28. Amorette
AMORETTE
I f Grey noticed my change in attitude, he didn’t comment on it as I gathered my clothes and tried to put them back on in some semblance of professionalism.
Not that I had a job here yet. Or even any passion to follow.
As for Grey, he slipped on his shorts, no underwear, no shirt. When he turned around, the corners of his lips flirted with a smile as he reached for a shirt hanging off to the side.
“Here. For old time’s sake.” He smirked, the bastard.
The door to the hallway banged against the wall and a few seconds later, Parker appeared with his hands in his pockets. “Well.” His gaze dragged over my wrinkled, messy outfit. “This is unexpected. Grey, I thought you were upset with our little love?”
Grey flipped him off over his shoulder as he pulled the shirt over his head.
I frowned at Parker. Why would he be an ass and bring that up?
“Regardless, love birds, I came to steal Amorette. I have to make a quick run to meet with one of my managers onshore, and I thought she’d like to go with me.”
Leave? Get a break from this place? I wanted to jump on the option. Shout my excitement to the ceiling, except regret and something suspiciously like fear gripped my chest.
The last time they took me, I nearly lost the one connection I’d made here. I flicked my gaze to Grey. I wasn’t sure I even had him back now.
How could they trust me after I tried to leave? They couldn’t be so blind as to trust my word, even though I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
“Why do you look so dubious, Little Love?” Parker grinned as Grey joined us.
“Are you taking me to my death?” It was a forced, blunt question. They might have thought I was kidding. I wasn’t. I had to know what they were thinking, and I’d lost my patience to pussyfoot around the subject.
One side of Parker’s mouth curled up in a disbelieving sneer. “Seriously? You’re going to be dramatic? Do you really believe I’d keep you at my place for days, only to kill you?”
He was right, maybe I even went too far, but I didn’t understand these men. At all. Their entire life experience was so different from anything I could comprehend, it made it difficult for me to figure out their thought process. My default seemed to be thinking the worst about them. Always.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to change that. Or if I even could.
With a burning face, I cleared my throat. “That was dramatic,” I agreed, yet I couldn’t force myself to apologize. “But after the way the last trip went, I don’t see you taking me out so freely again.”
In their positions, I wouldn’t trust me. Every move and breath would be suspect.
“Are you going to enlist a stranger to help you go back home?” Grey asked lightly, but his tone said it was rhetorical.
“Of course not. I learned my lesson,” I spat.
“Then there’s no need for us to put you under house arrest.” Parker slipped his fingers under my arm and trailed them down to my wrist, stopping just short of holding my hand.
“You wear your heart on your sleeve,” he started, moving us toward the door.
“And your morals are like this pesky little cone you wear around your neck. You know the ones dogs wear after surgery?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I tried to pull away from him, but he gripped my wrist a little tighter. Grey followed quietly behind us, even as we walked toward the commons.
“It means, Little Love, that you would never place someone else in danger to save yourself. Especially when you can’t tell the good guys from the bad.
Now that you realize what fate you’d force on someone else, I don’t have to worry about you.
But we’ll work on that character flaw later.
” His eyes twinkled as he glanced down at me.
“It’s not a character flaw,” I argued weakly. But it was in this life, wasn’t it?
I imagined anyone who possessed it didn’t live very long.
“Morals aren’t wrong,” Grey added as he moved to my other side. “You just have to learn which lines are absolute hard stops and which ones are negotiable. I’d suggest you hide your rules fast, though, mamí, because they make you too predictable.”
Grey wasn’t smiling as he glanced down at me. He was dead serious.
And damn, but he was right too. Anyone who wanted to manipulate me into compliance wouldn’t have to work very hard once they knew what lines I wouldn’t cross.
Once we were outside, Parker started steering me in a different direction from the helicopter pad.
“Where are we going?” I tried to keep the suspicion out of my voice, but ingrained habits die hard. “I can’t go on an errand like this?” I looked down at my blouse and twisted skirt. I barely had it zipped before Parker barged into the gym.
Parker took another look at my sad excuse for work attire. “It’ll have to do. Once we get there, there’ll be a bathroom you can fix yourself in, but I can’t delay this trip. Rod is waiting for me.”
Not ideal, but better than him dragging me around in a t-shirt. Grey seemed fond of it, but I needed the armor around these men. I needed every advantage while trying to mold myself into someone who could be here.
