Chapter 1 Camile #2
Ledger shrugs. “He’s a bit of legend, isn’t he? Your whole family is. The Montez name is notorious.”
Stiffening, I frown at his words. I don’t like people mentioning my family.
They’re infamous in Mexico and certain parts of the States.
I remember during my teenage years, our name was all over the press, and we couldn’t trust anyone.
My dad became deeply paranoid, and we ended up in hiding for almost a year.
It was about that time that my brother was sent to Verona Falls, and my other brother had already left home, leaving me alone with our parents.
That might be a few years ago now, but it affected me growing up.
It was a time when I needed my siblings around me the most. During those awkward teenage years when men who should know better start to notice you, I had no older brothers around to watch out for me.
Sometimes I wonder if that’s the reason I’ve always made myself fade into the background.
I stopped wanting to be noticed when I was in my teens, and I never figured out how to step into the limelight again, or even if I wanted to.
I put my milkshake to one side and press my hands into my lap. “I don’t like talking about my family.”
This only seems to make him more interested. “How come?”
“I just told you.” My tone hardens, “I don’t like talking about them.”
He rolls his eyes. “Okay, jeez. I was only trying to make conversation.”
“Why don’t you tell me about your family, since you seem so keen to share stories?”
There’s a chill between us now, and I mentally kick myself. Why can’t I just lighten up a bit? Have some fun. I always take things too seriously.
He screws up his nose. “My family are pretty dull compared to yours, but if you’re done talking, I can think of something else we can do.”
I want to bring the fun back to the date. I remind myself it’s the whole point in coming out with Ledger this evening. I’m trying on a new personality for size, that of the fun, cool, easy-going girl. The type who has guys hanging off her every word.
Ledger leans in as though to kiss me but hesitates, waiting for my consent. I appreciate that. I give a tiny smile and cross the small distance between us to tell him he can.
I’m almost twenty-three and still a virgin.
All my friends are out here having wild sex with multiple men—often at the same time—and I’ve barely been touched.
I know that whoever my dad wants to marry me off to will prefer it if I come to him as a virgin, but the thought of never having sex just because it’s something I want, rather than it being an obligation, depresses me.
Not that I plan to have sex with Ledger tonight. Maybe I’ll never have sex with him at all. But it would be nice to think I have the option. If we have fun, maybe I’ll let him fool around a little. Better to do it with Ledger than some guy my dad has chosen for me.
His breath is sweet from the milkshake, and he’s not a bad kisser. I still feel like I’m going through the motions, though. Can he tell? If he can, he’s not giving any indication that it’s bothering him.
He maneuvers me so I’m flat on my back on the bed of the truck, and he’s on top.
He covers me with his body, his mouth pressed hard to mine.
I’m too hot, and he’s heavy, but I try to push down my increasing anxiety.
His fingers knot in my hair, and he pulls it roughly, but not in a sexy way because he’s too close to the ends, and it hurts.
“Ow!” I exclaim.
“Shh.” He kisses me again, his tongue pushing into my mouth. It’s kind of gross, but I want to be wild, right? To live close to the edge and experience these things?
I reach for his torso, wondering if I’m going to pull him closer or push him away. He grabs both my hands and pins them above my head.
No, I’m not liking this. Not at all.
Maybe I thought I could go through with it, but nothing feels right.
I’m uncomfortable, and even though Ledger isn’t technically doing anything wrong, I feel no desire for him.
There’s no way I can have sex with him, especially not tonight, and I don’t want to lead him on.
I squirm underneath him, trying to yank my hands from his grip.
I twist my face away from his seeking lips so I can speak. “Ledger, wait, stop.”
To his credit, he releases me and sits up. “What’s wrong?”
I push myself to sit as well. “I’m sorry, but I want to go back to the college.”
His eyes grow cold. “What?”
“I’m not going to have sex with you, if that’s what you’re hoping. I want to go back now.”
Suddenly, I’m hyperaware of how remote our location is. There’s nothing around us, no houses or cars or people. There are only trees, and in the rapidly failing light, even those are vanishing from view.
“Seriously? After I made all this effort for you?”
I can’t help laughing at that. “Effort? Drive-through fast food so we could make out in your truck?”
“Wow, you ungrateful bitch.”
Pushing back to kneeling, he lifts both hands and rakes them through his dark hair, pausing to clutch at the strands as he shakes his head. The movement has also lifted the hem of his shirt, and I catch sight of the handle of a small gun tucked down the side of his jeans.
My blood freezes in my veins.
A gun? Why the fuck has he brought a gun on a date? I know it’s normal in the society I live in for people—mostly the men—to be armed, but why would he have it on him? He could have left it in the glove compartment of his truck, not have it on his person.
Is that why he held my hands above my head, so I wouldn’t feel the weapon when I touched him?
I don’t like this. Every instinct is screaming to get out of here.
He’s blocking the exit with his body, but there’s nothing stopping me from climbing the side of the truck bed and hauling ass. Am I overreacting, though? I’m not entirely sure what to do in this situation. Wiping sweaty palms on my jeans, I try to keep calm.
I don’t want to make him angry. I’m conscious of not increasing the tension currently simmering between us. If I can somehow calm things back down, maybe he’ll just drive us home to Verona Falls, and we can forget this ever happened.
If he refuses to drive me home, I can call someone to come pick me up. I have my cell phone in my purse, but it’s sitting on the passenger seat. There’s no way I’m leaving without my stuff.
He’s not going to do anything to hurt me.
I told my friends that I was going out with him tonight, and they’re all waiting excitedly for an update.
I’m pretty sure he’ll have told his friends, too.
As he’s already pointed out, he knows who my family is.
He’d be pretty fucking stupid to cause harm to the daughter of the head of the cartel.
