Chapter 25 Tex
TEX
I’d never been good with words. Never been good with feelings either. But watching Rowan fight me—watching her try to walk straight into the hands of men who wanted to end her to protect my club and my brothers—something inside me cracked wide open.
A chasm of grief and anxiety and of something else I couldn’t name.
And I felt it all in one sudden swoop, like a tidal wave that came in so suddenly that it swept your legs out from under you.
It swallowed me whole and sucked me under, because once I admitted it—said the words out loud—I knew there was no taking it back.
No going back. Those words would change everything.
“Tex?” she said, attempting to coax my truth from me.
“I’m sorry I’m not good enough for you,” I heard myself say, voice rougher than the gunfire around us had been. “But I am who I am.”
Her eyes went wide, stunned, like I’d hit her with something she didn’t see coming. The fight drained out of her limbs, and for a second she just stared at me like she didn’t know how to breathe.
JD slid in beside us, crouched low. One of the prospects hovered behind him, looking like he’d been thrown into the deep end without warning. Probably had, truth be known. It wasn’t every day you got into a gunfight with the goddamned cartel.
I tore my gaze from Rowan long enough to grab the kid by the front of his cut, the soft leather clenched in my fist. “Take her,” I ordered. “Guard her life with your own. No matter what.”
He nodded, pale but steady, and pulled her behind him. She reached for me, fingers trembling.
“Tex, please—”
That one word nearly undid me. I shook my head once, firm. “I’m right here. I’m not letting anything or anyone touch you.” I looked at the prospect again. “Protect her at all costs.”
“Of course,” he agreed with a firm nod of his head.
The cartel shouted again, mocking, counting down like this was all some sick game.
JD and I loaded our guns with the kind of calm that only comes from living too close to death for too long.
Like staring into the sun and your eyes adjusting to its brilliance.
Moose caught our gazes from across the room and gave a single nod.
He turned his head and signaled to someone out of sight.
The message passed through the Kings like a current. A silent agreement. A silent promise.
To protect each other.
To protect our club.
To protect her…Rowan. My woman, only she didn’t know it yet. But once this was all over, she would.
JD lifted his hand.
Three.
Two.
One.
We rose together, a solid force, and the Kings surged from behind every hiding place, pistols, shotguns, rifles all aimed and driving the cartel back in a coordinated storm as we let loose with everything we had.
The air shook with violence, the ground vibrating beneath my leather boots as the prospect shielded Rowan behind him.
Men fell, clutching hands to the holes in their bodies—both ours and theirs, blood bursting from their foreheads like shockwaves. They fell almost as one, body after body after body, as we fired over and over, stepping forward toward them in a synergy of death.
When the dust settled, only one cartel man was left breathing, though only barely.
I stood over him, my chest heaving, my gun still raised. My muscles were tense and tight, straining against my restraint to blow the fucker’s brains out for having the audacity to come here to our house and shoot our people.
He looked up at me and let out a weak, broken laugh, blood splattering the side of his face as he coughed out blood. “More are coming,” he rasped. “Killing me is like pulling a weed. We won’t stop until the girl is dead. It’s not only about the land now, it’s about retribution and making a stand.”
My jaw tightened. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply. Of knowing how his words affected me. I ended it cleanly.
Then I turned, scanning through the smoke and chaos.
And when my eyes found Rowan, alive and shaken, staring at me like I was the only thing anchoring her to the earth, something inside me settled. And something inside me broke open too.
The smoke was still drifting low across the clubhouse, curling around the bodies, the broken concrete, the spent shells glinting like dull brass teeth. My ears rang, but underneath it all I could hear my own heartbeat, hard and uneven, and too damn loud.
I saw Rowan, standing where the prospect had pulled her, his arm still half in front of her like he wasn’t sure the danger was over and he was ready to dive in front of her and take a bullet.
The man would go far with us. Her eyes were locked on me, wide and shining, her chest rising and falling fast.
I started toward her before I even realized my boots were moving. Every step felt like walking out of a nightmare and into something I wasn’t sure I deserved.
She didn’t move at first. Just stared at me like she was trying to understand what she’d just seen—what I’d just done. What I’d said.
When I got close enough, she took a shaky breath. “Tex…”
Hearing my name in her voice—soft, cracked, full of something I couldn’t name—it hit me harder than any bullet ever had. And I’d taken many bullets in my life.
I stopped right in front of her, close enough to see the flecks of color in her eyes, close enough to see the tear tracks cutting through the dust on her cheeks. Close enough to breathe her sweet scent into my lungs like that was all the oxygen I would ever need.
“You okay?” I asked, though my voice came out rougher than I meant it to.
She nodded, but it wasn’t convincing. Her hands were trembling.
Hell, mine were too, but mine wasn’t because of the death around me—I was used to that.
Mine was because my heart was pounding so hard like it did every time I looked at this woman.
This beautiful, feisty woman who challenged me in the best way.
Who saw who and what I was and didn’t flinch back from it.
I hadn’t even kissed her but I knew if I was ever lucky enough to, it would be the best kiss of my life.
The prospect stepped back, giving us space, but he stayed close like I’d told him. Good kid.
Rowan swallowed hard. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Done what?” I asked, even though I knew exactly what she meant.
“Put yourself in danger for me.” Her voice wavered.
“Yes, I should,” I said quietly. “And I did because you’re worth saving, Rowan. You’re worth protecting. You’re worth everything.”
