Chapter 17 #2
He’s right, he doesn’t need distractions, he needs to focus, so I nod.
“Fine, I’ll go to my room. Promise me you’ll be careful? ”
“Of course,” he says, “I’ve just found you, I’m not gonna do anything to jeopardize that.”
“Will you stop making this about me, I’m being serious.”
“So am I,” he murmurs, his face barely an inch from mine. “As far as I’m concerned, everything is about you, because you’re everything to me.”
My eyes roll, “Way to turn a dangerous situation into something romantic.”
“Mm-hmm… was that a smile I saw too?”
“No!” I say, trying to stop my mouth from breaking into one.
He chuckles and leans in, kissing me deeply.
“I’ll be careful, I promise. Now, we’re gonna go in there, hopefully Alejandro will be nowhere near us, and you can head up to your room, okay?”
I nod. “Okay.”
Unfortunately, we’re not quite that lucky. When we open the door it’s Alejandro who greets me, almost as though he was waiting for me. I know the guys wouldn’t have told him I was coming, but the look on Imogen’s face from across the bar tells me she’s the one who had something to do with this.
“Nice to see you again, Elizabeth.”
Alejandro accentuates my name, and as much as I hate to admit it, he almost makes it sound as hot as Angel does. I’m about to retort but Angel gently takes hold of my wrist.
“Why don’t you go and chill in your room,” he says, his look subtly adding the, ‘like we agreed’.
I make my way to the stairs, and even though I don’t look back, I can feel both of their eyes on me.
I don’t imagine Alejandro liked being rejected, I know they say ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’…
but a man scorned, that can be too scary to think about.
And after everything Angel just told me, it doesn’t make me nervous, it scares the hell out of me .
Maybe it’s going a bit overboard, but I double lock the door to my room and move a chair in front of it, not knowing who else might have a key. I sit on the bed with my laptop open, a blank page and a cursor blinking back at me, but I know no words will come tonight.
I’m woken by a gentle knock on my door, I hadn’t even realized I’d dozed off. I’m still dressed with my laptop open, my legs warm from where it’s been resting.
“Who is it?” I call, remembering that Alejandro and the rest of Diablos Rojos are here.
“It’s me,” Angel’s voice filters through and I rush to unlock it.
I hold the door open so he can come in, before quickly double locking it again and pushing the chair back. He pulls me into a hug, and I bury my face into his chest, inhaling deeply, instantly comforted by his scent.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, I fell asleep so I’m a bit out of it. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, they’ve left, including Alejandro, so you don’t need to worry.”
I sigh with relief, relaxing into his body even more.
“That’s good. Do you want to talk about it?” I ask.
“I’m not supposed to, but I wanna talk to you; I’ve never had anyone to talk to about club business that wasn’t inside it all, you know?”
I nod. “Anything you tell me will stay between us, I promise you that.”
“I know,” he says, leading me to the bed and lying down. “Things are about to get complicated. ”
I nestle into my spot under his arm, my head resting against his chest.
“How so?” I ask, holding my breath as my thoughts spiral, worst case scenarios flashing through my mind.
“Frank has gotten involved with some of the members of Diablos Rojos on the inside. Shit, he’s got a big mouth, so probably got himself into some trouble and they helped him out. Now they’re saying we owe them.”
“Because they helped one of yours in prison, so it’s a club debt?”
“Yeah.”
“What do they want? Money?”
He lets out a sad sigh. “Money they’ve got. What they need help with is the way they earn that money.”
“Illegal shit?”
“Yeah, illegal shit.”
“And the club agreed that you’d never go back to that, but a club debt also needs to be paid.”
“You’ve got it.”
“So things are about to get complicated.” I tilt my head to look up at him, the worry is etched on his face, and there’s a sadness in his eyes I’ve not seen before. “How did you leave things at the meeting?”
“Diablos Rojos told us what they want our help with, outlined their plans, and El Jefe said we need time to think about it and to vote. We’ve got to give them an answer in three weeks.”
“Doesn’t give you long to weigh up your options or come up with a plan.”
“No,” he says, before chuckling, “luckily, I’ve got a girlfriend who’s way smarter than me, she’s in college and everything. Maybe she can ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ this shit for me, help me figure out a plan to get us all out whole. ”
“Getting you all out whole would be great…” I say, “wouldn’t say no to the millions of dollars either.”
“Don’t tempt me, princess. You’ve gotta keep me on the straight and narrow,” he laughs, “fuck… just imagine, millions of dollars could buy us an island, we could be naked all day every day, no worries about being overheard…”
He rolls over and kisses me, moving his hand down to my hip.
“Hey,” I playfully slap his hand. “We haven’t finished talking about serious stuff.”
“Okay, okay.” He rolls off to lie on his back again. “You got a plan already?”
“No, I’m not that smart!” I say, before getting serious again. “But… when was the last time you spoke to your father?”
“About a year ago. I only see him when I have to. Why?”
“Maybe you should go and see him to find out his side of the story, what’s really gone on in there.”
“What good would that do?” he asks.
“It might not do any good, but it can never hurt to have more information. You’ve only heard their side of what’s happened, Frank might have a different take on it.
Maybe Diablos Rojos are making stuff up and playing you?
They might have their own reasons for wanting you to get back into illegal shit.
And after what you told me earlier, they definitely can’t be trusted. ”
“Yeah, I guess,” he says, “I’ll go after my birthday.”
“Why wait? Go this week and get it over with.”
“Because, seeing Frank always puts me in a shitty mood, and I’ve got big plans for my birthday. I wanna be able to enjoy it with you.”
“Oh really, you still haven’t told me what the plan is yet.”
“I will, don’t you worry. ”
He pulls me into a kiss and presses himself against me.
“Okay,” I say, “in the meantime, why don’t you tell me more about that naked island…”
He laughs as he reaches his hand to undo my jeans.
“Deal, but I’d much rather show you, princess.”