Legend_A Rockstar Romance

by Ellie Danes

I grinned. “See? That’s a character you can pull off. Just pretend you’re pissed at me for ruining your day and bringing you to a dive bar. The other customers will be so distracted with fantasies of cheering you up that we won’t have any problems.”

  Bree laughed. “That seems like a good plan. Now tell me the rest. What’s our backstory? Why are we in Mexico?”

  I stopped Bree’s ruby red lips with a kiss. When she finally softened against my body, I told her, “Don’t worry. They won’t recognize you or worry about who you are.”

  “But they might recognize you.” The real danger of our situation dawned on Bree’s face.

  That’s when I sat her down and told her exactly what we had to do.

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Bree

  “Maybe you want to hang back, you know, in case Maggie calls you,” Nathan said.

  I blotted my lips with a tissue and frowned at him. “You’re not convincing me to stay back.”

  Nathan moved around the motel room with a deepening scowl. “I swear I think the motel staff is coming in here when I’m gone. Don’t they see the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door?”

  I shook my head at his sad ploy. “I’m not staying behind to try to catch the cleaning staff stealing. Besides, we don’t have anything they would want to take.”

  Nathan blocked the motel room door. “What if I need you here? I can call the room phone if I run into trouble. You’d be the only one who’d be able to go for help.”

  I marched over and stood toe to toe with Nathan. “I’m coming with you and that’s final. I know the plan and I can help. You said so yourself before you let your overprotective caveman mind start talking.”

  Nathan’s fierce expression cracked. “Caveman mind? Is that what you think I’m like?”

  “You’re arguing that you’re not?” I put my hands on my hips.

  “Fine.” Nathan threw both hands up into the air. “But at least tell me you understand why I had to try. I couldn’t bear to have anything bad happen to you.”

  My heart fluttered with more than just nerves as we headed out the door. Nathan told me the best way to stay calm was to stick to practical thoughts. He said writing a grocery list in my head or thinking through my waitressing routine from the diner would settle my mind. Nathan’s words echoed in my mind, only they weren’t advice for remaining calm.

  Did Nathan really care about me?

  He couldn’t bear for anything bad to happen to me. Now I understood that every attempt he made to keep me out of harm’s way, to leave me back where it was safe, was actually Nathan’s way of showing how much I meant to him.

  The thought made me buoyant and it was hard to focus on the task at hand. We had called a cab to make sure we got to the dive bar on time. Nathan reminded the driver we wanted to be dropped off a few blocks away. We couldn’t have his contact thinking we had money to burn of cabs.

  “Tanya? Tanya, are you listening to me?” Nathan repeated.

  “What? Sorry.” I was Tanya, at least for our thin cover story. Nathan was trying it out on the cab driver.

  “I was telling him about how your cousin did the rodeo circuit down here a few years back.” Nathan’s Southern accent was subtle and believable.

  He was forcing me to improvise along with him in case we had to change our story as the night unfolded.

  I nodded. “Dangerous work but he made a good deal of money.”

  The cabbie nodded and smiled at me in the rearview mirror. “So, your cousin recommended you come to Ciudad Juarez?”

  “Beats looking for another waitressing job in Texas,” I said.

  Nathan took my hand and gave it a squeeze. I had done good. He’d drilled me on keeping my improvisations close enough to the truth that they sounded realistic.

  The rest of the short cab ride was quiet but Nathan’s hand was restless on mine. He was nervous, more nervous than he’d ever been, and I knew it was because of me.

  A new fear clutched my chest. What if Nathan was right? What if it was safer for both of us if I stayed in the motel room out of the way?

  His fear became obvious when the cab slowed down a few blocks from the dive bar. As I reached for the door handle, Nathan slapped his hand over mine. He turned, shielding me with his body as a car slid by the cab, going strangely slow.

  It ended up being a friend of the cab driver’s stopping to share some news, but Nathan’s intensity didn’t lessen. We were about to walk into a bar of potentially dangerous people, and Nathan was solely focused on protecting me.

