The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2) (24 page)

Jesus, Chuito had to practically sell his soul to the Italians to get Marcos out. They owned him for life now. What would he have to do to get all these kids out too?

Nova Moretti wasn’t a man one walked up to and just asked for a favor.

Nova hated favors, maybe because he spent most of his life taking care of everyone else’s shit. It never stopped for him. Every day was one problem after another.

Everyone wanted a piece of Nova.

Chuito knew how he felt.

“You know I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t important,” Marcos went on. “Life-and-death important. Omar is the last kid Angel’s stealing from me, and if I have my way, I’m getting him back too.”

“I know,” Chuito finally admitted, because he did know. “Give me a day. Life and death. I get it.”

Chuito hung up with him and stared at the trees, knowing what Marcos was telling him.

It wasn’t just anyone’s life hanging in the balance.

It was Marcos’s life.

Any cause worth fighting for was worth dying for.

Chuito needed more to drink, but he had just promised himself while lying
in jail
that he was going to lay off the Patrón for a while.

Plus, more importantly, he was out and didn’t have a car.

Alaine probably wouldn’t appreciate Chuito jacking hers.

That was inconvenient, especially considering his only other form of stress relief didn’t need a gangster fucking up her life any worse than he already had.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Alaine said she would cook, but she sat at the kitchen table instead, staring at her stove. Her heartbeat was thundering in her ears, and she was angry, so
very
angry, because not only was Chuito thinking of moving back to Miami.

He was discussing it with Tino instead of her.

She was Chuito’s friend first.

Why was he discussing it with Tino? Because Tino was a man? Because the two of them could do ridiculous things like beat the shit out of each other and bond in jail afterward?

Then there was Tino’s very chauvinist, very caveman suggestion that Alaine simply change Chuito’s mind with sex. Someone needed to punch Tino, preferably Alaine now that she was over her shock. She’d taken every self-defense class Jules taught at the Cellar; now she was glad for it.

The insult to her firmly held feminist beliefs aside, sex and Chuito never equaled a solution to anything. For some reason, it hit her right then that she had actually attempted to date men she not only wasn’t attracted to, but shared absolutely no common interests with.

She was a lawyer, for Christ’s sake.

Why was she shopping in her father’s church for men who wanted a housewife?

That was as unfair to them as it was to her.

Alaine was officially done sacrificing her happiness for Chuito and the delusion he had that she should be someone she wasn’t. It didn’t matter how soulful his eyes were, or how endearing those dimples made him.

If he couldn’t get his shit together, then he could leave, and Alaine could finally start figuring out how to live without the sexy scent of his aftershave fogging up her dreams with something that was clearly never going to happen.

She heard the downstairs door open, and she dashed out of her apartment, determined to intercept him before he could do something like lock himself in like he had last night. He could go back to Miami if he had to, but Alaine wanted answers first, and she wasn’t going to get them by stripping down and begging Chuito to stay.

Tino could shove his advice.

Alaine had her own ways.

Chuito stopped on the stairs, as if he sensed the fury in her. “What?”

“Anything you want to share?” Alaine shrugged. “Anything at all?”

Chuito just gave her a dull stare. “Not particularly. No.”

“Well, you and I need to have a conversation,” she said simply as Chuito walked the rest of the way up the stairs. “Because it seems like you’ve been talking to everyone but me.”

“Yeah, it does seem like that, doesn’t it?” Chuito’s voice had an edge to it, something more than the hard, unyielding way he usually dealt with problems. It was almost manic, like he was about to completely come unhinged. “I’m done for today. I don’t have any Patrón, so—”

Alaine punched him.

She caught him with a right hook that unfortunately connected with the bruise Tino left him with. He grunted, his eyes closed with pain, but he didn’t stumble.

He just stood there, shoulders tight, body tensed like a panther about to spring.

“Go back to your apartment,” he growled, razor sharp and icy as he opened his eyes to glare at her. “Now.”

“No, I don’t think I will,” she said haughtily.

He took another deep breath. “Don’t push me tonight. I’ve had a bad fucking day, Alaine.”

