10. Chapter 10
Chapter 10
N az figured it’d take more time to save someone than to dispose of them, but he still almost missed Julio entering the trailer. Naz jumped the short steps and caught the door before it could swing shut, shoving himself in front of Julio.
“I’m not up for dealing with your shit,” Julio muttered.
Naz continued to block him. He’d been concentrating for the past hour on the two words he wanted to force out, but his last-minute sprint was making concentration difficult as his pulse pounded in his ears.
Julio’s eyes narrowed. “Get out of the way.”
“No.” The first word was easy enough. It was the one he said the most.
Julio’s nostrils flared. “Fuck you. I—”
“Kill,” Naz finished.
Julio paused. “You think I’m going to kill her?”
Naz stood where he was, staring at him.
“And lose that fucking pussy? Not a chance. She’s worth more than that.”
Naz’s palms began to sweat. Julio was going to sell her?
“But only when I’m tired of her. Besides.” He sighed. “Seb made a good point on the way back. That dealer was itching to pull before Meg screwed up. And you shot him quickly enough, and two more.” His hand reached for Naz’s shoulder, making his skin crawl when it squeezed. “So I’d prefer if we don’t kill each other over some snatch. I wish I had two more of you, honestly. José was the biggest waste of space, but I’m relieved as hell he’s not dead.” One more squeeze, and Julio released him.
Naz studied Julio’s face. His lips were pressed together, but his eyes didn’t look hard, just tired. Naz still hesitated to shift out of his path to the room Meg was in.
“I’m not pissed,” Julio warned, “but if you don’t move, no guarantees.”
Naz didn’t move aside. He waved his hand at the door instead.
Julio let out a disgusted sound. “I don’t read hand gestures. And please don’t try to speak again. Hearing your voice is annoying as hell.”
Naz pulled out his phone.
‘What are you going to do to her?’
A smirk raised the corner of Julio’s mouth when Naz showed him the question. “That’s not really any of your business, now is it?”
Naz wanted to carve that smirk off his face. He put away his phone to free up his hands.
Julio sighed again. “She’s gotta be taught a lesson. So I’m going to fuck her rough.”
Naz wished he hadn’t asked.
“Don’t worry.” Julio’s eyes laughed at him. “She loves it rough. Comes all over my cock. But you can watch if you’re worried.”
Naz jerked to the side.
Julio chuckled. “That’s what I thought. You’re such a fucking pussy sometimes.” He shoved past, bumping Naz’s shoulder. “Go get one of those pills for her again. I’m not pulling out. She deserves it. She hates leaking cum.”
When the door opened, Naz saw Meg inside the room, perched on the bed and staring past Julio at him.
He turned away before the door had completely shut. A walk to the store would clear his head.
I t was almost morning by the time Meg came to the area where they normally slept together. ‘Normally’ was the wrong way to think about it. They hadn’t known each other long enough for it to be normal.
She didn’t sit beside him, didn’t put her head on his shoulder. She wouldn’t even look at him. One of her hands stretched out.
“Julio sent me. Give it to me.”
Naz stared at that hand. There was discoloration around the wrist. Her eyes looked hollow, not bright with life like he was used to.
He left the bag next to him on the ground and grabbed his phone.
‘You okay?’
She made a disgusted sound in her throat, closing her eyes. “Why do you even care?” Her voice was barely a whisper of air.
With her eyes shut, it was pointless to type anything. Not that Naz had an explanation. All he knew was that he felt like he’d lost something. He’d never had anything to lose before.
He concentrated on her face, on her eyes squeezed tightly shut, dark shadows underneath the lashes. Her lips looked bruised, and he hated that.
“Meg.”
Her eyes flew open at the sound of her name, catching him cringing. He’d been practicing in his head all night, but it still sounded like shit.
“Say it again,” she said.
With her watching, it took more effort than before.
“Meg.”
A tear slipped down her cheek that she wiped away. It wasn’t the reaction Naz was going for at all.
She sat next to him, but their shoulders didn’t touch. A wince crossed her face, and she shifted, leaning slightly away.
Naz didn’t like the wince. He woke up his phone’s screen, holding it out for to her to see again.
‘You okay?’
She stared at the words, crossing her arms over her chest. “What do you want me to say?”
He stared at the discoloration on her other wrist.
She shifted again but toward him this time, not away. “It’s not my job to make you feel better. If you feel shitty about locking me up, good.”
He nodded. That was fair.
Naz did feel shitty, though he still didn’t think he’d done the wrong thing. Julio would have been angrier if he’d had to track her down. And he would have tracked her.
Meg had seen too much of the cartel’s business to just let her run free.
The thought sent a chill through Naz.
“Why’d you do it?” Her voice cracked on the question. She took a deeper breath, exhaling it in a shudder. “Why’d you make me stay?”
She met his eyes finally as if she were searching for something.
“Is it because—” Her eyes dropped.
Naz knew exactly why he’d made her stay. He typed out his answer, waiting for her to read it.
‘Running is never good. They’d come after you.’
And then they really would have killed her, or worse—damaged her in the chase.
“Ignacio.” The way she breathed his name made him think she’d understood what he hadn’t said.
Then she shifted again and winced, the pain breaking through her confusion, turning it back to frustration. She bit her lip.
It was hurting her to sit on the concrete. The reason why seeped inside him, bringing more ice to his veins.
He let his phone clatter to the concrete beside her, crossing his legs before reaching for her, pulling her into the circle of them.
She gasped at his contact but then stilled once she sat on his lap. His thighs were much more comfortable than the hard concrete, but sitting cross-legged let just the outside of her ass touch him.
His hand snaked around to encourage her to rest back against his chest. She sighed as she let herself melt into him.
Her hand moved to his arm across her stomach, keeping it there when he would have let go. Her fingers rubbed in a slow circle, and tingles burst across his skin and up toward his shoulder.
“Ignacio, were you going to…defend me?” The words fell between them in a whisper.
Before he could nod, she laughed, the sound false and ugly. “What the fuck am I saying? I’ve already learned my lesson. We’re not friends, are we?”
Naz wasn’t certain how to answer her. He couldn’t be her friend. Besides, their relationship felt nothing like what he had with Diego or even Ramiro, though he didn’t consider him a friend either.
The way he felt about Meg was different from anything he’d felt before. It was becoming a craving.
If Julio had wanted to kill her, Naz would have stepped in. He’d kill for her.
“No, we’re not friends,” she answered for him. Her body relaxed even more, husky drowsiness filling her voice. “But then, what are we?”
Her breathing deepened into sleep, which was for the best. Naz didn’t have an answer.