Grazing my lips across her cheek, I traced them against the shell of her ear before whispering, “I win.”
I pulled back just as her eyes popped open and her jaw dropped. Letting out an almost inhuman growl, she flung herself back into her seat as I put the car back in gear and pulled onto the road wearing a satisfied smirk.
Yin and yang.
She didn’t talk to me the rest of the way, and by the time we got to the stash house, it was dark, which was a good thing since it was exactly what I expected it to be—a piece of shit. A run-down barnyard red box house. Not the most subtle of colors, but that was probably why Val picked it. No one in their right mind would think the most feared man in Mexico would paint a bright red bull’s eye on himself. Which is exactly why he did.
Human instinct was trained to dismiss the obvious.
Adriana’s face puckered as soon as we walked in the door. Granted, the sheets slung over the windows and the stained mattress on the floor didn’t scream hygiene, but unless she wanted to sleep in the back seat of the Toyota, we didn’t have many options.
Of course, saying the words out loud probably wasn’t the best idea. After growling at me, she stomped into the shoebox of a bedroom and slammed the door.
An hour later, she still hadn’t opened it.
Not that I’d tried to see what she was doing. I had enough on my mind without wasting time trying to decode her hot and cold routine. Grabbing a bottle of scotch from my backpack, I kicked one of the splintered chairs away from the rickety kitchen table and sat down, not even giving a shit when the bottom rung snapped in half.
Fuck it. If I fell, I fell.
Unscrewing the cap, I tipped the bottle back, draining a good four shot’s worth before taking a breath. My throat ignited, and my eyes watered, but I welcomed the burn. I knew from experience it was only temporary. A few more like that, and I’d feel nothing. Numb and sedated. Just the way I liked it.
Besides, drunk me was a hell of a lot more rational than sober me.
With eighty-proof logic coursing through my veins, I could devise a plan on what to do about the shitshow my life had become without all the useless guilt getting in the way.
Men like Val and Mateo were born in this life possessing the ability to compartmentalize their conscience. I wasn’t wired that way. I felt like Jekyll and Hyde molded together and stuffed into the same suit. The constant conflict between fighting to hold on to the honorable man I was and fighting the monster clawing inside my chest was wearing me down. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take before Hyde turned on everyone.
Of course, that was provided I lived long enough for it to be an issue. Letting out a huff, I turned the bottle up again. Val knew I went against a direct order and contacted Ronan Kelly personally to set up the Chicago port. If that weren’t damning enough, when the Muñozes hijacked my shipment, not only did I not come clean, I let myself get backed into four different corners by Leo Pinellas and Adriana Carrera. Luckily, Val hadn’t said shit about going through another Colombian supplier yet. Dragging Carlos into the mix might send him over the edge.
Dropping the bottle between my legs, I scrubbed a hand over my face, unfamiliar stubble raking across my palm. “What a fucking mess.”
“You’re just now realizing that?”
I rolled my eyes to the side, ready to tell her to go back into whatever hole she crawled out of when my mouth went dry and every drop of blood in my brain free fell straight to my groin.
Adriana leaned against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed, wearing Leighton’s Texas State University T-shirt.
Wearing only her Texas State University T-shirt.
It hit her mid-thigh, leaving the rest of her long shapely legs to spill out of the bottom. My eyes went all unfocused, and all I wanted in life at that moment was for her to bend over.
My hand fell from my chin, almost knocking the bottle off my chair.
Cocking a hip, Adriana traced the pad of her index finger around her bottom lip. “Everything okay? You look a little flustered there, counselor.”
That’s the understatement of the year.
I didn’t have to look down to know my cock was about to punch its way through my pants, so I dragged the bottle tight against my crotch. “Did you need something, or did the rats get tired of your bullshit too?”
“Funny.” Pushing off the wall, she pulled out the chair beside me and flopped down, legs splayed.
Fuck me.
Her T-shirt rode up her thighs, and my dick leaped with a battle cry, fighting against the constraints of the bottle. I looked everywhere but directly at her, and when she leaned forward with her hand extended, I wondered if it was possible for a human penis to shatter glass.
I pushed my chair back. “Whoa, what are you doing?”
Whatever it is, do it fast.
And hard.
With both hands.
Jesus, where did that come from?
She paused, her hand hovering over the bottle. “I’m shoving this bottle up your ass if you don’t let go.” When I didn’t move, she sighed and wrapped her hand around the neck. “Brody, it’s been a shitty day, and I want a drink. Are you going to make me beg, or not be a giant dick for once?”
“You said you didn’t drink.”
“Forget it.” Shoving the bottle against my chest, she stood to leave when I grabbed her arm. It went against everything common sense told me to do, but I didn’t want to be alone. “Fine, sit down. I’m the last one who should be casting stones here.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t argue, slowly sinking back into the rickety chair. “Hand it over,” she demanded, holding her hand out for the bottle, but I shook my head and dug around in my backpack until I found what I was looking for. She lifted an eyebrow as I slid a crystal shot glass adorned with a golden crowned skull clutching a rose in its teeth. “You stole one of Val’s personal shot glasses?”
“Correction,” I said, pulling out an identical glass. “I stole two of Val’s personal shot glasses.”
I filled them to the top and threw my shot back immediately while Adriana wrapped her fingers around her glass, the corners of her mouth turned down as she stared into the liquid. I recognized the look on her face. I saw the same one etched across it last night.
“Do you want to tell me about your dream now?”
“It was nothing.”
“It didn’t seem like nothing. I’ve never seen you that shaken up.”
Adriana glanced up, her mouth twisting into a snide smirk. “You’ve known me for all of four days.”
“I was an attorney, Adriana.” Ignoring her little pretend yawn and eye roll, I poured myself another shot. “My job was to read people the minute they stepped up on the witness stand. I was damn good at what I did.”
I prepared myself for one of her smartass comebacks but looked up to find her staring down at her glass again in silence. Finally, she gave it a spin, scotch spilling over the rim and soaking into the wood. “Do you ever have a feeling that no matter what you do things are going to end badly?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, lifting another shot to my lips. “Every day of my life.”
“Come on, your life can’t be that bad.”
Slamming the glass on the table, I sat back with a bitter smile. “The only girl I ever loved dumped me for the man who kidnapped her, and now I’ve sworn an oath to kiss his ass for the rest of my life. How’s that?”