Page 14

CHAPTER 14

Camila

G roaning, I pressed my hands against my throbbing temples. It was like my head was beating in time with my heartbeat. Something rumbled beneath my ear, so I looked up and groaned again when I found Kilo staring down at me. I was curled up against his powerful body. He looked damn good and I was sure I looked exactly how I felt. “Those guys are trouble,” I told him.

He laughed again. “I should’ve warned you not to drink what they gave you without asking what was in it.”

“Poison,” I replied. “Pretty sure that’s what it was.”

“Close enough.” His arms tightened around me before he reached over and grabbed a bottle and a glass of water on the nightstand. “Take these,” he said, handing me the painkillers. “And drink all of that water.”

My eyes widened when I saw the time on the clock. It was ten o’clock in the morning. “Oh my God!” I gasped. “Mama’s going to kill me.”

“I called her,” he told me, holding me close to him so that I couldn’t get up.

Looking up at him, I winced. “Was she mad?”

“She wasn’t pleased, but I told her I’d had a beer too many and couldn’t drive.”

“And she didn’t offer to come pick me up?” I asked, brows shooting up.

“She did, but a monsoon started up last night. Told her I didn’t want her driving in it and that I’d bring you back in the morning.”

I was going to get chewed out as soon as I got home, but I’d deal with that then. “Thank you for calling her.” I laid my head back down on his chest. My eyes closed as I enjoyed cuddling close to him. Then flashes of what happened last night started to come to my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut harder. “Please tell me I didn’t come on to you... And you turned me down? I was dreaming that, right?” I opened one eye and looked at him.

“If you weren’t so drunk, I wouldn’t have turned you down,” he told me, his voice husky.

I sighed and vowed to myself that I was never trusting Bolo to pour the drinks again. I still wasn’t sure what it even was that I’d downed last night, but my head was both fuzzy and aching and my stomach wasn’t too pleased either. “Thank you,” I told him. He was proving to be not only a gentleman but a man I could trust. There was nothing more important to me. “I should get home though.”

“Alright. I’ll take a cage ride,” he said as we got up out of bed.

My eyes dropped down to the sweatpants he was wearing and my jaw dropped.

He was hard. His eyes followed mine and he shrugged as he adjusted himself. “Can’t blame a guy for that,” he said as he walked into the little bathroom with some clothes.

“Maybe I need to be drunk for that,” I muttered to myself. He didn’t seem like he was a very small man. It shouldn’t be a surprise. He seemed to match the rest of his proportions. Straightening my clothes, I tried to make myself look a little less rumpled and awful, but there was only so much I could do. I used the camera on my phone to check my makeup. I scrubbed the mascara from below my eyes while I waited for him to change. A part of me was grateful he didn’t strip me to sleep. The inner hussy inside of me considered it a lost opportunity.

Kilo came out of the bathroom, I used it, then we left his room. As we came out into the main area of the building, he put his hands over my eyes. “Okay, so I’ll direct you,” he said, his tone strained.

“What? Why?”

“Because more than one of my brothers are bare assed out here.”

“Oh.” My cheeks were flaming hot by the time we made it out the door. I wasn’t a prude, but this wasn’t something I was used to either. Growing up, Dad had done his best to shield me from the darker side of the world. That had all come crashing down after his murder.

Kilo’s hands left my eyes as we walked outside. “Hopefully it’s safe out here. Though if any of them slept out here during the monsoon it’s their own damn fault.”

I laughed at that, but noticed he was scanning the grounds, looking for anyone who might have done just that. I had no doubts he would detour to take care of them if they had. I didn’t know him that well, but I was beginning to understand that he was just that kind of guy. The kind who’d always have your back. Who would protect those he loved. It was a really attractive quality.

We stopped next to a truck and he opened the door for me. “Thank you.”

He grinned at me then walked around and slid into the driver’s seat.

“What’s a cage?” I asked.

“Any vehicle that’s not a bike,” he replied.

“Because it surrounds you,” I said with a nod.

“That and it cages you in versus how it feels to be on a motorcycle.”

I understood that completely.

“Hopefully, I didn’t get you into too much trouble,” he said, with a sheepish look as he began driving.

