by Brook Wilder
Rex had been in negotiations with the new Aztecas leader for weeks now, and now it was my turn to try and do the same with the staff commander, Alejandro Salamanca. Actually, Salamanca was a hell of a lot better than Gilberto Lopez, the current leader. Not many people liked him, on either side, and I had personally witnessed his brutality to his own men when they failed him.
Now, if we could turn him over to the feds, then maybe we could get them off our fucking backs. Two birds, one stone. That was my job, to get Salamanca to hand over his own boss so I could turn the fucker in, wrapped in a bow on the ATF doorstep.
While we weren’t angels, our drug and gun runs were innocent enough; not like the shit the Aztecas had been peddling that had caused this all-out war. We didn’t engage in human trafficking, nor did the Hell’s Bitches. And while we’ve slowed the Aztecas’ cross-border operations for now, it would only be a matter of time before the cartel pushed for them to start it up again.
Time wasn’t on our side to get this straightened out.
“Are you fucking crazy, man?”
Salamanca headed my way, his eyes on the building across the street.
“I’ve been told that a time or two.”
He arched a dark eyebrow. “You do know who is in that fucking building, right?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “And if you keep shouting at me, we will be seeing the inside of that damn building. So take a deep breath, and fucking relax.”
“Alright,” he said, lowering his voice. “Sorry, I just thought you were trying to pull a fast one on me.”
I pulled my hands out of my pockets, holding them up. “See? Nothing up my sleeve. I just want to talk about this truce.”
“Truce. You mean the one that is never gonna happen if Lopez has anything to do with it?”
I nodded sharply. “That’s why we have to take Lopez out of the equation.”
Salamanca sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “What you are asking me to do is commit treason against my own organization, and against my own boss.”
“Your boss is shit,” I answered. “And you know it, or you wouldn’t be here talking to me right now.”
“Maybe,” he said with a shrug. “But I don’t care to get myself fucking killed over this either. Too many have died in this war. I’m sick of it.”
“Then do something about it,” I offered. “We can come to terms about this, make this all go away.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, the Azteca tattoo sticking out under his shirt sleeve. I knew what he was thinking. I had pledged allegiance to the Rough Jesters long ago and everything I did, I did in service of my club. If Salamanca handed Lopez over, he would be betraying the very thing he had sworn to protect. Shit, if I were in his position, I wouldn’t take it very well either.
“I have terms myself,” he finally said. “Terms that must be met before I can offer you what you want the most.”
“Lay them on me, amigo.”
“I want protection in case this shit goes south,” Salamanca said quietly. “For me and my family.”
I hadn’t known he had a family. “Consider it done.” The Jesters did not go after innocent people and if Salamanca had people he was worried about, then we could provide that protection. “But if the feds get involved, all bets are off.”
“Understood,” he replied. “I want full protection to the border once it’s all over. If there is retaliation, I will go back to Mexico.”
“Done,” I said. “We will even give you a place to go if you need it.”
Salamanca chuckled. “You are being far too accommodating, Chuckler.”
“I’m that kind of guy,” I grinned, keeping my words light. We were supposed to be enemies, but yet here we were, talking like two guys on the street. In another life, we might have been friends.
But tonight, this was all about business. “Now it’s my turn. Tell me what you will give me.”
Salamanca looked around. “I’ll give you the territory of Castillo. The Aztecas will move back to El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.”
That wasn’t a half bad deal. If the Aztecas left Castillo, then the violence would stop, and the feds would get off our backs. We could heal.
“That’s it?” I asked.
“We will also move any trafficking out of the region, going elsewhere to find what the Pacifica cartel wants.”
“You should stop altogether.”
Salamanca shook his head. “As if we have a choice. You know just as well as I do that the Pacifica cartel will kill every last one of us if we stop doing their bidding.” He then looked over at me. “I might not be scared of you, Chuckler, but I am scared shitless of what those pendejos will do to my family if I turn my back on them.”
It took a lot for a man to admit he was scared of anything. I could respect him for that. “I’ll take your terms, but I still want Lopez.”
“Yeah I thought you were gonna say that,” he said. “And I will be willing to negotiate handing him over to you and the Jesters.”
Relieved, I stuck my hand out. “I’ll take your terms back to the council. We will be in touch.”
He reached out and shook my head, his grip tight. “Next time, how about pick a better fucking place to meet? Like one with alcohol and a shit ton of it.”
I grinned, releasing his hand. “Maybe when this is all over with, I’ll have you over at the house for a beer. Shit, we could even pop open a couple of Dos Equis.”
