Chapter 55 Celia #2
I took a seat in the enormous Iron chair, doing my best to hide my discomfort once I realized what a piece of shit his throne actually was.
Taylor stood at the doorway of the clubhouse watching the entire exchange with a curious look on her face.
Cézar stifled a laugh as if he knew how uncomfortable his president’s chair was and hobbled his way to a nearby seat, not bothering to fight me on this since he was still healing from his fresh injuries.
“So, what do I owe this visit, hermanita? We’re going to help you with your Bratva problem. Your Crows are moving in.” He crossed his ankle over his knee and leaned back casually.
“I’ve decided I want to take back what’s mine.
” I narrowed my eyes at him as I waited for his reaction, but as always, he was good at keeping it locked away.
There weren’t many people who got to see him free from the burden of leadership and duty.
I knew the few instances I earned in my own life were because we were family, not because he was bound to me by the scars we bore.
“Took you long enough.” He said without an ounce of inflection to his voice.
“Que?” I asked, surprised at his response.
“It was only a matter of time before you realized it would come down to either you or him. The ugly bastard sure as shit always knew it.” He licked the diamond on his canine before continuing, “You’re supposed to be the most feared woman on this side of the world reina, it’s about damn time you started acting like it. ”
“Hard to be feared, when you’re all alone.” I reminded him.
“Since when do snakes hunt in packs? You have me for your fight if that’s what you came here for.” He pulled a cigarette out, twirled it between his fingers before tapping the filter on his thigh like a nervous habit.
“It’s not. I’m a long way from that fight still. I came here for what’s owed to me.” I tossed him the key I found in my mamá’s possession the day she was killed, “I have a feeling you know where this goes to.”
“Of course I know where this goes to Celia. I was burdened with every goddamn secret your family threw my way. ‘There will be a time’ Rafa would fucking say, like the only thing that mattered to him was me staying alive long enough to share all the Flores mysteries with you.” He scoffed in annoyance, like it wasn’t his family too.
“So what, you’ve just been waiting for me to come ask?” I questioned him, pulling my eyebrows together in the middle.
“No hermanita, I’d been hoping you were dead and that I’d never see your face again for as long as I lived.” He confessed and I laughed out hollowly to cover up how hurt I truly felt. I stood up from the chair and crouched in front of him, placing my hand on his cheek.
“And how I’d missed you so, brother. The pain of losing you carving an actual hole in my heart and soul that could never be replaced by anyone else. While to you, my absence meant your freedom.” I smiled but my sorrow couldn’t be masked through it and he saw it as clear as day.
“You will always be my family. But our family was poisonous, Celia. I just wanted to be a free man. I don’t regret it.” He muttered and turned his face away from me as if he was ashamed of how he felt.
“Once the Crows have settled in, you’ll take me then?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ll take you.” He agreed. I pressed my lips to his cheek before standing and making my way out of the farmhouse, getting back some of the strength I needed to push forward into my plans.
Taylor followed me out without questioning anything that had happened inside or why we’d come here at all, earning even more points from me.
Spending the day with Taylor Constance was something I didn’t know how badly I needed. It had been so long since I’d enjoyed the company of a platonic friendship, to feel that closeness of sisterhood, not since…Caro…
Taylor’s snarky, sarcastic ways kept me laughing the entire car ride until my cheeks burned from soreness. We made sure to get plenty of snack breaks until it was time to finally break down and do the dreaded shopping that Ronan expected us to be doing.
She’d told me about how she played a part in the guys rescuing me both times now, and she’d also apologized for being the reason they now knew all my secrets. I had no reason to hold it against her for even one second though, if anything, I valued her loyalty to them and her honesty.
She talked about her past since I wasn’t sharing mine, about how she came from a deeply religious family.
She spent so much of her life in the closet out of fear for what they’d think when she told them the truth.
When that day finally came, they all turned their backs on her.
She spent a few years homeless before enlisting in the Navy out of the need for a warm bed and free meals. “Better than prison,” she joked.
She said meeting Mateo and Ronan nearly twelve years ago was like being struck by lightning.
“I just knew that the three of us would always be family after that. We’d saved each other’s backs too many times, we could overlook our flaws and just accept each other as we were. You know?” I nodded back to her because I did. That was exactly why I loved them too.
All of them.
I was realizing now too they were the family I’d chosen after the world ripped away the one I was born to.