“Guess what?” she shot back. “I don’t give a shit. I’ve had a bad day too.”

“I would love to have a bad day like yours.” He laughed bitterly. “Just once, I’d love to stress about paperwork or bills or whatever mierda you and Jules do downstairs all day. I would love for that to be all I had to worry about.”

“How dare you?” She gasped, unable to believe he had just trivialized her work. “You’re as sexist as Tino!”

“Do not put me in the same category as Tino,” he warned her, his voice still low and dangerous. “Do you want to fuck him? I haven’t forgotten what happened at the sheriff’s office.”

“Yes, that’s it.” She pushed Chuito as she stepped past him, and then walked down the stairs. “That’s exactly it. I’m going to fuck Tino. Why not? It can’t be any worse than Edward. In fact, from what I heard, it’ll probably be pretty darn good.”

Alaine stomped downstairs barefoot, without her keys, but it didn’t seem to matter.

“Tino’s unattached. Experienced. Low maintenance.” Alaine was mumbling it, almost trying to convince herself. “Might as well take advantage of one of the best-looking fellas in Garnet County since he’s available. He’s been hitting on me for over two years, and like a fool, I’ve been turning him down. Not like anyone else is interested.”

The truth was, if she did go to Tino’s, she would punch him too, but Chuito clearly didn’t know that as he stomped down the stairs behind her. He grabbed her wrist when she went to reach for the doorknob, and flattened his other hand against the door frame, looking so very big and overbearing all of a sudden.

She wasn’t real sure why he looked so much larger than he usually did. Maybe it was that same hard set to his shoulders she had noticed earlier, or the way his dark eyes seemed to burn her as he glared down at her.

“You don’t get to fuck Tino.”

“I’m sorry?” She blinked up at him in false innocence, because she wasn’t going to be intimidated. If she could hold her own in a courtroom, she could certainly do it now. “Were you under the impression you get to have an opinion on who I fuck?”

“Anyone but Tino,” he amended, which surprised her.

And pissed her off even more, which was
amazing.

“Fine.” She shrugged, keeping up her air of cool indifference. “There’s a new fighter in town. A Latino fighter. Just my type. Lucky for me I was the one who showed Javier the place they’re renting him. I’ll be honest, Chu. He was looking awfully hard. You may not like what I have to offer, but he just might.”

Chuito’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have any idea what kind of men you’re talking about?”

“Sexy, muscular, tattooed,” she suggested with false casualness.

“Dangerous, mean criminals,” Chuito added. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes,” she announced with certainty, because she was in full-on competition mode, and she was determined to win. Chuito had far too many victories of late. Alaine needed one. “That’s exactly what I want. The church boys you suggested didn’t work out for me.”

“You want to be used and thrown away by criminals?” he asked in disbelief.

“See, that right there.” She pointed at him accusingly. “Don’t you understand what a caveman you are when you say things like that? Why is it always assumed that women are the ones being used? Maybe it’s the other way around. I’m a grown woman. If I want to have a one-night stand with a handsome fighter,
I can
, and I don’t give a shit what you or society or anyone else has to say about it.”

Alaine believed it too. She was done with pushing her needs aside. It was unhealthy. It was insane. Most importantly, it was wholly unfair.

She turned around and opened the door.

“You want to fuck a criminal. Fine.” Chuito caught her waist before she could walk outside, turned her around, and then jerked the door shut. “You’re in luck, mami. One just became available.”

She sucked in a shocked gasp, and all the blood rushed to Alaine’s head when Chuito tossed her over his shoulder. For one long moment she was truly and completely stunned. She needed to gain weight, work out more, put on a lot more muscle, because no one could toss Jules over their shoulder like this. At a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet, Alaine felt vulnerable for the first time in her life.

Then she was angry again.

She fought and kicked and beat at his back. She aimed for the soft spots in his back that protected his kidneys. She tried to kick low enough to catch him in the balls.

Chuito’s arm just tightened like a vise, making her realize how truly strong he was. He walked up the stairs, seemingly unfazed by her temper tantrum. She could practically feel the anger radiating off him.

