I scoffed. “Gee, thanks.”
“Just drive,” he ordered.
I put the car in drive and pulled out of his driveway. I was probably going to regret spending another minute with him, but I couldn’t seem to bring myself not to do it. I didn’t know if it was him or the idea of him that was pulling me in. I didn’t want to think about it just then.
I was hungry and I wanted food. I wanted to live in the moment. I would worry about the consequences of my decision to share a meal with the enemy later. Hell, I had done the whole sleeping with the enemy thing. If my dad only knew, I thought with a small smile.
“Where are we going?” he asked when I took a turn that would lead us into a part of town I doubted he knew existed, considering his wealth.
In my experience, the best places to eat were the places no one knew about, except for the locals.
Chapter 25
Xander
When she pulled into a parking lot that was half gravel, half blacktop, with weeds growing through the endless cracks, I wondered if she had lost her mind. There were some rather unsavory characters sitting at one of the outdoor tables. They were looking at us like we were the enemy.
We were invading their territory. I wasn’t really up on the gangs in the area, but I didn’t want to step onto anyone’s turf. Could she be setting me up? Was she pissed at me and thinking to drop me off in a bad part of the city and hope I would get my ass kicked?
“Um, is this some kind of payback?” I asked. “Are you planning on ditching me?”
She smiled and shut off the car, indicating we were staying. “No, this is dinner. I’m not paying you back for anything, nor do I need to.”
I looked around the area once again. I looked at the building with the flat roof and rather unappealing appearance. The bars on the windows really gave it that ghetto-chic look. “Is it safe? I mean to get out?”
“If you mean, are we going to get shot or shanked, the chances are fifty-fifty. Just don’t glare at anyone and we should be okay.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I asked. “What the hell are you up to?”
She laughed and took off her seatbelt. “Relax. It only looks rough. It’s fine. I come here all the time. I have no bullet holes in me yet. This is the best place to get tacos. Real tacos with homemade everything. It only looks scary. That’s part of the charm. It keeps the riffraff away.”
I was going to have to trust her. Plus, what man could resist tacos? I was starving and some authentic Mexican food was too good to pass up. “The riffraff?” I looked at the men still eyeballing us.
“Yes, the tourists and those annoying little manbun men,” she said. “You are going to be just fine. No one is going to maul you.”
“Fine, but for the record, I like my body the way it is. I’m not interested in extra holes being added.”
“Me too,” she shot back before she realized she was flirting with me. “I like your body just as it is.” She looked at me, her eyes roaming over my body before reaching my heated gaze again. She was teasing me.
I was on the verge of pulling her into the backseat and showing her exactly how much I liked her body. There is hope.
I got out of the car, quickly pulled off my tie, and tossed it in the seat before closing the door. I felt really overdressed. Evie’s tight dress was attracting a lot of attention. The men were staring at her like she was on the menu. I wasn’t interested in getting into a brawl, but I shot the men a glare anyway. One of them smirked before turning back to his buddies.
“You have actually eaten here before?” I asked in a low voice.
“Plenty of times. I was brought here by a client a couple of years ago. I’ve been hooked ever since.”
The smell of spices, the kind that made my eyes water a little, was a little overwhelming as we stepped inside the small building. It was painted the ugliest color of green with orange trim. I found it to be hideous, but it gave the place a very authentic feel.
I stood back while Evie ordered our meals. She spoke Spanish apparently and had an entire conversation with an older man I suspected was the owner. That was new. It wasn’t long before she was carrying two sodas and moving to sit at a table inside. I was on high alert. I kept scanning the area, waiting to see a gun flash at me.
“This is different,” I murmured.
“You should feel privileged I brought you here,” she said with a grin. “I never bring anyone here. It’s my secret. I take tacos very seriously.”
It was a little nugget of information about her that I didn’t have before. “I guess you do if you are willing to come all the way over here. Do you come here by yourself?”
“All the time,” she said with a grin.
A few minutes later, the short round man she had been talking to at the register delivered a tray filled with foil-wrapped tacos.
“Gracias, amiga,” he said with a nod of his head. He gave me a look. It was the kind of look I would expect to get from a father, warning me to treat his daughter right or else. I offered a very small smile in return, hoping he didn’t decide to kill me.
“I promise you are going to love it,” she said when I looked at the assortment of food that was delivered to our table.
“I like tacos,” I said.
“These are not just tacos. These are so good, you will never want another taco from some other place again. Manny’s tacos are the bomb.”
I chuckled, taking my first tentative bite. The meat was moist and flavorful. There was a kick of heat but not to the point I needed to guzzle a gallon of milk. “Good,” I said with a full mouth. “Very good.”
“Told you,” she said with a grin. She wiped her mouth and took a drink before looking directly into my eyes. “Can you tell me what happened between you and my dad?”
I groaned. “He didn’t tell you?”
“No, not really.”
I had nothing to hide. I really didn’t feel like I’d done anything wrong. “As he said, I took his class. I was a senior and it was the last semester. I aced his class—well, up until the final paper. He had a reputation for being really smart and stuff but kind of a dick.”
She frowned. “Really?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk shit about your dad, but I think your dad at home is very different from your dad at school. Have you ever been in his class?”
“No. I went to a different school.”
“He’s smart, really smart, and he knows his shit, but he’s dated.”
She laughed. “Dated?”
“He can’t see the future. He doesn’t want to see the future. We clashed. I came up with the idea for the design for my ships while I was in school. He failed my paper because he didn’t like it. We got into a rather heated discussion that last day, with him saying some pretty fucked-up things. I was a student. I was a good student and he hated me.”
She was shaking her head. “It’s hard for me to think of him like that. I suppose it shouldn’t be that difficult. He can be kind of abrupt and abrasive.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, you think?”
“He is very smart and tends to kind of speak before he runs his thoughts through a filter.”