23. Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Miguel
Able pulls the car to the front of an abandoned warehouse. It had showed Marcus went here when I pulled up the tracker on my phone. My mind is too caught up in the memories from last night, I don't notice the back car door opening until someone is sliding in beside me. Able doesn't move his hands from the steering wheel and his eyes remain forward as if he didn't notice Marcus getting in the car. When I'm more than sure he did since nothing gets past him. He knows to give me my privacy when I require it. Normally he would even step out of the car, but we have somewhere to be, a different hotel where someone else's affair is taking place.
"Morning, Miguel."
I frown, already missing the words he'd repeatedly said last night when he was on his knees and underneath me. They had replayed in my mind the whole way here. "Si, Papi."
Every time we take one step forward, we take three steps back. "You left this morning."
He sighs. "You're wrong. I left last night; you were just too exhausted to notice. Looks like you needed the sleep. You appear well rested today."
"I can't say the same for you. You look like you've been up all night, what's wrong, mi amor?"
I stroke his cheek and he pushes my hand away, staring between Able and me. "I'm not here to discuss sleep habits with you. We have a job to do and once it's done—"
"You want me back in Mexico. I know."
"I didn't think you'd give up so easily." Disappointment and a sense of loss fills his heavy eyes. This is his way of asking me to stay and I want nothing more than to give him the answer he searches for.
"I never said I was." I grab his hand, rubbing the inside of his palm with my thumb. "I was only repeating what you told me I should do."
He bites back a smile. "I guess you wouldn't be you otherwise."
"You aren't going to give me a hard time about it?"
"Not today. Perhaps later." I wonder if tomorrow he'd give me the same answer. He needs me and doesn't know how to tell me without coming off needy.
He tilts his head, scrunching his nose. "What are you wearing anyway?"
"Clothes."
"Are you sure about that? For a minute there I was sure someone was missing the fruit to their cocktail."
I stare down at my orange suit, straightening my jacket. "I thought we had a job to do. I wasn't aware that what I wore to kill someone was important."
He glances out the window as Able arrives at the hotel Mario is meeting his mistress at. "As long as you're alright with it being covered in blood and bullet holes then wear whatever you want. It would probably be an improvement."
"Is that your way of telling me I look sexy today? You probably shouldn't flirt with me when I'm supposed to be staying focused."
He rolls his eyes, grabbing the binoculars from the back of the seat. "You're the only distracting thing here. Now can you please stay quiet long enough for me to do my job."
"Why? You need me to stop talking in order for you to see?"
He releases a drawn out sigh, placing the binoculars over his eyes. "I think we got our man."
He hands me the binoculars and I confirm what he sees. "Looks like Mario getting out of his flashy red car in his bright pink tie."
"You two have something in common. The need for attention."
I laugh, sliding my hand between his legs. "Easy, precious. Someone won't get to come later if he can’t behave himself. I’ve dealt with that smart mouth of yours for long enough."
He inhales sharply, enclosing my fingers between his thighs. "You like my smart mouth."
"I do. Gives me a reason to keep it busy." I stroke his bottom lip with my thumb causing it to quiver.
"We should get going soon."
"Give him a while. It will be better to catch this man with his pants down." I rub his cock through his slacks, and he spreads his legs, humming softly. I kiss his neck, nipping at his skin as I continue to stroke him. I glance at my watch and pull my hand away. "Time for us to go. We'll finish this up later."
He groans in frustration. "Let's get this over with then. The sooner this man dies, the better."
We both step out into the parking lot and I let Able know to be ready with the car when we're done. Marcus's shoulder brushes mine as we walk side by side into the hotel. "Hopefully you don't stick out like a sore thumb when we enter the hotel room. Someone may mistake you for a pimp."
"Would that make you my whore then?"
He scoffs. "You're insufferable."
"Even when I have you spread out on your back?"
"Everyone has their tolerable moments."
I chuckle and we rush past the front desk as if we are guests heading back to our room. "Do you know the room number?"
"Yes. Carlos messaged me with it earlier. It's 117."
"Ah, here we are." I stop in front of the room, pulling out my gun. I press my ear to the wall and know we caught him at the right moment when loud moans come from the room.
"After you, mi amor." Marcus says mockingly.
“Look at you being a good boy and using your manners." I kick open the door and Mario is naked on the bed with his hands tied and a blind fold over his eyes. His mistress is riding his cock and stops when her gaze lands on us. Her screams have Mario flinching and tugging on the ropes. "What is it?"
"Please don't kill me. I haven't done anything." She raises her hands in the air, her bottom lip trembling.
I inch closer and point the gun to her head. "Get up and get your clothes on. This has nothing to do with you. We are here for Mario."
Tears spring from her eyes. "But who is going to take care of me and my son when he's gone? We have nothing without him."
"Leave here quietly and we will make sure you're taken care of. Mention this to anyone or attempt to help your lover in any way and we'll bury you both in the ground."
She nods frantically, searching for her clothes. "You have my word."
