Page 34 of Faded Gray Lines

I expected her to fight me. Instead, she drew in a ragged breath, and her shoulders sagged. “Fine, someone followed me from the cantina. I thought I imagined it at first, but every time I sped up, they did too. I tried to lose them, and they ran into the back of me.”

“Why would someone follow you?”

The familiarity in her eyes hardened a little. “Maybe because I’m consorting with known cartel members.”

Her words cut through me. Logically, I realized she might be right. She easily could’ve landed on someone’s shit list from her ties to Luis and Brody alone. However, the loathing in her voice when she spoke of the organization I’d pledged my life to stirred the darkness within me.

“That didn’t seem to stop you in San Marcos.”

The tension in her shoulders returned at my accusation, and she stepped backward. “I’ve already told you once that’s none of your business.”

I was a fool to think I could be civilized with her. I couldn’t pretend this was just a job when it was nothing more than a test of my willpower—fate’s way of seeing how far it could push me before I broke.

Well, fuck this. If she didn’t give a shit, two could play the same game.

“You’re right, Star,” I said, stalking toward her. “Whoever you fucked in the last four years is none of my business. However, it becomes my business when you try to fuck us all at once.”

“I—I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“No? Well, that’s understandable. I mean, you’ve been through a lot, putting a bullet in one of our men and all.” The more she moved away from me, the more I stalked forward. She paled, and my blood rushed. “So, how about I jog your memory a little.” I pulled out the bug and held it in front of her face while grabbing her wrist. “Care to explain what kind of shit you’re trying to pull?”

At first, she attempted to play dumb, shaking her head like she’d never seen it before. “I don’t know what that is.”

“You know exactly what it is, and you’re going to start talking, or I start calling people you don’t want me to call.”

“How do you know it was me who did it?” The contrast of the challenge in her voice and the red flush painting the skin above her tank top made my rage soar and my cock throb with savage need.

“Because everything was fine until your name was mentioned,” I hissed, jerking her against me. “Now everything has gone to shit, as usual.”

Her palms pushed against my chest once again. “I’d never intentionally hurt my brother.”

“Just sell him out, right? You spent time with the Muñoz Cartel then shacked up with a Carrera. Seems to me you know more about our life than anyone thinks.”

“What are you implying?”

Lifting the bug, I held it between us. “Who sent you? What really happened with Luis?”

“What?” she screeched, glaring up at me. “Nobody sent me. I’m the victim here.”

“No, the victim is dead, and if you keep pulling shit like this,” I yelled, tossing the bug across the room, “you and your brother will be too.”

Leighton’s eyes followed the bug as it bounced on the floor, her chin tilted away from me. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s a fact,” I answered, trying to shock some sense into her. When she continued to stare at the bug as if she didn’t hear me, I gripped her shoulders and gave them a firm shake. “You could cost Brody his life.”

“All right!” she screamed, covering her face with her hands. “I’m being blackmailed.”

“What? By who? How?”

She sighed in defeat, dropping her hands by her side. “The DEA. They know about Luis.”

The last three letters I ever wanted to hear.

“DEA? What the fuck?” I expected to have to pull the information out of her. However, it was as if the entire night had shaken her so much that once those three letters fell from her lips, the dam broke and the truth came rushing out of her.

“Agents caught me coming out of my apartment,” she admitted. “They’d been watching me and knew everything. They had me on tape calling Brody and threatened me with jail if I didn’t agree to become their informant.”

“Is that who was following you tonight?”