Page 82 of Liar

He closes his eyes and runs his fingers through his hair, further disheveling it. “Sit.”

“I’ll stand.”

I study him more closely.

A five-o’clock shadow darkens his jawline. His shirt is wrinkled and missing a button at the collar like he needed the stiff material offinmediatamente. He’s exhausted and inebriated, andunhinged.

“Is everything okay?”

His eyes half open. Hiding so much, even when drunk. “No.”

His admission is alarming. Hayden never admits weakness.

“Still standing?” Lightning fast for someone so drunk, his arm shoots out, hooks around my waist, and I’m pulled onto his lap.

I fall back until my head rests on his shoulder.

Okay. Maybe I don’t mind this playful glimpse of him.

“You smell like peaches.”

“You smell like the bottom of a tequila bottle.”

He chuckles. “Whiskey, not tequila.”

“I suppose it’s better than that piss water you and my brother prefer.”

“It is. But everything tastes better after I’ve gotten my way.”

I turn so I can see his face. “Ignacio will side with us?”

He brushes a thumb across my lower lip in a gentle caress. I’m reminded of the man I first met, the twenty-four-year-old, who cared for my wounds then drank beer with me on his sofa.

“Evidently, I did him a favor by killing El Calaca. What led him to believe that was my reason for doing so is what I’d like to know.”

He sweeps his thumb across my bottom lip once more, his eyes going liquid brown. “Trouble. That’s who I think interfered. She can’t leave things alone, can she?”

I part my lips and allow him access. He slowly works his digit inside, then grunts when I roll my tongue around it. Tempting him. Challenging him.

“I’m indebted to Ignacio. If he can, he’ll make me pay in blood.”

His thumb releases with a pop, and I pull back. “He’s sly and vicious when he doesn’t get his way. But you’re smarter.”

“I’ve shown my weakness now. He’ll exploit it if he can.”

Did something happen tonight at the meeting? “What weakness?”

“Ask me what happens to those who get close to me?”

“How close?”

“Ask me.” He’s dead serious.

“What happens?”

“I’ll find her butchered body bleeding out in the street with my name written in blood on the pavement.”

I scramble off his lap and stand on shaky feet. “That happened to you?” My mind races. Who was she? His first love, the woman he mentioned that night behind the restaurant? “Hayden,” I whisper.