Loving a Bad Boy (30 page)

Julio wiped the sweat from his brow as he
waited for the police to let him go. Nothing had gone as planned
today. Three hours ago when he'd landed, three police cars had
pulled up as he exited the plane and demanded he go with them.
Francisco had gotten word to Ghost of his arrival, but never
received permission for Julio to land. Francisco warned him to
expect a bumpy greeting, but this was outrageous. He had been
sitting in this small room for two hours, and hadn’t been allowed
to make any calls.

The door opened and a short, dark
complexioned man entered the eight by eight foot room. Julio
crossed his legs and stared at his companion.

“
You have a
Visa?”

Julio’s brow rose. “I showed it when I
arrived.”

The man held out his hand. Tight lipped,
Julio reached inside his jacket and pulled out his passport.

The agent flipped through the pages. “Why
are you here, Mr. Cardenas?”

“
I’m visiting some friends
of mine. They are vacationing on the island.” Julio maintained
direct eye contact, despite the fact he was burning up in his
lightweight suit.

“
You always visit friends
with so much security? Or with a gun strapped to your
chest?”

Julio thought about the three men with him
for a moment. “Yes. Yes I do.”

The smaller man leaned back. Julio realized
his interrogator wore no name tag, and his “Customs Officer” shirt
was badly wrinkled, with a few tears.

“
Are you sure that is your
sole purpose for landing on Cat Island?”

“
What other reason could
there be?”

Neither man spoke. Instead, they engaged in
a staring match. Finally, the smaller man looked away and stood.
“Wait here.”

Julio glanced at his watch, wondering how
much longer they intended to detain him. A few minutes later
another man walked in. He was tall, bald, muscular, well-dressed,
and the bulge underneath his coat was obviously a gun. The glare of
the room's bare light bulbs shone brightly on the mahogany color of
his head. Julio dubbed him Keenan Ivory Wayans on steroids.

“
The order was changed.
You now have a forty-eight hour pass. Stay with your friends. You
do not have access to the entire island. If you are found a
half-mile or more from your friends place, you’ll be shot. Any
questions?” he asked, his words clipped with a slight British
accent.

Julio stood and was secretly pleased that he
was equal in height with his host. “My gun? Phone?”

The man reached in his coat, pulled out both
items, and laid them on the table.

Julio checked his gun, the bullets had been
removed. No surprise there. He re-holstered it and turned on his
phone. “Thanks for your hospitality,” he said with a touch of
sarcasm.

“
Hospitality is for
invited guests, not those who’re too stupid to understand and
follow protocol.
You
don’t get hospitality,” the bald man sneered.

Julio locked gazes with his antagonist. Even
though he understood the guy was baiting him, trying to make him
act irrationally, the comment stung. It was too close to what
Francisco had said a few days ago.

Straightening, he forced a smile. “No
problem. Can I leave now?”

He nodded. “Your men and vehicle are out
front. And Cardenas? This is a onetime pass. Don’t ever tread here
without permission again. I was told to make sure you understood
that.”

At least Julio knew this wasn’t a custom’s
challenge. Julio nodded and walked out of the station. The sunlight
warmed his skin.

Hog opened the back door of the car as he
approached. Miguel and Pete slid in the front while Hog walked
around to the other side and sat next to him. They drove in silence
to Tex’s villa.

The more Julio thought
about what had happened over the past three hours, the more his
respect grew for Ghost. The fluidity of the operation was amazing.
There had been no time for him to make calls. He had been stripped
quickly and efficiently of his weapons. He’d bet the farm that the
facility where they had taken him and his men had been just
recently outfitted as a holding place.
Nice
.

The car pulled up to the front of a large
home near the ocean. Julio’s gaze roamed the area before Hog came
around and opened his door. Pete got the luggage out the trunk
while Miguel strode to the front door.

Tex had come out and now stood on the porch
talking to Miguel even as his eyes met Julio’s. As he approached
the porch, Pete and Miguel stepped aside.

