Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Greer silently watched the whole interplay between Ruben and Alex, whose face broadcasted surprise at his former gang mate’s revelation.
“I want Maria José with you, safe and outside the city,” Ruben demanded. “Feel me?”
Alex simply nodded and said “órale,” then returned his attention to his task. The two teenagers hurried out of the room and returned a few minutes later with a modest-sized suitcase.
As soon as Alex finished the tattoo, a freaking piece of art even under pressure, Greer stuffed his equipment in his bag and hustled her little crew out of that house.
Alex slid into her passenger seat like a zombie but had enough presence of mind to click the locks.
“You could’ve left the tattoo machine. My car’s about two miles from here. You can just drop us off—”
“As tired as you are, I’m not letting you drive anywhere.”
“Nic can—”
“—help you get it later.” She rolled over his words. “Should I go by your mother’s house?”
“They won’t touch her,” Alex said, leaning his head back on the seat.
“But don’t we need to tell her about…” About whatever Alex had just agreed to. Greer slid a quick glance over her right shoulder to find Nicolás and Maria José holding hands. And by the looks of it, this was more than a brother-sister kind of affection.
“Then where are we going?”
Alex lifted his head to look at her and, for a moment, he looked so lost, so confused, that Greer wanted to stop the car and simply wrap her arms around him. “Out of here.”
Fine. They would call his mother later. Greer turned onto the next major cross street. That led her to the 1604 and finally Highway 281 North. Once they were in Bulverde, Greer said, “Anyone hungry? There’s a great little barbecue place…” She trailed off at the blank looks staring back at her.
This wasn’t a family vacation. She felt as though she’d just pulled these three people out of a war zone. And in a way, she had. Her place was barely big enough for her, much less three other people. Alex’s was the same.
And her dad’s house no longer held much furniture after she’d outfitted Alex’s apartment.
Greer grabbed her phone and hit one of her favorites.
“Sweetwater B&B, where the beds are heavenly and the breakfast is sinful.”
“Raylene, it’s Greer. Would you happen to have any open rooms?”
“A rowdy bunch of Shriners checked out this morning, and I don’t have anyone else on the books for a couple of days.”
“Perfect, I’ll take three rooms.”
“Greer,” Raylene said in a low, cautious voice, “Delaney came by selling those raffle tickets at an ungodly hour. These rooms wouldn’t have something to do with that, would they?”
“Everything.”
“Thank the good Lord,” Raylene rushed out. “Tell me Alex is coming home.”
She didn’t know about that, but he would stay in Prophecy one night if she had to hogtie him to one of Raylene’s four-poster beds. “For now.”
“We’ll just make sure it’s forever then.”
Greer disconnected. Raylene was optimistic in a way Greer just couldn’t muster up the emotion for. Safety was most important. They’d sort out everything else later.
From the backseat, Maria José said tentatively, “My papá gave me some money before we left, I could pay for the rooms.”
“No.” Alex’s tone was gruff and weary. “I told him I’d take care of you.”
“But—”
“We’re not debating this.”
Greer put a hand over Alex’s and squeezed.
A glance in the rearview mirror told her Maria José had been completely surprised by her dad’s demand and the whole thing was hitting her hard.
In three seconds, she’d swallowed the same number of times, which meant she was battling back tears.
“Maria José, your dad said something about you being Jefe Mejor. Is that true?”
“I guess,” she said. “I don’t care what people call me. I just paint what I paint.”
And if Greer could get her painting again as soon as possible, it would help the girl get back on even ground. “What would you think of painting the side of a barn for me?”
Alex started to say something, and Greer gripped his hand hard. Let her keep some pride. I know what I’m doing.
“Would I get to design it?”
“All I care about is that it includes the words Wild Card Artisan Village.”
Another quick check in the mirror showed a much calmer Maria José. “Then yes.”
When they pulled up to Raylene’s, she came rushing out, a batter-smeared apron layered over leopard-skin capris and a snug black tunic.
She yanked open Alex’s door and all but dragged him out of the car.
She wrapped him in one of her signature hugs while her earrings, shaped like those crazy cat clocks, swung their tails.
Greer got out, her bones feeling as though they would break if anyone dared to blow on them. But she draped on a smile and opened the backdoor.
Nicolás and Maria José scooted out, and Raylene’s eye went wide over Alex’s shoulder. Greer gave her a quick head shake. Message: Later. Let’s just get them inside for now.
