Chapter 5
FIVE
Estrella
Oro. That man called him Oro.
That’s not what I know him as.
When I knew him, his name was Santiago.
The skinny, fair-haired little boy I once knew isn’t the man standing here in front of me. Even if I didn’t recognize his face, there’s no way I wouldn’t recognize that piercing glare.
Santiago, or Oro, I should say, hates me. He’s hated me from the very moment his mother ran down to the courthouse with my father to get married.
“Are you deaf now?” Oro snarls, taking another menacing step in my direction. “I asked you a fucking question. What are you doing here?”
He continues to glare at me, but my mind can’t seem to comprehend what to do in this situation.
I know that Oro hates me, but I’m at a loss as to the cause. I have a few suspicions, but I’ve never been able to get a clear answer, mostly because I never thought I’d see him again.
I asked his mother about him a few times after he left, and the few times I was able to get through her drug-induced stupor, she let me know in no uncertain terms that she couldn’t care less where her ungrateful son had gone.
It was hurtful. I couldn’t understand how any mother could be so callous to her own flesh and blood. But then again, if she could marry a monster like my father, then I guess disowning her son wasn’t as far-fetched as I might assume.
After never being able to get any real information out of her, I stopped asking.
Instead, I kept my curiosity about Oro to myself.
Still, I always wondered, not only where he was, but if I had done the right thing.
I wondered if Oro got dealt a better hand at life after the night he was run out of the apartment.
Based on the way he’s looking at me right now, I’m inclined to believe he didn’t.
I lift my chin and barely look up at him. “I heard you. I’m just not sure what makes you think you can talk to me that way.” I keep my eyes from narrowing on him.
“Oro, I’m starting to think you might be the one who’s deaf here. Do we got a problem with this woman?” the one with the tattoos on his face asks.
Coca let me know, when she gave me the rundown on all the members here, that this man was the end all be all when it came to final decisions.
Vado, the president of the Puerto Rico chapter of the Royal Bastards MC, and definitely not the one I want to see me fussing with my long-lost stepbrother.
I don’t wait for Oro to reply. Instead, I speak up for myself.
“I’ve got no problem. Oro…” The name sounds strange coming out of my mouth.
The last thing I want to do is disrespect him, so I guess I better learn to live with it.
“And I haven’t seen each other in a very long time. I’m sure it’s just a shock.”
“Nah, I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen all of Oro’s faces. That shit doesn’t look like his shocked face,” one of the other bikers says. I glance at his vest and see the name Digger.
Coca told me he’d be the first one to either give me the most problems or try to get in my pants. Looks like he’s going the give me problems route.
“Look, guys, I’m just here for a job. I’m not going to...” I start, but Oro takes a big step forward, separating himself from the pack of men still relaxing behind him.
“The fuck you are. We don’t got shit for you here.”
This is getting bad and fast.
He doesn’t understand, and based on how he’s talking to me, I’m not sure he’d even care if I explained it to him.
Still, I have to try.
Lowering my voice, I capture Oro’s furious gaze. “Can we talk for a second outside?” Without waiting for him to answer, I turn on my heel but stop when I don’t hear him following behind.
His head is turned as if he’s about to ask one of the other members to come with him.
“Solo tú.” I wave him over before making my way to the front door of the clubhouse and waiting for him right outside.
He pushes open the door so hard I have to jump back just to make sure I don’t get hit.
There’s no apology.
“Oro, me sabes, you know I wouldn’t be here looking for a job at a high-end brothel. This is absolutely the last place I want to be, and if I would’ve known that you were here, I most definitely wouldn’t have shown up. It doesn’t change the fact that this is the very last place I can go for a job.”
“Qué dices? You mean to tell me you somehow have fallen out of grace? You don’t have golden eggs and diamonds shooting out your ass anymore?”
I’m shocked by his vulgarity.
The Santiago I knew years ago was a quiet, sweet boy. A little moody sometimes, but there was never any disrespect.
I guess his personality changed with his name.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was never anyone’s golden child.” I sniff and lift my head, not wanting to delve any deeper into the trauma that is my past.
“Estrella, you’re right, I do know you. I don’t know what your game is, but you’re not going to play that shit here.” He turns like he’s about to walk back into the clubhouse.
The walls of my world are closing in around me fast.
Seda is really my last chance. My last chance to stay on the right path, to do what’s right, and not follow in my father’s footsteps.
“Santi!” I call for him, using the nickname I had for him when we lived together briefly.
“Carajo, no me llames así! That’s not my name anymore.
I stopped being Santiago the day you convinced our parents to put me out of the house.
” He surges back in my direction, and I flinch slightly.
He’s never hit me before, but there’s always the first time.
“You destroyed my fucking life. Took everything away from me just because you could. Now you want mercy? You want my help? Joder, no.”
He tries to turn again, but I grab onto his arm, gripping with all my strength. I need him.
“Por favor, Oro. No hagas esto. I’m begging you. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. You’ll never have to see me around. I’m desperate. I have nothing. No job. No money. No family. I’m a few days from living on the street. Please.” The tears prick my eyes, and when I look back up at him, they fall.
There is no sympathy in his gaze. The sweet boy I knew has hardened.
He opens his mouth to say something but stops himself. He yanks his arm away and takes a step back, looking me up and down.
Not the way a stepbrother would look at his stepsister, but the way a man looks at a woman.
It’s heated.
I don’t hate it. Maybe that’s the worst part.
“You want the job, fine, I’ll give you a chance. But I’m warning you now, you’re going to work for it. You’re going to do exactly what you just said, anything I want.”
My heart stutters in my chest at his words.
Anything he wants?
I’m starting to think I need to worry about Oro and what he has planned for me.