Page 31 of Undertow

Shit. Didn’t see that coming.

But I should have.

I’m rarely caught off-guard, and an ember of panic simmers in my stomach at what else I might be missing. My survival depends on being one step ahead of every person and every situation.

“I don’t understand,” I say, equal parts concerned and curious.

But I do understand, and now that I’ve caught up, I’m already recalculating my strategy.

“We will pay you a lot of money to go back,” she says.

“How much?”

“Probably more than you’ve ever seen at once.”

Unlikely.

Mama H doesn’t offer many details after that, just asks me to consider returning to my post and do more digging on the illegal activities going on in the McArthur resorts. She appeals to my avarice with an attractive sum of ten thousand dollars up front and another five per week. She appeals to my conscience with the call to “do the right thing” and get evidence we can show the authorities.

I take the bait in earnest, offering wide eyes at the “huge” payout and a reluctant sigh at the effective guilt trip.“You can’t just run away and let them get away with it, right? A month max,” she assures me. They’ll protect me and have me back to safety in no time.

I could laugh at the echo of the same speech I heard just twenty-four hours ago from their enemies. Merrick probablywilllaugh when I fill him in tonight. Listening to them talk about “doing the right thing” and “involving the authorities” was almost as funny, but I kept a straight face like the pro that I am.

By the time Mama H dismisses me, my head is buzzing with the low hum of another instinctive alarm I have to ignore.

Fight or flight?Such a joke. I’ve never had a choice. It’s always beenfight. Always crime and punishment. Predator or prey.

Until a gnarled hand reached into your abyss and tried to pull you out.

“It’s not supposed to be like this, son. You’re not wired for this life.”

But he was too late.

Once I’m outside the room, I press my ear to the closed door and listen for hints of their private conversation inside. I can’t make out much until someone cracks the door at the very end.

“You need to find out what he’s hiding and why,” Mama H calls to the person. “He knows more than he’s saying. I smell it.”

“About the McArthurs’ operation?” Julia asks.

“Maybe. Maybe something bigger. He’s playing weak and gullible but I’m not buying it. There’s nothing weak about that boy.” After a pause, she clears her throat. “And if honey doesn’t get the job done, you know what to do.”

Mama H’sthreat is still echoing through my head when Julia finds me waiting in the stairwell.

She says almost nothing as she leads me to her car and informs me she’ll be taking me back to her place instead of Adrian’s. I’m even more grateful I was able to orchestrate a meeting with Merrick before all of this. I’ll have to figure out a way to get back to Adrian’s property and my McArthur phone by 2 AM, however.

Since our reunion on the stairs, Julia hasn’t stopped blasting me with heated looks. Her body seems magnetized to mine, constantly finding excuses to make contact. As usual with her, I’m having trouble distinguishing what’s real and what’s not, but the part without question?

I like it. Too much.

Even now, I find my gaze drifting to the bare skin below her cut-off shorts, mesmerized by the way her sleek thigh muscles move with each press of the gas or brake pedal. Bikini straps jut from the neckline of her halter top in a seductive hint I can’t shake from my vivid imagination no matter how hard I try.

“I know that was a lot to take at once,” she says as we pull into a sandy alley.

I stare out the window, pretending to think while I absorb every detail of my surroundings.

Julia’s house.

Another location to memorize and file away. Blood surges hot at the prospect of what she has planned for us tonight. She’s been mentally stripping me all evening, so there’s a very real possibility I’ll never make it back to Adrian’s home and will have to risk a call to Merrick on my dummy phone.