by Jadyn Chase
He leaned back and dropped my feet to the ground, only to tear my pants open with a dizzying ferocity. Before I could react, he spun me around and pushed me into the wall harder than ever. My face smashed into the bricks, but I was too drunk on lust and giddy with happiness to care.
He tore my pants down to my knees and cinched one thick arm around my waist. Oh, for God’s sake, yes! Oh, please let him take me right now. I didn’t care how.
He brought his brutal mouth close to my ear. “You’re mine forever. Don’t you ever forget that. No one is taking you away from me—not ever!”
I gasped in rapture, but I couldn’t formulate words to answer. I was his. I never wanted anything else.
The next minute, he had me. He hugged my waist with his arms, picked me up, and set me on his shaft. I flopped in delirium while he moved me up and down on his rigid member. I don’t remember the exact moment when I started to climax. It must have started the moment he took hold of me, and it didn’t end until he slid out and set me on my feet.
He had to steady me for a second before I found my balance. I leaned my arm against the wall and panted for breath while he pulled my pants up. Then he turned me toward him, put his arms around me, and folded me in his kiss. Would I ever get used to this soul-shattering bliss? Would I ever come down from this high?
Back inside, the club gathered around the chair. This time, though, none of them chanted or cheered or shouted bawdy jokes back and forth. A reverential silence fell over the crowd as Logan took his seat in a fresh pair of gloves.
Roman wandered over to observe. Cisco towered over me, but he didn’t force me into the seat this time. He, Carlos, and Kane stood guard and waited until I made up my own mind to return to the chair of my destiny.
All the rest of the club stood back and gave me plenty of room. A clear walkway blazed a trail for me to get to the seat. No one stood in my way. No one blocked me. If I really wanted this, all I had to do was sit down. It was that simple and that hard.
I gulped and advanced through a sea of eyes all trained on my face. My cheeks burned and sweat sprang out on my back, but I forced myself to advance. I pivoted and sat down. Logan waited until I extended my other arm in front of him. Then he went to work.
He lathered my forearm with soap and shaved off the hair with a disposable razor. He dried it and then rubbed deodorant on the surface. My heart pounded in my ears waiting for the moment of truth.
After what seemed like ages, he took out a sheet of tracing paper and laid it carefully over my arm. He patted it into place and left it there for a few moments while he fiddled with his machine. He cracked a new vat of ink and replaced the needles before he swiveled around and locked his eyes on me.
With one swift motion, he peeled back the paper. A stenciled tracing of tribal dragon design with the words Los Diablos written across the top. Now that was me. I was the dragon. If I took this mark, I would be Los Diablos for life.
Logan bent over my arm and the motor buzzed to life. The needle cut into the ink lines. Pain seared my brain, but something deeper happened inside my soul. I became one of them, forever.
14
Epilogue
“Make way! Make way!” I wheeled around just in time to jump clear of Kane and Martín carrying a long roll of carpet into the house.
They marched to the living room and dropped it on the bare plywood floor. They immediately started kicking it into place and fitting it into the corners.
I stepped into the room. “What the fuck is this?”
Martín waved me away. “Get off, Ese! Look at your boots.”
I glanced down at my mud-encrusted boots and obediently retreated to the threshold. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like we’re going,” Kane fired back. “We’re putting in the carpet.”
“Yeah, but….” I started to protest, but before I could get the words out, another voice hailed me from behind.
“Stand aside, vato! Coming through.”
I dove out of the way as Jackson and Logan came trucking up the walk with a mattress suspended between them. José followed behind with a box spring balanced across his shoulders.
They inched through the door calling instructions to each other and disappeared inside. I gaped after them in astonishment, but I didn’t get a chance to say anything before Tina, Maria, Rita, Christina, and a bunch of other women herded past me.
They all carried bowls and plates loaded with food. Then came ten more people ferrying plastic tubs into the house. Through the transparent walls, I caught sight of pots and pans, dishes and towels, sheets, blankets, and a thousand other things.
Tina squeezed by me heading outside again. She patted my cheek on her way and arched an eyebrow at me. “What are you waiting for? Get in there and get yourself something to eat before the others clean you out.”
I spread my arms on either side. “Hey! What the hell is going on around here?”
“Don’t you know?” she called over her shoulder. “This is your house-warming party.”
“How can it be my house-warming party when the house isn’t even finished yet?” I bellowed.
“It looks finished to me,” she called.
She walked across the street to a white, unmarked van. She slid the side door back to reveal a bunch of brand new furniture. She took out a lamp and a chair and carried them inside.
The minute she disappeared into the bedroom, Roman materialized from somewhere inside the house. He parked himself in the entry well out of the way of the new carpet and unclipped the carpenter’s belt from his waist. He set it in the corner and kicked off his boots. He didn’t show the slightest sign of surprise at the activity going on around him.
I blinked into the kitchen where a dozen women buzzed around all chatting at once. Roman followed my gaze and nodded. “Hey, aren’t you going to get something to eat? You’ve been at it all day.”
