“I’ll be careful, I promise. Now, we’re gonna go in there, hopefully Alejandro will be nowhere near us, and you can head up to your room, okay?”
I nod. “Okay.”
Unfortunately, we’re not quite that lucky. When we open the door it’s Alejandro who greets me, almost as though he was waiting for me. I know the guys wouldn’t have told him I was coming, but the look on Imogen’s face from across the bar tells me she’s the one who had something to do with this.
“Nice to see you again, Elizabeth.”
Alejandro accentuates my name, and as much as I hate to admit it, he almost makes it sound as hot as Angel does. I’m about to retort but Angel gently takes hold of my wrist.
“Why don’t you go and chill in your room,” he says, his look subtly adding the, ‘like we agreed’.
I make my way to the stairs, and even though I don’t look back, I can feel both of their eyes on me. I don’t imagine Alejandro liked being rejected, I know they say ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’… but a man scorned, that can be too scary to think about. And after everything Angel just told me, it doesn’t make me nervous, it scares the hell out of me.
Maybe it’s going a bit overboard, but I double lock the door to my room and move a chair in front of it, not knowing who else might have a key. I sit on the bed with my laptop open, a blank page and a cursor blinking back at me, but I know no words will come tonight.
I’m woken by a gentle knock on my door, I hadn’t even realized I’d dozed off. I’m still dressed with my laptop open, my legs warm from where it’s been resting.
“Who is it?” I call, remembering that Alejandro and the rest of Diablos Rojos are here.
“It’s me,” Angel’s voice filters through and I rush to unlock it.
I hold the door open so he can come in, before quickly double locking it again and pushing the chair back. He pulls me into a hug, and I bury my face into his chest, inhaling deeply, instantly comforted by his scent.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, I fell asleep so I’m a bit out of it. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, they’ve left, including Alejandro, so you don’t need to worry.”
I sigh with relief, relaxing into his body even more.
“That’s good. Do you want to talk about it?” I ask.
“I’m not supposed to, but I wanna talk to you; I’ve never had anyone to talk to about club business that wasn’t inside it all, you know?”
I nod. “Anything you tell me will stay between us, I promise you that.”
“I know,” he says, leading me to the bed and lying down. “Things are about to get complicated.”
I nestle into my spot under his arm, my head resting against his chest.
“How so?” I ask, holding my breath as my thoughts spiral, worst case scenarios flashing through my mind.
“Frank has gotten involved with some of the members of Diablos Rojos on the inside. Shit, he’s got a big mouth, so probably got himself into some trouble and they helped him out. Now they’re saying we owe them.”
“Because they helped one of yours in prison, so it’s a club debt?”
“Yeah.”
“What do they want? Money?”
He lets out a sad sigh. “Money they’ve got. What they need help with is the way they earn that money.”
“Illegal shit?”
“Yeah, illegal shit.”
“And the club agreed that you’d never go back to that, but a club debt also needs to be paid.”
