Tug (24 page)

“Fuck that! You aren’t leaving me. I can help. Tell me.”

I push against his chest and he lets me go, his expression hurt, and it’s all my fault.

“There’s nothing you can do. Let me go. You can’t spend your life trying to build me up. My life is always going to fall apart. People like me don’t get ahead. And people like you are supposed to be fine with it. This was never going to work and we never should have forced a relationship. I made a mistake.”

“We are not a mistake and I refuse to let you fall apart.”

“You don’t understand. Eduardo will kill you, me, Javier, and anyone else who gets in his way. He’s ruthless, and I don’t have what he wants to stop him, so it’s time for us to split town.”

“What does he want? I’ll give it to him.”

Although I know it wasn’t intentional, Tug offering to settle my debt makes me feel like a hooker all over again.

“I have to go. Please, let me go.”

“No, goddammit! I know you care about me. Talk to me or I’ll find out on my own, but you aren’t going anywhere.”

He’s not going to let me leave, but I have to. I’ve already put him at risk. My brain is running haywire with thoughts of what Eduardo will do. The only thing I can think of to convince Tug to let me go, is to hustle him.

“I don’t care about you. You’re a stupid man with a lot of money. You were an easy score. I was playing you to get to your money and move my family, but it’s not a game anymore.” The words are bitter and I hate myself for saying them.

“You’re lying.”

He won’t be easy to convince … he never has been. Time to hit hard.

“Am I? Think about it! Why do you think I won’t move in with you?”

“It’s not true. You’re not that good at pretending.”

“I’m a hooker,” I say in a low, sultry voice, running the tip of my finger down his cheek and over his lips. “I do nothing but pretend. I can be anything a man wants me to be and you wanted me to be the woman who could help you get over Tori, and that’s exactly what I did.”

“Why?”

“Greed, baby, and your desperation made it so easy. You used me, too. It’s not like you care about me. We both got what we wanted.”

“Get out!”

His booming scream makes me flinch, but I grab my purse and escape his condo without looking back.

A
bout five minutes after she bolted from the loft, I calmed down and knew Maria hustled me so I would let her go, and foolishly, I did. How can I be gifted with brains, and, yet, utterly clueless when it comes to the heart? After the stunt I pulled our first night together, Maria left her job and didn’t know how she was going to pay her rent, yet she returned over two grand to me without hesitation. To take a stand about how the money made her feel. To prove her integrity. She loves me, and I let her go.

I spend the remainder of the day and most of the night searching for a man named Eduardo with no last name, and turn up nothing. At 3 a.m., my phone rings. It’s the company investigator.

“Aidan, it’s Sid. I discovered an Eduardo with ties to the Bay Area. I don’t know if it’s your guy or not, but I doubt you’ll be able to find him. His name is Eduardo Montez. An illegal, and head of the Torrente Cartel in the Bay Area. A punk kid who climbed his way up by knocking off his predecessors. No permanent addresses on file. I sent you a photo.”

“Thanks, Sid.”

I open the photo. The resemblance to Javier is proof that this is his father. How did Maria get mixed up with a guy like Montez? I send Maria a text.

Tug: If you think I’m going to let you run, you’ve seriously underestimated my feelings for you.

She doesn’t reply and I send another text.

Tug: I know you’re story about playing me was bullshit. You love me.

Still no response, and I’m worried she’s already left the country.

Tug: I also know Eduardo Montez is Javier’s father. I will protect you. Please trust me. Give me three days before you disappear.

Again, her response doesn’t come, and I’m just about to leave the house to find her when my phone vibrates.

Maria: I can’t.

Tug: Please. I’m begging.

Maria: Let me go.

Tug: No fucking way! I love you.

The seconds tick away as I wait for her reply. I know she’s going to trust me. She has to.

Maria: I love you, too. 3 days.

Tug: I will be at your place by nine and I will make sure you’re safe. Is Javier with you?

Maria: No, he wanted to stay with Drew another night.

Tug: Is that safe?

Maria: Eduardo won’t come to Mexico.

Tug: Please try to sleep. I love you.

Maria: I’m sorry

Tug: I know. I’m going to handle this.

I
wake in the morning to a shock. Something is wrong. I hear voices in the house. One is Veronica, the others two male voices I don’t recognize, speaking in Spanish. What I hear sends me darting from the bed and searching for pants to put on. I feel legless as the men on the other side of my door continue to talk. Thank God Javier isn’t here. I struggle to shove my legs into my sweatpants and open the door.

I make eye contact with Veronica, and her horrified expression confirms that my life has just changed drastically.

“No!” I scream, my voice catching in my throat.

“Oh, God, Maria. I didn’t know you were home. I would have woken you.”

“Papa!” I run to his room just as the EMT covers him with a sheet.

“Maria!” Tug calls from the front room, but I can’t go to him. I lean against the wall and sink slowly to the floor. My papa is dead. He went all alone in the middle of the night. After I left Tug’s, I went to Tori’s to pick up Javier. He wanted to stay with Drew, so I drove around for hours, thinking about my future and came home after Papa went to bed. I didn’t even bother to check on him when I got home. I was too upset. Was he in pain? Could I have saved him?

“Oh, thank God, baby.” Tug storms into the room and kneels in front of me. His hand curls around the back of my neck. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the EMTs leaving the room. “I saw the ambulance and police and thought …”

“He’s gone. My papa is gone. I couldn’t save him.”

“No. No.” He holds my face firmly in his hands. “You took care of him. He knew you loved him.”

My hands reach up and wrap around Tug’s wrists. I want him to let go of my face, but he won’t budge. I can’t look him in the eyes.

“He wants to be buried next to
abuelita
, but I can’t go back there. I don’t know what to do.” He lowers his hands, and I drop my chin, putting my head on his chest.

For a few minutes he lets me cry, and then says, “Hey. Look at me. I will make it happen.” I lift my head. “We’ll hire security for the funeral. He deserves a resting place next to his wife. It will be okay.”

He’s so perfect and sweet and kind … and so wrong, so very wrong. I touch his cheek, shaking my head.

“No, it won’t. It will never be okay. Eduardo’s men will shoot your security, and he will take Javier to get what he wants.”

He grabs my hands and yanks them to his chest, his gaze so sincere I don’t want to look.

“I promise you, I will never let that happen.”

More than anything, I want to believe him. I want to think this wonderful, protective guy is stronger and more powerful than the man I left behind, but I know differently. I’ve seen Eduardo’s rage firsthand, and Tug doesn’t stand a chance against him. I force a tiny smile and thank him. My body feels weak. I’m tired from always being strong, from taking care of everyone else. Right now I want someone to take care of me. I want to let Tug take care of me, and handle things in my life that seem impossible.

He takes my hands and pulls me up.

“Go get dressed. I will deal with this, and then I’ll take you someplace where we can talk.”

I nod, words too difficult to get out, and return to my room, where I lie on the bed, absorbing the tremors rolling through my body.

My sweet papa is gone.

W
e go to Tori’s to pick up Javier and then drive to the Center. Once Javier is distracted by the other kids, I pull Maria into a quiet room. She sits in a chair and stares absently at the wall. The tracks of dried tears etched on her cheeks crush me. She lost her grandfather and probably isn’t ready for me to push her, but I have to know what I’m up against. What secret would make her turn her back on us to protect it?

“Tell me the truth so I can help you.”

Her lip curls slightly. “Tell you the truth, like how I thought getting involved with a gang banger at fifteen made me cool?”

I grab her face and force her to look at me. “Yes. I love you, and I want to hear all of it.”