by Bex Dane
"You totally would. You already have. You love my reality. Just accept it."
Could I do that? Could I accept this magnificent man would love me and fulfill my heart's deepest desires? He'd already taken my body to sublime levels, and my heart pretty much confessed love for him.
But shiny objects that seemed too good to be true usually were. The truth was Torrez would hurt me like Cage, like Yegor. I'd either end up heart broken or riddled with bullets. Happy endings didn't happen for me. No. I needed to leave Torrez. It would hurt for a while, but he'd be free of me. He could kill whoever he needed to without dragging me along.
He pulled off the main road into a modern looking hotel called La Real del Nuevo Laredo. He cut the engine and turned his whole body to me. He took my hands in his. Torrez had big, warm hands. Mine were cold and small.
"I can tell you're scared, babe. I'm sorry you were hurt." One of his hands gently pressed to the bandage on my chest. "You're right. It's not your fault. It's on me. You're going to be okay. We're going to make it through this. I can't give you a reality check right now because you need to heal and I need to sleep. This is a relatively safe area. We'll get a room. I'll hold you in my arms. You'll calm down."
I seriously doubted the fear rolling in my gut would calm down anytime soon. I had no doubts panic was about to overtake me and send me spiraling out of control.
Chapter 15
Torrez
My attempts failed. Her breathing never evened out. Instead of turning and opening to me, her shoulders stayed hunched. Her face remained hidden and curled away. My words couldn't convince her to trust me. She needed actions. Lying safe in my arms in a luxury hotel wasn't enough. My Teimosa's fears clung to her like barnacles crusted on a ship's hull, slowing her down and costing her valuable fuel.
Without her confidence in me, we wouldn't make it out alive. In times like this, doubt leads to deadly consequences.
As I was thinking about decisions made in fear, she stirred. I kept my eyes closed as she inched out of the bed, checked back to see I wasn't looking, and slipped her sweet ass into her jeans. She put on a bra, T-shirt, and shoes before sifting through the bags to pull out the diamond choker and the longer chain.
She shoved them into her purse and snuck out the door without looking back.
Christ. She left me.
Where the hell did she think she was going?
I dressed and checked my weapon, giving her a head start. Let her have a minute to feel the panic of being alone in Mexico, even though she really wasn't. I'd never leave her.
How much trouble could she get into in a few minutes at two in the afternoon? Oh shit. Probably a lot. I took the stairs three at a time and stopped in the parking lot. Her long locks of chestnut hair blew behind her as she ran across—holy shit—six lanes of Highway 85. She paused at a fountain in the median and made a mad Frogger dash across the other lanes. For a girl who was supposedly scared, she had no qualms racing full-speed into traffic.
She walked through the front door of a cantina on the opposite side of the road. A handwritten sign in the window said La Batanga, a Mexican drink of tequila, lime, and cola. I entered behind her and pressed my back to the wall, curious what she'd say.
She glanced at the adobe walls covered with framed pictures of Mexican tequila bosses drinking batanga in the cantina. She tucked her hair behind her ears and approached the older man standing behind the bar. He appraised her from head to toe as he cleaned out a tall glass with a bar towel.
"Can I use your phone?" He raised salt and pepper eyebrows at her question. A quick perusal of the images on the walls told me he was the owner.
Two other men sat drinking beers at a table by the window. Their eyes tracked Soraya, her hair, jeans, and everything about her proclaiming her a tourist. We locked gazes and I nodded at them. They didn't acknowledge me but turned their attention back to their drinks.
"What is it you need?" The owner smiled at Soraya.
"I need to call... uh…" She looked over her shoulder and stiffened when she saw me.
"Who do you need to call?" He set the glass and towel down and stared at her.
"Uber. I need a ride."
I held back my laughter.
"Uber?"
"Uber-o. Need-o ride-o." She spoke slowly like the guy was deaf. He'd already spoken English to her. She shouldn't have insulted him by trying to add an O to the end of American words.
"And where would you like to go, señorita?" He offered her an amused grin, but his eyes showed him noting the unintentional slur.
