26. Grey
GREY
“W hat the fuck?” Esteban yelled as his face turned red. He reached out for her, but I jumped up and placed myself between them.
“Not a good idea.” I gave one sharp shake of my head as I stared down at him.
The man behind me screamed louder. I bet Amorette twisted the blade. As inconvenient as this was, I couldn’t stop the pride from spreading in my chest. She was a savage little thing when she wanted to be.
Parker sighed and stood up. “Fine, I’ll collect Little Love.” He disappeared, and Esteban still glared up at me but didn’t make any attempts to lash out. He was a kid, bottom of the barrel, and he knew that. If he fucked with me, Dirty Dog or not, he would lose his life. Or at least a limb.
Lafe seemed to snap back from his trance of watching the drugs pass by. But his ass was stuck to the seat. Andre looked about ready to throw up, pass out, or both.
Behind Esteban, Javier leaned back to get a better look at what Amorette was doing. Parker hadn’t been successful because the man whimpered in pain again. The girl who had been blowing him raced across the floor. Our wicked little love would be glad to know she temporarily saved her.
Although I wasn’t looking forward to her finding out she couldn’t save them all.
Javier pushed to his feet and tried to step around me. I put a hand on his chest and shoved him back. Andre moaned his displeasure but what the fuck ever. I wasn’t about to let these men hurt Amorette. Fuck them. We could find another way to take down Vicente if we needed.
“Javier,” Matías said as he hopped up and casually approached him. He stopped at his side and cut a quick glance my way before addressing Javier again. “You know Juan’s a piece of shit. He’s barely competent and has the control of a toddler. And…he’s not dead.”
The smile on Matías’ face showed he enjoyed this a little too much. Maybe we’d given him a bad rap this entire time, but I wasn’t entirely sold.
Parker grunted as he appeared at my side carrying a struggling Amorette. I grinned. God, I fucking loved how angry she could get. Her face was flushed, and her chest rose and fell in quick bursts while she bared her teeth at Juan .
Matías’ gaze was riveted to Amorette with too much intensity. I pushed forward, ready to step between them. Then he switched his attention to Andre and rubbed the side of his forehead.
“We need to head out. I’ll let you know when we can come back and pick this conversation back up.”
“Matías,” Javier said in a warning tone.
Around us, Dirty Dogs were piling in, their hard eyes locked on us. It wasn’t a secret who we were; to Andre’s dismay, we weren’t making any friends.
“I vouch for them.” Matías threw his hands up. “Do you really give a damn about Juan? That asshole fucked your first wife before you got rid of her.”
Javier snapped up straight, then whipped around to face Juan. “What the fuck?”
“You didn’t know that?” Matías hedged with too much lightness in his voice. The fucker knew Javier had no idea. And from Juan’s sudden pathetic cries, he was speaking the truth.
Two men shoved their hands under Juan’s arms and hauled him to his feet. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, boy,” Javier growled. “Take Juan to the back room. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
The men dipped their heads and shuffled out. The crowd was deepening around us, and Andre was fucking losing it. He was swaying back and forth with sweat dripping from his face. The asshole was going to hate this, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Matías, call the car.” I walked a few short feet to Andre and bent down to wrap his arm around my shoulders. A fireman’s hold would be better, but he’d fucking kill us for damaging his pride more than necessary.
The music cut off, and men reached for their guns as I turned us toward the door. I grinned.
Come on. Fucking try it.
Matías slapped Javier on the shoulder. “Call off the Dogs. We’ll be back. And I promise, our little love won’t get the better of any of your men.” He paused. “Although if she does, they deserve it, no?” He chuckled under his breath.
None of my brothers were laughing. He was claiming her in his own way, and he didn’t fucking have the right.
Javier wasn’t laughing, either. “Get the fuck out of here.” Then to the larger crowd. “Let them go. Juan got what he deserved.” He waved a hand and let us through.
Lafe took the lead out, which was a terrible fucking choice. He was currently a jittery mess and had his gun in his hand at his side. All it would take was one wrong twitch and we’d be in a war.
Parker followed behind him with Amorette. She’d calmed down, thank fuck.
Then me, Andre, and Matías on the other side of him.
“Why the fuck did you bring them?” a wasted Dog called out.
“Because they’re my brothers.” He shrugged. “You know how it is with family. We all hate Vicente. Call it a trauma bond.”
