2. Chapter 2
Chapter 2
N az scrubbed his hands at the spigot on the warehouse property, sluicing the water over his shaved head. Disposing of bodies didn’t normally give him a cold sweat. He knew what did, but he was attempting to ignore the images that plagued his mind.
The creak of a door caused him to lift his head. Water dripped onto the shoulders of his cotton shirt as he watched the naked woman descend one of the trailer’s steps, clutching her clothes.
For fuck’s sake, what the hell did she think she was doing?
His eyes cut away, searching the yard for the other men. He didn’t see anyone else, but Julio wasn’t going to like her strutting around like she was.
He stared at her ear as she approached him, letting his peripheral vision pick up any sudden movements. She was naked, and it wasn’t likely a weapon would fit among the clothes clutched in her hand, but he sure as hell didn’t trust her not to try something.
“Is this the only place to clean up around here?” Meg asked, her grimace letting his eyes move to her face. “That asshole didn’t use a condom, and I’m going to get a UTI for sure if I don’t take a piss and clean up.”
Naz’s gaze went back to the spigot still flowing with water, but he didn’t want to imagine her cleaning out her private parts right there beside him. The brief glimpse of the hair between her legs and her glistening thighs was enough to have his nerves rioting.
He turned off the water and jerked his head toward the other trailer, which had a bathroom, including a shower. He let her move ahead of him before following. Her wandering around the compound by herself didn’t seem like a safe option.
His hand reached over her shoulder to hold the trailer door open, and she tensed briefly before resuming her progress up the steps and inside. There were guns and sharp objects scattered throughout the tiny kitchen. He was right not to leave her alone with all that. He gestured toward the bathroom beyond it.
“Oh, thank God,” she muttered, rushing inside and shutting the door.
Naz tried to remember if anyone had left a gun inside the bathroom. He hoped not, but he settled against the wall, sliding down to sit on the carpet, where he’d have a clear view. There was no telling what the others had done on the cruddy couch in the trailer.
The sound of the shower helped him to breathe.
Meg’s breasts had been perkier than the few he’d seen, with darker nipples, more brown than pink. He tried to bury the thought. His job as muscle had caused him to see more naked people than he would have liked. Half the women the cartel slept with were like Meg, not caring who saw them fucking, but that didn’t mean he wanted to look or watch.
He doubted anyone he worked for would believe he’d never fucked anyone by choice. His mind tried to slither into memories of when he hadn’t had any control over what happened to him.
The vibration in his pocket was a welcome distraction. He dragged his phone out, seeing the text message he’d been expecting.
Diego checked in every seven days. Naz was convinced the man had an alarm set for it.
‘Proof of life.’
Naz wanted to tell him to fuck off, but Diego would probably find him and beat his ass. Besides, he owed Diego his life. Diego had dragged him out of the hellhole he’d been in, murdering the men who had imprisoned him there in a rage. Naz had thought he was daydreaming about breaking free again, but it wasn’t him fighting in this dream; it was a tatted-up, scrawny man with demon eyes.
Diego was no demon, though. He was Naz’s savior in so many ways. Naz hated that Diego continued to worry about him, but the weekly texts also settled him in a way that nothing else did. His tension fled as he tilted the phone, snapping a picture he didn’t bother looking at and sending it.
One person in the world wanted proof that he was alive. Some days, that was what he clung to.
To his surprise, the phone vibrated again. Diego wasn’t one for a lot of texts. Naz glanced down, sighing at the words, ‘Not visible.’
Naz looked at the picture. It was blurry as hell and shadowed in the closed up trailer. He hadn’t flipped on the lights, he realized.
He deleted the picture, turned on the flash, and tilted the phone to capture his middle finger.
A laugh came from the bathroom, and Naz tensed up. He deserved it if she managed to shoot him or something; he’d forgotten to keep track of the shower sounds.
Meg didn’t hold a gun, though, and he was relieved to see she’d gotten dressed, even if there was still way too much skin showing for his comfort, with her flannel tied around her waist like that.
“Did you just send someone a pic of you flicking them off?” She laughed again, braiding her wet hair while crossing to him.
He didn’t expect her to drop down beside him and grab for his phone.
“Let me see.”
Her smile didn’t look the same as the one he’d seen before. This one seemed softer somehow, more genuine. Her laugh was almost a giggle, feminine and as dainty as the hands clutching his phone.
She hit the ‘Send’ button for him. “Proof of life, huh? That’s nice. Someone gives a shit.” Her shoulder bumped against his, as if somehow sharing in the joy of that.
Naz held out his hand, and she handed back his phone.
“Who’s Diego?” Meg asked.
Naz shrugged, glancing down at the phone to see the responding text acknowledging the picture. He deleted the picture before putting the phone face down on his thigh.
Meg was pouting. “Not going to tell me?”
Naz shook his head.
She studied him, stretching out her legs and resting against the wall as if she meant to settle in next to him. “You don’t talk much, do you?”
