25. Andre #2
The old man tipped his head to the side and studied me as I stood a few feet away. I didn’t offer any greeting because I was locked up on what to say. Matías, the helpful man that he was, jumped in.
“Javier, this is my brother, Andre.” Matías lifted his arm toward me as he introduced me. I nodded. Javier looked like he gave a flying fuck about who I was. “Grey,” Matías said as he pointed at Grey. “Parker, and Lafe.” He hesitated when his gaze landed on Amorette.
Javier twisted to look up at him, noticing the pause. “And her?”
“Off fucking limits.” Matías smiled. And, fuck me, but it was genuine.
Javier smirked and rubbed a hand along his stubbled jaw. “Mm. So she’s off the menu?”
The surge of Grey’s rage beat at my back. Giving into myself, I slid a glance toward Amorette to see what she was doing, and Lafe had her wrapped up in his arms with her back to his chest. He was holding her so tight and watching the room, more than likely looking for the damn drugs.
Amorette was lost to the conversation. First, it was in Spanish, but second, she was zeroed in on the woman giving the man head. She was spooked, and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it. It was a mistake to bring both of them here.
Parker sighed, shoved his hands in his pockets and stepped into her line of sight, blocking her view. Then Grey stepped up to Lafe’s other side, not touching, but letting him know he was there.
“She’s ours,” I said, my voice loud enough for them to hear over the music.
“Well, I’d love to hear how Vicente’s bastard sons came to share a woman with the heir.
” Javier laughed and slapped his knee. “Boys!” He whistled and motioned to a couple of young kids a few feet away.
They must have been their prospects, because they didn’t look old enough to drive.
The Dirty Dogs tried to wait until they were mostly adults before making full members of them. “Bring a couch over!”
They nodded and scrambled to the closest empty couch. It was difficult. The longer we stood here, the more skin started to slap together, and groans competed with the music.
The boys dropped the couch in front of me, and I nodded at the others, letting them know we should sit.
I hadn’t corrected Javier, and the stern look on Matías’ face stopped me.
This was another one of those situations that backed me into a fucking corner.
With Vicente, Amorette was safest with Matías.
Here in the fucking Dirty Dogs’ compound, she was safer with Matías.
At some point, I was going to stab something.
If I was lucky, it would be Vicente. Matías would be a close second.
No one could torture it out of me, but the thought that the legitimate son could keep her safer than we could, burned a bitter streak a mile long through my chest.
“So…” Javier prodded and slapped the ass of a woman who walked between us with a tray of shots. She yelped and grinned over her shoulder as she sauntered away.
Out of the corner of my eye, Amorette flinched.
If she got antsy at women who didn’t seem to mind the work, she’d fall apart if we had to take her anywhere near Vicente’s other businesses.
We’d kept her too sheltered and, at the same time, there was no fucking way we could have taken her anywhere or exposed her more.
I scrubbed a hand over my face.
“Javier, I was told I could potentially find an ally in Dirty Dogs.” My voice was strained. “I have a man named Thaddeus; his cousin is part of your organization. He was supposed to let you know we wanted to meet tonight.”
Javier’s eyebrows raised so high, they disappeared in his hairline. “And what’s this cousin's name?”
“Esteban Rodriquez.”
“Oh really? He hasn’t said a damn word to me.” He searched the room, and when he caught someone’s eye, he snapped his fingers several times. “Rio! Send Esteban over!”
“Now, Matías. Why didn’t you tell me you’d started up one of those fucking polyamory-type relationships with your brothers? I would have told Rita not to come tonight. She’ll be pissed.”
Matías shifted on the couch and avoided everyone’s gazes except Javier’s. The other men on the couches might as well have been faceless accessories. Javier never glanced at them or included them in the conversation. The man on the end groaned as the girl started deep-throating him.
“I think I can handle Rita. It’s been over for years, and it never really started.” Matías brushed imaginary lint off of his shoulder.
“What do you mean it never really started, boy? You popped her cherry, and then you fucked like rabbits every time you came to visit.” Javier laughed so hard he could barely get the words out.
Frowning, Matías shook his head in disagreement, but it felt more for our benefit. He was close with this man, who, from how the men reacted to him, was either their president or someone very high up in the circle.
Who was he?
“Who’s Rita?” Parker asked, a shit-eating grin stamped on his face. “Brother, you didn’t tell me about her! Or we wouldn’t have let Little Love stay with you.”
A trill of nerves raised the hair on the back of my neck. It wasn’t a secret that Vicente gave Amorette to Matías. What I wasn’t sure of was if that was widespread knowledge outside the institution.
A vein of agony began to spider out from my temples.
Fucking hell. All of these surprises were giving me a migraine. We didn’t have very long before I would lose my dinner in Javier’s lap.
Matías glowered at Parker. “Javier’s daughter.”
I had to turn my head to look at Amorette. Whenever the migraines came on, it hurt too much to cut my eyes to the side.
She was still watching the man at the end get a blowjob. But the way she was locked in on it, she wasn’t with us at all.
I tried to get Lafe’s attention to distract her, but he was also stuck in his own world. Fuck!
Grey was on my other side and absolutely useless unless I wanted to make a scene. Which I didn’t.
Parker had another retort on the tip of his tongue, but a man barely old enough to have a beard jogged up with a short knife in his hand. He had too much enthusiasm for this life. It immediately made my head pound harder.
“Hey, Javi, what’s up?”
Ah, god, he even sounded like a kid.
“Esteban, your cousin tell you about the bastards wanting a word?” Javier leaned back against the couch and spread his legs, settling in for what he probably thought would be a long discussion.
He turned to us with a smarmy grin, and his eyes lit up when they landed on Amorette, who was still fucking watching the longest blowjob in world history. He was getting close though, by his grunts and shoving the woman’s head down.
“Well, hello, beautiful,” he said, stepping closer, flipping the knife end over end—a lame trick to impress her.
The woman in the man’s lap started to struggle, but he wouldn’t let her up. He tossed his head back and used both hands on the sides of her head to move her how he wanted her, even as her arms flailed.
I was too far gone in the pain to predict what would happen next. I should have, but the smoke was fucking with me, and my vision was dimming around the edges.
Amorette slowly pulled her gaze away from the woman to Esteban. She noted the knife in his hand. Then with so much damn speed, she caught the blade and slammed into the shoulder of the man as she screamed in his face.
What a fucking nightmare….