  That meant he might slip up and endanger himself.

  “Maybe I should head back to the motel,” I said.

  Nathan blinked at me and then smiled. “So I can hear about it later? No thanks. We’ve got to stick to the plan.”

  My insides were a raging conflict between the warm melting thought that Nathan wanted me with him to the icy fear that I would unknowingly cause him additional harm.

  “I need a drink,” I told him.

  Nathan smiled. “Then make your first one a good one because after that I’m switching you to seltzer water.”

  I opened my mouth to argue but it was too late. The doors to the dive bar swung open. The exiting guest avoided Nathan and left the door open for us.

  There was no turning back.

  The regular customers all looked up from their drinks, gave us a glance, and then put their heads back down. Except the bartender. He spotted Nathan and frowned. I watched him shake his head as if Nathan was walking straight to the edge of a dizzying cliff.

  Then the bartender saw me and his face darkened. He came straight over as we picked out two stools at the bar.

  “I’ll have a whiskey and the lady’ll have a vodka tonic,” Nathan said.

  The bartender looked at me so I nodded. “Vodka tonic, please. And could I have a cherry in it?”

  He opened his mouth as if he wanted to tell me something, but then the bartender glanced over my shoulder. He looked around the bar and snapped his mouth shut. “I’ll get your drinks,” he muttered.

  “Do you think this place is under surveillance?” I whispered to Nathan.

  “If the cartel uses it as a place to scope out potential employees, then I would say yes. This place probably has cameras all over,” Nathan said.

  “I wonder what he wanted to tell me.” I nodded down the bar to where the bartender was so far ignoring our drink order.

  Nathan frowned. “He probably wanted to warn you. I wonder how many times he’s seen people set up like I was yesterday. He clearly thinks I’m insane keeping this business meeting. And bringing a guest has clearly lowered his opinion of me further.”

  The bartender deliberately dragged his feet and found other orders to fill first. He poured a huge round of beers for the pool players, and then decided the remaining pint glasses needed another polishing. Then there was a phone call though neither Nathan and I heard the ringer.

  Nathan flagged the man down again but all we got was a polite nod and the signal to be patient.

  “He’s hoping we’ll leave,” I pointed out. “If he’s rude enough, he’s hoping we’ll storm out before you have a chance to run into your connection.”

  “Well, isn’t that nice of him,” Nathan said.

  He stood up and made to reach across the bar and grab the first whiskey bottle he could reach. The bartender beat him to it and finally poured our drinks.

  I sipped my gin and tonic, with two cherries, and gave the bartender a sincere, “Thank you.”

  While the bartender was in front of us, Nathan decided to try out our cover story again. “My name is Hank, by the way. I was in here yesterday. And this here is my lady, Tanya.”

  The bartender gave a polite nod and again looked as if he wanted to say something. He settled for polite small talk. “You two on vacation?”

  Nathan chuckled. “I wish. We’re both a little hard up for work lately, so we’re just passing through. Tanya’s cousin might have a hook-up for us at one of
the resorts farther south.”

  I nodded and sipped my drink. The vodka was strong and I was grateful for the heavy blanket it put over my jumping nerves. “My cousin used to work the rodeo circuit but he also worked maintenance at the fancy hotels,” I told the bartender.

  Nathan squeezed my thigh. I was still doing good. Then his hand tightened and I knew that dress rehearsal was over.

  A man sauntered over. He wore a coat too big and too heavy for the weather but seemed completely adjusted to the extra heat. I wondered if he might be cold-blooded and then he smiled. The reptilian grin made my skin crawl but I smiled back and tapped Nathan’s arm.

  “Is that your friend, honey?” I asked.

  Nathan turned around and the man’s icy smile tightened into a dour line. “Nice to see you again. I wasn’t expecting that you’d bring a guest.”

