, a man exited the helicopter with his weapon drawn. He looked familiar, really fucking familiar. All I could do as he stood over me, shaking his head, was laugh.

“Aaron, get the fuck up. You look like a wet baby calf bathing on the lawn out here.”

He reached his hand down to help me up. I gripped his forearm with a wide grin on my face as he assisted in yanking me to my feet. “Nathan, man, what the fuck?”

He shrugged, grinning but keeping a steady aim on his weapon. “Galvin called yesterday and asked me to be on standby. He said y’all might need a little assistance with some not-so-friendly visitors you were trying to get rid of. I run a touring company that conducts helicopter tours out here in Cali. It’s some real boring shit. So, when Galvin called, talking about real action, I was all in.” 

Nathan wasn’t a member of my old military squad, but he was a fellow black-ops soldier. He had the amazing ability to fly a helicopter through hellfire and gun smoke and not get a scratch on it. We had nicknamed him TC like the character from the TV show Magnum PI. He’d picked us up and flown us from some of the most hostile hot zones we’d ever encountered.

 

 

Aaron

 

After I introduced Nathan to Ansel, thanked him, and informed him he was about to get a big-ass bonus for his help, we fanned out in search of the last of the guards and Sorio, our final target.

“Aaron, can you hear me? Over,” Shark asked.

“Yes, tracking, go for me, over,” I called back to him.

“Aaron, take your weapon, aim at the front driver’s side tire of the Hummer to your left and shoot it.”

I didn’t question my father’s instructions. I aimed and shot at the tire. Immediately, one of DG6’s guards rolled away from the tire. His dark attire and the angle of his body had kept him concealed. He was still under the vehicle, but he made a costly move as I watched his head explode. Chunks of his skull and blood flew into the air as he twitched under the vehicle. When his damaged head finally dropped, blood poured from it like a spigot had been turned on.

“Thank you, son,” my father said, causing my grin to spread wide.

“You’re welcome.”

I didn’t think anyone but the old heads in the MC knew that my father could do wicked things with a sniper rifle or any gun for that matter. He’d taught me everything I knew about guns. When I’d suggested he be one of our snipers, Ansel had glared at me like I was crazy, not knowing what I knew.

It took me an hour to finally find a few droplets of blood that would possibly lead me to the last of the four main targets. One of four of Ansel’s cars parked in the large garage was where my search had ended. With my weapon aimed and at the ready, I used the toe of my boot to hit the latch on the white Maserati, springing the trunk open. A wide grin spread across my lips.

Laying on his side inside the trunk, Sorio raised his hands. Recognition flashed in his gaze as a touch of defiance lingered under the fear that covered his face. He understood that I’d show him no mercy.

With Sorio in my crosshairs, I felt like I’d won the grand prize. The cowardly bastard was hiding in the one place we’d failed to check. He must have been too busy running and hiding to arm himself. I’d expected more of a fight from him.

Footsteps alerted that someone was approaching. Ansel walked up and stood next to me. A conniving grin spread wide across his face when he discovered who I was aiming at.

“Any last words, motherfucker?” Ansel asked. The hint of satisfaction in his voice was easily noticed.

Sorio shook his head nonstop. Was this his sorry ass attempt at asking us not to kill him? His hands remained raised and his wide eyes roved back and forth between Ansel and me.

 “Never thought these would be the last two faces you’d see, did you?” I asked taunting him. “Oh, and Regina is downstairs. She saved me after you tortured me and after one of your men shot me in the head.” At this news, Sorio’s lips parted and he fought a frown. “She’s smarter than you. She is better than you in every way. I was at the farm for nearly six months right under your nose. You tried to break her, but you failed. She broke you.”

A sinister smile bent my lips as death filled the dark places in my mind. I leaned in closer to the asshole who’d started this war. “I’m going to ask Regina to do one last burn, and I’ll make sure your ashes make their way into the lowest grade meth on the market.”

His eyes grew wide as his breaths kicked up an extra notch and a shiver became visible in his body. I didn’t know if he was upset that Regina was here or that I wanted her to burn his body and feed his ashes to meth addicts. A single tear slithered down his quivering cheek.

The rumble of gunfire had ceased outside. My ear was free of noise and static. The inside of the garage was filled with a tomblike silence that blended perfectly for the occasion.

The tip of my finger slipped over the trigger, and a sense of peace fell over me, knowing that a piece of shit was going to hell where he belonged. Knowing that he could no longer hurt Regina or give orders for men to hunt Megan.

I could envision Sorio’s brains splattered all over the trunk. The tension in my trigger finger tightened and it flexed against the hard metal. However, at the last possible moment, something stopped me from pulling the trigger.

