Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
And it was true. Beauty had slipped straight into club life. Being a prospect was the fucking pits, but I knew what it led to. Kept my head down and did the bitch work like I was supposed to. Yet, if I was being honest, I knew I wasn’t seen much like a prospect. Brothers didn’t treat me like the others. More like one of them.
I looked down at the Hades tattoo on my hand, the final piece covered. Gone was the Nazi shit. Covered with images of my new family and club. New fucking brothers. Brothers I’d die for.
When I looked at Beauty, I knew I’d die for her too.
I was about to grab a shower when I heard a sound at the back door. Pulling my gun from the back of my jeans, I snuck through the house. A floorboard creaked again. I flicked off the safety, then flew into the kitchen, slamming on the light.
I pointed my gun, showing my fucking teeth as I realized who the fuck was standing in my house. “What the fuck do you want?” Each of my words was thick with fucking poison. Betrayal and venom.
Tanner held up his arms. “I ain’t armed, Tank.” My eyes narrowed and I checked behind him. “It’s just me. No one knows I’m here. I swear.”
“Why?” I hissed, praying Beauty didn’t wake up.
Tanner’s face paled. Like he couldn’t believe I’d asked the question. I thought I knew this guy. He was as close to me as a brother. “Why?” he echoed. “Why?” He shook his head, his eyes shining in the light. “Because I’ve been on tour for months, and I came back to fucking chaos at the ranch and my best friend sending me a picture of Trace’s body and thinking I’d tried to fucking kill him. That’s fucking why!”
“Trace came with two assholes I didn’t even know and tried to kill me. Klan orders. Your bastard Klan!” I still had the bruises and cuts all over my fucking body. Tanner clearly saw them on my face too.
“It wasn’t sanctioned,” he said when I stepped closer, my aim at his head getting real fucking clear. “Landry never sent them. Last thing we need right now is a war with the Hangmen. I haven’t been here. I don’t keep much contact with the Klan while I’m away. It’s too dangerous. I’m in the army, Tank. I can’t be caught with Klan shit.” I smelled bullshit in his answer. He must have seen it in my face. “Tank . . . I fucking swear it. Trace was losing favor with Landry and the Wizards. He was a fucking crackhead who Landry tossed aside months ago. He kept fucking up. Choosing snow over the brotherhood. He did this himself. He heard you were working for the Hangmen and planned the attack himself. He wanted back in.” I thought of Trace, and his crazy fucking eyes as he waved his gun at me. He could have been high . . . I didn’t fucking know. It all happened too quick.
Tanner’s eyes fell to my cut and my new ink. His eyes widened, and I saw the anger build inside him. “You’ve joined them?” He shook his head, like he couldn’t fucking believe it. “You serious? You’re in the motherfucking Hangmen?”
Sighing, I lowered my gun. “I am a motherfucking Hangman. A prospect. I’ve left the Klan behind, Tann. I was serious when I walked away. I ain’t coming back.”
Tanner’s face looked as though I’d fucking shot the gun and made a perfect hit. “I thought if you took some time away . . .”
“You thought I’d come back? To Landry?”
“We’re your fucking family!” he hissed.
“Not anymore.”
Tanner stepped back, wounded by my words. I could see the hurt in his eyes. He pulled out a chair and slumped down. I checked behind me for Beauty, but she must have still been asleep. Pulling out another chair, I grabbed two beers and put one in front of him. Tanner downed half the bottle before my ass had even hit my seat.
“What about me?” he croaked, then lifted his eyes. “I’m your brother. Your fucking best friend.” His forehead creased in confusion, then he asked, “If we’re no longer your family, who the fuck am I to you now? Your enemy? We were meant to lead the Klan into the new age. Me as the leader, you by my fucking side. We had plans, Tank. Big fucking plans.”
My chest cracked at the hurt in his voice. White power or not, White Prince of the fucking KKK or not, Tanner Ayers was my fucking brother. We’d grown from boys to men together. Fuck, he was still young. Lethal, but young. “Thought you’d sent them. Thought you’d fucking ordered the soldiers to take me out.”
“Then you don’t know me at all.” Tanner’s eyes were steel.