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“Everything okay?” Gabriel asked from the bed, his book lying on his lap, his long, thin fingers holding the book open.
I let the curtain fall back shut, nodding my head even though I didn’t know for sure if everything was okay for Gabriel. Regardless, I would keep him safe. Gabriel knew that. Scorpion would let the club know what we needed to know, and I didn’t feel like dealing with Alejandro. He was a dick with a smart-ass mouth and no fucking boundaries. I avoided him as much as possible.
“Everything is fine.” I padded back over to the bed and settled back down on the mattress, shutting my eyes again. I heard Gabriel flip the page in his book. He and I had a lot of days like this—me just laying here dozing on and off with him devouring whatever book he’d decided to read that day. I’d listened to the audio of the one he was currently reading last night, so I knew nothing in it would trigger him.
Gabriel slid a little closer to me, pressing his thigh against my side. Without thinking, I curled my hand around his knee, holding him to me. I craved Gabriel’s company however I could get it. And this…having him with me like this was damn near perfect.
A light knock sounded on my door. I grunted and cracked open an eye. “It’s open.”
Mark poked his head around the door, his black hair hanging into his eyes. He flicked his head to make it swing out of the way, his blue eyes peering at me. “Scorpion is calling church. Alejandro is here.”
I rolled to my back and sighed. “Oh fucking boy,” I muttered before I sat up. If Scorpion was calling church already, then it was definitely bad. I yanked on my boots, nodding once at Mark. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
He nodded and shut the door back behind him. I looked over at Gabriel, who was watching me, worry in his eyes. I hated that he was concerned. Hated that he and I both knew if Scorpion was calling church with Alejandro here, it meant Alejandro had news we needed to know. And Gabriel also knew that news was probably bad.
Alejandro had never met my boy. But that didn’t mean Gabriel hadn’t heard about him, especially since his father was the Ghosts of Chaos MC’s president, who worked for the Russians. And if there was one person in the world the Russians hated, it was Alejandro Garcia. And his hatred of them was just as strong.
I leaned over the bed and pressed my lips to Gabriel’s forehead. “Stay upstairs, you hear me? I don’t care if someone tells you to come down. If it’s not me giving you a direct order, you keep your cute ass right here. Clear?”
He nodded, his cheeks warming as soon as the words cute ass left my lips. I bit back a smile. He was so fucking adorable. “Clear.”
I stroked my thumb over his cheek before turning on my heel and walking out of our apartment. I headed down the stairs, my boots thumping on each step until I was on the bottom floor. The chapel door was cracked, and when I walked in, I saw I was the last member needed at the table.
Shutting the door behind me, I flipped the lock and then took my seat at the table in the chair designated for one of the patches. Scorpion had once offered me an officer title, but I’d turned that shit down. I didn’t want more responsibility. Had enough of that shit in the military to last me a lifetime. I just needed to belong somewhere; that was enough for me.
“Alejandro, the floor is yours,” Scorpion said, waving his hand toward the table and leaning back in his chair.
Alejandro cleared his throat as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his no-doubt stupidly expensive slacks while he stepped closer to the table. “Ghosts of Chaos want Patrick’s son, and word is that the boy is here.”
I clenched my jaw but didn’t utter a word, and no one looked at me. Even if I hadn’t been personally invested in Gabriel and his safety, Johnston had given the order as well.
Gabriel was to be protected and treated as if he were one of the guys’ old ladies. That meant nothing touched him and no one did a damn thing to jeopardize his safety.
“The Russians have personally invested in this club to have access to their territory to attempt to infiltrate Mexico with their bullshit, so they’re planning an attack to get the boy back,” Alejandro continued, unconcerned when he didn’t get a response out of any of us about Gabriel.
“They can fucking try,” I finally ground out, my temper fragmenting the tiniest bit. I snatched a cigarette from my cut and lit it, too agitated now to sit still. They would pry Gabriel from my cold, dead fucking hands. That was the only way.
Alejandro arched a brow at me. “I’m here willing to offer my services. I have a personal investment in this club.” I snorted. Everything came down to investments for Alejandro. I doubted the fucker had any semblance of morals in his goddamn body. “But I have one request.”
Scorpion sat forward, steepling his fingers together on the table, watching me. I had two modes—I could either be very calm and quiet, or I could be fucking explosive. He was waiting to see which version of me they were going to get.
“Which is?” Scorpion asked Alejandro when I remained silent, choosing to focus on my cigarette. I glared at the red tip as if I could will the nicotine to work faster on my brain.
“I want to meet the boy?—”
“Fuck no,” I snarled, crushing my barely-smoked cigarette into the ashtray to my right. I pointed a stiff finger at Alejandro, my other hand curling into a fist on the table. “If you go near my boy, I’ll slit your fucking throat.”
Alejandro merely stared at me, his expression giving nothing away. He was freaky like that—unemotional. Detached.
“I am not going to hurt him,” Alejandro finally told me. “I’d just like to see the boy causing all this mess. That is all.”
I opened my mouth to tell him to go fuck himself, but Scorpion spoke up. “Tango, brother, it’s a small price to pay to have Alejandro on our side with this.”
“So, fuck my boy’s mental health then?” I snapped at my president. Halo rolled his chair a little closer to mine, ready to try to rein me in if he needed to. “Fuck what I’m doing to try to fucking protect him, huh?”
“Stand down,” Scorpion growled at me. I snorted. “I know you’re trying to protect him. Trust me, I’ve been in your fucking shoes, Tango. But in a world like ours, it’s a constant give and take. And you need to give a little.”
I leaned in a little closer to the wooden surface in front of me, narrowing my eyes at him from down the table. “I’ll go MIA,” I warned him. Rage flashed in Scorpion’s eyes, but he managed to keep his cool. “I’ll turn this fucking cut in right now and get my ink blacked out.” Scorpion clenched his jaw. “Do not fucking tell me what to do with him. He is my responsibility. My fucking concern. I let Johnston meet him. But an outsider? Someone like him?” I growled, pointing at Alejandro without looking at him. “You’ve lost your fucking mind.”
