I gave a soft smile at the mention of the cold-hearted leader of my former crew, then shrugged.
“Luther had every right to kill me for what I did. I was his tool, his weapon, a beast so full of rage that I used to live for his commands to unleash it.”
“Jack was a sub for a bad man who kept him on a leash,” Brooklyn whispered mysteriously before I went on.
“But after a while it grew harder to control my violent urges. I would snap and attack people with the littlest provocation. I got to like the taste of blood too much. Luther put me into cage fights, gave me pep talks, tried to keep me in line as his faithful weapon.”
“Jack was kept in a cage and had all kinds of urges which made him use his giant weapon,” Brooklyn added for Mateo’s sake, and I had to supress a chuckle at her interpretation.
“I struggle to believe the Luther Harlequin set you on Javier Alonso and you all lived to tell the tale after his brothers found out,” Mateo said, pinning me in his gaze.
“He didn’t,” I agreed. “I just lost it in a bar one night. Picked on the biggest, meanest motherfucker in there and caved his head in with my bare fists. By the time I came back to myself, I was already in a police cell having been hauled there after someone had called the cops and they’d found me still beating the shit out of an already dead body.”
“And the remaining three Alonso brothers never came for revenge while you were in prison?” Mateo scoffed lightly before Brooklyn could do her translation and she huffed.
“I haven’t told you the bit about him growing bear hands yet. They were all big and brown and hairy with claws and stuff,” she snapped, making us both look to her in confusion, but she just kept her eyes closed and squeezed my fingers. “Go on, AJ, slip inside me again.”
My gaze roamed down her body in that tight little leather outfit and I considered doing just that before Mateo snapped his fingers in my face to make me look at him.
“Focus, bastardo,” he snapped. “I want to know what secrets you’ve been hiding.”
“Yes, they sent men after me in prison. I killed five or six of them, that violence in me always ready for a fight, but I knew I couldn’t keep escaping their attempts on my life indefinitely. Luther had no choice but to cut me out of the gang so I couldn’t surround myself with them either. He had to protect the crew. I don’t blame him for it. But I had to protect myself. So, when they came to give me a psyche assessment, I decided to let them think I was unable to say more than a single word at a time, much less control my violent impulses. It didn’t take a lot to convince them to send me to Eden Heights. The last man who had come for me had managed to smack me around the head with a metal bar, so I even had a head injury to back up my story. Before I knew it, I was packed up and shipped out to Eden Heights where I was left to rot, and the Alonso brothers were convinced by my act, believing that I was in a far greater hell than they could deliver with death and were happy to let me rot there in payment for the life I’d taken.”
“Until Carlos saw you tonight,” Mateo muttered.
“Oh, AJ, I knew you were a cunning creature,” Brooklyn purred. “You used your crazies to save you.”
She opened her eyes and leaned in to press a kiss to my lips before scampering out of the car, following Niall into the house.
Silence hung between Mateo and I as he digested that information.
“You’re a smart motherfucker,” he muttered. “But I saw through your bullshit.”
“You’re the first who has.”
He glanced towards the house. “Is that it now? Are you just talking then?”
“No.” I wasn’t sure why I planned to keep my silence, but I’d grown used to it and found I liked it more than filling the air with empty words for the most part.
“You aren’t letting Niall know?” His smile deepened and I shook my head, making him bark a laugh. “Good. That bastardo doesn’t deserve your words.”
I smiled in reply, already feeling drained by the conversation and wanting to escape it, shift back into the silence and seek out the company of my Rook once more.
“The Alonso brothers will be on the hunt now,” he said. “I guess that makes the two of us enemies of the Castillo Cartel.”
“At least until they’re dead,” I agreed and he nodded slowly.
“At least until they’re dead.”
“H ellfire?” I called through the house, but instead of my Niall, Brutus came bounding through the lounge and crashed into me with a fierce bark. “Hey Bruty baby!” I squealed, dropping down to hug him and narrowly avoiding a bitey. He was so excited to see me, he kept barking and snapping his teeth all happy-like. I tickled his ears then pranced back to my feet and he lunged at Jack and Mateo as they reached the threshold.
“Ah! You perro loco,” Mateo cursed, too slow to avoid a little snappy as Brutus chewed on his arm. It was so cute how much they loved each other.
“Money I’m home!” I cried out, hoping Niall would hear me somewhere, but I pouted when he gave no reply.
I stomped through the lounge in my killer heels then stomped my way upstairs too, stilling as I found him stepping out of his room. He’d shed his jacket and his white shirt now hung open to reveal the ink on his muscular frame. He swept a hand into his dark blond hair, messing it up as he gazed at me with a come-hither Mrs O’Brien look, the darkness of the hallway keeping him in perfect shadow.
“Get in here,” he commanded. “You need a reminder of why I’m yer number one.”
“I see you’re wearing your bossy boots today,” I purred and he cocked his head, his lips tilting in a psycho’s smile.
He opened his mouth to speak but instead of words, out came a tremendous bang that rattled the walls and my heart along with it.
In the next second Niall was barrelling towards me, and I realised that noise hadn’t come from his mouth at all, it had come from outside.
I wheeled around, panicked for AJ and Mateo as another gunshot cut through the air and the bulletproof window in the lounge took the hit for us, keeping us safe inside.
“Niall – get guns!” Mateo barked as I spotted him running into the lounge.
Jack was right behind him, gazing up the stairs at me, rage coiling through his expression while Brutus barked furiously at the window and the shadows lurking beyond it.
Niall grabbed my arm, yanking me back along the landing into his room, shoving his closet door open and taking out a bag full of stabbys and shooties. He placed a pistol in my grip and a riot helmet on my head which I quickly threw off.
“I can’t see properly through that,” I snapped as Niall cocked a shotgun and slung the bag over his shoulder.
“Would ya ever do as I say?” he growled.
“No,” I hissed.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
A stream of gunfire sounded from downstairs and Jack barked ‘Rook!” the same moment Mateo roared, “Hurry the fuck up, bastardo!”
We ran out of the room together while my thoughts flashed and banged like dynamite.
“Who’s shooting at us?” I asked in confusion as we made it to the stairs.
“Fuck if I know,” Niall growled. “I’ll be sure to ask ‘em when they’re dead though, love.”
He launched the bag of weapons over the bannister and Jack caught it with an oomph leaving his lungs as more gunshots slammed into the windows and walls outside.
Mateo was sheltering under the window in case any cheeky bullets broke through somehow. Jack threw him a rifle and he reared up like a fearless warrior, cracking the window open and taking shots out into the night. I dropped down beside Mateo, aiming my gun out through the window too and pulling the trigger time and again, the recoil making my fingers tingle with the powerful vibrations.