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)
I stopped eating with them all after that. Kept the fuck away when Carlos’s dead eyes would never leave my head.
And in turn, I signed my own death sentence.
“I want out.” I met Tanner’s furious eyes. “Want the fuck out of this life.”
“The war’s coming,” he said slowly, like I was a dumbfuck. “The race war is fucking coming.”
I laughed. Fucking laughed. “There ain’t no race war, Tann. It’s all bullshit.” I’d read some of Carlos’s books. In prison, I wasn’t the trailer-park kid that owed the Klan my fealty, blindly following them into shootouts and murders. I finally used my fucking brain for the first time in five years, and I realized it was all a crock of shit. Tanner’s cheek twitched in annoyance. “You’re the fucking smartest person I’ve ever known. You know it’s all bullshit; you have to. Wake the fuck up!”
Tanner shook his head, like he was going to argue. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. Because he knew I was right. We’d been fed racist shit until our veins ran with the white and red of the Klan. Mexicans and blacks and Jews and gays were nothing, rats to be taken down. A pollution to the world and the white race that reigned supreme. I lived it, breathed it, drank the fucking Kool-Aid, and killed and beat and spat on anyone that wasn’t like us.
I’d fought in the street beside Landry, our leader, until a black guy was dead. My sentence for my part—five years. Out in three for “good behavior.” In truth, it was because we had an influential Wizard on our side—the most influential in Texas, fuck, in the USA. Landry wouldn’t be far behind me. He would never have been locked up in the first place, but a black cop arrested us, the case was made into news, and we’d had to play the game. No one was allowed to know who Landry’s big brother was.
Whose Tanner’s old man really was.
“We’re going to a ranch rally.” Tanner pulled back out onto the road. The radio came on. The music pounded, seeming like it was getting louder with every mile we got closer to the Spicewood ranch.
It would go down there.
End where it all began.
“Just know I fucking love you like a brother,” I said over the music. I wasn’t even sure Tanner had heard me. “Still do. Nothing will change that. Klan or no Klan. You’re my fucking brother.”
From the day I’d arrived at the ranch, Tanner had been there. From that day on, he’d stuck with me. We were young compared to a lot of the others. It made sense that we’d become close. Didn’t know I was aligning myself with the White Prince. Didn’t know that friendship would take me into the inner circle of the Austin KKK. A true brother, one who was valuable.
One whose only ticket out was death.
Tanner didn’t respond to what I’d said. He never said shit as we crossed the city limits of Austin, nor as we rolled down the track of the Spicewood KKK ranch, where I could hear music and see fire licking at wooden crosses.
The minute the truck pulled to a stop, all eyes were on us. Tanner’s hands were iron grips on the wheel. Then, “I’m gonna fucking miss you, asshole.” Tanner got out of the truck, and I knew I had minutes left.
It was a strange feeling, knowing you were about to die by the hands of the people who’d once saved your life. But what surprised me most was the calm in my veins. I supposed I’d always thought I’d end up dying for this Klan. Just never thought it’d be as a deserter.
Tanner opened the passenger-side door, took my arm, and wrenched me from the truck. My brothers stormed forward, some still in their hoods from the rally. Tanner’s hand gripped the back of my neck. “Fucking knew he wasn’t a turncoat,” Tanner said. What the . . . ? He didn’t give me time to show my shock, as he continued, “Brant, the asshole, wanted up Landry’s ass. He never passed on the message to our boy Tank here and lied to my uncle. Only to die killing a weak-as-piss spic. That’s why Tank was late. He got the message too late.” He spat on the floor, then his hand went to my scar. “Tank got shanked because of the cunt, but he still managed to fight Aaron, who did it, off, staying alive to fight the upcoming war!” Brothers nodded their heads, and I saw the pride in their eyes. “I’ll get word to Landry that one of our best white soldiers is free and more dedicated to the cause than ever!”
Cheers went up around the Klansmen, and I was bombarded with drinks and hugs and “welcome homes.” I stepped back to see Tanner grab a bottle of whiskey and walk to the side of the property.