“It’s okay,” I told him. “I’m twenty-four years old. If I want to...sleep at a man’s house, I can. Besides, I’m the one who got drunk.” I laughed at myself. Yeah right. Mama was going to lay into me, but it was totally worth it. Just sleeping in Kilo’s arms made the lecture coming my way worth anything.

He cleared his throat and I focused on him. “It’s not okay with me if you sleep at a man’s house. Other than me.”

I couldn’t tell if he was kidding so I shook my head. “I don’t have any plans to.” I wasn’t really sure what we were saying, but I remembered him telling me that while he was getting to know a woman he didn’t sleep with others. “I don’t want you to, either.”

“I don’t sleep with men in any house,” he joked.

I laughed. “At any other women’s houses.”

“Fair enough.”

My heart leapt inside my chest. It wasn’t exactly a declaration, but we were setting boundaries with each other. It was another step in the right direction, as Mary, my co-worker and friend, would say. We kept the conversation light on the way home. “I would have won last night, you know. If you hadn’t interrupted the game.” It was fun to tease him.

He laughed and shot me a knowing look. “You couldn’t stand straight. There was no way you were going to make those shots.”

“I shoot better that way.” I was full of it. Drinking wasn’t something I did. You had to feel secure in your surroundings to let go enough to get drunk. I hadn’t had that privilege in a long, long time. At least, not until last night. If I wondered whether I trusted Kilo, that would tell me right there.

He pulled up in front of my house and cut the engine. “I want to see you again. Tomorrow? We could do a movie night at my house.”

I smiled at him, thrilled that he wanted to spend more time with me. “I’d like that. I can make us dinner.”

“Fucking sold,” he replied. He reached over and grasped my chin, leaning toward me.

I swatted at him, making him stop and give me a questioning look. “I haven’t brushed my teeth, or-”

He leaned forward and planted a firm kiss on my mouth, but didn’t take it any deeper than a meeting of lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told me. He let go of my chin and smoothed his hand over my hair.

“Okay,” I told him. I waited a beat, then asked something that I’d been curious about for a while now. Considering we’d just slept in the same bed all night, I figured I should know. “Kilo?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your real name?”

He hesitated, then grinned, and with a shrug said, “Chris.”

“Chris.” It was weird. I’d only known him as Kilo. Trying to think of him as anything else seemed strange. “Thank you.” It was difficult to force myself to get out of the truck, but I did.

He waited until I got to the door before he started it and drove away.

“Mama,” I called out as I went inside. “I’m home.”

Carmen looked up from the couch and gave me a grim look. “She’s upstairs.”

I went and sat next to her, pulling her against my side. “Is she mad?”

“She was worried.”

“Sorry if I worried you both.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You stink.”

Ugh. I knew what she meant, but Kilo had slept next to me all night. And kissed me. I didn’t want to stink. “I’m going to shower.”

I bypassed Mama’s room and quickly showered and changed before going to face the music. She looked me up and down as I entered her room. “I’m sorry.”

She sighed and set her knitting aside. “I don’t want you to be sorry.”

“But I am,” I told her, walking over and sitting on her bed. She was in the little armchair next to it. She liked to look out the window while she knitted.

“I know. I was just worried, Mija.”

“I know,” I echoed. “I really like him, Mama.”

She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “And I’m trying to remember that you’re not my little girl anymore. That if you go out and… stay the night somewhere,” she gave me a pointed look that said not to tell her what happened, “that it’s your right. This whole mess has taken so many years away from you. It’s not fair.”

This was going way better than I ever expected. She wasn’t yelling. She wasn’t even scolding me. I was getting nothing but empathy and understanding. “Who are you and what have you done with Lucia?” I teased.

She cracked a smile at that. “This isn’t easy for any of us. If you’ve found someone to make it better, that’s good.” I nodded. “Have you told him?”

I cringed and shook my head. “I don’t know when the right time would be. How do you just tell a guy that you’re in Witness Protection because some really bad people are trying to murder you and your whole family?”

“I don’t know, Mija,” she said, leaning forward to take my hand. “But you’re going to need to tell him at some point. It won’t be fair if we have to disappear again and he doesn’t know why.”

“I know, Mama,” I sighed. “I know.”

She patted my hand. “Go watch TV with your sister.”

I left her room, trying not to be depressed that I not only needed to tell Kilo about my secret, but that at some point I’d probably have to leave him.