The college has rules, too. Anyone who harms another student will be severely dealt with.
We don’t involve prison or the police. We’re people who know how to hide bodies so they’re never found, the college dean and his son most of all.
Maybe that was his plan, though. He could say I’d stormed off and gotten lost on the mountain. My body might never be found in that situation. My friends wouldn’t be able to track my location, as I tend to have those settings off on my phone. We’re private people and careful about stuff like that.
He could just toss my whole purse down the side of the mountain. Chances are it would never be found.
Ledger lets out a deep sigh, tearing me from my thoughts. “You know, I’d hoped we could have a little fun before…”
“Before what?”
He seems to catch himself. “Before I took you back.”
“Yeah, well, we’ve had our fun. I really am done now. Please, can you drive me back?”
I hate having to say please, when what I really want to say is ‘drive me back now, you fucking son of a bitch. How dare you intimidate me; don’t you know who you’re dealing with?’ I keep the words clamped beneath my tongue, though, not wanting to escalate the situation.
How many other women have done the same, suddenly found themselves in the company of someone who is quite happy to use their size and strength to get what they want, to intimidate and corral?
It makes me so mad, but I’m not allowed to show it.
Oh, no, I still must be that good girl, the one who quietly slips into the background so as to not draw attention to herself. That realization makes me even angrier.
There’s a sliding window in the back of the cab behind me, and it’s open.
I’m small, far smaller than Ledger. I can scramble through the window, grab my purse off the passenger seat, and call one of my friends.
My best girlfriends are in relationships with the types of men who would sever this asshole’s hands right off for even touching me, and I could use them right now.
Ledger scoffs. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I’m the kind of man who always gets what he wants.”
I make a split-second decision. I’m not going to get past him, and I need my phone. I twist my body around and throw myself headfirst through the open window at the back of the cab.
“Fuck,” Ledger curses.
He grabs my top, and the crisp sound of it tearing rings in my ears, spurring me forward. I bruise my knees and thighs scrambling through the window before throwing myself at the passenger seat.
A crack of a gunshot blasts my eardrums, and the rear window explodes.
My heart stops and, for a moment, I can’t breathe. Move, move, move. I’ve got to get out of here.
I can hardly believe this is happening. He fired at me! He’s trying to shoot me.
What the actual fuck?
Wow, some guys really can’t take rejection. And they say women are the needy ones.
I have to get away. The passenger door is wide open, and Ledger is still on the bed of the truck, trying to get me through the now shot-out window.
He’s too big, though, and he can’t fit. I’m like an eel as I slide from the passenger seat, out the door, and onto the ground.
It’s rough with sticks, stones, and gravel, and I scrape along my forearms, but I barely notice.
I’m back on my feet in an instant as another gunshot cuts through the evening air.
Nearby roosting birds explode from the trees with a panicked squawk.
Running, I try to get away, adrenaline and panic nipping at my heels. I wobble all over the place in the stupid pumps I’d picked.
Another gunshot ricochets through the trees, and a chunk of bark explodes right next to me.
I scream and duck, but I keep moving. Good thing he’s a terrible shot, or I’d most likely be dead.
Why the hell does he want to kill me? All because I wanted to bring an early end to our date? What a goddamned princess.
Something hot and sticky runs down my palm and drips off the ends of my fingers.
Blood. A fresh punch of panic hits me, and I wonder if I took a bullet and somehow didn’t notice—like I was in shock—but then I realize I cut myself up worse than I thought when I slid out of the car. My forearms are grazed and bleeding.
Is he coming after me?
I hear the slam of a door and the rumble of his truck.
If he’s in the truck, I’ll need to head deeper into the trees where the vehicle won’t be able to get through.
The muscles in my legs are threatening to cramp and my lungs are burning.
I consider pausing so I can get my phone from my purse and call for help, but I dare not stop.
Plus, I realize, I have no idea how to describe to anyone exactly where I am so they can come get me.
I’m not just going to stand around in the trees and hope Ledger gives up.
I keep running, stumbling all over on the uneven ground.
Why didn’t I wear sneakers? A lot of girls my age live in them, but I had to try to be sexy, didn’t I?
Running through the woods in these things is really slowing me down, and I’m seriously going to break my ankle, or worse, my neck.
I contemplate taking them off, but I’d probably step on a sharp rock or a broken branch and cut my foot open.
It’s almost dark now, and I’m terrified I’m going to wander in the wrong direction and step off the side of a cliff and plummet to my death.
I could use the flashlight app on my phone, but doing so will alert Ledger to my position, assuming he’s still after me.
I strain my ears for any sign of him, but there’s nothing.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t there, though.
He could have abandoned the vehicle and be listening for me, just the way I am for him, both of us hoping for the other to make a mistake.
I don’t know what to do. I can’t go back to Verona Falls. Not only is it way too far for me to walk in the dark, I also don’t know if Ledger will be there waiting for me. He’s not going to allow me to tell anyone what’s happened. He’ll need to silence me.
A sob threatens to burst from deep inside, and I press my palm to my mouth, trying to keep it in. Tears roll down my cheeks. What a fucking disaster.
See, this is why I don’t date.
I keep going, trying to stay quiet, but half stumble in the dark, tripping over fallen logs and scraping my hands and knees some more. I check my cell phone, doing my best to shield the light from the screen, but there’s no service. It’s too remote out here.
Breaking through the tree cover, I stumble out onto the road.
I draw in a breath and look around. Do I recognize this part of the road? I didn’t realize I’d walked so far.
Oh, my God. There, on the opposite side of the road, some of it lit up by security lights, is the tall chain link fence we’d passed on the way up.
My heart gallops, but for a different reason this time.
It’s the compound. The very place I promised myself I’d stay away from.