  The man’s glance reduced me to a prop. Slightly nicer to look at but less serviceable than a barstool. I felt his gaze move past me and lock onto Nathan.

  “Sorry, man, I thought she might be helpful. Though you still haven’t told me what the job entails,” Nathan said.

  I flipped my hair. “Whatever it is, I bet I’ll be great at it. Hank is always telling me I have natural talent.”

  The drug dealer slid his narrow eyes back to me. I swallowed an acidic wave of nausea as he looked me up and down. “He’s right about that. I can see your natural talent. All right, you convinced me. Two is better than one, right?”

  He clapped his hands together and gestured to the bartender to put our drinks on his tab. The bartender nodded, his face ashen with silent guilt.

  “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get this meeting starting. Please, step into my office,” the drug dealer said.

  “Office? That’s the door to the back alley,” Nathan said.

  “Oh, Hank, he’s just being funny. Like quoting some movie or something,” I said.

  Nathan gave me a sharp glance but before he could suggest that I stay and order another round, I slipped off my stool and headed the way the drug dealer had indicated. Nathan had no choice but to follow me out the narrow door and into the back alley behind the bar.

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Nathan

  I squeezed Bree’s hand too hard as we entered the alley. She had to pinch me to make me loosen my grip. I let go and balled both hands into fists. The drug dealer just laughed at our apprehension.

  “Come on, don’t look like that,” he said. “My employer doesn’t mind the bar, but he prefers to do business somewhere nicer.”

  “An alley?” Bree asked.

  The drug dealer shot her a withering look. Clearly, in his world, women waited to be spoken to before they said anything. “Are we going or what?”

  I moved in front of Bree and clasped her hand again. This time, she didn’t fuss when I clamped on tightly.

  Every step I took, I assumed we were going to be jumped. We certainly didn’t look like the type of tourists who were lured into back alleys to get robbed. That was reserved for overtly rich people.

  What did he have planned for us?

  We continued down the alley without incident. By the time we reached a back road, I was more than on edge, I was ready to lash out at the smallest shadow.

  “How about you tell us the details of this so-called job before we take another step,” I told him.

  The drug dealer snorted and continued to lead the way. The only choice we had was to return to the dive bar, and I couldn’t give up now. I glanced back, surprised at how well Bree was holding up, and then followed the drug dealer.

  He turned us left down the back road. I clocked each turn and twist. If we were helplessly lost in some back-alley maze, then whoever mugged us would be long gone before we managed to drag ourselves back to our motel.

  Just as I was about to grab the drug dealer by the scruff of his neck and demand an explanation, he turned one more time and brought us to a large metal door.

  “Meeting’s through here,” he said.

  I stopped and shook my head. “No way. Whatever’s on the other side of that door can wait. You explain the job now or we walk.”

  Bree tugged on my hand. “What about the money?” she whispered. “It’d be nice to drive a car with air conditioning, wouldn’t it?”

  The drug dealer smiled. “She might have a point there,” he said. “Details of the job are on the other side of this door. Take it or leave it.”

  “I’ll take it. She’s leaving.” I couldn’t help it, protecting Bree was a reflex now.

  “You need money; this is a way you can get it. And with both of you, you’ll get the big bucks twice as fast,” the drug dealer said.

  Bree clung to my arm. “I don’t want to go back to the bar by myself.”

  The drug dealer rolled his eyes. “Complaining aside, the girl makes the deal.”

  “I thought you just wanted me,” I said.

  He shrugged. “I ran the numbers on the way over here and the deal’s better with her. Couples can work great, as long as one can keep the other in check.”

  I stopped Bree before her anger bubbled to the surface. There were only so many chauvinistic comments she could take before she boiled over. I didn’t want to see the look on the drug dealer’s face when she started to tell him off about feminism and the 21st century. If she thought I was a caveman, she found him a complete Neanderthal and he would probably respond with the same amount of restraint as our animalistic ancestors.

  “What kind of numbers are we talking?” I asked the drug dealer.

