Cartel B!tch: Almanza Crime Family Duet Read online

  I turned to her. “Kennedy, what’s going on here?” Tears streamed steadily down her face, taking with it the black mascara she had painstakingly put on each lash.

  “Tor, I …”

  “Enough!” Onyx ordered, making me jump an inch off the floor. I turned around to glare at him. “She knows nothing you say? So leave it at that.” His eyes searched mine, looking for a sign that I knew something, anything, which wouldn’t be a hard task.

  “And what makes you think that I’ll come with you?” I snapped back at him, wondering who in the hell this guy thought he was.

  He leaned in close, the smell of some kind of cologne, or hell maybe it was just him, hitting my nostrils. It smelled good, it was woodsy with a hint of vanilla, and far too good. The man’s body language screamed menace and power, but I held my ground. “Because you want your sister happy, and I hold the key.”

  My stomach fell to my feet, and the small sandwich I had earlier started to roll around threatening to come up. “What does that mean?” When Onyx didn’t respond, I stole a glance at Malcom then Kennedy, each one sad and scared like their world was falling apart around them, and they had no way to put it back together.

  “They can’t tell you anything about it, but if you want your sister to be happy, you’ll come with me. If you don’t, I’ll take you anyway.” He was frank, leaving no doubt about what was going through his mind.

  He’d do it, I felt it deep in my very soul. This man did not seem like the type that would make empty threats, and judging from my family in the room, they knew it too.

  “Kennedy?” I asked again, hoping she’d tell me something, give me some kind of clue about what the hell was going on here.

  She glanced to Onyx then back to me as she shook her head. “What will you do with her?” she questioned with a tremble in her voice.

  This wasn’t happening. This shitty day could not be twisting around to make it the shittiest of my hell-filled life. My sister couldn’t actually want me to really go with this guy.

  His sinister laugh filled the air. “Whatever the fuck I want.”

  My back straightened as all kinds of twisted scenarios ran through my head. I blamed it on my horror movie addiction trying to let myself hold onto hope that this couldn’t be real. Each thought became scarier than the next. There was nothing good that could come of this.

  Malcom came around and wrapped Kennedy in his arms tight. There was some sort of silent conversation going on between them that I wanted in on, dammit.

  Kennedy’s expression read pure devastation. “The deal’s off.” The words came out barely above a whisper.

  Onyx chuckled in a menacing way, and goosebumps ran through my body as my heart sank. “Again with the negotiation. You’re already in. No backing out unless I cut you off. And you already know too much, so either way you’re a liability.”

  Kennedy’s face washed out in fear. “But you can’t take my sister. I’ll give it all up just to keep her here.”

  My sister threw it all out there for the mad man. She was giving up whatever this guy had just to keep me away from him. That told me two things. One being this was scary as hell, because if what the man said was true and he held the key to whatever in the hell they wanted, I would have to go with him. And two, they feared him which didn’t mean good things for my future. Whatever was going on here was huge.

  “No. Deal goes as planned, and I get collateral.” He stood tall, the bluntness in his tone and the demeanor about him told me there was no escaping my new fate. Either way, I was going with him. Either my sister would get what she wanted or she wouldn’t, and I’d be in the care of a scary, crazy man. But there was still a sliver of hope that this fucked up situation wouldn’t happen.

  “Please don’t hurt her,” Kennedy pleaded with Onyx like I wasn’t even in the room two feet in front of her. There was this detachment in her voice and a void in her face that sealed it. They knew they couldn’t fight for me. They knew nothing would change his mind, and they were terrified for me. The hope began to recede.

  “Like I said, I do whatever the fuck I want. This isn’t a debate. For some reason, you have it in your head you control this. Let this be your reminder—you don’t.”

  My sister turned to me, tears and pain bleeding from her eyes. “I’m sorry.” The defeat in her expression twisted my heart in two. I felt like my life was shattering in a way that I wouldn’t ever be able to piece it back together again.

  “What kind of trouble have you gotten into, Kennedy?” When she remained nothing but a sobbing mess, I turned to Malcom who held my sister tight. “Well?”

  “It’ll only be for a month, six weeks at the most. I think,” Kennedy whispered to me without looking me in the eyes.

  “Why a month?” I barely spoke the words, but I had to ask the question.

  “I can’t.” Her voice was so soft and pained. All I wanted to do was wipe the pain away for her. “I’m so sorry. You weren’t …”

  “Times up,” Onyx ordered, cutting me off. “We’ll be in touch.” Onyx grabbed my arm and began pulling me out of the room. I yanked back, needing more time, wanting to know what was going on.

  “Wait!” I yelled, trying to get out of his grasp. He ignored me. Instead, he lifted me up, hoisting me over his shoulder. My fists beat down his hard back over and over. “Put me down!”

  Kennedy ran up to us. “I’m so sorry.” Those were her parting words as she crumbled to the floor on her knees, sobbing, my heart breaking for my sister.

  That’s when Onyx Blake hit me on the ass, hard. Everything inside of me stilled. As he walked us through the door, the fear set in beyond anything I had ever felt before.

