chapter twenty
THE CRUCIBLE
SABAN
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to be here? I’m pretty sure people still are mad at me,” Asking Padre as I fill the line of the tattoo I’m working on.
“Even if they ain’t — they are.” Giving the room a once over he looks around the room at large. Coming back to rest his gaze on me, he studies me for a long moment. “How’ve you been holding up since all that went down with Nikki?”
“I’m fine. Everyone is worried about Joi in the town. It’s wild that she’d been going through all that and taking heat when she was being preyed upon by Natalie.” Leaning in, I take my time making sure the art is right.
“Yeah, so many things aren’t always what they seem.” He seems to ponder that thought deep letting it drop between us like a fallen oak.
“Why did you call me all the way out here when I could’ve just done this at the shop? Are you hiding?” Quirking a brow, I don’t add from whom. In the weeks since I saw them together in the field we were planting, I could tell something was up between Crimson and him.
“Nah, I just can’t be two places at once, and everyone else is tide up.” He doesn’t supply with what and I don’t ask. El Diablo business isn’t for me to know anymore. Nor are the where abouts of Snake, it seems. He’s been a wraith in my life since everything went down with Nikki almost dying.
The distance between us may as well be the Grand Canyon. He’s colder and more aloof than ever before. Grim and surly seem to embody his entire being.
That night after the incident, he sent me home with el Diablo riders guarding me and took over the security for Nikki at Angel’s and Mathias’s behest. Natalie’s accident happened soon after the revelation from Nikki came that she was the one behind all the sabotage in the campaign.
Folks around here are being respectful of her parents, saying ‘accident,’ but the way her car decimated that tree, it was clear she did it on purpose.
“It’s been wild times in Shelby-Love for real.
” I murmur, rising. “I’ll be back in a sec.
Let me go refresh the antibacterial soap.
” Moving past him, I walk through the MC, catching a few nods on the way.
As I pass the bar, where I would normally get the soap, I notice the stony expression of Ellie and keep it moving.
She’s not reached out to me since I’ve been back, and every time I mention her to Snake, he shuts the conversation down.
She’s angry with me. After learning the truth, I can’t really blame her.
Hadrián is her brother, for whom she’s sacrificed so much.
To have me almost ruin the life he fought so hard for over a misunderstanding I could have — no, should have come to either Angel or him about has to be galling.
I’d want to kick my ass too. That ain’t never happening though.
Guilty as I may feel about what happened between Easy and Angel, with him having to miss out on the experience of being a father and witnessing her pregnancy journey, calling the Feds when I saw those kids and young women was an easy decision.
I only wish I’d stayed to confront them, like Kandie did.
Then Easy would’ve had Angel by her side the whole time.
I could tell she missed him every day. Oz and I feared she would have the strength and will to deliver, but my girl was far stronger than either of us.
She’s forgiven me for my part. Knowing I need to square things with Angel sits heavily on my heart.
Hadrián and I are a work in progress, and whatever we need to deal with is for us — not his big sister.
I’m back with my bowl of antibacterial soap and a towel floating in a bowl when I’m almost knocked clean off my feet.
“What the —” the words spill from me just like the hard jostle knocking the soap and towel to the floor as hot water sloshes onto the floor and my clothes.
Turn I meet the hard gaze of Ellie. My shirt is clinging to me, the heat of the water fast cooling. The water is all over the floor at my feet. “Real childish.” Pulling the empty bowl closer, a screw her a look.
“Yeah, like that bullshit you pulled on my brother. He took care of your ungrateful ass for years. Clothed, fed, protected you. Killed anyone who dared even look at you. How did you repay him? Called them folks on him. Lie and tell everyone he was some kind of puto trafficker.” Voice raising with every word she hurls at me, Ellie leans in, the tall, lithe frame vibrating with rage.
I cast a dismissive glance at her fist curling into tight balls at her side.
Around me, I hear the hisses and murmurs of agreement. I’m not surprised, though no one said anything when I arrived. All they need is a little encouragement. She’s giving them that with her outburst.