She opened her purse, and all eyes fell on the jewelry sparkling inside. "El Paso."
At that, the men from the table stood up and strolled over to her. "We can take you to El Paso."
Enough letting her flounder. Time to step in. I noticed the other men move as I walked toward the bar. I stood to her right and placed a hand on her left shoulder. Minha.
She startled and pulled away, standing in front of the two men who had walked up.
She kept her eyes down. Couldn't look at me.
The owner addressed me in Spanish. "You know her?"
"She is mine," I answered in Spanish.
"The lady says she'd like a ride to El Paso."
"She is crazy. Forgot to take her meds today. I'll bring her back to the hotel. Sorry to bother you."
"Did you just call me crazy?" she asked with her sass on full display, no clue about the danger she was in.
"Of course not." I bent down to whisper in her ear. "Walk out slowly."
"No." She planted her feet and crossed her arms as she spoke to the owner. "If you don't have Uber, I'd like you to call me a taxi, please."
Holy shit. She was serious. She didn't trust me and wanted to leave me. "They aren't going to do that, Teimosa."
They all chuckled at me calling her scary.
Good. So far things were progressing well. I'd created goodwill by speaking Spanish and making them laugh.
"Are you with him?" the owner asked her.
This was it. Her chance to end this situation and walk out of here with her jewelry intact. The longer we talked, the greater the chance of her getting robbed or worse.
She cocked her hip and glared at me. "No."
There you go. Judas's betrayal was complete.
"She says she's not with you. So you can go."
The two men stepped around Soraya and lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in front of me.
"Not leaving." I bent my knees and braced. Adrenaline spiked through my body. If flight fails, it's fight.
The two younger guys came at me together. They went for my arms. I ducked and dodged. My punch connected with the first guy's face. My knuckles crunched. He went down, leaving me with only one opponent.
He swung, missed, and we wrestled. His arm snaked around my neck and pulled my torso down. The slam of the cantina owner's knee into my stomach knocked me to my knees. Fucking hell.
The other guy had recovered and grabbed my arm. They yanked me toward the door. I fought their grip with all my might. Never leaving her. Never.
"No. Stop. I am with him," Soraya screamed.
They didn't pause or listen to her. We made it to the door and I swung my leg and one guy fell. The other still had an arm.
"Stop. Please. We are friendly. We are friends with Primitivo Borrego de la Cruz," she screeched.
Stillness fell over the room like settling dust after a grenade explosion. All eyes pinned to Soraya.
I used their stunned silence to get to my feet and draw my weapon from my shoulder holster.
The cantina owner pulled a pocket knife and grabbed Soraya around the neck.
Fuck.
He pressed the point to her throat. I tamped back the fury blazing inside me. Losing control would kill us both.
Everyone waited for someone to make a move.
The old man signaled for one of the younger guys to take the knife and Soraya. She looked terrified as they did the switch. The owner dialed o
n a landline phone beneath the bar. "Cousin, I have a man here who says he knows Primitivo Borrego de la Cruz. Yes. Call Manuel."
Shit. Within seconds all of Tamulipas County would know someone associated with Primitivo Borrego de la Cruz was in this bar. I wished I had asked Falcon more about his history here and why he would tell us to use his name.
"What do you know of Primitivo?" the old man asked me.
"I won't talk before you let her go."
"Talk first."
"I know nothing of him."
"Then you lie." He nodded to the back of the cantina. The man holding Soraya jerked her by her neck and pulled her to a door.
Fucking hell. He just lost his teeth. First chance I got, kicking them into this head.
"Drop your gun." The other man had pulled his gun and turned it on me.
I hesitated. Unarmed we were dead in the water.
"Drop it or we kill her."
I heard a thump and Soraya screamed from the back room. I lowered my weapon to the floor and held up my hands.
Goddamn mother fuckers.
Chapter 16
"Where is Primitivo?" Two hours after the owner made the phone call, five guys showed up in the back room of the cantina. Not locals there to drink beer in a bar. These were full-on narco gang bangers.
