Chapter 31
31
VAUGHN
T en minutes later, Hope ordered me inside, promising we’d talk more about la Mano Roja as soon as she’d showered. Apparently, sand had gotten inside her bra and panties when I’d tackled her to the ground, and it seemed to make her as cranky and irritable as when she skipped a meal.
While Hope was occupied in the bathroom, I ignored her firm instructions to leave Enrique alone and went outside to properly introduce myself. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, and it was high time this fool and I had a chat, man-to-man. Not about the fentanyl-precursor chemical pickup. That investigation I’d handle covertly. I wanted to make sure he knew Hope was off-limits for a bottom-feeder like him.
But first, I made him nervous by smoking a cigarette on the back porch while watching him work. Then I casually made my way across the yard to the kennels and leaned my arm across the top of a nearby cage.
Enrique hammered nails into a timber frame on the concrete floor. He glanced my way briefly to mumble, “Hola.”
“Do you know who I am?”
He paused his hammering but didn’t take his eyes from the nail sticking out of the frame. “You’re Hope’s cousin.”
“I’m not her fucking cousin. You understand?”
Enrique stood and faced me, puffing his chest out like a cocky son of a bitch. “No, I don’t understand. Are you trying to say you’re her boyfriend? I’ve known her for years and she’s never mentioned you. I don’t think she even likes you.”
This wiseass picked the wrong day to get mouthy with me. Maybe it was a bad time to discuss his intentions for Hope, because I already wanted to drag him to the beach and hold him under the waves until he stopped fighting.
“Right.” I picked up a handsaw and measuring tape from the ground and tossed them into his toolbox. “Pack your shit up and leave. You don’t work here anymore.”
“Daphne is paying me. I don’t take orders from you.” Enrique’s grip tightened on the hammer. He held it in front of him as if it made him powerful, and as if he wanted me to feel threatened. I didn’t. But if he took a swing at me, it would give me a solid reason to kick his ass and definitely make this conversation more interesting.
“What are you going to do with that?” I jerked my chin toward the hammer.
He widened his stance. “Try something and find out.”
Well, well. I hadn’t thought the kid had it in him. Unfortunately for Enrique, he had more balls than brain cells, which was rarely a winning combination.
In a flash, I disarmed him and pinned him against the wire mesh with my forearm at his throat. Daisy, the old, deaf mixed breed in the cage beyond, didn’t rouse from her afternoon nap. Enrique, on the other hand, was as alert as a crackhead and seconds from shitting his jeans.
I’d given him the option to leave peacefully, but he’d chosen violence. And now that I had him where I wanted him, maybe it was time to ask the hard questions after all. Who knew what he’d confess to if I pushed him for intel on the cartel?
I stared him down. “Time for us to have a chat.”
Enrique grunted in pain. “About what?”
“About what you and your pal are up to.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Cut the bullshit. I know exactly what you’re planning.”
His eyes widened. “How did you find out?”
“That’s not important. What’s important is you’re in some serious shit if you don’t start spilling.”
He squirmed in my hold. “It was just some harmless fun. A joke. That’s all.”
“You think this is a joke?”
“Alejandro bet me five hundred pesos. I need the money.”
A bet? What the hell was he talking about?
“Five hundred pesos to do what?”
“To…you know…with Hope.”
“If you don’t tell me everything in the next five seconds, I’ll haul you up the beach and make you dig your own grave.”
“To fuck her!” he blurted out, his whole body shaking. “She’s always playing hard to get. Alejandro made a bet that he could get her into bed first.”
Mother. Fucker.
My heart thundered. That annoying muscle twitched beneath my eye again. Fury like I’d never known surged within me. I was going to kill this fool, and I didn’t mean in the figurative sense.
“So you and your friend thought you’d have a little wager to see who could stick their dick in her first? And you call that a joke?” I pressed in harder against his throat. “What the hell is wrong with you? What did she ever do to deserve that?”
If my eyes looked deranged, it was for good reason. Seeing this sleazebag put his hands on Hope and now listening to his disgusting treatment of my girl had flipped a switch in me.
My girl.
Yeah. Fuck. I’d thought it, and there was no going back now.
“She didn’t do anything. That’s the problem. She won’t put out for any of us. It’s like she thinks she’s too good for every guy in the village. And her scars. They creep us out.” His voice croaked. “Come on, man. It’s just guys being guys.”
“Guys being guys?” I snarled. “I’m gonna tell you what I do to shit stains like you. If I’m feeling merciful, I put a bullet between their eyes. If I’m not, the authorities need dental records to identify them. And right now, there isn’t a single cell in my body that can recall what the word mercy even means. I can’t count the number of ways I know how to kill a man, but I bet I could come up with something new and creative just for you.” My eyes bored into his. “You don’t deserve to have Hope in your life. You could spend eternity trying to be good enough for her, and you wouldn’t come close. And she’s beautiful. So fucking beautiful. How can you be so blind?”
“Let…go.” Sweat dripped from Enrique’s brow as he scratched at my arms. A vein bulged at his temple. “Can’t…breathe.”
Had I strengthened my grip? I neither noticed nor cared.
“You like breathing? The next time you think about doing something as dumb as trying to make a few pesos by getting into a girl’s pants, you might want to remember this moment.”
Somehow, I summoned God-level restraint and withheld the urge to crush this asshole’s windpipe. Killing him would upset Hope. Then again, maybe it wouldn’t if she knew about the wager between Enrique and his buddy. But I couldn’t tell her about it. It would destroy her.
Still, allowing his behavior to go unchecked was out of the question, so I grabbed him by the collar and slammed my fist into his face. I did it two more times, then landed a blow to his gut, forcing the air from his lungs. He gasped and doubled over as drops of crimson landed on the concrete.
Satisfied that I’d at least made him bleed, I pressed him against the cage once more and leaned in close. “From this moment on, you don’t message her, you don’t talk to her, and you don’t put your filthy fucking paws anywhere near her. Consider this your restraining order. Break it, and I’ll end you.”
Without waiting for an answer, I dragged him to his truck and shoved him into the driver’s seat. “Get the fuck out of here, and don’t look back.”
Enrique started the engine and tore down the driveway like he’d just robbed a bank and the cops were chasing him.
That was when I heard the sliding door slam.