“Yeah, but….” I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “They say this is a house-warming party.”
“Of course it is,” he countered. “We’ve been working for five weeks straight to get this house finished. What did you think was going to happen when we got it done?”
I rounded on him. “You knew about this?”
He clapped me on the shoulder and cracked that wicked grin of his. “I planned it.”
He pushed past me and vanished into the bathroom. I could only stand and stare. He planned this? He organized the whole club to rebuild my house and now they were all here filling it with carpet and food and dishes and Christ only knew what else.
Another van pulled up and all the doors flew open at once. Isabel climbed out of the passenger seat laughing to someone behind her. She faced the side door and bundled a huge feather duvet into her arms.
Her cheeks radiated color and charm to the whole world. She never stopped smiling nowadays. Since her face healed up, she was always laughing and joking at everything.
I hardly recognized her. When I thought back to that first night when I found her in the street, my mind tried to rewrite history. I had to struggle to remember the battered fugitive who jumped every time I tried to touch her.
Now the sunshine radiated down on her with a heavenly light. She shone happiness and love to everyone, no matter who they were. Sometimes I even suspected she loved La Muerta—maybe not Diego, but the rest of them for sure. She always got a nostalgic, compassionate smile on her face whenever anyone mentioned them.
She hustled up to me, planted a kiss on my stunned lips, and manhandled the duvet inside. “Isn’t this wonderful? We’ll be spending the night here tonight instead of camping out in Roman’s guest room.”
She lugged her burden to the bedroom. Through the open door, I spotted Logan and setting up the bed. More people carried in the furniture. Before I knew it, so many people packed the house that I couldn’t see the furnishings anymore.
A bunch of my friends filled the living room. Martín and Kane laughed and socialized along with them,
so I guess they finished installing the carpet.
This was my house. After working so hard to get it built, I couldn’t fathom it being a real house that Isabel and I would live in from now on. It seemed too startlingly real all of a sudden.
Just then, someone switched on some music. Sultry dance beats floated through the door and everyone in the living room started to sway in time. Food and drink flowed freely. This was turning into a real party.
Tina gyrated out of the crowd and grabbed my hand. “Come on. Come dance with me.”
I moseyed up to her. She draped her arms around my neck and shouted into my ear over the noise. “I’m so glad you’re happy. You deserve it. I was worried about you.”
“Me!” I yelled back. “What did you have to worry about me for?”
“I thought you were lonely,” she replied. “You never had a steady girl. Your relationship with Christina was just a flash in the pan even though it lasted three years. I wasn’t sure you would ever settle down.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that,” I called back.
“No.” She beamed at me in delight. “I don’t.”
That made me think about Isabel. I shouldn’t be dancing with another woman, not even with my own sister. I danced around in a circle searching the crowd for that one face that meant more than any other.
I didn’t see her. Where was she? I broke away and searched the house. I didn’t find her in the kitchen. I didn’t find her in the bedroom. I didn’t find her in the bathroom. Where could she be? I saw her arrive so I knew she was here somewhere.
People filled every room in the house. They talked and made out in corners. They shared food and drinks, but none of that satisfied me anymore. I couldn’t be my usual happy self, not without that one missing piece of my heart.
The longer I searched, the more desperate I became. She wouldn’t leave without telling me. What if something happened to her? A thousand nightmares flashed through my mind. Did someone come after her? Did her past catch up with her?
I darted through the kitchen. I gave each person only a fleeting glance, just enough to satisfy myself they weren’t her. I snatched open the garage door.
I halted in my tracks when I saw her standing next to my new hog talking to Rosa, Jackson’s new girl. When she gestured, the two tattoos on her forearms showed up plain as day—the oblong of solid blue on her right arm and the wheel of Los Diablos on her left. Those tats bore mute testimony to her story writ large for all the world to see.
She looked and smiled at me. Then her eyes widened when she saw my face. “Are you okay?”
I rocked on my heels trying to get my heart to quiet down. “I’m fine. I didn’t know where you were.”
A smile tugged the corners of her lips. “You didn’t think I would leave without telling you, did you?”
I shook that thought out of my head. I knew she wouldn’t, but I couldn’t be so sure about the rest of the world. I got protective of her in the last few weeks. I came to depend on her being there to the point that I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to her.
I dove into the garage and grabbed her hand. “Come here.”
I towed her to the living room, into the gyrating, swaying bodies of the dancers. The music blocked out my ears until my head rang.
Isabel started dancing, too. She swiveled her hips and shimmied her torso. She grinned at her friends on both sides—right up until the moment I switched the music off.
Silence descended. People started catcalling. “Hey! Turn that back on.”
I held up my hands. “Sorry, everybody. You can go back to dancing just as soon as I make an announcement.”
Grumbles answered me. “Turn it on now,” someone demanded.
I waved both hands. “I want to thank you for coming by to celebrate us finishing the house. I’m humbled and grateful for all your generosity fitting us out with everything we need. That’s all I wanted to say. Now you can all go back to enjoying my engagement party.”
