Blood Ties (Cartel Wars #5)

1. Prologue

Prologue

Miguel

The sunlight shines through the small opening of the curtains, leaving a golden hue across Marcus's skin. I bury my nose into his hair, wanting to forever ingrain his scent in my memory. I won't take these moments we spend together for granted, knowing each might be our last. Even when we had fought, I made sure to never leave while either of us was angry.

"What time is it?" He asks, sounding groggy.

"Morning, mi conejito."

He yawns, nuzzling into my chest. "You shouldn't have stayed so long."

"I wasn't ready to leave you yet."

"It's best not to delay the inevitable."

I roll my eyes. "If you wanted to get rid of me so badly then why not just say so."

He laughs, kissing my jaw. "You know I'd keep you here forever if I could, Papi."

"One day, when it's safe, I'll let you."

He frowns, wrinkling his forehead. "You and I both know that'll never happen. They will never allow it. This is all we'll have until we are no longer allowed to have this either."

I sigh softly, hating how right he is. Badly wanting to rid his look of despair, I press a kiss into his hair and reach into the nearby drawer where I'd placed his gift earlier. "I have something for you."

His eyes brighten and his mouth twists in the cute way it always does when he's overly curious. "What is it?"

Good, he's distracted. We've had enough angry and bad days lately that we deserve to have a good one today. I bring my hand up from where it's hiding and he gasps, staring down at the blue pistol in my hand. "I want you to hold this and make sure it gets back to me, with you carrying it.”

He wraps his fingers around the handle, smiling. "It's beautiful."

My lips meet his and our tongues fight for dominance. His warm body slides on top of mine and I dig my nails into his hips, wanting to imprint on his body in any way I can. The bite marks I leave along his hips aren't enough. It never is.

"Papi…"

"Yes, mi conejito. Que quieres?"

"I want you to kiss me."

"I am kissing you, precious."

He shakes his head, his breathing growing heavy. "Not my mouth."

"Donde? Show me."

He bites his lower lip, and his dark brown eyes swallow me whole. I remain still against the mattress while he props himself on his knees. My head rests between his legs as his ass slides over my face, the plastic of his cock cage grazing over my skin.

I grip onto his thighs, guiding him higher. He spreads his cheeks apart, his pucker brushing over my lips. Parting my mouth, I immediately stick out my tongue, eager to be buried inside him. He rocks back and forth, gripping the headboard while I lap at his hole, sucking and teasing the swollen bud before delivering more thrusts. His moans fill the room and I continue hitting each sensitive nerve with my tongue, tasting the cum I left from last night. I feast on him as if there won't be a tomorrow. There is never a guarantee for us. We threaten our own lives each time we meet here and I wish it could at least be somewhere better. He always deserves better.

We've learned to make this place ours over time though. It's where we've allowed ourselves to be free. Free to kiss, free to fuck and free to love. No matter where we are or where we go, we will always have today and all the other times we've spent getting lost in each other in this cheap hotel in the middle of nowhere.

His moans and whimpers take me on higher planes. His pleasure was sometimes as satisfying as my own. Knowing I was the one who drove him to bliss, taking him straight to heaven had me going there with him. It is a drug I've become addicted to, needing to be able to claim it for my own, only something shared between us. Only something I could give him. Something that doesn't dare leave this room, because if it did, we'd lose more than each other. We'd lose everything.

His body convulses and his cheeks clench around my tongue as he mewls from the stimulation of each sensitive nerve ending. The pleasure he gets from not being able to ejaculate always makes him more alive than before. “Ohh...fuck…”

I press a finger alongside my tongue, curling inside him, hitting his prostate until he’s gasping for air. A few dribbles of cum drip through the plastic confines wrapped around his soft cock, leaking onto my face. I don’t stop plunging inside him until his body goes slack against the headboard.

Only with me is he ever this open and vulnerable. I do everything I can to make him feel safe—safe to bare his soul to me. He crashes beside me, breathing heavily and burying his face into my chest. “Just a little longer never hurt anyone.” He hums softly. “Thank you, Papi.”

