Page 12 of Cartel Viper (The Cartel Brotherhood #2)

He just sucks harder after I moan his name.

When he tires of that side, he moves to the other.

His hands return to my hips to guide me again.

He abandons my nipples to kiss over the remaining bruises my bra hid until he pulled the cups down.

He smatters them with kisses before he sucks beside an existing bruise.

I open my eyes and look down. He’s watching my face, reading me.

He knows these came from someone pinching me.

He already knows I wasn’t a sub, though I could’ve just been in a relationship with some BDSM.

He’s marking me. Covering what Drew left with his own brand. He’s replacing my terrible memories with good ones. He leaves fresh love bites in places that weren’t marred. He’s doing it because he can. When I look down in the days to come, all I’ll see are signs I belong to him now.

I love it.

He draws me down, so we press chest to chest. My head rests on his shoulder. I feel his heart racing. Everything else about him seems so calm and unhurried. But I realize how much discovering what he suspected is real bothers him.

“ Chiquita, let me hold you.”

I let my body go limp against him, and his heart rate slows. He relaxes too. One of his hands slips down my jeans again to cup my ass. His other hand sweeps up and down my back. I kiss his neck, and I feel affection for the first time in years. I feel it as I give it and receive it.

“Don’t let me go for a while.”

His arms tighten around me. “I told you this ends when you tell me to walk away. Until then, I will hold you and not let go. You’re mine, Maddy. This is where you belong.”

I’ve heard those words before, and I hated them every single time.

But they were never said with reverence.

With softness. With respect. Sure, they’re possessive as fuck.

But Javi’s kind of possessiveness comes from his protectiveness.

It’s not him wanting to keep me from the world.

It’s not him wanting to limit me to only what he allows.

His possessiveness comes from wanting to ensure I can have everything I need.

He won’t let anything get in the way of me having that.

“When can we see each other again?”

“Tomorrow, little one. I’ll figure something out with work. If your family thinks you’re going back up to Albany tonight, you won’t be staying with your parents. Where will you go?”

“Back to the hotel in Brooklyn. I didn’t end the reservation. I extended it. I figured it’s been long enough that you wouldn’t expect me to go back. It puts enough distance from my parents that I can’t run into them. It’s in a different borough from Laura and the others. You could come there.”

“All right. What time?”

“Whenever. I’m not going anywhere once I’m there.”

I don’t know how long passes while we simply sit with me still straddling his lap and his arms wrapped around me.

I nearly doze off a few times, but I know Javi’s wide awake.

I doubt he’d ever fall asleep somewhere so potentially exposed.

This is the most relaxed I’ve been in—I don’t know how long. I could stay like this forever.

“I love you too, Dad.”

My dad gives me a massive bear hug like he has since I was a kid.

Until this morning, it was the hug that made me feel safe no matter what.

The moments when he engulfed me in his arms and pressed me against his broad chest were moments I felt untouchable from Drew, even when he was in the room with my dad and me.

Now, it’s Javi who makes me feel that way. That sense of being shielded by the world is at least ten times stronger with Javi.

I step back, and my mom takes my dad’s place.

“I love you, sweetie.”

“I love you, Mom.”

She’s soft in all the right place, and I relax against her.

If my dad is my shield, then my mom is the solution to the world’s problems. There’s nothing she can’t help me sort out.

At least, that’s what I tell her. There’s shit I’ll never tell her.

It’s the same shit Javi tempted me to disclose, but I held back.

I’ve never wanted to share any of my secrets with anyone, but I was close to relenting with Javi.

I’m delusional to think I won’t, eventually. I know I will. I’m just not ready yet.

It’s almost noon when my parents walk me out to my car, and I have to remind myself it’s mine. I still expect to see my SUV. I told them I borrowed this from Drew’s cousin since it’s more fuel efficient to drive down here from Upstate New York.

I know Javi has a Porsche, but he was in one of his family’s Suburbans yesterday.

I’m certain it was because he wanted a bulletproof shield around us.

The Four Families have these behemoth SUVs that are souped up with a shit ton of aftermarket parts that make them practically tanks.

Among other features, they’re entirely bulletproof from top to bottom and all the way around.