Putting a bullet in Sorio was too easy. Fuck following the protocol we’d set for this mission. Sorio needed to suffer. He needed to get what he had coming to him. I wanted to make him pay for all the years he’d gotten away with murder, abuse and any number of evil deeds.

Holstering my pistol, I unslung the rifle from my back. I was preparing to use the butt of the heavy weapon to beat that motherfucker senseless. I turned the rifle backwards in my hand, gripping it by the barrel. Sorio’s fear-frozen eyes were on me the entire time. He’d wedged his body as far back into the truck as he could get it, but there was nothing he could have done to save himself. His whimpers sounded over the frozen silence that filled the garage.

The first blow connected with the side his head, sending it slamming again the interior of the trunk. The loud wallop surprised him. He cried out in pain, his voice casting louder due to him being inside the trunk. The hurt must have been shockingly intense because Sorio’s legs started to kick against the interior of the trunk. His thrashing appeared to have been involuntary. He lifted his head slowly, using his arm as protection from the next blow. His eyes were so wide, they appeared all white as he peeped over his raised arm.

Ansel released an elongated whistle, no doubt preparing to enjoy the show. Sorio waved his shaky hand at me, gesturing for me to stop as my grip tightened around the rifle. “Please, don’t do this,” he cried out. The hole I’d put in his broken jaw made his voice sound as if he were talking without moving his lips.

The asshole begged shamelessly for his life. He was man enough to put his hands on a woman, but not man enough to face his death. When I was in that barn, he’d beaten me to the point that he’d had to take a break before he instructed his men to take over. Not once had I cried. Not once had I begged.

Seeing Sorio beg and cry amped up my rage. Had he taken pity on Megan after what his father had done to her? Nope. That motherfucker had been hunting her, so he could kill her. Had he taken pity on Regina? Nope. That motherfucker had beaten her and confined her to an underground prison where he forced her to cremate bodies.

Sorio clutched his bloody face and groaned in agony as blood seeped out of the hole I’d opened. A second blow was aimed at his head, but he ducked out of the way and it caught him in the neck. He coughed, gagged and attempted to plead for me to stop. “P-p-please,” he gurgled.

I think he was attempting to talk, but not one fuck was going to be given where he was concerned. I was too far gone. All I wanted was to beat this motherfucker until the devil himself tapped me on the shoulder and informed that he was ready to take him to hell.

Gripping and twisting his shirt collar in my fist, I yanked Sorio from the trunk. He hit the shiny cement floor of Ansel’s garage with a series of rumbling thuds as he attempted to fight.

The asshole had the nerve to shout. “Please. I’ll pay you!”

Ansel stood with has arms folded over his chest, shaking his head. He didn’t have an ounce of remorse for what he was witnessing if the wicked smile on his face was any indication.

I twisted the grip I had on Sorio’s shirt until his head was aimed up at me. His distressed gaze met mine. “After what you did, you offer me money? That’s a fucking insult.”

The frown on my face deepened, as a mixture of rage and anger consumed me. My hand released his shirt and he crumpled to the floor. I stood over Sorio staring down at him. His hand was raised as a weak barrier of protection. I raised the gun high, preparing to strike him again. I waited until his gaze connected with the raised gun. I wanted him to see it coming. I wanted him to anticipate the pain that would follow the blow. 

I glanced at his head, leading him to believe I’d go for his head again. Instead, I repeatedly swung the weapon into his body with relentless force, making him fold into a ball as he struggled for air. Once I had him attempting to protect his body, I aimed for that fucker’s head again.

Ansel hopped back when a bloody tooth popped into the air and flew past his leg. Sorio’s attempted to block one of the blows resulted in the rifle connecting with his hand. His fingers crunched under the force of the strike. Three fingers on his left hand were bent backwards, dangling in an unnatural position.

My uncaged anger sought retribution for what was done to Megan and Regina. Sorio’s wide mouth, contorted face, and pleading eyes, hinted at his vocal anguish, but I couldn’t hear anything. Rage fueled my mind and snuffed out the sound. However, the vibration of his shouts pulsed around me like the base from a speaker.

The next strike connected with his jaw, knocking the bottom half of the right side apart from the top half. Strings of skin and tissue, stretched like gum between his broken apart jaw. Blood spilled from his damaged mouth as saliva and snot stretched down to his heaving chest.

“Jesus!” I think I heard Ansel say.

Sorio’s mouth was left contorted, one side hanging and ripped apart from his swollen and bloody face. His quivering body, gaping mouth and haunted gaze brought life to his pain. When he lost his strength to agony, he stopped trying to protect himself as he took the punishment I dished out. Blow after blow rained down on him, until the gun became slippery in my hands. It began to sound as if I were chopping wood as the blows ripped his body apart.

