“I’m not done with you yet,” he growled.
His lips crashed against mine, and I was gone. Sucked into his endless pool of darkness and lust. His hands fell to my ass cheeks, and he fisted them, gripping me close and hoisting me off my feet. My back slid up the tiled shower wall. My weak legs wrapped around his slim waist. I locked my ankles as my arms slid around his neck, our tongues dancing together like fire and ice. I melted against him. My cold exterior I’d hardened to weather my life was no match for the licking flames of his desire for me. Never had I felt like this. Never had I felt so wanted and needed by another individual.
I adored it.
Jace grabbed his cock and guided it into my body, sending my world shooting to the stars. His lips never left mine as he bottomed out his hips, stuffing me full of his thickness. I groaned against his lips. He swallowed every sound I had for him as his hands pressed into the shower wall. He swiveled his hips and forced electricity surging through my body, from the tips of my tits to the curl of my toes.
“Oh, Leti,” he growled.
And just as he swallowed my sounds, I swallowed his.
He set a furious pace. His balls slapped my ass while his cock pulsed against my walls. He pounded into me, mixing sweat with water as the steam around us gathered. It was thick. Almost unbreathable. And yet, absolutely perfect. I ran my hands through his hair. I gripped him tightly and held on for dear life. His cock filled me to the brim, stroking me in all the ways I could I have ever wanted. My pussy pulsed. His cock jumped. I gasped against his lips as my mouth began to swell. My body was on fire. No longer the cold, lonely, collected woman dragging drugs over the border.
I was beautiful. Sensational. Wanted. Lusted after.
The revelation alone was enough to send me over the edge.
“Oh. So close. Jace. So close. Don’t stop. Jace, please!”
He released my lips as our foreheads collided, his hips grinding into my body.
“I feel you, Leti. Let it go. Cum on this cock for me.”
“Cum with me, Jace.”
My eyes fluttered open, and I found his green stare boring into my face, looking back.
“Please,” I whispered.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me away from the wall. And the second his hands slid to my ass, he began fucking his cock with me. I clung to him. Hung on for dear life as my nails raked across his back. He hoisted me up and down, stroking his cock as my juices dripped down his balls. Stars burst in my vision. Feeling his rippling muscles roll against my naked skin left me breathless. I bit into his shoulder and cried out into the shower, feeling the water batter my back as my body finally unleashed.
“Yes! Yes! Jace! Fuck!”
I curled into him, my pussy milking his dick until his hips finally stuttered. Until his hands finally stopped. Until he fell to his knees, filling me with his cum and wrapping his arms around my back as tightly as he could. Two people, wrapped in one another and shielded from the harshness of the world. Soaked in water, inhaling the other’s scent, and covered in their mark.
I released Jace’s shoulder from my mouth, feeling his cum shoot from between my legs in bursts. He filled me until I had no more room, then continued to fill me until we were both satisfied.
“Oh, Jace,” I whispered.
And his response was the sweetest kiss I had ever known. Right against the temple of my head.
I don’t know how long it took us to gather ourselves. I don’t know how long he held me there. All I know is that, once we were done, he picked me back up and turned off the water. I rested against him, dripping wet as his cock effortlessly slid from my pussy. Then, he wrapped us both up in the largest towel I’d ever seen and walked us over to the couch. He sat down, cradling me in his lap, with my head tucked up underneath his chin.
We sat there in silence until we were both dry before I found the strength to speak.
“How did the meeting go?” I asked.
“It went fine,” Jace said.
“What did the club decide?”
He pressed a kiss to the top of my head before I tilted my face up to his.
“We voted to take on the case and start looking into things,” he said. Looking into things? I didn’t have time for them to just look into things.
“I thought you said you guys had a plan.”
“We’ve got several plans. But now comes the point where we have to gather intel before we know which of the plans the guys have drawn up will be put into action.” My heart started to beat faster. I was running out of time. More importantly, Nicholas was running out of time.
“Why is this taking so long, Jace?”
“It’s only been a day, Leti,” he said, chuckling.
“This isn’t funny,” I said.
I sat up in his lap before sliding from his legs.
“Leti.”
“My brother’s out there, struggling to survive. We can’t waste any more time,” I said.
“Dealing with the cartel isn’t as simple as pulling a trigger and fixing the situation later. It isn’t even about going in guns blazing and taking them all out. That isn’t how anyone deals with the cartel. If anyone is suited to take them on, we are. But it takes time and planning and a bit of finesse.”
“My brother doesn’t have time for finesse, Jace. Can’t we go find him and deal with the cartel later?” I asked.
“We have to be prepared for what we’re getting into. Which means biding our time and gathering intel first.”
“So, what happens to my brother in all this?”
I stood up from the couch and reached for a blanket to wrap myself up in.
“Leti, come sit back down so we can talk about this.”
“I’d like to stand right now, thanks,” I said flatly.
I watched Jace sigh before he ran his fingers through his hair.
“My brother could be running out of time. Especially since I’ve already lied to Sebastian about being sick just to get out of appearing personally for the drop.”
“We have to look into that as well, Leti.”
“Why? Why do we have to look into it? Why can’t we figure out where the hell he is and go get him?”