“You didn’t answer my other question. This isn’t the way we went last time.” I turned my head toward the trees where a small gathering of helicopters and one airplane sat.
“We’re taking a boat since we’re just heading to the shore. Our island is about an hour from the coast of Ecuador.” Parker opened a door in the brick wall and spread his arm to let me go through. “Why are you still following us?”
I looked back to see Parker addressing Grey.
He shrugged and stepped through, leaving Parker to shut the door. After nearly a week of not talking to me, now he couldn’t seem to leave my side. It was stupid, more than stupid, but I wanted to smile at the sudden change.
Afraid I’d lose the fight, I faced forward.
A marina of wooden docks was just off the shore with a collection of various boats. A life of crime against women, children, and who knew what else certainly paid well.
Shit, that wasn’t fair of me. These guys weren’t in the trafficking piece; the sooner I remembered that, the better off I’d be.
Wait. Blanca stood next to a small speedboat. Dressed in a white sundress with oversized black sunglasses, and she appeared to be waiting to take a leisure ride. Was she waiting on us?
The boat was nothing like some of the ones I’d seen back in the states, but big enough to house a handful of people.
“Is she coming with us?” I asked, my hands sweating from a combination of the heat and the anticipation of getting to speak with her. Parker and Grey probably wouldn’t let me talk with her alone, but I had to apologize.
Needed to.
“Blanca? Why? Are you nervous?” Parker smirked.
I gave a tug and managed to pull my arm away, then shoved his shoulder. “Why are you such an ass?”
He cackled as he righted himself. Grey only shook his head and continued walking toward the boat.
Instead of asking the question again and coming across like an insecure crazy person, I followed Grey. He stopped next to Blanca as they exchanged a few words in Spanish, then he stepped onto the boat. She followed after him without even looking at me.
Shit. I wouldn’t be her favorite person after knocking her out with a skillet. Why would I be? I had just hoped she’d understand why I did what I did.
I knew she wasn’t punished. The brothers had shared that much.
She still deserved an apology.
“You don’t get motion sickness?” Parker glanced at me as he shut the small door and went to the steering wheel, where the key was left in the ignition. A marina full of boats belonging to the most dangerous criminals was a great deterrent from theft, it seemed.
“No,” I answered softly, casting my gaze at Blanca, who had taken a seat close to Parker. She still refused to acknowledge me. When we approached the boat, she might not have looked at me because she was thinking of other things. Or…something.
But now? She was very clearly avoiding eye contact with me. I kept my gaze on her for a few minutes. She had to have felt the weight of my attention on her, but nothing. Blanca appeared non-fussed and carefree while chatting in Spanish to Parker as he slowly let us out of the Marina.
“Here.” Grey handed me a pair of sunshades and a ponytail holder out of a compartment before he shut it and took a seat on the bench next to me.
“Thank you,” I murmured, sliding the sunglasses over my face and pulling my tangled hair into a low bun. Asking why they had these things was on the tip of my tongue, but it was pointless.
They were attractive men near the top of the food chain. I’d witnessed firsthand how women threw themselves at Parker. I let my gaze linger on his body now that I had dark glasses to cover my eyes.
He was different from Grey. Grey had a fighter’s body.
Long, muscled strength in every single movement.
Parker was maybe an inch or so shorter, leaner.
I hadn’t seen him without his shirt, but something told me he was no less muscled.
Maybe not as defined, but he had that same dangerous aura as all the brothers.
Grey didn’t attempt conversation, and with the wind whipping by us, I wouldn’t have been able to understand him.
I turned my face up to the sun, closed my eyes, and enjoyed the ride. I hadn’t been on a speed boat before. All my boating experience had been on a pontoon boat. This was different. Powerful but smooth.
For a little while, I forgot where I was and who I was with. I was just happy experiencing simple pleasures.
Then the boat slowed. We must have gone over the wake of another boat because the gentle rocking motion had the water splashing against the sides.
Opening my eyes, I caught Blanca glaring at me. But when I dropped my head to face her, she snubbed her nose up and turned back toward Parker.
On the shore, a man waited for us as Parker guided us into an empty spot. Grey stood to grab the ropes and tossed them over. Both brothers worked on getting the boat secured.