Chapter 30
CHAPTER 30
RIO
Z ane and Spencer think they’re being quiet, but they’re fucking not. Literally fucking, and not quiet at all. I’ve been drowning out their moans by talking at an unusually louder volume about the most random shit so that no one can hear them.
I expect compensation in the form of foot massages and possibly blow jobs. Spencer would be mortified if she knew that we could hear her, and Zane would kill any living thing that heard her, so I’m doing them both a solid.
When their moans and cries finally end, I take out my phone and dial a number I wish I didn’t have to. I mean, really. The fucker is apparently involved or wants to be involved with my little sister. Not to mention his two sidekicks.
Gabriel answers the phone a little too cheery. “ ?Que pasa, hermano? ”
“We need to talk,” I retort.
“If this is about Carmen, it’s not open to discussion.”
I pace the kitchen. “Whatever you think you have going on with my sister, ends now. You leave her alone. She’s not someone you can just fuck and ditch. I will cut you to pieces and scatter them across the Atlantic for the sharks if you so much as make her shed a single tear.”
“Ooo. Brother Bear is in full swing.” His sarcasm isn’t amusing.
“I’m serious, Gabe. Leave her alone. She’s way too young for you and doesn’t need you dragging her down. She’s in school. She’s going places.”
“Isn’t your little side piece the same age as Carmen? And you and I are the same age, so . . .” He trails off, clarifying his innuendo.
“Spencer is none of your business,” I spit out through gritted teeth.
“Uh huh. Sure. Well, this has been lovely, but I gotta?—”
“This isn’t why I called,” I interrupt him.
His exasperated tone comes through the speaker. “Get to the point.”
“You have a problem in your house.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Cain is using more of your guys to do his bidding. I have one of your homeboys in my basement. He dropped a body on my porch as a warning from Cain and his friend.”
“ Pendejo ,” he mutters angrily.
“Yeah. You need to get your shit in order. It sounds like some of your guys aren’t happy with how you’re running things if they’re looking outside la mara for work.”
“Consider it taken care of. I’ll send Diego and Mateo by to pick him up.”
“We’re doing a temporary move into the city. I’ll leave a key under the doormat.”
“I’ll be sure to water your plants,” Gabriel replies sarcastically then hangs up.
Asher approaches me in the kitchen with his partners, Berkowitz and Kowalski. I’ve never learned their first names and never intend to. Asher never calls them by their first names, anyway.
Their expressions are serious, as always, but there’s a different feel to the energy in the air this time.
Before I can ask what’s going on, Asher gets right to the point. “The DNA results are back.”
“From the Butcher and Spencer’s attacker?”
He nods. “They’re the same.”
“Fuck me.” I tip my head back and stare at the ceiling as if it’s supposed to have all the answers written out plainly for me right there. “What should we do next?”
“The plan hasn’t changed. We were operating under the assumption that Anthony and the Bride Butcher were the same person, and now we know for sure that’s true.”
Berkowitz gives his two cents. “If anything, now we’ll all be more prepared.”
“We?” I raise my brows at Asher.
“Yes, we . Berkowitz and Kowalski are going to help keep an eye on Spencer when needed.”
“Okay . . . ?”
Asher turns to his partners. “Can you two find out how much longer the crime scene techs will be?”
They look at each other, confused, and then Kowalski speaks up. “Sure thing, man.”
Once they’re out of earshot, I whisper, “What the hell? You said the leak was one of them. Why are you letting them get closer?”
“So I can figure out which one it is,” he says like that’s the obvious answer.
“Spencer could get hurt in the process,” I hiss.
He places a hand on my shoulder to soothe my worries. “We’ll take extra precautions. Between the three of us, we’ll keep her safe.”
“That better be how it goes down. She’s been through enough. She doesn’t need more shit piled on her.”
Asher’s face turns hard and determined. “Spencer is ours, and we protect what’s ours.”