Some of the Dirty Dogs laughed, but we still weren’t finding anything funny. Matías had a lot of explaining to do, but after we got our shit sorted and Andre in bed.
A man slipped through the crowd, not a Dirty Dog. He wasn’t wearing any of their emblems or sporting any of their signature tattoos. But he looked familiar…
He stepped in front of Lafe. For a second, I resigned myself to the fact that we would have to fight our way out of here. Usually, that would be a good fucking time, but not with Amorette worked up or Andre about to pass out.
But Lafe never pulled his gun. Instead, when the man pulled him into a hug, he allowed it.
What the hell? Nobody hugged us. Especially Lafe. He distanced himself from everyone.
They spoke in whispers, and by the time I pushed forward, the man looked at me, shook Lafe’s hand, and then disappeared into the crowd.
The initial tension dissipated as the music kicked back on and the Dirty Dogs returned to their partying.
Men yelled and laughed as the girls started floating back through the crowd.
The one chica Amorette had saved wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Good. She’d probably just get Amorette all worked up again.
We made it outside without any issues, and the car was waiting right at the door. Matías seemed to have a few loyal men, at least.
He grabbed the door, and I eyed the fuck out of him as Parker manhandled Amorette inside and followed her in. Then Lafe and, finally, I shoved Andre inside.
Before I climbed in, I gripped the top of the door and leveled Matías with a stare. He kept a calm face, almost bored.
Who the fuck was this guy?
“We’re taking a gamble on you because our options are limited. Don’t make us regret it.”
He dipped his head in acknowledgement then I got in the car.
The ride back was tense and awkward. Amorette had gone nearly catatonic, and Andre was eyeing the small trash can by the minibar like it was the answer to all his problems. If he lost his lunch in this small space, we were kicking him out. He could ride up front with the driver.
That shit was nasty.
Lafe kept staring at a small slip of paper in his hands. That man had passed him a note. Matías noticed too, but we weren’t about to hash this out in front of him. On the surface, he seemed to respect that. Although the pendejo probably had our rooms bugged.
Matías was an odd character. Seemingly, he hated Vicente as much as we did and wanted to be in our circle, which was a stretch. Then again, who in this life would care about fitting in with the underdogs? Or, maybe he was playing us.
My head said he was playing us, but too much emotion was sparking in his eyes. Even now, as he watched each of us, his gaze moved periodically from one person to the next. If Amorette was more with us, I’d see what she thought about it.
Her head worked in different ways than ours. Just wouldn’t put too much stock in it. As much as she thought she could read a person, Matías would be more closely linked to how we operated than well-adjusted Amorette Black.
We arrived back at Matías’ place and he stayed downstairs as we headed upstairs. Parker glanced back, sneered, and I looked over my shoulder to see what had made my baby brother lose his cheery disposition.
Matías stood there with his hands in his pockets as we watched us disappear around the corner once we got to the top. He was blank-faced. Completely emotionless.
Except for his eyes.
* * *
I tossed Andre on the bed, groaning as I left to find Lafe. Amorette pushed past me, back to herself enough that she wanted to take care of him.
Something tightened in my chest as I glanced back. She crawled on the bed, reaching for his head, when the door shut.
Most of the time watching him chase her, I wanted to fuck him up. Yet I never put my hands on him. Even when I found him with half his dick out, knowing he’d just fucked her. Half was an exaggeration, but it couldn’t be hidden.
Now? I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I think it was more what Amorette wanted, and she seemed to want him.
Lafe tried to shut his door, but I kicked it open and followed in after him. Parker caught the door in his hand and closed it quietly behind him.
“You fuckers didn’t think you could have this little pow-wow without me, did you?” he asked, but it was missing all his typical snark.
“What do you mean, pow-wow?” Lafe’s gaze was shifting too much. Traveling the room too rapidly.
“Did you get your hands on powder when I wasn’t looking?” I narrowed my eyes on him.
His head jerked back. “Why would you care? You three have never cared.”
Parker moved past him, scanning objects with the flashlight from his phone and running his fingers under and behind the furniture. "Yes, well, that was before Little Love pointed out how shit we were at being brothers.”
Lafe snorted. “Like that really matters to you bastards. I doubt it.”
I answered as Parker shrugged. “It does matter. We want to survive Vicente. As much as I’ve always been happy to coast by with my fights and hotel, we can’t beat him like this. You need to be whole.”