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“How can I trust Lilah to stay here if Santiago managed to kill one of your own? I won’t even be here to protect her. I might as well put a flashing light with an arrow pointing at her. Something could happen to her, Aziel!” She cries.
Smoke trails out of my nose in irritation.She still doesn’t trust this fucking club.
I take my cigarette and point it towards the gate where I watch Niles and Cassius carry a dead Sage to the back of the clubhouse. We have a large shed there where we hold hostages. It’s also a place where we have performed surgeries on our injured. They’ll leave Sage there until we get back and can hold a formal funeral for him.
“Sage was sitting outside those gates. Not once, in my entire life, has someone broken through those gates. Whatever happens is going to be outside those walls. Does Lilah go outside the walls?” Ivy shakes her head. “No, she doesn’t. She will be here with Haley and Violet and all the other guys who know what to do in a situation like this. My men are trained, Ivy. You can fucking trust them.”
“I do… it’s just,Santiago.”
Fucking hell.
I place my hand over her mouth, shutting her the hell up because I’m tired of that name coming off her lips. “Do me a fucking favor and don’t speak his name again. Don’t even think his name again. I don’t want you to hear you say his name.Ever. Again.Got me?”
She nods.
I take my hand off her mouth and take a step away from her. “Good. Now go pack. You can stress about shit on the way down there. It’s a long drive.”
She nods again, taking off for the clubhouse without another word.
20
Aziel
It takes a little over two hours to drive across the border and make it to Salvatierra. It’s around three in the morning by the time we arrive. Ivy has dozed on and off against my back. I held onto her hands wrapped around me, glad she could rest at least a little bit.
Once we arrived in Salvatierra, we drove through the city for a while to scope out the area. Salvatierra sits along the coast, small homes decorating the hills. Blue houses, red houses, and cream houses tuck between the roads, all small and square that lead down to the white sandy beaches of the Pacific Ocean. Deeper into the city lays larger homes and older buildings, some abandoned and crumbling to the earth. History is weird like that. Things get built and hold lives and memories for centuries, and over time, those memories become nothing but dilapidated stories that get lost and all but forgotten.
We pass an older building, tall and wide on top of a hill. Its white stone has large columns extending from it like arms. The rounded top of the building makes it look like a church or religious building of some sort. I look in the windows and see men in suits walking around. The way they hold themselves make me think they may be Santiago’s men. My eyes narrow, and I nudge Ivy awake.
“What? What is it?” She mumbles.
I nod my head towards the building.
She glances over at the entrance and her body instantly freezes. “This is it. This is where they hostDía de los Muertos.”
I make a motion to the guys behind me and my dad in front of me, and we take off. We drive a few towns over to a touristy town where we will go unseen. The likelihood of Santiago having eyes and ears all around him is near certain, so remaining unseen is imperative. It’ll seem more likely for us to go to some run-down motel outside of town, but that’ll be the first place his men will be searching for us. They won’t assume a vacation spot, where families and women and men will be looking to hook up and drink their weekend away.
“I’ll go in and get us some rooms.” Pascal says once we park. He hops off his bike and heads inside. The rest of us get off our bikes to stretch our legs.
“How long were we driving?” Ivy asks, stretching her arms over her head. Her smeared makeup from earlier has been wiped clean, and her bared, sun-kissed face is fucking breathtaking as she looks at me. Her wavy hair is pulled back into a bun on the top of her head, and her tight black sweatshirt and black leggings make her look like she’s ready to rob a bank.
She’s about to rob my fuckin’ soul, is what she’s about to do.
“Over two hours or so.” Tapping a cigarette out and lighting it.
“So, what’s the plan?” She asks.
I shake my head. “Not here.”
She nods, understanding.
“We need to get some rest, then we’ll figure out our strategy. I’m fucking beat.” My dad says, slapping me on the back as he walks inside. Everyone follows him, leaving Ivy and I standing outside. I can hear the ocean in the distance, and the salty air is familiar. Different from California, a little drier, maybe. There’s an authentic scent in the air that’s different from the polluted airs of San Diego.
“I’m nervous.” Ivy says, stepping into my arms. I immediately wrap them around her and press my lips to the side of her head.
“Don’t be nervous, we all got your back.” I murmur.
She sighs. “I hope so. Not that you guys have my back. I realize that now. The not being nervous part… I hope you’re right.”