Two of them kids. Under twenty-five. White socks pulled up to their knees. They'd be easier to take out. From the RC in their tats, I made out the owner had turned us over to the Reynosa Cartel. They were known for brazen, brutal decapitations in the fight for territory here. Two older men stood behind the chair I'd been bound to. The one who'd asked me the question was the oldest of the five. Maybe thirty-five, forty. He wore a cheap polyester suit, gold chains around his neck, and an oversized Rolex on his wrist. A drug cartel honcho. A buchon. These guys didn't mess around. To survive to his age in a cartel and become a boss, he must be wise and vicious. He and his two guards would be harder to outsmart, but I could do it.
The way he spit Falcon's real name made it obvious Falcon had crossed this dude in a bad way. Fuck Falcon "Primitivo de la Cruz" for sending me into his territory making me an easy target and her a babe in the woods.
The narco boss's right fist pummeled my left cheek. I rocked back in the chair and sucked up the pain. Strong like bull. The phrase I always used to keep steady during stress. Bull riding, BUD/S training, beatings from my dad, threats from Greco. I'd survived the most mentally challenging and physically demanding training in the world. I'd faced terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. A narco boss from Tamulipas would not be the one to take me down.
Soraya whimpered from the couch across the room where she was tied at her hands and feet. The original guys from the bar had left and one of the kids held a knife to her throat, but his eyes watched me and the buchon. Good. As long as they kept their attention on me, they'd leave her alone.
"When did you last see Primitivo?" The buchon's accent was sharper, more like Southern Mexico.
I shook my head. "Don't know anyone by that name."
He slugged me in the gut. I grunted and doubled over through the pain. Soraya started to cry. I'd get through this. I just wished like fuck she wasn't watching. I never wanted her to see me like this. Weak.
Strong like bull.
"The rumor is he joined the American military. The fucking traitor. Killed his brother and left the country to fight for the other side."
Yeah. Falcon should've let me in on that little fact before sending us here. "Never heard of him."
"Your bitch over there says you know him."
"She's mistaken."
He withdrew an ice pick from his pocket. His eyes went crazy as he held it in front of my face. Fuck. "Torrez the bull, right? You know what we do to bulls in Tamulipas? We castrate them."
Oh shit.
He stabbed the knife into the crotch of my jeans, the tip thudding on the wooden chair. Soraya screamed. He missed. Probably because my balls were up high right now scared as fuck.
"Quiet!" I gritted through my teeth. She needed to shut up and let me handle this. "I got this under control."
He stabbed me again and this time hit skin. Ow. Fuck. The pain burned from my balls to my neck. Fuck.
Strong like bull.
I needed a distraction. Not Soraya. Something else to get his mind off skewering my balls. If he looked away for a split second, I could reach the blade in my calf holster. I'd still be outnumbered, but I could pull it off.
Soraya started talking. Fast. "I didn't mean it. You know. I uh, I don't know Primitivo. I'm crazy. See?" She swirled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "If you could just let us go, that would be great."
When they turned to look at her, I snagged my blade from my calf and started working on my rope. The door slammed open, crashing hard and loud against the wall. Three men in black ski masks and full battle gear entered the room with rifles drawn. Please, God. Let them be on my side.
The man taking point shot the narco boss in the back. His eyes widened in shock and his face went flat. Before he dropped, the two other men in the doorway fired on the guards behind me. They grunted and hit the floor, gasping and choking. The kid on the couch got a shot off but missed. He looked terrified. And he should be. I worked the rope off my wrists and ankles and made it to Soraya quickly. I slashed her bindings and landed on top of her to protect her. I didn't see who fired on the last two narcos in the room, but they gasped and gurgled as their lives left them.
"Oh my god. Oh my god." Soraya's fingernails clawed into my shoulders.
"It's okay, babe. It's over now."
I lifted her and carried her over to our point man. The shooter raised his mask. I knew it!