“Aaron!”  Ansel yelled, before he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Aaron that motherfucker’s dead!”

Ansel’s words didn’t stop me. I’d beaten Sorio to death and still wasn’t done. I continued to pound on him until he was nothing but a crumpled pile of bloody flesh at my feet.

Yelling and shaking me, Ansel tried to snap me out of my murderous haze.

“Aaron, the motherfucker’s dead! Snap the fuck out of it!”

I couldn’t help myself, I hit that dead bastard one more time for good measure before I stood staring down at the mess I’d made. Winded, my breaths heaved out as I sucked in deep gulps of air. My body had finally started to feel the impact of my actions.

Sorio’s blood had been slug high enough to paint the ceiling of the garage and was splatted over the back of Ansel’s white car. Some had even reached the garage door to my rear and small red spots dotted the front of my clothes. My gun was soaked and dripping, and my hands appeared as if I’d dipped them into a bowl of blood.

“And then there was none,” Ansel commented, while staring down at what was left of Sorio. White bone fragments peeked from the mangled mess of bloody clothes and ripped apart flesh. I couldn’t tell if I was seeing the white tips of his spine or his ribs peeking through the bloody disaster.

“Do you realize that you’ve killed three out of the four targets?” Ansel asked.

I shook my head absently at Ansel’s question not realizing I’d placed murderous hands on more than one Dominquez.

 

 

Chapter Sixteen

 

Aaron

 

“Get out here!” Shark screamed.

My gaze met Ansel’s before he keyed in the code that raised the garage door from the inside. As soon as we cleared the edge of the garage and were able to see a full view of the front yard, we saw a black Hummer that sat outside the gate, appearing to be trying to get in.

“Shark, Finn, Galvin, can any of you see who the hell that is?”

“It’s Luke,” Finn informed us. “Let him in.”

One side of the gate was so damaged that the loud grating of metal against concrete sounded as it slid open wide enough for Luke to drive through. We listened to the grating sound again as Rob attempted to close the damaged gate.

We’d lost contact with Luke after the first mic check, so he’d been out there on his own. Luke stopped the vehicle near Ansel and me as we walked closer. He gave a rare smile and leaned his head towards the back seat.

My gaze landed on a stack of dead bodies piled in the back seat. It was the backup team DG6 had on standby. Grinning, I shook my head at Luke. He’d been alone, but he most certainly wasn’t the one in danger.

My father, Finn, and Galvin remained at their post to be our watching eyes until we were sure the authorities hadn’t been alerted to what had taken place at Ansel’s house. They were also waiting to see if any of the DG6’s guards had gotten a call out to anyone else that might show up.

Luke put a call into his and Galvin’s company. They were flying out a special five-man cleanup crew. He claimed the crew could have Ansel’s house as good as new within twenty-four hours, including body disposal.

We gathered in the living room for an impromptu debriefing of sorts as my father, Finn, and Galvin listened in. Ansel had made reservations and had plans to put everyone up at The Four Seasons for a week, all expenses paid. He’d divided up the million he’d gotten as the partial payout from DG6, so each man, including our men in Texas and Mexico, would walk away with about sixty grand. Ansel also wanted the men to stick around in case any DG6 stragglers decided to show up. Aside from Ansel being shot in the shoulder, which he seemed to have forgotten about, no one else was seriously injured.

Knowing I was agitating his injured shoulder, I slapped Ansel’s back and watched him wince. “Let’s go and get our women,” I stated, waiting for him correct me on my comment. He never did.

Even though she appeared to be clueless, I hadn’t missed the way Ansel’s eyes followed Regina’s every move. Did Regina know that she was a claimed woman? Ansel’s way of life wasn’t for the faint of heart, and I wasn’t talking about his criminal side either. Sorio had put Regina through enough hell, so Ansel and I were going to have a man-to-man talk about Regina. 

I followed him into that sin den he tortured women in. Glancing around the area, I took in instruments and devices that I didn’t know how to operate and didn’t have the slightest idea of what they did.

Ansel slid the wall of sex toys aside and keyed in the code to a vaulted metal door before he walked into the safe room to greet the women. I could see Megan’s small arm go around his waist. When he reached out for Regina too, my grin widened.

Although I couldn’t see her face, Megan’s shaky tone found my ears, “Aaron?”

“I’m right here, Megan!” I called out to her.