As I consider it, I realize he’s been showing me he’s determined to protect me since the first moment we looked at each other last night.

He’s not a man to make false promises. At least not to the people who matter, and I must be among the ones who do.

That makes my toes curl in my shoes as I load my bag into my trunk.

I have to go back to the hotel here in Jersey that I was in before I arrived at my parents’ place the day before yesterday.

It’s where the rest of my stuff is. I’ll check out there and head back into Brooklyn.

It’ll be another night alone, but I’ll see Javi again tomorrow.

I haven’t felt lonely since I left Albany.

I’ve felt free, even if I’ve been scared Drew or Javi would find me.

As I drive away from Mom and Dad, loneliness settles over me.

I refuse to be fucking needy and mopey when Javi isn’t around.

I won’t give up my hard-earned independence.

But I wish I were going to see him rather than one empty hotel room then another.

Rather depressing after how things were in his SUV a few hours ago.

As I drive, I check all my mirrors in a rotation, along with looking through the windshield.

I’m searching for any car I recognize or might be following me.

As I merge into traffic in Brooklyn, I’m certain there’s the same sedan I saw when I stopped at the Jersey hotel.

I don’t want to go to the next hotel and lead someone to me.

Though, the first hotel would have been an easy place to corner me.

Did Javi send someone? Is Maks and his family suspicious, and one of them sent a guy? Did Drew track me down?

I’m tired of my paranoia. I wonder if I’ll get over it. I want to tell myself it’s situational awareness, but since nothing’s happened—knock on wood—it must be an overactive imagination.

I circle the block a few times until I no longer see the car behind me.

I breathe a little easier, but I still don’t go straight to the hotel.

Instead, I swing through a drive-thru. I’m not hungry yet, but I will be later.

I would’ve gone to the store since I have a full kitchen at this hotel, but now that I think I’m being—or was being—followed, that doesn’t seem like such a good idea.

I eat my fries to keep from winding up with soggy ones later.

I pull into the hotel parking lot as I finish the last one.

I look for a parking spot, and I could swear the car I thought was following me is now in the lot.

But it was never close enough for me to see the license plate, so I can’t be sure.

There’s no one in it, and I don’t want to get close enough to peek inside.

I debate whether to go through the lobby or slip through the keycard-controlled side door like I did the few times I had to come and go before.

I decide to make an appearance through the lobby since I haven’t been around for a couple days.

I made a massive detour on the way to my parents’ house, which was only a couple miles from my second hotel.

I slipped back in here, messed up the bed, left a couple plates in the sink, and left a couple hairs in the bathroom sink.

That made me super anxious, but I hooked the hang tag on the door asking for housekeeping to come in.

I knew their schedule for my floor, so I waited around the block until I figured they were done.

I hurried back up to my room and put the hang tag back on the door but with the side saying Do Not Disturb showing.

Now I smile at the receptionist as I go by.

Once I’m out of her sight, I hurry to the elevator.

There’s no one in the lobby, so I don’t fear someone noticing me.

I know there are cameras, but I keep my head down for most of my walk.

I only wanted the receptionist to see me to confirm I’m still staying here.

I don’t dally once I get off the elevator.

I put my ear to my room’s door and listen.

I hear nothing. I know I can’t avoid the sound of the door unlocking, so I press down on the handle to keep it from relocking, but I don’t open it.

Nothing happens.

I have my phone camera up as I lean against the door to make enough room for me to angle my phone without exposing myself. I use the camera to look around the limited area I can see. When I’ve done all I can to ensure no one’s in there, I walk in. I bolt the door and flip the metal latch.

I’d just gotten back from the store when Javi and Joaquin burst in. It’s why I was in the kitchen. I’d had my hands full, so I hadn’t set the bolt or put the bar across the door.

I check every corner until I’m satisfied there’re no cameras or listening devices I can find.

I kick off my shoes near the sofa and turn on the TV.

I’m still not hungry, but I force down my sandwich.

By the time I’m done, my eyes are drooping.

It’s not even that late, but I’m totally drained.

I toss the wrappers and bags in the trash and am ready to drag myself to bed when I hear someone try to unlock the hotel door.