“Have you heard from your brother since they took him?”
I felt my jaw clench at the question as I fought back the tears from rising in my eyes.
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.
“Have you heard his voice? Or seen a moving picture of him?” Jace asked.
“What does that have to do with anything!?”
“Because proof of life is necessary, Leti. Have they given you any indication that your brother is even still alive?” White hot anger started to course through my body.
“What are you insinuating, Jace?”
“That’s why we have to look into all this. Leti, I can’t send my men into a situation to go find someone that might not even be alive.”
My vision dripped red with the last few words of his statement.
“Might not be alive? Are you kidding me?” I asked.
“Leti, you have to try and stay partial.”
“Partial? Partial!? Nicholas is the only family I have left! How do you expect me to stay partial!? If he’s dead, I’ve got no one, Jace!”
The shrieking of my voice filled his apartment as I took a step back towards the bathroom.
“I’m alone if Nicholas is dead! And I refuse to believe that. How could you say something like that to me? Of course, he’s still alive. I’ve been busting my ass for two months, being groped by men who want to rape me and use me for their own disgusting purposes to keep my brother alive!”
“Leti, you’re stumbling. Come sit back down. Please,” he said.
“I’m not sitting anywhere near you,” I hissed.
I dropped the towel and quickly started putting on my clothes that were in a pile on the floor outside of the bathroom door.
“Leti. Stop.”
I felt his hand come do
wn onto my arm, but I yanked myself away. I pulled my shirt over my head and tucked it into my black pants. The only damn outfit I had. Now, I had the money to get a new one. In fact, that was one of my orders. To get a new outfit, get myself put up in a hotel, and rest so I could be ready for the next damn job.
“Leti.”
Jace’s voice was so soft. So tender. So reassuring. And yet, he spewed such vile half-truths. My brother was alive. I knew he had to be. My life couldn’t possibly be that cruel.
The God my mother believed in couldn’t possibly hate me that much.
“Leti, the cartel aren’t nice people. They aren’t kind to those they kidnap,” Jace said as he tried to walk towards me. But I wouldn’t let him near me. I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Leti, unless they are specifically using him for leverage because someone isn’t cooperating, they wouldn’t keep him alive. He’d be nothing but a responsibility. A liability, depending on how many they kidnapped at once.”
I was done listening to his offensive statements.
“I can’t believe I ever trusted you,” I said.
“Leti. Where are you going?”
“I can’t believe I ever came to you for help.”
“You can’t leave. Leti. It isn’t safe!”
I ripped my purse off the counter as his hand came down onto my arms. He spun me around and twirled me into him, then crashed his lips down onto mine. I grimaced at the touch. I wrinkled my nose at the feel of his hand against my cheek. I pressed my hands into his chest and pushed back with all my might, stumbling him back as I fell to the floor. I scrambled to my feet and bolted for his front door, anger fueling my steps. Frustration seeped into the core of my very being as I threw it open, then tossed myself down his steps.
“Leti! Stop!”
Jace’s voice hit my ears as I ran off, running down the road he lived on. A street lined with warehouse apartments and people staring as I moved quickly.
“Leti!”
If he didn’t believe my brother was alive, then he wouldn’t try his hardest to save him.
I was an idiot to have ever thought those men could have been my guardian angels.
Chapter 14
Jace
“Fucking… hell!”
I slammed my front door closed and ran my hand through my hair. Jesus Christ. I’d run out onto the porch with nothing but a free fucking towel around my damn waist. I slammed my fist into the wall, watching it dent. I roared out. Gritted my teeth. Planted my hands into the kitchen counter and drew in deep, growling breaths. This was why I never got involved. This was why I stayed out of things. Because then, I could stay away from dealing with bullshit like this.
My worry for her mounted every second she kept running.
I looked back over at the door, debating if I should chase after her when something caught my eye. A suitcase that I had never seen before was next to do the door. Where the hell had that come from? But judging by the muted pattern of flowers on it, I figured it must’ve been Leti’s. She hadn’t come with a suitcase, though. She talked about a bag she left behind. But she didn’t have one with her when I brought her here.
I furrowed my brow before my eyes fell back to the door.
I couldn’t go after her, I wasn’t dressed. And by the time I threw on shorts, she would probably already be in a cab. But maybe letting her go was the right thing for now. She was pissed, and rightfully so. And she needed to blow off some steam. I would have to go around town and try to find her later if she didn’t come back.
My eyes landed on the suitcase again. It definitely wasn’t mine. So how did it get here? If it was hers, where did she get it? With my curiosity get the best of me, I walked over to it and picked it up thinking I would feel the weight of a full suitcase in my hand. But it was surprisingly light.
I brought it over to the couch. I flipped open the top of her suitcase and grimaced. It was bare. Empty. Judging by the worn edges and the open flaps, however, it was the suitcase she used for the drop-off. That was the only explanation. When had she picked it up?
Holy shit, had someone come to my place?
I bit down onto the inside of my cheek. Leti was gone, but that thing was here. And I knew she’d have to come back for it. It didn’t take a genius to look inside and see that the suitcase was specially-designed for hiding things. Which meant if she lost it, she’d suffer great consequences at the hands of the cartel.