“
You look healthy to me. I
think you’re just being lazy, chillin’ on the beach.” He slapped
Tex on the left shoulder and squeezed, glad his man was on the
mend.

Tex smiled as they strolled inside. “That’s
what I been trying to tell you. I’m ready to get back into
things.”

“
We’ll see what the doctor
says.” Julio looked around for Pam and then back at Tex. His brow
rose.

Tex shrugged, and then said to Hog, Pete and
Miguel, “Hey guys, your rooms are back there, last two on the
left.”

“
I’m gonna take a look
around outside, get familiar with where everything is.” Hog set his
bag next to the sofa and then walked out the front door.

Tex’s gaze returned to Julio. “I got you in
the second room on the right if you need to change or
anything.”

Julio stared at him for a moment. He nodded,
unsure if there was something he should’ve read in that sentence or
not. “It’s hot here, but not as humid as Miami, is that because of
the breeze from the ocean?”

Tex shuffled from one foot to the other
before leaning against the wall with a wry grin. “Could be, I
dunno. When you’re ready, I need to talk to you about some things.
I think I got a lead on those douche bags who trashed our
place.”

It still bothered Julio that Tex hadn’t
recovered his memory about the night he’d been shot. He could only
remember bits and pieces. There was no recollection of the people
who shot him, where he was, or when it happened. Even the
surveillance videos failed to trigger his memory.

“
Good. Local?” Julio
pulled off his coat and threw it on the sofa as he walked to what
was obviously Tex’s work area. Tex beat him there, picked up a
file, and handed it to him.

“
North, not
south.”

Julio flipped open the file. “You’ve got to
be shitting me. This is old bullshit. What are they doing down in
Miami?”

Tex continued typing. “I don’t know, but
that’s Detroit trash there.” He leaned back so Julio could see the
monitor. “Watch this.” A moment later a YouTube video started
playing on the screen. It was a fight scene someone had recorded
and put online. The quality was decent, so Julio could see the
players clearly.

“
Watch this.” Tex pointed
to the screen. One of the guys walked across the screen and started
kicking a wall, making big holes in the sheet rock. He had a red,
black, and green tattoo on his leg. Tex froze the image and blew it
up. Julio leaned forward, trying to make out the design.

“
Look familiar?” Tex
asked.

Julio couldn’t remember seeing that before.
“No. Did I miss it?”

Tex chuckled. It was dry and without humor.
“Not really. I watched those tapes over and over. This is what I
found.” He pulled up a picture of the guy kicking a hole in their
apartment wall, and blew up a section of his leg. The tattoos
matched.

“
Well, I’ll be damned.”
Julio swung around. “Who the fuck are they?”

“
Besides Dumb and Dumber?
Probably part of that prison gang you took down a few years back.
At least they were in that prison when a certain inmate was
removed.” Tex made a pumping gesture with his closed fist. “From
all I gathered, the tattooed one knew him real good.”

Julio’s brow rose as did his temper. “And…?
What were they doing in Miami? How’d they know where I lived? How'd
they gain access to my place? What the hell is going on here?” He
ended the last question in a harsh whisper. Vibrating with anger,
he looked at the video again. “What were they looking for?” He
looked at Tex again, who shrugged.

“
I could fly up there. Tap
into some resources, pick’em up, get your answers. That’d be
quickest, and then fly back here.”

Julio heard the hopeful note in Tex’s voice.
And he was tempted to allow him to head up this witch hunt. But
once Tex left the island, he wouldn’t be permitted to return, and
he was the only person Julio trusted with Pam. If he could convince
her to leave… and do what? He was embroiled in what could easily
escalate into a family turf war. Cartels were, by and large,
unstable groups of people who served the dollar.

After an introspective debate, he admitted,
albeit to himself, that Pam was safer with Tex here than back in
the states. It pissed him off that he couldn’t guarantee her safety
in a way that would allow him to take her with him. For the first
time since he'd contacted Francisco three years ago for Cartel
assistance to save Smoke, he grieved the consequences of his
decision.

