Page 11 of The Right Garza

“‘Cause that’s all you’ve got to do,” he informs me. “Just ask and you’ll be taken to him.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup.”

I relax for the first time since this morning and say a silent prayer that Trent’s impending talk with Stefano Castello works out in my favor.

“Hey,” I say, “I know I’m often an ingrate, but thanks for saving me back there.”

An unpleasant noise sounds in his throat as he mumbles, “I’m already starting to wish I hadn’t.”

Yup, still the same old asshole.

Chapter FIVE

“You’re an animal.”

Trent

Well, fuck me.

I pull out of Richmond’s Guest Apartments complex after dropping Lexi off and merge into traffic.

I can’t even be surprised that she’s landed herself in such a mess. She’s Lexi Flores after all. Always been a handful. A headcase. A rebel. A riot.

Stubborn. Independent. Determined.

Lexi fucking Flores.

For my brother Torin, she’s the one that got away.

For me, she’s the one I wish had chosen me.

For her, thanks to Torin’s fuck-up, she wants nothing to do with any of us. Hated us so much that even if she was up for the guillotine and we had to power spare her, she would lay her neck down with flare before asking us for help.

But it’stime. I felt it when I saw her last night, when I looked into her eyes and saw the opening, the one I’ve waited half my life for.

A prodding in my chest, a whisper in my soul, a chill along my spine, telling me it’stime.

Fucking finally.

I’d been in the parking lot for less than a minute, waiting for an old client, when my rearview mirror showed me a crouched figure creep around from the back of my jeep. I briefly went into high alert. Only when the person lurched toward the convertible parked in the lot next to me and the wind whipped her hair back, did I realize it was her.

Even while harried and colored with fright, she was still the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Before I could get out to ask her what she was doing, the man was there. As red with rage as I was with how he was handling her, I had to take time to assess the area and situation. I had to ensure he was on his own, before I quietly powered down my window and put him to sleep.

It’s not the first time I’ve had to save Lexi. She’s gotten herself into more shit than I can count ever since she quit working with Slim, and somehow I always seem to be at the right place at the right time to help her. Help she would fight and rail against and swear to hell she didn’t need, then ditch me.

But while most of those were small issues, this…this is different. With Stefano, it wouldn’t have been a simple transaction of cash in return for her friend. One would’ve been killed, and one would’ve been kept on a leash.

I was supposed to drive back to L.A. this morning, but after running into her last night, and feeling what I felt, I decided to extend my trip for another two days. Maybe I hoped I’d run into her again, that I could talk for longer and push that door open a little wider. Something nice and chill, maybe over beers and buffalo wings.

But I should’ve known nothing would ever be ‘nice and chill’ with Lexi Flores.

~

I take theback entrance into Black Gold—the one that only a handful of people are allowed to use and is guarded twenty-four seven.