She threw out her arm and grabbed the banister. Her fingernails scraped against the wood, because he wasn’t stopping.

“Ouch!” she squeaked and jerked her arm back, seeing that her very expensive acrylics had broken. “I just got my nails done! You ruined them!”

“Ay Dios mio, the princess broke a nail.” Chuito laughed harshly. “Now you’re
really
having a bad day.”

Screw him.

She dragged her broken nails up his back, tearing skin.

The asshole didn’t even flinch as he opened his door.

This was really bullshit.

When Chuito dropped her on his bed, she didn’t wait to catch her breath. She kicked out, because her upper-body strength might not be what it should, but she did run at least three times a week.

“Carajo!” he shouted and dodged her attack when she tried to get him in the balls. He fell over her before she could cause serious injury, catching her arms and dragging them over her head. “Low hits are against the rules, princess.”

“Screw the rules!” she shouted at him. “And screw you, Chu! I hate you!”

“Good, hate me.” He licked at the curve of her neck, dragging his tongue up slowly and then making her shiver as he breathed against her ear. “This is what you wanted, right?”

“I wanted you to be nice,” she complained, even if her body was betraying her completely. She closed her eyes when all that rolling anger started to turn into a different heat. “I wanted you to be
my
Chu.”

“Your Chu was a lie.
Yo soy el diablo
. I told you that a long time ago. You should’ve listened.” He said it with such vehemence she believed him. He pulled back and stared down at her, his dark eyes blazing. “Still want it? Or you wanna run back to your little church muchachos?”

For one brief moment, she understood he was giving her a choice. This wasn’t how she’d imagined it, but the way Chuito felt over her, his hands like vises on her wrists, his hard cock pressing against her stomach, it forced the lust to surge into her veins.

Alaine opened her mouth, thinking to tell him no, but the words wouldn’t come. She would never know whether she would’ve said it or not, because he kissed her before she could.

His tongue swept in, hot and demanding, as if her mouth had always belonged to him. She swallowed his low groan that washed over her in a wave of desire, harsh, cruel, so very angry…she let him pull her into the darkness rather than fight it.

CHUITO’S MIND WAS swimming, caught behind the heavy cloud of desire that had descended on him without warning. When he released Alaine’s hands to pull at her blouse, she threaded her fingers into his hair. Rather than push him away, she held on tightly, fueling the fire. Buttons gave way to his need, bouncing off the wooden floor.

He exposed her tits hidden only by a lacy white bra.

Chuito pulled her bra aside with a groan, because her tits were so fucking beautiful, with tight, pink nipples that were made to be sucked on. He licked one, needing to taste her, his teeth on the edge of too rough when he bit her. Alaine just arched into him as a low moan burst out of her. “God, Chu.”

There was a part of him that was screaming at him to stop, because taking this was going to hurt both of them. His destiny always found him no matter how much he ran from it. As sure as Chuito knew the next breath would have to enter his lungs whether he wanted it to or not, he knew that Alaine couldn’t be his forever.

But she was here right now.

Breathless with need in his arms, smelling like the dark, exotic perfume she wore for work. She was the one good thing in his life, the only perfect memory he had managed not to fuck up, and he felt it slipping through his fingers because she smelled like sex and felt so soft and sensual pressed against him.

He moved over to her other nipple, and she moaned, making the back of his neck hot the way his need for cocaine used to. She arched her hips, rubbing herself against his cock that was straining against the confines of his jeans, and it blocked out his last bit of reason. The pain of his life stopped, the burden didn’t feel so heavy, and all he could think about was getting these clothes off Alaine.

Coño, he wanted to be naked with her.

He wanted to taste all of her.

Fuck her.

Mark her.

Own her.

Touching her last night had tainted him, leaving the tang of sex in his mouth, making him hungry for more. It had been the biggest mistake of his life, but in that moment he didn’t give a shit.

Just once more wouldn’t change anything.

Because fuck it, he
needed
her.

Like air, like water, like something that would make him sick as hell if he didn’t have it. It was a requirement to keep living, and it made zero difference that last week he had been fine without it.