“You’re an asshole.” Salamanca grinned back. “Maybe I will end up liking you someday, Chuckler.”
I was still grinning when he disappeared around the corner. It couldn’t be that easy. After months of bloodshed and fighting, we had nearly settled it with a handshake and a grin.
Shit, I was pretty good at this truce stuff.
Pulling out my cell, I dialed Rex’s number.
He picked up on the first ring. “Well? How did it go?”
“I’m still alive,” I answered. “And so is Salamanca.”
“I’m taking that you came to an agreement then?”
“A little. I told him I would have to run it by the council but it’s a decent deal. He’s willing to give us Lopez.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“Nope.” I was surprised myself he gave up his boss that quickly, expecting him to put up a fight.
“Well maybe you should be a negotiator for our fed friends, man.”
I looked over at the small building, where the lights stayed permanently on. Rumor had it they had brought in some top dogs from Virginia to stop the war. If we couldn’t get this shit under control, we could all be looking at some time in prison.
I much preferred my freedom to a room with bars. “Maybe I’ll apply. You think they will take a seasoned biker? I bet the pay is better and comes with benefits.”
“You fucker,” Rex laughed. “Get your ass back to the clubhouse. I want to pour you a drink.”
“Ten-four,” I said, hanging up. Whiskey would hit the spot now that this was all over with.
I had done my job. Now it would be up to Salamanca to hold up his end of the deal.
Blowing out a breath, I watched as the ATF office door opened and two figures stepped out. I slunk into the shadows, not wanting to call attention to myself. We were no friends of the feds, and I knew they were gunning to get one of us under their thumb.
I was close enough to hear their conversation, knowing I should disappear before they caught me.
But there was something familiar about one of the voices, something from my past.
“You think they are still there?”
“It’s a shot at least. I can’t guarantee it, but you saw the file. If they are still there, then that gives us a place to start.”
I knew that voice. I knew it far too well.
She couldn’t be back in Castillo.
My heart pounded against my chest as I moved closer to the couple, noting the way one of them walked. I would recognize that form anywhere.
Ali
sha was back.
Shit, how long had it been? Five, ten years? The last time we’d seen each other it hadn’t ended very well between us.
***
“Alisha, come on you can’t be serious about this.”
She threw her clothes in a bag, tears streaming down her face. “Of course, I’m serious! Why wouldn’t I be serious?”
I balled up my hands at my sides to keep from touching her, knowing it would just piss her off again. We had just come from her mom’s house, where her parents were still grieving for her older sister. Alisha hadn’t taken it very well either, refusing to talk to me about it.
‘Worried’ wasn’t even the word to describe how I felt right now. I wanted to help her, desperately, but she wouldn’t let me.
She threw another shirt in the bag angrily and I finally stepped in, grasping her arms from behind. “Talk to me, please.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
She turned to face me; her beautiful face ravaged by grief. “No, I can’t. It’s my fault she’s dead, don’t you see? I screwed this up.”
“Alisha,” I started, running my hands down her arms. “It’s not your fault. Not even you could have anticipated they were going after you when they took Janie.”
She shook her head, her curls bouncing around her face. “You don’t understand. I should have never gotten involved with this gang. I should have listened to her, to everyone who gave a shit about me.”
I stepped back, her words like a knife in my heart. “What about me? I give a shit about you, Alisha.”
Her tear-filled eyes met mine, devastation in her gaze. “You are the reason I got involved.”
There was the door I was waiting to slam shut. “Then blame it on me.” I could take it. I had always been a screw up myself.
She looked at me for a moment before turning to get her bag. “I’m leaving.”
“I’ll come looking for you.” She couldn’t leave us like this. She couldn’t just walk out.
Alisha reached the door, her hand on the knob. “Please don’t, Seth. This isn’t what we need.”
“So, you’re saying you don’t love me?” I bit out, the words bitter in my mouth.
That stopped her. Alisha turned, tears no longer crowding her eyes. “Seth, I…”
I took a step forward. “Tell me you don’t love me, and I will let you go. Say it.”
“I don’t love you,” she whispered, as if she didn’t trust her own voice.
That hurt like hell. Everything we had together, gone in an instant.
A sound escaped Alisha as she turned and opened the door, walking through it and out of my life for good. I slumped against the wall, feeling as if my chest had just been ripped open. She said she didn’t love me anymore. She said she didn’t want anything to do with me.
How could she do that?