Naz shook his head again.
She frowned this time, fiddling with one of the flannel sleeves on top of her thigh. “Whatever. You’re still better company than any of those other fuckers,” she mumbled.
Her eyes flew to his, and her shoulders tensed as if she realized what she’d said.
Naz lifted an eyebrow in question. She’d seemed more than comfortable going down on Julio in the warehouse earlier, but maybe it’d been a setup after all. If it had, the dealer hadn’t gotten what he wanted.
Whatever she saw in his face allowed her shoulders to relax. “You just don’t have ‘I wanna fuck you’ eyes. It’s weird, but I’m beat, so it’s kind of nice.” She sighed, fiddling with her sleeve again. “Julio had way more stamina the second time. It was nice until it wasn’t. I had to squeeze the shit out of his dick to get him to finish.” Her shoulder pressed warmly against his as her head rested back against the wall. “What a fucking day.”
Naz agreed. He wasn’t often out of his comfort zone anymore, but watching her give Julio a blow job had blown his sense of stability to pieces.
Her eyes closed. Her lashes looked delicate where they rested against her skin. She was a skinny thing, her size and shape more noticeable now that her amber eyes weren’t taking all his attention. The corner of her lip and her cheek were swollen from where she’d been smacked.
“You’re so quiet,” she mumbled. “’S kinda nice.”
Naz shook his head before resting it on the wall like she had. Most people found his silence intimidating or annoying. Even Diego tried to pull words out of him.
Naz thought the quiet in the trailer was kind of nice, too.
At the creak of the trailer door, Meg’s eyes flew open, and she jerked upright, her shoulder not touching his anymore as she scrambled to her feet.
“Julio!” she called, her hips swaying as she crossed to him.
Julio’s eyes locked onto Naz even as Meg shoved her tongue into his mouth.
Naz looked away, rising to his feet and shoving his phone into his pocket. They were still in the doorway. He waited for their kiss to finish so he could leave.
Julio’s voice brought Naz’s gaze back to him.
“What are you doing here with her?”
Meg answered for him. “He showed me where the shower was and worried about leaving me here alone with the guns lying around.” She rolled her eyes. “Like I’d want to shoot anyone after you made me come like that.” She slapped his arm. “I can’t believe you flooded me after I told you I’m not on anything.”
Julio’s hand wrapped around her neck, squeezing in warning. “Never hit me.”
Meg froze in his grip, her eyes wider than before, but a smile spread her cut lip. “Gonna take me rougher this time?” she asked, a purr in her voice that set Naz on edge.
If they thought he’d stick around and watch them fuck, they were fooling themselves. As soon as Julio left the doorway, he was out of there.
Julio’s hold loosened, and he stroked his thumb over her neck. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Naz stepped forward, tilting his head toward the door.
Julio’s gaze locked onto him. “Don’t want to watch?”
Naz just stared back. He’d learned that other men would rag him if they suspected he didn’t like sex.
Meg’s hand curled around Julio’s wrist, stroking it. “As much as I’d like to go again, I really should get a pill, just in case. I don’t want a baby destroying my vag.”
Julio backed her into the nearest wall, pressing against her as the trailer door slapped shut. “Think you’ll be alive long enough to worry about a baby?”
They were still too close to the door for Naz to slip past. His eyes dropped to her other hand, where her fingers dug into her thigh.
“You won’t be able to keep fucking me if I’m dead.”
“True.” Julio laughed. “You really are the best lay I’ve had. It’s like your pussy can milk me even when you’re not coming.” He ground against her body. “Fine. Get a damn pill. But it’ll make no difference if you’re leaking my cum when you go get one.”
When Julio’s other hand dragged her tube top down, freeing her breasts before squeezing one hard, Naz made an involuntary sound in his throat. At least it came out like a grunt instead of the panic he was feeling.
Julio’s eyes moved to him, and he had a smile that Naz recognized. Julio felt like he had something to prove. “No. You’re staying right there and watching me fuck her. She belongs to me, Naz. You need to see that.”
Memories were already clawing into him, making it hard to concentrate. He focused hard on the word he needed, imagining the way his jaw had to move to say it.
“No.”
The effort to say it took a toll, and the denial came out flat, not forceful like he’d imagined.
Both of them stared at him, and Naz cringed inside. Had it sounded wrong to them, like it had to him?
Julio shook his head. “Fuck, man. I’d heard you were a limp dick.” He sneered, and Naz considered crushing the sneer right off his face. “Fine,” Julio said, and he used his grip on Meg’s neck to pull her away from the wall near the door, shuffling her back against the one where Naz had sat with her instead. “Get out.”
Naz forced himself not to lunge for the exit.
“Drag those shorts down, but not off,” Julio ordered her. “I want it to be tight as hell while I fuck my cum into you.”
The slap of the door behind Naz didn’t drown out Meg’s answering moan.