Heart Recaptured

“He ride?” Bull asked.

“Like a motherfuckin’ bat outta hell,” Tank replied. “Strong bastard too and a fuckin’ genius. Can hack into anything, get intel on anyone, anytime. The brother got skills… skills we could use. We got more enemies piling up at our door than we can count. Tanner could be a fuckin’ golden asset.”

“Why the fuck’s someone like that in the Klan?” Smiler asked, the question I’m sure we all were asking.

Tank’s eyes narrowed as he looked at each brother. “His old man brought him up White Power and hating every fucker else. He’s rooted deep in Texas Klan, never known no different. Not sure you’re getting how fucked they’d all be if he left. He’s their motherfuckin’ golden child.”

“Who’s his old man, Hitler?” Vike tried to joke, but Tank’s jaw clenched and he shook his head.

“His family line ain’t public knowledge and that’s they way he likes it.”

Styx broke from his frozen position and walked forward, signing, “You’re a Hangmen first and this racist fuck’s friend second, so you better get to sharing. And brother, that ain’t a request.”

It was the first time I’d seen Tank pissed at Styx, but knowing Styx wasn’t up for bullshitting, he replied. “Sometimes you’re a fuckin’ cunt, Styx. A goddamn cunt! I swore I’d never tell! The guy did a shit ton for me when I wanted to get out of the Klan, and if it weren’t for him, I’d have been with the boatman and now burning in hell,” Tank hissed.

Styx remained stoic and crossed his arms over his chest, a hard, expectant expression on his face.

No one at the club fucked with the Hangmen Mute.

“Fuck! Fine! His old man is… Governor Ayers,” Tank spat icily.

“Governor Ayers is a Nazi?” I asked tightly, Styx’s eyes widening. That guy controlled all’a Texas. And we paid him a shit ton of green annually to overlook our businesses. Hell, we went to war with White Power, we got feds and cops suddenly coming our way from every fuckin’ angle.

“Fuckin’ Imperial Grand Wizard of all Texas,” Tank said. “The guy is one of the leaders for the whole US of A.”

“Fuck!” Vike spat, and Tank’s shoulders sagged.

“What?” I asked Tank.

“That’s not all.”

“Then fuckin’ speak!” Styx signed, all his patience gone, and I swore Tank was actually gonna try and send his prez to the boatman. Bull put his hand on Tank’s shoulder, holding him back as Styx smirked, taunting the brother to even try.

Some fucker wanted to kidnap Mae. Styx weren’t to be fucked with right now… and neither was I. I was with Styx all the way. Those Klan fuckers took my bitch.

“Governor Ayers’s little brother is Johnny Landry… Landry is Tanner’s uncle. A real fuckin’ family affair.”

The brothers split into disbelieving rants and bouts of cussing, but tired of this shit, I pushed past Styx and faced Tank. “Enough of this bullshit! Get this fascist brother here… now! We get the info we need. Then we strike the bastards. We get Lilah back, protect Mae and Madds, then deal with the fallout later. We got more connections than that fuck will have. The Hangmen are not only nationwide; we’re fuckin’ international. We got thousands of connections that Wizard could only dream of. That cunt needs to fear us. We’re the mother fuckin’ Hangmen!”

The brothers around me rocked from side to side, muttering their agreement, clenching their fists—they were pissed and they were with me.

I glanced over my shoulder at Styx. “Prez? You in?”

Styx’s eyes burned with fire, and he nodded. I went around each of my brothers, who all nodded their heads in agreement. Flame was at the back, the brother having just walked out into the yard from guarding Maddie. He was already pacing, thirsting for revenge, every stacked muscle in his body tight with fury. The blood-curdling smile—his gums reading PAIN—that spread on his face when I looked to him for an answer told me what I needed to know. But then I caught someone behind Flame, someone with black hair and a pair of wolf eyes… a tiny bitch whose heart was fuckin’ breaking.

“Mae,” I said in exasperation. “Can’t be out here. You know this. Club business.”

Styx, having heard me say Mae’s name, plowed through the brothers to take his bitch in his arms. Her huge, tearful eyes looked up at him. “Someone has taken Lilah?” she asked, devastation in her voice.