  The hatred. The anger. The fear.

  All of it swirled around inside me. Who was this man to take me from my family? What kind of power did he really have? What did he have that my sister needed?

  And in the moment, all I could think was—survival.

  The story continues on in PowerHouse (Power Chain Series 1) available now!

  Get it here

  PowerHouse

  xcerpt from One Last Snowy Christmas by AF Crowell

  One Last Snowy Christmas

  An O’Loughlin Brothers Novella

  A.F. Crowell

  Copyright © 2017 by A.F. Crowell

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Editing by: Virginia Tesi Carey & Chelsea Camaron

  Cover Design by: A.F. Crowell

  Formatting by: Type A Formatting

  This is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Prologue

  MARIA

  Taking one more deep breath, I tried to settle the butterflies in my stomach. Looking down at my wedding dress, I flattened my hand and smoothed down the chiffon skirt that had ruffled in the summer breeze. I had chosen something simple but elegant since we were getting married on the farm.

  Today was my new beginning. After my shitstorm of a marriage ended, I told myself I would never marry again.

  Then I met Scott.

  He swept me off my feet in ways I had never experienced before. It wasn’t trips to Bora Bora or expensive dinners like my first husband, Benjamin, would plan and end up working through. It was the little things that had real meaning that made me swoon. Like the time he cooked me dinner and took me out riding on my birthday. He also brought me my favorite pizza on his lunch break because he knew the veterinary practice I worked at was always crazy. Then there were the
soft kisses and the way he played with my hair while we watched a movie. And the flowers for no reason. He was always so thoughtful.

  Unlike Benjamin, Scott was a family man. He lived on his family’s farm in North East just over the line in Maryland with three sons of his own. Storm was the oldest at nine-precocious-years-old, followed by Cooper at five, and Ashton at two. Scott became fiercely protective of the trio after their mother, Crystal, walked out on them just months after Ashton was born. He was a great single dad for almost two years before I came into the picture. He did it all. It touched my heart simply to see the man with his sons, but getting to know him as a man, I fell madly, deeply in love.

  I thought back to the moment we were introduced. Scott and I met when I came out to the farm with Doctor Erin Crothers to help draw blood and do an annual checkup on the horses. I would never be able to forget the way my knees almost buckled when I hopped down out of the Ford F-150 as Scott strolled out of the barn. Dressed in snug, well-worn Levi’s and a tight-fitting white t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up showing off his strong, tan arms, he was drop-dead sexy and he didn’t even know it.

  It didn’t take him long to ask me out, but it did take a few months before he introduced me to the boys. The care he took with them might have been one of the things I loved the most about him. He was nurturing, but took no shit. Firm but soft, the perfect balance for what his sons needed.

  “Maria.” Storm ran into the barn where I asked Olivia, our neighbor and close friend, to send all three boys. “Kinsley’s momma said you were lookin’ for us.” Cooper wasn’t far behind him, and Ashton beat them both getting to me first.

  “I was.” I smiled softly to the boys. “Storm… Let’s sit down for just a minute, boys, before it’s time for me to walk down to your daddy.” I moved toward a bale of hay that had a clean horse blanket draped over it. In my left hand, I held a bouquet of simple red roses. In the other, I held Ashton’s.

  All three boys were dressed in black slacks and white button-downs. They were the most handsome little boys I had ever seen.

  “I just want you three to know that I love you each with all of my heart,” I started, but was quickly interrupted.

  “But if you love me with all your heart there won’t be nothin’ left for Storm or Ash,” Cooper declared, waving his little arms with his brow all scrunched up.

  “No, honey, when you love someone as much as I love you boys and your daddy, your heart grows bigger so you have more love to give. Your heart can be as big as the moon if you love the right way,” I told them confidently. Over the last two years, I had fallen in love with each one of Scott’s sons. Although it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, they were still my heart.

  “I like your dress,” Ashton said, climbing up next to me on the hay bale.

  I tucked him under my arm. “Thank you, Ash. You all look quite dashing.”

  “What’s that mean?” Cooper crossed his arms over his chest with a cute scowl on his face.

  “It means we look good, silly,” Storm enlightened him, cocking his head to the side.

  I chuckled. “Yes, it means you look handsome.”

  Cooper’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh, okay.”

  One of the barn swallows swooped in through the door and flew into the last box stall on the right and Ash’s eyes lit up, his hand patting my arm. “That bird flied in Hank’s stall.”

  I giggled. “It did, but it flew into Hank’s stall, honey.” I made sure to emphasize the correct word.

  He turned and looked at me, his little cherub cheeks rosy from running around. “Huh?”

  “It’s flew, not flied.”

  Ashton shrugged his shoulders. “You say flew and I’ll say flied, okay?”

  I burst out laughing. Who could argue with that sweet face?

  After we all giggled for a minute, I smiled and looked into each one of their adorable faces, mesmerized by their identical hazel eyes. “I know we’ve talked about this day a lot over the last few weeks, but I want to be sure you guys are still okay with me being a part of your family.”