A few people turned away before my words fully sunk into everyone’s minds. Someone gasped. “Your what?”
“Quit fooling around, Cisco,” Tina chided. “We’re here for your house-warming, not your….” She stopped mid-sentence and stared up at me with huge eyes.
I turned to Isabel. She was too busy laughing and kidding around with her friends to comprehend what I just said.
I put my hand in my pocket and took out a small velvet box. I dropped on one knee and cracked it open. I held it out to her.
The next time she turned around, she almost passed out when she saw me down on one knee. Her mouth fell open.
“I’ve been hiding this ring for three weeks,” I told her. “I never worked up the courage to ask you before, but I suppose I’m never going to find a better time than now.”
Her hands flew to her mouth and tears welled up in her eyes.
“You’ve made me the happiest man alive,” I told her. “You make me complete. You made this house a home the very first time you set foot in it. I can’t imagine living here or anywhere without you by my side. Marry me, Isabel. Be my wife. Never leave me.”
I choked on the last words. I never let myself imagine how I would propose to her, but now that I got that off my chest, I realized how true it was. I couldn’t live without her. I was always so happy before that I never realized something was missing.
I couldn’t go back to that. I couldn’t go back to the man I was before I met her. That would be worse than death.
She nodded fast and tears streaked down her cheeks. Her lips said, Yes. Then they she burst into tears.
The whole crowd exploded in cheers. I tore the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger. My chest hurt from holding all that tension back. I didn’t have to worry anymore. She was all mine.
I launched to my feet and scooped her up in my arms. I swung her around kissing the tears off her cheeks. God, I loved her so much I couldn’t stand it.
Someone turned the music back on, but I didn’t see anything but her. Her presence blocked out everything else. Nothing could ever taste sweeter than those tears of joy, those tears of resurrection, of completion. Nothing could ever feel as blissful as her lips collapsing against mine in utter union.
Friends and family crushed us in a whirlwind of sound and hands touching us. The smell of food came from the kitchen. We would never be alone again. Roman insisted on rebuilding the house with plenty of extra rooms, “for your kids,” he said. He designed the whole thing for lots of kids.
In a few hours, all these people would leave. They would leave Isabel and me alone in this house—our house. We would go get in that bed and bury ourselves in the bedding these people gave us. We would turn off the lights, but we would never be truly alone again.
Their love and care would continue to surround us. It would support us and guide us through the years. It would insulate us from the hard knocks of life. The rest of the world might turn against us. We would always have to fight for our right to occupy space in this world, but our friends and family would make it beautiful and wonderful regardless.
I could live with that. I could hold her like this and kiss her in full sight of everyone we knew. I could wait forever for the immaculate softness of her touch, the feeling of her fingers in my hair and her aching cries ringing in my ears.
Those pleasures and a thousand more were all mine for the taking. They were mine even before they happened. All of her was mine—her past, her present, and her future.
The End.
Chaotic
1
Eli
“Aw, now what?” I checked my phone and read the message. I controlled my desire to smash the device to crumbs against the nearest brick wall. “Shit!”
Another train rumbling through the railyard drowned out the curse. Logan took one last drag off his cigarette before he crushed it under his heel. “What’s the problem now?”
“The truck got held up at the border—again. They won’t b
e here for another two hours at least.” I shoved my phone in my pocket and flipped up my jacket collar against the rain. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. There’s no sense hanging around. Let’s go get something to eat.”
Logan stuck his fingers in his mouth and gave a piercing whistle. Ten other figures emerged from the shadows all over the yard and converged on us.
“We got another delay,” I told them all. “We’re going to that diner over there to get a cup of coffee. Rico and Kane, come with me. Patrice and Tony, you stand guard by the gate there. The rest of you are free to take off if you want to. Just stay in radio contact and be ready to hustle back here the minute the truck comes within range.”
A few others drifted off. Some stayed on duty of their own free will. That was how much this operation meant to them.
Logan, Rico, and Kane fell in with me crossing the yard. I checked both ways at the gate. You never knew when a fifteen-ton Mack truck would come barreling down the Barstow highway on a beeline for LA.
The four of us trotted across the street and through the downpour to the diner’s neon lights. Logan bent close to my ear and murmured in an undertone. “This is the fifth time The Furies have jerked us around. We can’t trust them. We shouldn’t be doing business with them at all.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” I clipped over my shoulder. “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be hauling my ass all the way out here to pick up a load of weapons. Christ, I can’t stand the smell of this shithole. I would never set foot in it again if I had my way, but The Boss wants me to spearhead this clusterfuck because I’m from here, and I know the place. That’s the only reason I’m here, so if you don’t like it, I suggest you tell it to him. He makes the decisions, not me. Otherwise, you better fall in line and get comfortable with it, ‘cuz we’re gonna be here for the duration.”
“I’m just saying, man,” he went on. “I got a bad feeling about this. No way could a truck get stopped at the border five times running unless The Furies planned it that way. We better be ready for the worst, ‘cuz that kinda disrespect only ends one way.”