Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
“What do you want to know?”
I looked up at Tanner and rested my chin on his chest. “Do you have friends?”
For a split second I saw a flash of what looked like pure pain in his blue eyes. Tanner’s muscles twitched beneath me. My stomach fell. He looked so sad. “I . . .” Tanner cleared his throat. “I have a best friend.” His voice was low and raspy, as though it hurt him to admit those words.
“In the Klan?”
Tanner picked up a piece of my hair and ran it through his fingers. I smiled to myself as he became lost in the motion. Tanner Ayers, beneath the muscles, the tattoos, and the menacing stare, was the most beautiful of men. “He’s not anymore.” My eyebrows rose in surprise. “He left.” Tanner inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “Did time inside, then lost his faith in the cause. When he came out, he was done.”
“And your brotherhood was okay with it?”
“No,” he said. I tried to decipher the expression on his face. Wonder? Confusion? No. It was pain. “Just like they would never understand about you,” I said. It would be way worse, I imagined. He was the heir.
My heart started beating too fast for my breathing to remain steady. We never talked about what our lives were like outside my room. Tanner had been back to Mexico three times now. He would return once more before the Klan–cartel business was complete. And every visit, he came to me every night. Traveled with me each day through the secret tunnels that ran under the hacienda. And every time he left to go back to Texas, I counted the hours until he was back by my side.
He was never meant to mean anything to me. He was meant to be a man I loved to hate. A man who, for whatever reason, I felt pulled toward, but who was meant to be disposable.
I did not count on falling for the infamous White Prince of the Ku Klux Klan.
“His name is Tank. I met him when he joined the Klan several years back. We were near the same age, he was just a bit older, so we kind of fell into a friendship.” Tanner’s lip lifted at the side, and my heart melted on seeing that small whisper of a smile edge across his mouth. It was rare, like a blue moon, and just as enchanting. “He was my right-hand man. He was always with me. Stood beside me when I needed him . . .” The pain that had clouded his eyes before returned.
“And where is he now?”
Tanner’s small smile fell. “With another gang. A new brotherhood.”
I took Tanner’s hand. I was compelled to soothe him. I squeezed his hand and brought it to my lips. “But you still see him? Against your father’s wishes?”
Tanner nodded. “He has a woman now. Beauty.” His smile returned. “She’s a total ballbuster.” He paused, then, flicking an almost shy smile my way, said, “Like you. I think you’d like her. I could see you being friends.” I couldn’t help but smile back, my heart expanding, at just the thought of meeting some of Tanner’s friends as his . . . his. Tanner stared at me. I waited for him to speak. I had quickly learned that Tanner was the type of man who spoke only when he had something important to say. “When Tank left, I couldn’t understand how he could walk away.” Tanner glanced down at his hand in mine. Then his eyes tracked the tattoos on his arm. “When he left, I changed. I felt betrayed. Immersed myself in the Klan more than ever.”
“Tanner . . . what is it?” I asked after a minute of tense silence.
Tanner sighed. “But now I can.” My stomach flipped and my pulse lurched into a sprint. I didn’t know what to say. Tanner’s eyes dipped as if he was embarrassed to have said such a thing. “Now I think that maybe the life I’ve lived . . .” He shook his head. “The things I’ve done and the beliefs I had . . . now I think they could all be wrong.” Tanner hooked his hands under my arms and pulled me to lie over his chest. I gasped as I felt his hard muscles against my breasts. Tanner cupped my cheek. “Adelita Quintana. You’re making me want things I never dreamed I could want.”
“Tanner . . .”
“You’re giving me something I’ve never had before.” I held my breath, anxious to hear the answer. “Hope,” he whispered. “Hope for more than what I know . . .”
“We’re here, darlin’.” The sound of a stranger’s voice pulled me from the memory. Even just thinking about that night, my heart beat louder and quicker. My breath came faster just remembering Tanner’s face.