She’d have to come back for it, and that was the only reason why I didn’t throw on clothes and go after her. Which meant I had time on my hands to start digging into the cartel.
Into Leti and her brother.
And after seeing that damn suitcase pop up in my place after not seeing it anywhere, I had plenty of questions I needed answered.
I dropped the towel and went in search of a pair of pants. I pulled them up my body, grabbed myself a drink, and sat down at my computer. I cracked my fingers before I turned everything on, then set my sights on digging. I wasn’t the greatest hacker in the world. Rock had taught me the ropes before and was teaching me more about it every time he had a spare minute. I could get by some sophisticated things. But my expertise was digging for information. I could sift through the corners of the dark web for whatever I needed, whenever I needed it. And I could cheat systems to get what I wanted before shutting it all down and never leaving a trace.
I couldn’t hack into shit like the Pentagon, but I sure as hell could piece together pieces of a puzzle.
I started with a basic search. Roja Diablos Cartel. And several things popped up. Towns they had raided. Arrests the DEA and FBI made to get them off the streets. Rumors of forced turnovers for the head of the cartel and unsolved murders connected to them. I searched Leti’s name, but it took me a while to sift through the information. All I knew was her first name and the fact that she was Mexican by descent. Her father was from Oaxaca, and she still had some extended family there. I had to dig immensely before I pulled up the right person.
And what I found was shocking.
I pieced everything together in a document. Newspaper clippings. Family tree information. Rumors surrounding her life. Apparently, she came from a very wealthy family in Mexico. Her great-grandparents had wealth coming out of their ears that they passed down from generation to generation. I found the obituary of her mother. Where she died in childbirth giving birth to a little boy. But the rest of what I found didn’t match up with her story.
She told me her father killed himself. But, reading the obituary I found along with a newspaper article that ran in a local newspaper, her father had been killed in a fire.
A house fire that took down their entire property.
I scanned the article, clicking through to more and more reports that told different sides of the story. One article theorized that her father set the fire. One article speculated that Leti had an accident and set something on fire herself. Yet another article categorized it as an electrical issue... But there was one article that caught my eye, and it was the one I copied and pasted into the document.
That article had a very strong argument for the fact that the house fire occurred because of ‘gang-related issues.’
Which sometimes translated into ‘cartel-related issues.’
Nothing else popped up until Nicholas’ arrest while he was in high school. I found his mug shot and pulled his record from the California databases. Ironically enough, he was arrested for drug connections. It seemed as if Leti had a soft spot for a boy that wasn’t always on course. I hacked into a public database and pulled Leti’s job history, and that part of her story checked out.
What made me wonder was why she wouldn’t mention the house burning down in the first place.
Apparently, she did anything she could to make the money stretch. Just after their house burned down, they moved closer to the Mexican border in California. She worked several jobs, even though she had several hundred thousand dollars at her disposal. But after hacking into her bank accoun
ts and sifting through her spending history, it looked like most of that got drained in lawyers’ fees and bail money to get her brother back on the right track.
Nicholas only had that one arrest on his history, and things were squeaky clean with both of them. Until he was kidnapped.
I tried to backtrack where the money had gone because some things didn’t add up. Even with lawyer’s fees and bail money, Leti still shouldn’t have had to work two and three jobs to keep them living where they were. But I couldn’t answer all of my questions. Once Nicholas was bailed out of jail, and back in school, things seemed fine. Neither of them popped up on the radar, as far as I could tell.
Then, I came across the police report Leti had filed, and my stomach dropped.
Holy shit, she had filed a police report on Nicholas’ kidnapping.
I blew that shit up and put it in the document. To me, that was the most critical piece of information. Because if I could quickly get to it, that meant the cartel could as well. And unfortunately, it was another feather in the hat of ‘dead brother.’
I sat back into my chair and groaned. Fuck. Leti had gone to the police. And with her comment about her town being overrun by the Roja Diablos, there was an excellent chance every single one of the police officers was in the hands of the cartel anyway.
Shit. This wasn’t good for Nicholas.
My fingers hit the keyboard and moved as quickly as they could. I dug more into Leti’s bank records. I breathed new life into old documents. After scanning and searching and running programs, I found a plethora of things Leti has already tried to do to find her brother. And I realized she lied. Fucking hell, she lied. She told me the only thing she was doing was obeying the cartel, but that wasn’t the case.
She’d done everything else, too.
“Fucking shit, Leti!”
I slammed my keyboard back, raking my hands through my hair.
There was so much. Two private investigators. A woman and a man. Who drained her of exorbitant amounts of money. Which would explain why the several hundred thousand dollars seemingly disappeared quicker as time went on. I hacked into their files easily. Private investigators never kept a lock on their shit the way they needed to. I pulled the minimal file they each had on a ‘Leticia Rodriguez’ and put all of that information into the compiled document I was making. The first investigator she hired didn’t have much. A random picture of Nicholas being tugged from a beat-up car, but that was it. I studied the picture. Took in the date of when it was taken.
Jace (The Black Hornets MC Book 1) Page 8