“
Let me think about that,
but I don’t think I’m ready for you to travel that far for that
kind of work. I’m thinking Red, Smoke, and Ross. They’d want to
know about this anyway.”

Tex looked away for a moment.

Julio’s gaze followed his. Pam got out of a
car and walked toward the house, but then stopped to say something
to the driver. Julio couldn’t see who was in the driver’s seat, but
it didn’t matter. What mattered was she looked like she was coming
from a date or something. The purple dress flowed over her skin
like a glove, hugging her round hips and small waist. His cock
hardened in spite of his irritation.

“
Who’s car she getting out
of?” He growled as he swung his attention to Tex.

“
Her old man. He came by
earlier. Dude’s creepy. I didn’t even hear him walk up. None of the
guys did either. He spoke before I pulled my gun, sucker didn’t
even pay it any attention. Just started talking to her. Pissed her
off, she wanted to shoot him.”

Julio laughed. “She has a temper.”

“
Nah man, I mean she got
her gun out the room to shoot him.”

Julio whipped around, frowning. “What? You
serious?” he rubbed his forehead. “What the hell did he say? Did he
touch her?” he growled. “Something had to happen to make her do
that.”

“
He fussed at her, told
her to stop playing games.” Tex wore a lazy smile.

Julio thought over what Tex said and filled
in the blanks from his conversations with her. “That wasn’t
wise.”

“
Nope. I talked her down
but she was still hot like fire. She left with him but told me to
send a car behind them to make sure she was able to come back here
when they were done.”

“
What? Why?” None of this
made any sense.

“
He wanted her to go with
him somewhere. She all but cussed him out telling him no.” Tex’s
smirk turned into a full blown grin. “It’s those quiet ones, get
them wrong and they explode all over your ass.”

Julio looked outside, she was talking to the
man in the car.

“
She likes
you.”

Julio blinked at the change in conversation
and looked at Tex. “Huh?”

“
I said she likes you.
Really likes you.” Tex’s gaze sharpened as they continued staring
at each other.

Julio nodded. “Okay.” He refused to have
this discussion. He’d argued with himself too many times to count
and hadn’t been able to walk away. “Look I'ma make some calls to
Smoke, see what they can flush out. We’ll decide how to run it
after that.”

Tex nodded. He looked out the window and
then back at him.

It took all of Julio’s strength not to
glance outside, but he held strong.

“
This is none of my
business,” Tex said haltingly.

“
True, so drop
it.”

“
But… she saved my life.”
He paused, straightened and looked away. “I just don’t want her to
get hurt.”

“
No one wants anyone to
get hurt. Now I advise you to drop this shit,” Julio snapped as the
front door opened. Pam entered the room, looking around. Julio’s
gut tightened at the happy smile that lit her face when she saw
him. His cock twitched in appreciation at the sexy sway of her hips
as she made her way across the room.

“
Hey,” she said in a
demure, alluring tone. She looked so soft, so feminine, it was hard
to believe she’d pull a gun on anybody.

He tapped her nose as his libido rejoiced in
recognition. “Hey yourself. Been out?”

“
Yeah.” She blinked. “My
biological parent wanted to show me some things he did at the
house. What took you so long?”

He shrugged off her question. “Just running
late. Things to take care of, that kinda thing.” He tugged on her
hand, pulling her closer. “Got here as fast as I could, hope you
appreciate all the hoops I jumped through.” His index finger rubbed
her palm as he held her gaze.

“
Scuse me,” Tex
said.

“
Yeah?” Julio said
tersely, wanting to punch his sick friend for the
interruption.

“
That car, the one Pam got
out of; it just drove past the house again.”

Eyebrows furrowed, Pam slid sideways trying
to see. “What? What car?” She moved to the window and looked both
ways. “I don’t see anything.”

“
I said drove past the
house. As in past tense, the car is gone.”