Falcon Primitivo Borrego de la Cruz grinned at me like he'd won the lottery. "Damn that felt good. Been waiting a long time for a chance to kill those fuckers."
The other two men moved quickly, placing their weapons near the hands of the bodies. "Clear out." I recognized Dallas's voice. My best friend. My brother. Saved my ass yet again. The other shooter was most likely Rogan.
Falcon ran out the back door. We all followed him, me carrying Soraya, to a sedan. Falcon took the wheel and Dallas took shotgun. I got in the back with Soraya and the last guy; I didn't know who he was yet. We tore up the dust as we fled the scene.
They all pulled off their face coverings, revealing they were who I thought they were. Falcon, Dallas, and Rogan.
"Too fucking close, you guys. Too fucking close." They let it go much too far.
"She okay?" Rogan inspected Soraya in my lap.
Soraya shivered, curled up, burrowing into my arms. I spoke softly in her ear. The men and I had been through battles like this many times. She was terrified.
"Teimosa. You are safe. You are in my arms and safe. No one will hurt you. Please calm down."
She didn't answer. Her trembles broke into crying. I felt her tears in my gut. I pulled off my shirt and pressed it to the blood on her throat. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
She shook her head. She'd be okay. We'd made it out. My balls stung and I'd have some bruises, but we'd made it out alive.
"Good, meu amor. That's all that matters. You're not hurt. God, I love you. Thought I'd go insane if they hurt you. If Rogan's team hadn't arrived, I was gonna kill those fuckers myself for putting their hands on you and scaring you. You did great. You were amazing. I'm proud of you."
She sobbed into my chest. "I'm so… sorry." Her shoulders heaved.
"Hush. We'll talk later."
"But I…"
"We'll talk later. Right now. Deep breaths. Calm down. Listen to my heart. Feel my arms around you." I gave her a firm squeeze. She felt so tiny curled up in a ball in my lap. "I love you, Teimosa. I love you."
That seemed to help. She let out a deep breath and her crying ebbed. Within a minute, she'd fallen asleep. A rare, but not unexpected, reaction to trauma. I wasn't worried about her.
Blood stained my pant leg and the pain in my balls reminded me I'd been punctu
red. "Shit. My balls are bleeding."
Falcon laughed. "We got you out by the skin of your cojones. He was ready to serve up Rocky Mountain oysters."
He found this funny? "You set us up, you fucker." I pointed at Falcon in the driver's seat. As soon as we got Soraya safe, I'd have to plant my fist in his face.
He glanced over his shoulder at us. "I had your back the whole time."
"What do you mean?"
"Rogan assigned me to shadow you and her."
I turned my gaze to Rogan who was grinning next to me, holding his rifle, proud of a job well executed.
"I told you I didn't need backup," I said to Rogan.
"You needed us." No hint of regret in his voice. "Dallas asked me to send someone to watch your six. Falcon wanted to do it."
Falcon shrugged. "I like Teimosa. Her dress in Biloxi was hot as fuck."
"Shut the fuck up, Primitivo. If you were in Biloxi, you didn't stop her from getting shot?"
"I thought you had it covered inside the casino. Why do you think they didn't follow you?" Falcon was the reason we weren't followed in Biloxi?
"Did you get some lead into those hitmen? I recognized one as Helix."
"No, I just scared the hell out of them. Watched them race out of the casino. There's no fun in killing them. Then the game would be over."
"This isn't a game, Falcon. Her life is at stake."
He nodded, but he was fucking with me. He loved the game, no matter who died.
"What the hell did you do to that narco boss?" Must've been heinous if they wanted to find him so bad.
His face grew solemn. "He killed a lot of people. Men and women. Now I have removed his stain from my home country."
"You coulda given us more warning. Soraya said your name not knowing she would spark a war."
He shook his head. "I didn't think she'd say my name."
"Well, she did."
"Are they following?" Falcon tried to change the subject.
I checked out the back of the vehicle and didn't see anyone.
"All clear." Rogan confirmed my observation.
"Debrief me, Dallas." So much had gone down, we needed to correlate our stories.