"What the fuck is going on?" Mario demands. Claudia rushes out of the room partially dressed, not looking back. It’s more than clear how more important her and her son’s lives are to her than the weak, coward lying on the bed.
"You've fucked with the wrong people and now you must pay the consequences." Marcus moves in front of me, pulling a knife from his pocket. "How did you know who stopped the auction?"
"Fuck you. I'm not telling you shit."
Marcus presses the jagged knife into Mario's shin and twists it, earning him a scream. "Stop, please stop."
"Begging isn't a good look on you, Mario. But please do keep going."
Marcus stabs the other leg, but before he can twist it Mario shouts, "Wait. It was an anonymous tip. We tried to track the guy down and came up empty handed."
"Guy? How do you know it was a guy?"
"One of his men kept saying he and him."
"They never said his name? Any chance it could have been Santana?"
He scoffs. "Impossible."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Santana hasn't been seen since last year and from what I hear won’t be resurfacing ever again. This guy contacted me more recently."
"How recent?"
"Two months ago."
He's right. Santana was dead months before that so it couldn't have been her. "Are you sure you don't know anything else?"
"Will you believe me if I say no?"
"Depends. How much more do you want to suffer before you die?"
He folds sooner than I'd expected. Such a fucking embarrassment. "I swear I'm telling the truth. I know nothing else."
"You know if anyone else is coming for us?"
"I don't know all their names, but if they see I've backed down, they may back down too. They were already starting to turn down my calls after Mr. William’s body was discovered hanging from the Old Red Bridge.”
“We will just have to hold onto your phone for a little while and not let anyone know you're dead until your friends decide to contact you. Maybe they already have.” I pick up his jacket from the floor and search his pockets. “I think we have what we need, mi amor. Go ahead and do what you do best. I’ll be here watching with pride.”
Mario tugs at the restraints again. “You said I wouldn't suffer.” Marcus slides the knife along his cock. “I lied.” He makes a few slashes into Mario’s thighs, humming an unrecognizable tune and carves his initials into the skin of his stomach causing him to shriek. “Please.”
Marcus slices a few lines down his chest and another above his navel. “Fucking assholes. I hope they come for you when I’m dead. Someone eventually will. What your sons did will never be forgiven. All the lives they took and money they lost. You’re better off killing them yourself to keep them from suffering too much.”
“You probably should have killed yourself too, but then we wouldn’t have been able to share this moment together.” Marcus’s eyes land on the flickering flames of the candles on the nightstand. “Someone is awfully romantic. I can be romantic too.” He grabs one of the candles and pours the melted wax over the bleeding cuts on Mario’s stomach. More screams and sobs fill the room.
Marcus grabs another one and pours the wax down Mario’s throat. He shakes and gasps, choking on the hot liquid already drying in his mouth. Marcus laughs and picks up another and pulls off the blindfold from his eyes, prying open Mario’s lids with his fingers, filling his eyes the same way he did his mouth. Mario convulses, going quiet, but Marcus doesn’t stop until his whole face is covered, his skin burning underneath the wax. He climbs off the bed, and pulls off his gloves, shoving them in his pocket. “What do you know? The guy can be quiet after all.”
I laugh, walking behind him. “You did so good, precious. I think you’ve earned that reward and so much more.” I slide my hand down his body, gripping his ass. “Not here though. Later, when we're alone in a place you feel safest.”
“Can you take me home now?” My heart squeezes at the thought of his safe place no longer being me. I kiss him on the cheek, whispering in his ear, “Not yet. I still need to woo you first.”
We leave the hotel exactly the way it is with Mario's dead body tied to the bed, covered in wax. We want his friends to know what we’ve done. We are the ones sending the messages now and I hope they hear every single fucking one.
Instead of getting in the car with his driver, Marcus climbs into mine. I tell Able to take us to The Rose Garden in Loose Park, knowing he'll enjoy being surrounded by his favorite flowers. Marcus stares at the window the whole time, never letting go of my hand. When Able stops the car in the parking area, I lift Marcus's fingers to my mouth, pressing a kiss to the tips. "We're here."
"Where's here?"
"You'll see soon enough."
"You're not going to knock me out again and then I wake up on a jet on the way to some secluded island?"
"No, but that's a good idea for our next date." I chuckle softly.
"So this is a date?"
"Si."
"I didn't even get asked the question this time."
"No, but you did come willingly. I think it's a step in the right direction."
He swallows hard. "It means I got distracted. Something I allow to happen too often around you which is probably not a good thing."
"It's not exactly a bad thing either, because at least now you get to enjoy a romantic stroll in the park.” He looks ahead toward the roses with bright eyes. "Instead of buying me flowers again, you bring me to them."
"It feels weird being at a place like this with you and how we are holding hands, enjoying something so simple together as if we were..."
"Normal?"
He smiles, squeezing my hand. "Yeah."
"Maybe in this life things can't always be rainbows and butterflies, but sometimes they can be whatever we want."
"Even that's better than never." He leans into me, kissing my lips and at this moment we really do have everything.
Then he finally asks the question I never thought I'd hear. "Come home with me."
And suddenly I have the whole fucking world.