She looked away like she couldn’t handle the weight of it. Or maybe like she was afraid to believe it. “You can’t say those things to me, Tex, you can’t—”
I reached out slowly, giving her time to pull back. She didn’t. My fingers brushed her cheek, wiping away a streak of dirt and tears. Her breath hitched, and she leaned into my hand like she didn’t even realize she was doing it.
Behind us, JD called out orders, the Kings regrouping, checking ammo, checking each other. It looked like a couple of our guys had been shot, but no one was dead, unlike the cartel.
The world kept on moving, but right here, right in front of me, everything felt suspended.
Rowan finally looked up at me again. “I’m scared, Tex.”
A flare of anger surged through my chest at that. I didn’t want her to be scared, not ever.
“Of what?” I asked reluctantly. “Of me?”
She shook her head automatically. “No, I’ve never been scared of you.”
I swallowed. “Okay, then what?”
“They’re going to come back for me.”
“I know,” I said. There was no point in lying to her. “But they’re gonna have to go through all of us to get to you.”
Her eyes searched mine, desperate, scared, hopeful all at once. “And if they do?”
I stepped closer, close enough that our foreheads nearly touched. I grabbed the back of her neck and closed my eyes, forehead to forehead. “Then I’ll stand in front of you. I’ll protect your body with mine,” I said. “Every damn time.”
Her breath trembled out of her, like she was letting herself believe me even if it terrified her.
I didn’t kiss her. God knows I wanted to. But this wasn’t the moment for that. This was the moment for truth, not for kisses surrounded by death.
“Rowan,” I said, my voice low and steady. I had no idea what to say to her. I dragged a hand through my hair and let out a slow breath. The adrenaline was still pumping through me so hard my hands were shaking.
Behind us, Moose shouted that more bikes were coming. Ours, thank God. The Kings started moving to secure the perimeter.
Rowan didn’t look away from me. And for the first time since this whole nightmare started, I felt something like hope cut through the smoke.
The sound of engines rolled in from the distance as reinforcements got closer, and I was grateful for every man that turned up. We were going to need every damn one of them.
But Rowan didn’t look toward the noise. She didn’t look at the bodies or the smoke or the men shouting orders. She looked at me like I was the only thing in her line of sight. And that did something to me I wasn’t ready for.
JD jogged up, breathing hard. “Sorry to interrupt but we’ve got more coming,” he said. “We need to get her out of here.”
I nodded, but my eyes stayed on her.
JD stepped closer, planting a firm hand on Moose’s shoulder. “Get everyone into position, brother. Lock down the perimeter. No one moves alone tonight.”
Moose peeled off, barking orders in every direction.
“Tex, we need to talk,” JD said, and I nodded, “Swampy's shoulder is shot through and we lost a prospect.”
Rowan whimpered at JD’s words, her voice barely above a whisper when she next spoke. “What happens now?”
What happens now. Hell if I knew. But I knew what wasn’t happening.
“We protect you at all costs,” I said.
She wrapped her arms around herself like she was cold, even though the air was thick and hot with smoke. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me.”
I stepped in, closing the space between us. “You didn’t cause this. They did.”
“Agreed,” JD said. “This isn’t just about you, this is about the club too. Old wounds and old debts.”
“But they’re coming for me,” she said, voice cracking. “They won’t stop.”
“I know.” I didn’t sugarcoat it. She deserved the truth, and I knew she could handle it. “But neither will we.”
Her eyes glistened again, and I felt something twist in my chest. I wanted to pull her into me, shield her from everything, but I didn’t know if she’d let me.
She looked down at my hands, still shaking slightly from adrenaline, and then back up at me. “Tex, I don’t know how to carry any of this.”
“You don’t have to. We’ll figure it out afterwards,” I said. “And if need be, I’ll carry it for both of us until you can.”
Her breath caught, and for a second I thought she might break down, but she was a strong woman and instead she nodded and took a long, slow breath. “Okay.”
JD was still waiting, his shotgun slung over his shoulder. “Tex, we gotta move her. They’ll regroup. Could be minutes, could be seconds, but if you really want to protect her, then we need to get her out of here.”
I nodded. “Where’s the prospect?”
JD called for him and the kid came forward immediately. “Yeah?”
“You stay glued to her,” I told him. “If she breathes, you breathe. If she moves, you move. If anything comes near her—”
“I’m on it,” he said, voice steadier than before.
Rowan hesitated, looking between me and the prospect like she wasn’t sure which direction her heart was pulling her.
I reached out and brushed my thumb along her cheekbone, just once. “Go with him. I’ll be right behind you.”
She swallowed hard. “Promise?”
I didn’t say the word. Instead I held her gaze, steady and unshakable, until she nodded her acceptance.
The prospect guided her toward the bikes, keeping her tucked behind him. I watched every step she took, every turn of her head, every tremble in her shoulders, hating that I couldn't be with her right now.
JD leaned in. “You good?”
“No,” I said. “But I will be once she’s safe.”
He smirked faintly. “Didn’t think I’d ever see the day.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I muttered, loading another mag. But I did. Just because I hadn’t said it out loud didn’t mean it wasn’t visible, and JD had always had a way to sense shit out.
JD clapped my back, chuckling despite our somber surroundings. “Let’s move, brother.”
I took one last look at Rowan, taking in her tangled hair and face streaked with dirt and tears. She turned to look at me, as if sensing my gaze on her. Her eyes locked on mine even as the prospect urged her forward.
And right then, with the smoke clearing and danger still crawling toward us from the horizon, I knew one thing with absolute certainty.
I’d burn the whole damn world down before I let anything, or anyone, take her from me.
She was it for me.
There was only her now.
She just didn’t know it yet.