“If you want to have it out with me, fine. Snake has already exacted his punishment and that archaic ass Reckoning, which you were here to witness. What more is required for you, Ellie?” Keeping my tone bored infuriates her more.
A nasty smirk pulls at the corner of her mouth. “You’re pathetic, you know that?”
Not rising to the bait, I press my lips together, waiting for her to get all of her vitriol out.
“Running behind him like an abandoned puppy with lovesick eyes was bad enough. Now thinking you have a chance after you betrayed him—” She scoffs, turning before swinging back to face me. Her rage is palpable before she adopts a look of fake pity.
“You’re no different from that clinging, simpering Antonella bitch.
She thought he’s take her back after she betrayed our family.
She thought telling him she was pregnant would get him to come back — thought it would save her after our parents were killed.
” Malicious glee fills her gaze as she steps closer, seeing how stunned I am.
“He never told you?” Head falling back in a laugh, she goes in for the kill.
“He loved her. You — he doesn’t give a fuck about.
He told me that, you know? Nella? He had loved her since fourth grade.
He was going to stay by her side and still be a father to his kid, but the powers that be decided she was better being a lesson to future recruits, so they killed her for her lack of loyalty.
A man like Hadrián loves like that only once and will never give his heart to someone who betrayed him like you did.
” Her whispered words slither in, striking like the viper her brother named himself.
I don’t know how long the stand there after she’s gone back to wipe down the bar until Padre eases the empty bowl out from beneath my arm.
“I can get this if you need to leave.” His somber words snatch me out of the confounded trance Elie’s words left me in.
“N-no, I got it.” Taking the bowl, I move as if I’m in a daze, going through the motions.
When I come back, Padre is just finishing cleaning up the mess from our confrontation.
I meet every eye in the room that turns my way as I go back to my spot.
If anyone else has anything to say to me, then they are more than welcome to try it.
“You okay?” Padre asks before slipping to the back facing chair, bracing his arm on the table.
“No, but I will be.” Once I talk to Snake about all this stuff he’s never told me about.
I’m still reeling from the revelation of Ellie’s words when Snake, Rocco and, low and behold, Angel stroll in.
The energy in the MC immediately changes now that el Presidente and el Primo are here.
Riders rise, going over to Angel, congratulating him on the news that Easy is pregnant again.
I glance up into the stoic visage of the man who held me every night but never cared enough to tell me he harbored a secret love for a woman who betrayed him over a decade ago.
After several minutes of congratulatory banter and joking, Angel nods my way.
Another shift in the room at his acknowledgement of me.
Nervous heads swivel to the bar, but Ellie is busy with patrons or pretends to be.
No one is brave enough to call out the altercation that occurred earlier, still I see the men who just arrived note their reactions.
“Padre — meeting in ten.” Leading the way to the bar, Angel followed by the riders he came in with and several of the others who lead crews, mill around talking before the meeting starts. It could be either side of the business, though most of what goes on here is for the streets.
After covering and securing his tattoo with Saniderm, I mumble. “Be right back.” Before ha can stop me heading to the bar.
Ellie’s eyes spark when she sees me, probably thinking I’m going to snitch to her brother or Angel. Despite all that’s happened, she should know I put my own work in. Plus, what goes on between Snake and me is just that — between us.
“Hey,” I say to Angel, who turns and eyes me with curiosity, not malice.
“What’s up?” Tilting his head tot he side, his gaze lasers on me after a brief flicker to the side, which tells me I also have Snake’s attention.
“You weren’t around long when we were at your place. Then all that stuff with Nikki—” I trail off at his nod. His stance alters as if he’s preparing for something highly uncomfortable.
"I wanted to apologize for my part and keeping you away from Easy during her pregnancy.
I also wanna say I'm sorry for not trusting you after everything you've done for me.
You deserved better, especially from someone who protected me the whole time I was here.
" Craning my head until I meet his sober gaze.
“Hermita, I'm not gonna say you didn't cut me deep. But I understand hell after the way Ezekiel-Jane explained it to me. What else would you have thought? We believe victims, right? That being said, next time you come to your big brother, if you’ve got any problems, and I mean any.” Shooting a glance in Snake’s direction, he pulls me into a tight hug.