After spending a couple of thousand dollars on far too many clothes I was just going to be packing away and stuffing into a box in the Diablos Locos compound, and after convincing Taylor to do the same, we finally headed into the last store.
“What are you wearing tonight? What’s your look?” I asked her, and she laughed at me.
“My look? This is it babe,” she opened her arms. She was sporting black cargo pants and a camo t-shirt.
“If I have to buy an outfit for this party, then so do you,” I gave her a look that let her know there was no way around it, and she conceded with a heavy sigh.
“Well, what’s your look?” She asked me, crossing her arms.
“Um… The-I’ve been a prisoner for two months and I have no fashion sense- look?” I said with a shrug, and she laughed.
“Okay, let’s find something that will have these guys drooling over you.” She rummaged through the boutique’s racks pulling things out and shoving them back in.
If that was the game we were playing, then I was in for it. I walked over to another rack and began rummaging through it to pick out an outfit that would suit my new friend.
Once we’d made our selections, we swapped hangers and headed for the dressing room. I eyed her choice suspiciously, the black faux leather fabric catching my eye.
“You can’t be serious,” I heard her from the booth beside me.
“I want to see!” I yelled out, “I think you forgot pants for me.” I told her, and she laughed out.
“No, that’s the fit sweetie,” she said, opening her door, and I did the same. We both checked out the fruits of our labor in the mirror, Taylor rubbing her temple like she was embarrassed.
“What? You look hot as fuck,” I told her.
She stuck her hands in the pocket of the navy-blue dress pants secured to her shoulders with matching suspenders. Underneath was a white crop that showed the bottom of her black bra.
“I look like gay Huckleberry Finn” she said too casually.
Laughing louder than I intended to, I corrected. “Some people like that!”
“You however,” she pinched her fingers together and pressed them to her lips for a kiss before spreading them open. “Chef’s kiss,” she said, admiring her own work.
She was right though, and she was way better at this than I was.
The black faux leather dress hugged my hips, snatched my waist, and lifted my boobs to my chin.
This was engineering at its finest. The fabric was shiny, form-fitting, but wasn’t too clingy and left plenty of cleavage for the world to see.
She’d paired it with wedged, thigh-high boots with straps and buckles that went all the way to the top, and I’d never felt taller or more badass in my life.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re an artist,” I said, pushing her back into her dressing room. Even though she wasn’t into the look I picked, she still demanded on keeping it, as long as I insisted on paying, which was fine because it wasn’t my money anyway.
“What time is this party?” I asked her, wondering if she’d heard from Ronan yet.
That’s when it dawned on me that I had no way to communicate with them if we were separated.
We hadn’t really been apart, unless, of course, someone was forcing it on us, but I was a little sad at the fact I didn’t even have a phone to shoot them a text if I missed them.
“Oop. We’re late actually,” she said, waving her phone in my face, showing me the twelve missed calls between Ronan, Mateo, and Santos.
Well, at least he was out of the cell. That was worth smiling about.
We got back into the jeep and headed toward the high-rise, but Taylor’s eyes kept darting to the rearview mirror anxiously.
“We have a tail,” she said. After a few minutes of driving, I checked the mirror to confirm the black town car following us.
“Gun?” I asked, and she tilted her chin to the glovebox.
“I’m gonna try to shake them, I don’t want to bring shit down to the building.
” She warned me, and I nodded in agreement.
She jerked the wheel sharply into an incoming alley, the back wheel of the jeep floating in the air for a split second before touching back on the ground, and a shot fizzled out behind us.
“Bold little shits,” she said before pulling down her sun visor and revealing another pistol strapped to it. “Grab the wheel,” she said as the car turned back into the main road, and she shot behind us into the car following us. That’s when I noticed the two motorcyclists coming up on both sides.
“Take the next right,” I told her. She turned her head without a second to spare before she took back control and spun the wheel too fast again, that rear wheel staying lifted longer than I was comfortable with.
I leaned out of my window just in time to put a bullet in the motorcyclist's chest right as he pulled out his weapon.
The towncar tried to swerve but was too close behind and crashed right into the bike and their man as they came to a screeching halt.
The other biker turned his wheel back towards the accident and gave up the pursuit.
“Okay then. You’re hot as shit, you can handle a gun, and homegirl can flourish in high pressure situations. I’m starting to see what all the fuss is about,” she joked as we made our way back to the high-rise.
“Too bad I come with a target painted on my back,” I rolled my eyes.