Malo - Page 41

“Don’t get proud,” Beast finishes up. “If you need help honing your skills, take it. I don’t want to lose anyone, you understand?”

He casts his eye around the room, and I guess he must know, at the back of his mind, that we’re going to lose at least a few of our men before this is over. You don’t walk into a war expecting to have no casualties. But that’s the price we’re going to have to pay if we want to take these bastards down for good.

I roll my shoulders back, and nod, along with everyone else in the room. We’re ready—as ready as we’re ever going to be. And, no matter what, I’ve already sworn to myself that I’m not going to rest until that cartel is destroyed.

And until Beast has El Serpiente’s head.

CHAPTER 30

MARIA

Grabbing a bag of chips from the cupboard, I’m about to head back up to my room to eat them in peace, when I spot someone out of the corner of my eye.

I swivel around on the spot, my heart leaping up in my chest. Is it whoever sent me that text, finally here to catch up to me? In the last few days since I returned to Houston, I’ve been on edge every second, ready for them to finally come and take what’s there’s – but, as of yet, they haven’t. They’re making me wait, making me sweat. If it wasn’t for Malo keeping me distracted, I know I would have lost it entirely.

But then, I see that it’s Harley, slipping into the kitchen through the far door, trying her best not to catch my attention.

“Harley, you scared me,” I sigh, planting a hand on my chest to still my pounding heartbeat.

“Sorry,” she mutters, not making eye contact with me as she brushes past me and toward the fridge. I hesitate, wondering if I should just leave her to it, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to go so quickly.

It’s the first time I’ve seen Harley since I found out about what she went through at the hands of Las Rosas Negras, and I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t been playing on my mind ever since. I wish she hadn’t had to go through all of that, but it helps me make sense of how she’s been acting around me since I got here. How can I blame her for being a little off? It’s not like she’ll be able to trust just anyone who walks into this place, not after everything she’s been through. It’s a miracle she can even leave her room long enough to spend time with Bella. If I were her, I’m sure I would still be hiding out there, doing my best not to lay eyes on anyone.

She steals a glance at me, seeming to sense my gaze on her.

“What is it?” she demands, turning to me, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. I part my lips, trying to think of how to put this into words.

“I-I’m sorry for what you went through,” I blurt out, before I can stop myself.

She stares at me for a moment, and I see a red flush hit her cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she mutters, turning her attention to the fridge so she can grab what she came for.

I figure I should take this as my indication to leave her the hell alone, but I just want her to know how much I respect her for standing strong, getting out of bed every day, even after everything she’s endured. Not many people could do that.

“With the cartel,” I tell her, and she freezes on the spot. It’s like I’ve thrown her back into the midst of it, and I feel a stab of guilt at once. I wish I could take the words back, cursing myself out in my head for even mentioning it to her. Who am I to bring this up when she’s clearly struggling so much with?—

“You know about that?” she asks, her voice dropping all of a sudden, her defenses down.

“I don’t know the details,” I assure her quickly. “I just… Blue mentioned it to me in passing. That you went through some shit because of them.”

She lowers her gaze for a moment, but then nods.

“I did, yeah,” she admits. Her voice is small, and she looks as though she wants to vanish into herself.

“We don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to,” I assure her, but she shakes her head.

“No, I know I should—I mean, I know I shouldn’t be keeping it all bottled up like that,” she replies, and offers me a small smile. “I just… it’s hard to know how to put that into words with someone new. You know?”

“I can imagine,” I agree. It’s hard to imagine what might have happened if I had been in the same position as her; I know El Serpiente marked me as “untouchable” by the rest of his men, but he always seemed to be hanging it over my head that he could change that at any moment. And Rayo didn’t seem all that interested in respecting that order, anyway. Given the chance, and a little more time, he’d have been bold enough to defy his boss and just take what he wanted from me. I shiver at the thought.

“I know it makes me kind of an asshole at times,” Harley admits. “Bella’s always telling me I should be nicer to people, but it’s just… hard.”

“You’re not an asshole,” I reply quickly. “You’re just… going through something. I get that.”

“I’m sorry if I came across like a bitch to you,” she apologizes.

I shake my head. “You didn’t,” I respond. It’s not entirely the truth, but she doesn’t deserve to beat herself up over the way she reacted to me before. It’s no wonder she had her doubts—as far as she was concerned, I was working for the group that caused her so much pain and suffering in the past. It’s a miracle she didn’t try to get me kicked out on sight.

“Thanks,” she replies. She seems to have softened right in front of me, something easing away. The front she’s had up since the first moment I met her beginning to dip, at last.