I nuzzle my nose into his hair, inhaling his sweat and the hotel shampoo. “Anything for you, mi conejito.”

I climb out of the bed and return with a warm, wet cloth. I wash between the openings of the cage. The new one I'd bought him makes it easier to get him clean without fully removing it. He isn’t ready to have it off yet and neither am I. It was only weeks ago when I reached for the key from my pocket and he stopped me, whispering with heated breath. “Don’t, it makes me feel more like yours.”

After that I knew he would be mine forever. Me being the keyholder of all his pleasures is my constant reminder. Our constant reminder . It was sometimes needed in the life we were forced to live, spending most of our days apart.

After I finish getting him dry, I climb back beside him, taking him in my arms. The words I’ve been wanting to say for the longest time remain on the tip of my tongue. I'm not allowed to say them and it’s like he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

His fingers slide over my mouth. “Not today. Save it for when we are both free, for when it can no longer hurt us.”

Too late.

Every time I leave him, not only do I go home feeling free and sated. Deep down inside, I’m also left a bit broken.

He sighs softly, and his eyes flutter closed. I hold him tighter, staring numbly at the door I’d soon have to walk through. I’m not ready.

Just a little longer.

A loud knock has my eyes flashing open. It comes again and I sit up in bed, startling Marcus, but not enough to fully wake him. He smiles with his eyes half lidded and curls onto his side, getting comfortable again. The next time it sounds more like a kick of someone’s shoe rather than the tap of someone’s hand.

I shake Marcus’s shoulder. “Baby, it’s time to wake up now. We have a visitor who won’t go away.” His eyes blink open and he glances sleepily at the door and then back at me. “Tell them to fuck off.”

A gunshot fires through the door, grazing over our heads. I take hold of Marcus and roll us onto the floor. We both get onto our stomachs, reach for our clothes, and grab our guns. “Do you think they found us?”

I swallow hard. “I don’t know. I was so careful. I always am.” I think back to when I was at the house and Julia had asked me to hold her for a little while before I left. I stupidly did only to get her off my back. I shove my hand into my jacket pocket and pull out a tracker. The bitch slipped it in when I wasn’t paying attention. “We need to get the fuck out of here and fast.”

“I know you’re in there, Miguel. It’s best to come out now while you're both still breathing. I’d hate to put a bullet in your boyfriend’s head.”

Jorge Juventino.

The door breaks open and Julia’s father stands in the doorway holding a gun, surrounded by five of his men. “You think you can break my daughter’s heart this way and get away with it? You think you can embarrass the Juventino name?”

Marcus grabs my hand and I open my mouth, turning to face him. He shakes his head. Not now. Tell me next time. He smiles wearily, standing up and putting his hands in the air with nowhere to escape. Two men grab him, shoving him into the hallway. “Take him home. Make sure he and his family pack their things and get the hell out of the country by the end of tonight.”

“Please, punish me, not him.”

"Oh, I plan on it." Jorge raises his gun, pointing it at my head. "What better way to hurt you than to make you watch the man you love walk through that door, breathing in front of you for the very last time."

My eyes widen. "You told him to leave the country. I thought that meant you wouldn't hurt him."

Jorge smiles. "I did, but if a fire happens to stop him before then, I'm technically not going against anything I've said. I've promised nothing."

"Please, don't hurt him." I was never a man who begged, and I shouldn't do it now. It only gives Jorge more leverage. The words came before I could stop them. Jorge's eyes light up with glee, making me hate myself. This is all my fault. I got too close. I'd allowed myself to want something too much, and it made me a weaker man.

Jorge sighs and slams the gun into the side of my head. "Don't you get it? This is all on you. You only have yourself to blame. You will spend the rest of your life hating yourself for the mistakes you made and will never forget who holds all control."

I open my mouth, but before I can speak, a needle is being inserted into my neck.

"Time to go to sleep now. Everything will be how it should in the morning, once I finish cleaning up the mess you made."

My eyes close and my heart cracks in two as my body goes slack, my last moments with Marcus flashing in my mind.

"Not now. Save it for next time."

What if there isn’t one?