  He shrugged again. “I’m not the one with the specifics. You’ll have to head inside to get that kind of information.”

  I looked at the imposing door again and shook my head. “I think this was a mistake. Sorry to waste your time.”

  The drug dealer laughed and the sounded grated my nerves. “No. I don’t waste time, and I don’t say I’ll deliver new employees and then turn up empty-handed.”

  I shielded Bree and showed the man my tight fists. “So, what are you going to do?”

  The drug dealer’s only response was to slide open the large, metal door. Two men in dark suits stepped out and ushered us inside. We were all too familiar with the way large handguns flashed inside their suit coats.

  There was no way to go except through the dark doorway. I clamped Bree’s arm tight against my body, and we moved together into the dimly lit space.

  Once inside, my stomach tightened like a corkscrew. The restaurant was all dark polished wood and bright white linen. Crystal decanters held white flickering candles at each table. Diners wore fashionable cocktail dresses and ties.

  It was as far from my fears as possible and that only served to double my anxiety.

  What had I gotten Bree into this time?

  The men in dark suits ushered us through the fancy tables and foodie couples. In the corner was a larger table with extra candles. We were told to take a seat and wait for our meeting.

  A waiter in a crisp white uniform appeared. “Good evening. Can I get you something to drink while you wait? Perhaps a glass of wine?”

  Bree started to nod but I cut her off. “No, thanks. We’re fine.”

  “I was going to order another vodka tonic,” Bree pouted.

  “No. No way. I’m not letting you touch or take anything from these people until we find out what they want in return,” I said.

  Bree frowned. “I thought this would have made you feel better?”

  I grabbed her hand and pulled her close, my expression fierce. “Why would any of this make me feel better? You should be safe on your way home by now.”

  Bree twisted her wrist free. “Relax, Hank. All I’m saying is this place is a much nicer place for a business meeting than the back alley behind a bar.”

  “Switch seats with me,” I said.

  Bree’s eyes went wide. I always insisted on sitting with my back to the wall in restaurants. I liked being able to see what was in front of me without worrying what migh
t be sneaking up behind. Now I was asking Bree to do the opposite and switch so I could turn my back on the restaurant full of people.

  “What is it?” she asked, rising from her seat.

  I stood up and, under the pretense of giving her a reassuring hug, I whispered, “I think I recognize some of these people. Or they might recognize me.”

  Bree sat down and took in her view of the whole restaurant. “No one’s looking at you. In fact, everyone else seems to be having a very nice time. Think we should order something?”

  I snatched the menu out of Bree’s hands. “Concentrate. If so much as one person recognizes me, you need to be ready to run.”

  “Yes, I know. The cartel doesn’t care about me. Your connection made that abundantly clear,” Bree said.

  A laugh escaped. “Do you hear yourself? Anyone else in their right mind would be overjoyed to know the drug cartel didn’t care about them. It’s when they are interested in you that we have a problem.”

  “Then we have a problem,” Bree said.

  I looked where she nodded and saw a pair of waiters weaving through the sea of white linen with two heavy trays.

  “We didn’t order anything,” I told the first waiter to arrive at our table. “You can take this all back.”

  The first waiter shook his head. “Our employer said to start your first course.”

  “How many courses will there be?” Bree asked with a hopeful and perpetually hungry tone in her voice.

  The waiter laid a salad decorated with brightly colored petals in front of Bree. “This is the first of five courses. Please enjoy.”

  It took every scrap of calm I had to keep from knocking the fork out of Bree’s hand. “Don’t eat anything,” I warned her.

  “Or what? I’ll wake up in a bathtub with internal organs missing?” Bree asked. Then she blanched as she realized that was a very real possibility.

  Finally, I had to relent. Bree looked as if she might faint at any minute. Plus, our mysterious ‘employer’ did not seem to be in a rush to reveal himself.

  “They can’t very well poison us in front of all these other people,” I said. “Go ahead and try the first course.”