“Why?”
“You said he was your most trusted man, correct?”
I nodded. “Yes. He’s always with me.”
“Then what better way to get rid of him than to make it look like an accident.”
“But why?”
“To get to you.”
My nerves were already on edge and this wasn’t helping. I looked down at my phone and sighed. Time went by too fast when I was with him. I only had thirty minutes to get back. “You don’t think…”
“Oh, I think it. Hell, I’m almost certain of it.”
“Look at this,” he grabbed a thick wire and handed it to me. It was marred on the ends, as if someone had taken a blade to it.
“Now I’ve seen plenty of brake lines go out, baby girl. But this...this was done on purpose. That was planned, sweetheart. And it was half assed too. Like they were in a hurry.”
“Diego is my brother’s most trusted man. Well, him and Cesar Dominguez.”
He snarled as I said Cesar’s name. “You know him.”
“We’ve crossed paths.”
“Then you know how he reacts to things.”
He grabbed my hands and turned me towards him. “You need to promise you’ll stay away from him until we find a way to get you out of there.”
“Why?”
“Just promise me, Dyanara.”
I searched his eyes and knew he was keeping something from me. “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”
He puffed a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I know all about Cesar Dominguez. I know what he has his eyes set on and I’ve got a bad feeling about all this. My gut doesn’t lie to me, it never has. I don’t like this one bit.”
I looked down at the wires, my eyes staring off into space as I thought of the men who surrounded me. They were all corrupt. Any one of them could have been the culprit, but what frightened me more was that they knew. Someone knew that Diego was helping me and either wanted him dead, or for me to suffer the consequences. Either way, someone was watching me. And if that was the case, then I needed to lay low for a while before I killed us both.
“Are you alright?”
His voice ripped me out of my thoughts and back to reality. He had no idea what I had gone through, nor what had happened in the time since then. But I wasn’t ready to tell him my secrets just yet.
His touch startled me. “Hey.”
“I need to go.”
“Already?”
“Does it matter? You didn’t seem so happy with me when I showed up just now.” This man was unnerving. He was hot and cold, and I honestly didn’t know how to feel with him.
“That’s because you shouldn’t be here. Don’t you understand the last thing I want is for any of these men to see you here. If they find out you are Bloody Scorpions property, they will chain you in a cage and torture you for information.”
“You wouldn’t let that happen.”
His fingers traced my chin and angled my head up, forcing my eyes to his. “I’m gonna steal you away. I hope you know that.”
“What you need to do is forget about me.”
“That’s impossible. I don’t forget about the things I want. And I have all the patience in the world. What I don’t have is time. I will get you out of there.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“No?”
“I’m here aren’t I?”
“You’ve checked the clock on that phone of yours at least ten times since you've been here. I'm pretty sure you’ll have to leave me soon and head out to the sanctuary of those church doors, when I know down deep inside you want to stay right here with me.
“No.”
“Stay.” His plea was meant to arouse, to seduce.
“No.”
“I’ll protect you.” He was so damn tempting.
“I need to go,” I brushed his hands away from my face and as I swept past him he grabbed me, slammed me up against the side of the truck, and consumed me in a kiss that breathed life back into my soul.
He wasn’t gentle, or tender, he was wild and unrelenting. His hands squeezed my breasts, rough hands that manhandled me and made my whimpers roll onto his tongue. His groan was rough and resonated through me. I clung to him, my knees growing weak.
“Stop,” I barely breathed as his hands swept down over my ass and pressed me into him.
“Stop.” I breathed in his ear as his tongue swept across my neck, biting down as his rough fingers dragged my skirt up.
“Please, stop!” I pressed the palms of my hands on his chest and pushed back. His breathing was ragged as he watched me beneath a dark hooded gaze.
“You...we...I can’t.”
He pressed his forehead to mine and cradled my face, tenderly. He confused me, excited me, made me want to believe that there was such a thing as love.
“I can’t.”
“Run.” His tone was low and held an underlying threat.
I looked into his eyes and there was anger in them. A deep anger that emanated through him.
“Run and don’t come back here again.”
“Don’t say that!”
“Don’t be so fucking naive, little girl.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“No? How about this? The next time you appear before me you best believe I will not let you go before I get what I want from you.” He snarled at me, but for some reason I didn’t quiver at his threat.
Instead, I ran my fingers along his beard cladded chin and pressed my lips softly to his. “I will be back. And next time you will tell me your name.”
“Never.”
“Oh, you will. Because I need something to scream as you do what you want with me.”
His eyes met mine and the thrill of our next meeting hung in the air.
“Taron.”
His name was whispered against my lips and I smiled. You can call him what you wanted. Headstrong, determined, stubborn, but in the end, he’d given me this tiny victory. “I can’t wait to see you again, Taron.”
He pulled me against him, his lips on my temple. “I don’t want you to go.”
“But you know I have to,” I pressed my hand to his heated flesh, his strong heart beats reverberated softly against the palm of my hand, and I felt my heart beating out of my chest as I turned and ran. I ran away as fast as I could. Because if I stayed one more minute, I’d give into him. I’d give him everything I knew I wasn’t free to give. Not just yet, anyway.
10
Knuckles
As I stood in the empty location, behind the bike shop, my mind kept drifting off to Dyanara Reyes. I had tried my ever lovin’ best to get her the fuck out of my thoughts to no freakin’ use. She had literally imprinted herself in my day to day routines. If I was training, I was thinking of her. If I was working, I was doing it for her. If I was jacking the fuck off, it was to thoughts of those plush lips, coated in pink lipstick, and glistening from my wet tongue on them.
Fuck!
I refused to let a woman take over my life. She was a fucking stranger. One who was going to get me killed if I didn’t get my head out of the gutter.