Her head darted around Ansel’s body before she ran and leaped into my arms, gripping me like we’d been apart for months. Her lips covered mine before she sprinkled kisses all over my dirty face. She didn’t care that I was dirty, smelly, and grimy from one of the craziest operations I’d ever participated in.

 

***

 

The following day, more good news poured in as D and Dax reported success in eliminating their targets. Marcus and Scott had succeeded in taking out theirs as well. As promised, the cleaning team from Galvin and Luke’s security firm had Ansel’s house as fresh and as good as new.

You’d have never have known that we’d killed twenty guards, four key members of DG6, and the four additional guards who Luke had killed and driven in. We’d also blown up a Hummer with a helicopter and put out the fire to keep our hostile activities from being noticed. Regina had removed the bullet from Ansel’s shoulder, and he was pretending to be in pain so she’d take care of him.

Although it was only a day later, the media hadn’t released any news about DG6 or the fact that key members of their leadership had gone missing. It likely meant the small fish were already nipping at each other, preparing to commit criminal genocide.

It was also likely that the media was bound by high-ranking law officials to stay clear of reporting what was happening with DG6. If it were reported that the heads of DG6 had gone missing, it would unearth other vicious vultures that’d be ready to make a major move, not only in the meth industry but also to claim the top spot in the crime-boss category.

No one would know the truth—that a small group of dangerous and determined men had organized a plan and were powerful enough to destroy an organization as infamous as DG6.

 

Epilogue

 

People in hell must be drinking cold sweating glasses of water with fat ice cubes—this was the thought roving through my brain as I glanced back at the ordained minister. Since I had as good as accepted it the first two weeks I’d spent with her, and Ansel had insisted she’d already earned the title, I figured I’d go ahead and make things official. I’d asked Megan to marry me.

Yep, that’s right. A motherfucker like me was about to get married. Megan had said yes to the three words I’d blurted: “Let’s get married.” Once we’d finished our celebratory fuck, I called Ansel and updated him on our plans.

At his insistence, of course, Regina had turned down my offer to stay with Megan and me and agreed to stay with Ansel instead. She claimed it was until she got back on her feet. He claimed it was to protect her from any of her family that were brave enough to come looking for her. They had agreed to stand as our witnesses at our wedding ceremony.

After Megan said yes, I was prepared to march down to the justice of the peace, but she wanted to wait until D and Dax flew her friends from Texas into town. We’d decided to stay in California for a while since I’d discovered that my cousin had four other houses spread across the state. Also, my soon-to-be wife had millions tucked away, so we could have gone anywhere we wanted.

A few days after we’d decided to tie the knot, I sat patiently in one of those hard, white plastic chairs in the justice of the peace’s office, and I observed as Megan reunited with her friends. The sight of them together made me glad I’d waited.

The two of us becoming a legal couple probably meant something different to Megan than it meant to me. To her, it was holy matrimony, love, and happiness in sickness and in health. For me, I liked the idea of having her until death do us part. A legal marriage also gave me the right to kill a motherfucker if they touched my wife. As far as I was concerned, I was getting a license to kill.

Ansel, Dax, D and I sat and watched the women hugging and laughing. The best thing about seeing them together was knowing that we’d eradicated the DG6 problem that had been preventing them from openly seeing each other. 

Laura, the smallest thing in the group, stepped away from the women and approached me with her arms folded over her chest.

Dax seemed too tense before he said, “Oh shit,” under his breath and winced as he rubbed his sore side. He’d sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound during his portion of Operation Take Six.

Laura parked her tiny feet inches from mine and stood waiting until my gaze locked with hers. She stared down her nose at me like I couldn’t just stand up and fling her little ass. One of her small fingers was aimed at me as she gave me the evil eye. “If Megan ever tells me you hit her or that you’ve done some vile shit to her, I’m coming for your ass, Mr. Biker.”

Laura’s gaze filled with the kind of viciousness that I understood well.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.

I knew one when I saw one, had realized it the moment I’d first met her in Texas. Laura was a killer. Dax had also filled me in on how well she’d handled herself on their portion of Operation Take Six. 

Her gaze traveled down the line, ripping the rest of the men apart before she stepped away to join her friends who had pulled Regina into their circle.

We sat there, watching the women huddled in a circle like they were over there making a fucking play book. Occasionally, I’d see Megan shaking her head, agreeing to something one of them had said.

“So, what you think they’re talking about?” D asked in an amused tone.

Ansel’s gaze roamed the group before he replied, “Man, with that group, those damn women are probably over there either trying to figure out how to cut your balls off, so Megan can tie them around her neck. Or they may be plotting on how they could get us to take down another fucking cartel, which they’ve likely started shit with. There isn’t anything about any of those women that’s innocent, so don’t let those sweet faces fool you. Think about it,” Ansel said, getting into professor mode. He’d been studying those women like his life depended on it.