Raylene squeezed Alex one last time and released him.
“Well now, I’ve got a whole mess of Sexy as a Texas Ranger cookies.
Just pulled them out of the oven. Why don’t y’all come on in and take a load off.
” Like a border collie, she rounded behind their group and herded them toward the front door.
She touched Greer’s elbow and pointed toward the two teenagers, indicating she’d take care of those two.
Greer closed her eyes briefly, the relief so strong, and smiled at Raylene.
Once they were in the foyer, Raylene said, “You know what? The Calamity Jane and Mae West rooms aren’t quite ready yet. Greer, why don’t you take Alex up to the Thelma and Louise room, and I’ll get these two set up with a snack so I can finish changing the linens?”
The sound of his name seemed to pull Alex out of the exhaustion fog he’d been in since they left San Antonio. “Raylene, we can’t—”
“Don’t you dare start sassing me, Alejandro Villanueva. You just get your tired tail upstairs. Let me do what I do best.”
While Raylene urged the kids down the hallway to the kitchen at the back of the house, Greer steered Alex toward the stairs. Halfway up, he stopped mid-step. “You don’t have to stay.”
God, a heart full of those glass shards he’d had in his knuckles earlier would’ve felt like balm in comparison to those words. “Are you telling me you don’t want me to stay?”
Alex rubbed at his eyes, leaving the whites rimmed with red. God only knew the last time he’d gotten a decent night’s sleep. “I don’t know what I want.”
Well, that wasn’t the confession of undying love that she would’ve enjoyed hearing, but he wasn’t grabbing those two kids and barreling out the door either.
One of the reasons she’d been more than happy to leave his crappy-ass car in San Antonio.
“You don’t have to decide tonight. Why don’t you get some rest and—”
“What about Nicolás and…and Maria José?”
“Raylene’s got a handle on them.” She tugged on his elbow, urging him to move again. When he took the next step, she said, “And I’ll go back down to check on them.”
Once they were in front of his room’s door, Alex turned to face her and lifted his hands as though to touch her. But they just drifted there in the air. Greer felt their absence on her skin. In her heart. In her soul.
He finally stuffed his hands in his front pockets. “I don’t even know what to say about what you did.”
“How about nothing?”
“But you could’ve—”
She placed her fingers over his lips. His breath warmed her skin, and she couldn’t hold back a shiver. “Later.”
When Alex woke, the room was half shadowed and half illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the window. Something warm and soft shifted against him, and the gut-wrenching fear that had forced him awake backed off a little.
He wrapped his arm around Greer, pulled her back to his chest. The warmth from her T-shirt and bare legs eased the chill inside him.
What the hell had she been thinking? Strolling into Ruben’s house as though she were there for a Friday night card game.
She wasn’t stupid, but she was so fucking reckless he’d thought his heart would stop beating when he walked into that kitchen and saw her sitting there.
Didn’t she know if something happened to her that there would be nothing left of him?
He stroked a hand down her hair, wild from rubbing against the pillowcase. What would he do if he could never touch her hair again? Could never touch her again?
He’d be living exactly the way Nicolás had accused him of. Which meant not at all.
But now, he had two teenagers. When his mamá found out what had gone down, she’d be scrambling to get in the middle of this. But it was time for Nicolás to have a man’s influence. And Ruben had made it clear he wanted Maria José out of San Antonio.
And what Alex wanted was Greer. But what the hell would she want with some fractured family that wasn’t even a family? They were just a bunch of broken pieces of skin and bone.
Greer sighed in her sleep and did a little back-up move that brought her ass up close and personal with his dick. When he’d fallen into bed, he hadn’t been worried about modesty or company.
And he didn’t even know if Greer would agree to take on a fifteen-year-old daredevil. What the hell would that girl paint in this town—the two highway overpasses and the water tower? Yeah, that would take her a day.
The momentary relief he’d felt when he discovered his brother was in love with a girl and not another guy had bottomed out about the time they pulled away from Ruben’s curb.
Not that he gave a shit about his brother’s preferences.
All he cared about was keeping him alive and safe.
But with only one roof and two kids who had the hots for each other, it would be a challenge.
Oh, who the hell was he kidding, he didn’t even have a roof right now.
But that wouldn’t keep him from protecting Nic and Maria.
Soft fingertips trailed along his forearm, and Greer murmured, “Alex?”