  “You’re not gonna leave us like Momma did, right?” Cooper asked bluntly. That was Cooper: fiercely independent, strong, and honest to a fault. Whatever was on his mind came out of his mouth.

  “Not if I have anything to say about it.” I reached out a hand to him, which he promptly took and allowed me to pull him into my arms, holding him tight. “I can’t promise that it’s always gonna be easy, boys, but I’ll be here for you. No matter what.”

  “I lub you.” Ashton stood up on the stacked hay, wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. Ashton still had this innocence to him that wasn’t tainted by his mother’s abandonment. He let go of things and didn’t seem to worry as much as the older two. I could only hope and pray later on it what she did doesn’t hurt him.

  It would never get old hearing those words. “I love you, Ash.”

  “I love you, too.” Cooper waited for Ash to release me before hugging my neck.

  I wanted a minute alone with Storm as I was most concerned about him on that day. While he remembered his mother, the other two were too young. “Coop, can you take Ash to use the potty before we get started?” Cooper remembered the loss without the depth of it all, whereas Storm remembered what it was like to have his mother and the good times along with the bad.

  “Sure. Come on Ash. Let’s go inside ‘cause Daddy said no peein’ on the barn today. We have to use our bestest manners.” Cooper took off toward the house, leaving poor little Ash in the dust, who took off doing his best to keep up.

  “You okay, Storm? You’re pretty quiet.”

  “I’m fine.”

  In the beginning, Storm had a lot of trouble accepting me. I think in his little heart he held out the hope that his mother would come back one day.

  “I know I’ve said it before, but I’m not tryin’ to take your Momma’s place. She’ll always be your mom, nothing will ever change that.” I watched him carefully. He always played his cards close to the vest, even at eleven years old. He studied me in return.

  Chewing on the inside of his mouth, he was silent for a beat. “I don’t have a momma no more. She didn’t love us, so she left. We weren’t good enough.”

  My heart shattered into tiny shards. I felt like I had just been gutted. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t seen it before. All of the anger and resentment wasn’t directed at me, well it was at me, but in his mind Crystal’s leaving was his fault.

  “No, Storm.” I shook my head as tears welled in my eyes. “If you never believe anything else I say to you, believe this. You are good enough. You three boys are the best three boys a momma could ever ask for. I’m so lucky to have three stepsons like you guys.”

  “What if you get mad at Dad too? Are you gonna leave like she did?” His name fit him so well. A storm brewed behind his hazel irises and I wanted nothing more than to give him peace.

  “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but as sure as I stand here, right now, I’ll always be here for you. No matter what. That’s the vow I make to you three today. I might not be your mom, but I’ll always protect you like I was. I promise.”

  “Do you think it would be okay if you were our mom?” His question was barely a whisper on the wind, but it blew me away. The look in those eyes, I would never forget. The fear of rejection – it was something I’d move heaven and earth to never have to see again.

  I swallowed back a bucketful of tears, cleared my throat and said, “I think that would make me the luckiest mom in the whole world.”

  Standing, I opened my arms and waited for Storm to take the first step. In two quick steps, he threw his arms around my middle as I closed my arms around his shoulders, leaning down to kiss the top of his soft brown hair. “I love you, little man.”

  “I… love you, too, Mom.”

  Chapter one

  SCOTT

  Fourteen Years Later

  Maria had been in the barn all afternoon with the farrier trying to g
et all seven of the horses taken care of before winter. Just before I pulled the meatloaf out of the oven, I caught sight of her shaking hands with Joe as he gathered his tools and packed his truck.

  It didn’t matter how many years we had been together, I still hated watching another man touch her; even an innocent handshake from a guy I knew. In the beginning, it had taken all my willpower to not punch every guy who talked to her in the face. Over the years, my faith and trust grew, and I knew I had nothing to worry about. My Maria was nothing like my first wife, Crystal.

  “Dad, are you still staring at Mom?” Ashton snuck up behind me, catching me off-guard.

  “Jesus, son.” I wheeled around to face him, eyes wide. “Stop creepin’ up on people.” He smiled, quite pleased with himself. “And no, I wasn’t staring. I just happened to glance out the window and she was there.”

  He chuckled, turning around and grabbing one of the rolls from the basket on the island. “Sure. Keep telling yourself that, Dad.”

  The front door whooshed open and before I could yell at Ash, Maria said, “Don’t even think about eating that, young man. Dad’s cooked dinner and you can wait until it’s all ready.”

  “But, I’m hungry,” Ash whined like a child, placing the dinner roll back where he got it from as I closed the oven, setting the pan of meatloaf on the stovetop. The whole house smelled of cumin seasoned beef, sautéed onions, and bell peppers.

  Her eyes fell on me and she smiled sweetly, toeing off her shoes. “How much longer ‘til dinner, honey?”

  “Ten minutes. I gotta put the ketchup stuff on and then put it back in for a few minutes.” I looked at my youngest son. “You won’t starve before then.”