Ansel pointed. “That one, the one who looks like she could make a room full of priests start jacking off.”

D’s smile grew wide. “That’s Beverly.”

“After you told me about her skills with a blade, and now that I see her, she screams: danger, danger, danger.” 

Ansel pointed at Regina. “Don’t get me started on the sexy doctor, who from what Aaron tells me has a penchant for burning men alive.” 

D and Dax straightened in their seats, staring at Ansel and me, probably thinking we were making this shit up.

“And the littlest one, who just waltzed her barely one-hundred-pound ass over here and directly threatened a man who could devour her whole—”

“Laura,” Dax said, and I couldn’t tell if it was irritation or admiration in his voice.

“Laura,” Ansel continued. “She’ll slit your fucking throat and drink your blood.”

A smile crept across Ansel’s face when he glanced at Megan. “And innocent-face Megan, who harbored enough secrets to start a fucking nationwide war and is the reason that we are all sitting in a fucking justice of the peace’s office about to witness a marriage that could very well slam the gates of hell shut.”

As soon as I started laughing, the rest of the men joined in. Ansel was talking shit, but he wasn’t immune. Regina was going to have him so twisted up that he was going to need a fucking crew of sailors to untangle his ass. The good doctor was prim and proper but dealing with her family for the last three years had hardened her.

Finally, the women broke up their cackling, so we could get on with this. Once we were ready, the justice of the peace rep called us all into a ceremony room. It was a small, nicely put-together wedding chapel with flowers and a row of seats for guests. The women had their phones out, snapping photos.

I wore my usual jeans and T-shirt and Megan had taken the time to straighten her usual curls, applied light makeup, and wore a pale purple strapless dress that gave her a glamorous quality that I appreciated. Seeing her looking so beautiful had me feeling like the luckiest motherfucker on the planet.

We approached and stood in front of the justice. The idea of what was about to happen socked me in the jaw and a moment of doubt hit me until I reminded myself of all that Megan and I had gone through.

 

***

 

Megan

 

I was a nervous, hot mess. I couldn’t believe Aaron and I were about to get married. Having my friends here with me was a blessing. Because of Aaron and the men sitting behind us, I didn’t have to hide or run anymore.

The minister talked, but I couldn’t hear a thing he was saying until he’d directed Aaron and me to face each other and say our vows.

“I take her as my wife,” Aaron stated in a firm tone that dared anyone listening to protest. When he didn’t say any more, the minister lifted his brows and faced me.

“That’s a damn shame,” someone grumbled in the background.

“Umh, umh, uhm,” someone else said under their breath.

“I take him too,” I declared before the minister glanced back and forth between us.

What the hell was I supposed to say? Instead of keeping my thoughts to myself, I shrugged and started saying what I was thinking.

“You and I have been to hell and back more than once, but we’re still standing together. There are no words that I can say that will describe what you mean to me. All I can do is to try to show you. I love you.”

The smile on Aaron’s face meant everything.

After we joined hands and repeated the words that were meant to bind us forever, the justice asked about rings. The idea of rings hadn’t crossed my mind. I wasn’t even sure if Aaron would wear one. When it came to traditional, Aaron and I were not it…not even close.

When the minister prepared to conclude the ceremony, without the exchange of rings, Ansel stood and walked towards us. “I have the rings.”

“You do?” Aaron and I asked in unison, staring a hole in Ansel.

Ansel leaned into Aaron, but I could hear him speak. “Your ass is not getting off this easy. Here,” he huffed, shoving a small black box into Aaron’s hand. “Now, put a fucking ring on it, you fucking Neanderthal.”

Ansel’s unapologetic gaze shot up to the justice. “Pardon my language, sir, but this bastard needs parental guidance sometimes. He hasn’t been fully domesticated as you can tell by that mangy-ass beard of his.” Ansel walked off, leaving the poor justice standing and looking just as shocked as Aaron and I were.

Aaron opened the small black box that Ansel had shoved into his hand. He slid a beautiful, floral halo ring with sparkling purple diamonds on my finger. The thin white gold band fit my finger perfectly. I admired the ring before mouthing a big cheesy, “Thank you,” to Ansel who simply inclined his head.

When Aaron’s turn came, I removed a simple white gold band and slid it onto his finger before the justice announced, “You may kiss your bride.”

Aaron leaned down, and I went up on my toes. Our lips melted together and what seemed like a short moment to me must have been a long moment for our friends as a few throats cleared.

The justice gestured his hand towards our friends.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. August Aaron Knox V.”