***
I shook out the memory, clearing my throat. That scene had haunted me until I’d forced myself to move on. I thought she would come back, saying she was wrong. For months afterward, I found myself looking over my shoulder, hoping she would walk back through the door.
She hadn’t and as the years past, I gave up.
Yet here she was, coming out of the ATF office like she owned it. God, she looked damn good even in the darkness, her long hair tucked into a neat bun at the nape of her neck. My hands retracted as I remembered the way I used to thread my fingers through her curls, pulling her against me to kiss her.
Even now, I could feel her lips on mine. Damn, why is she here in Castillo again? Was she the new blood they had called in to investigate us?
Curiosity getting the best of me and overriding caution, I stepped in behind them. Who the hell was the guy walking alongside her, who flashed a quick smile at her words and leaned in close when he spoke to her, as if he’d done it a million times before?
They turned the corner together and I did the same, coming face to face with Alisha.
“Seth.” She said. “I thought it was you.”
My lips curved into a smile. “Hey Alisha. Long time no see.”
Chapter 3
Alisha
He was here, right in front of me. Even though I played it cool and had been expected this very scenario, I couldn’t believe it. He looked a bit shocked to see me, too.
For a moment, we looked at each other. Seth had aged very well, his handsome face dusted with the beginnings of a blonde beard along his strong jawline. Laugh lines framed his eyes, but I found them unbelievably cute crinkled as they were now, accenting the mischievous spark in his sea green eyes.
I didn’t allow myself to take a sweeping gaze down the length of him, clenching my jaw to keep from doing something stupid. “Seth.”
He looked over my shoulder. “Where’s your partner?”
I glared at him. “That’s none of your business.”
I thought I would never see him again, or rather I hoped I would never see him again. Seth was the reason I had gotten into the Jesters to begin with. He’d taken a seventeen-year-old, rebellious teen who liked fast bikes and hard liquor, and turned me into something I couldn’t have foreseen.
But I wasn’t that girl anymore. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
He arched a brow, inspiring a familiar twinge of longing in my lower belly. “What?”
I slid my hand down to my service gun on my hip, right next to the badge I had worked so hard for. “You heard me, Mr. Owens. I won’t say it again.”
“Mr. Owens, huh? I don’t think you’ve ever called me that before.”
I sighed inwardly. “Just do it.”
Seth turned around, placing his hands behind his back and I touched his wrists, ignoring the sizzle of heat that snaked up my spine. Angry at myself for even feeling anything for him, I pushed him against the cool brick of the building, satisfied when he grunted in response.
“What is my charge, Officer Poole?”
I ignored his question, making quick work of the zip tie from my pocket to bind his wrists, my hands trembling as I did so. I was placing Seth, my Seth, under arrest.
No, he wasn’t my Seth anymore. Those days were long over with. “Turn around.”
He did and the heat in my face ratcheted up a notch as his eyes raked over my body. I wore my customary uniform, a white dress shirt rolled up to my elbows and black pants that wouldn’t show dirt or blood.
Nothing sexy at all.
But the way Seth looked at me, I felt like I was wearing only my skivvies. “What?”
“You look good, Alisha.”
I made a noise. “Tell me why you are here. Are you meeting someone?”
He chuckled. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I didn’t have time for this. “You better start talking, or I will be taking you in.”
“On what account?”
I wanted to say just for being annoying, but that wasn’t appropriate. “Be cooperative, Seth. This could go a long way for you in the end.”
His grin faded and his expression grew serious. “You shouldn’t be here, Alisha. This is dangerous shit.”
That ruffled my feathers. He had the audacity to tell me I shouldn’t be involved now? “I can handle myself.”
“I don’t doubt that. You always did.”
Swallowing hard, I forced myself to stay in the present and not let my mind wander. Because if it did, I would remember the times between us, the times when I thought life couldn’t possibly get any better.
Before it all fell apart.
“Hey, you still got that tattoo on your back, Alisha? Or did you cover it up with some fancy flower or something?”
I fought the urge to touch my right shoulder blade. “That, again, is none of your business.”
His eyes twinkled in the street light. “You forget I am the one who put it there.”
I hadn’t forgotten. I wish I could. It was a constant reminder of who I had been and what I had lived.
It was also a reminder
of what I had lost. “Will you shut up, please?”
Seth boldly took a step forward and my breath stuttered in my chest as I looked up at him, forgetting how tall he was until now. He could easily overpower me if he wanted to, take my gun, and shoot me.