Heart Recaptured

“Ky! Enough!” Tank spat as he jumped from his seat, glaring me down. A chair scraped on the wood flooring, and suddenly Flame was by my side, fuckin’ rage in his scary fuckin’ eyes like I’d never seen before.

Gripping my arm, Flame spun me around. “All that abuse shit… Maddie… rape… kids…” He boomed out a scream. Then his crazy fuckin’ black eyes met mine. “Did those Bible assholes do that shit to Maddie? What they did to Mae and Lilah, did they fuckin’ do to Maddie?”

I sighed and reluctantly nodded my head. Flame ripped out the biggest blade I’d ever seen. Slicing it clean across his chest, blood dripping down his fucked-up demon-faced tattoos all over his sternum.

“Worst done to her outta all of ‘em, brother. Her fuckin’ ward, Brother Moses, was one sick, imaginative fucker.”

Flame’s whole body tensed, a fuckin’ scary as shit noise ripped from his throat, and he boomed out, “HE AIN’T HER FUCKIN’ BROTHER MOSES! SHE’S FUCKIN’ MINE!!!”

Flame gripped the edge of the table. All the brothers leapt from their seats just in time for him to overturn the table. The brother stood there in the middle of the room, dripping blood and sweat, fists clenched, and panting like a fuckin’ rabid pit bull after a dog fight.

Staring at Styx, he snarled. “We go in right the fuck now. I’m with my brother Ky. ‘Cause if any one of those abusive cunts come for my Maddie, Mae, or do anything to hurt Lilah, I ain’t gonna be responsible for the carnage I’ll fuckin’ inflict. I’ll fuckin’ bring a kind of evil those Jesus freaks will never have even thought possible!”

AK and Viking walked to Flame and tried to calm him down, but this time the brother launched them both back, his crazy strength knocking them both flat to the ground.

Styx pounded forward and stood toe to toe with Flame. “Maddie and Mae are going nowhere, and as for Lilah, we’ll get her back. But, brother, we got one shot at this, and we don’t wanna fuck it up. Doesn’t mean you won’t get to bleed some fuckers dry. Just means we gotta get this shit down.” Styx’s hard, take-no-shit gaze met mine, and I knew he was addressing me.

Fuck!

Tanner suddenly stepped forward and split his attention between Styx and me. “I can get those blueprints. And I can get the coordinates to the base.”

“Yeah, and how the fuck you gonna get that, American History X?” I asked. I suddenly didn’t trust this fucker.

“I’m gonna walk right into Klan HQ and take it from the fuckin’ office. I know where Landry keeps his personal shit. I’m the fuckin’ heir and privy to more than any of the wizards know. I’m my old man’s pride and joy, and he taught me how to be one sneaky fucker. You said it yourself, Blondie. I’m the Texas KKK’s Prince of the fuckin’ White Kinghts!” he said sarcastically, staring me down without even flinching. “I know more shit that goes down in this state than the fuckin’ president of the United States. All the cops ‘round here are Klan.”

Tank pounded forward and spun Tanner around. “You do that shit and get caught, you’re dead,” he hissed quietly.

Tanner shrugged, his muscled traps bunching. “They find out I’m hung up for Adelita and I’m fucked anyway. At least this way I can prove to your pretty-boy brother here that I want out once and for all.” Tanner stepped closer to Tank and said, “I can’t be in that fuckin’ place one more day. I can’t stand and preach about white purity and the Christian race when the only bitch I ever wanted and can’t ever have is brown and fuckin’ Catholic. Nah, man, let me do this.”

Tanner looked to Styx and me. “I get this intel. I join the Hangmen. I got a shitload to bring to this club, and you can trust me.”

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