Текст книги "Bold Tricks"
Автор книги: Karina Halle
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Текущая страница: 2 (всего у книги 16 страниц)
We hopped out and it was only now that we were closer that I saw what Camden meant by “battered.”
“Holy shit, Camden!” I cried out at the sight of the poor vehicle.
“What the hell did you do to my car?” Javier yelled, his hands thrown up in the air.
The GTO had the paint scraped off all along one side, the windows on the driver’s side were all shot out, the driver’s side mirror was missing, the front was totally crunched up with only the right headlight intact.
“Your car?” I asked Javier once I managed to look away from poor Jose. “What happened to the past being the past?”
“Now’s not the time to argue semantics,” Camden interrupted us. “She’s broken but she’s a survivor.” He fished the keys out of his suit jacket and tossed them at me. “Just like you.”
I caught them and he held my eyes for a moment before walking past me back to the Jeep.
Javier scoffed, though I didn’t know if it was for the state of the car or Camden’s comment, and made his way to the trunk. He bumped it with his fist. “Come on, let’s get her open.”
I was about to hurry over to him when Camden suddenly said, “Fuck.”
I spun around and looked at him. He was frozen in the act of taking off his jacket, his good arm free, his head cocked upward, eyes searching the sky. The sound of the choppers had gotten louder and over the tips of the waving trees I could see the spotlight in the sky, the blades whirring.
“Yeah, no kidding fuck,” I said. I turned to Javier and quickly ran over to him, trying to get my keys into the trunk of the car. I kept fumbling, missing the lock just as the wind blew my hair back and we were lit up by the spotlight, the helicopter coming closer. We were in their sights, no doubt about that. We had been spotted.
“Hurry up!” Javier yelled at me before ripping the keys out of my hands.
Camden hit the side of the Jeep with his fist. “There’s no time!” he yelled. “We have to go!”
“No!” I yelled back as Javier got the trunk open. “Not without my stuff!”
Suddenly the ground in front Camden started exploding with bullets as a steady stream of them came off the approaching chopper. We all cried out, dirt flying everywhere.
Javier quickly slammed the trunk shut. “Then we’re taking Jose. Get the fuck in!”
He went for the driver’s seat as Camden came running over, taking my hand and pulling me to the passenger side. He shoved me into the backseat, telling me to lie down, and barely got in the car himself before Javier was gunning the engine and driving the car backward. I could feel the wheels spinning for grip beneath my head and tried to sit up just as the sound of more bullets filled the air. I was tossed back down as Javier put the pedal to the floor and turned the wheel, the sheer power of the rear wheels grinding until we did a 180 until we were facing the right way. The chopper was now directly above us and I could feel the wind its blades created flowing through the smashed windows, the spotlight blinding me.
“Hang on,” Javier said, “this is going to get ugly before it gets better.”
He pressed down on the gas again and the car roared loudly before it lurched forward and we were all pinned back to our seats from the force. This is exactly why I loved this car. I just hoped he was stronger than he looked at the moment.
We raced down the street, the chopper in hot pursuit, the whir of blades and bullets gaining on us. I leaned forward between the seats, reaching for the glove compartment, waving my hand at it when I couldn’t reach. “My gun, give me my gun!”
Camden gave me an odd look but opened the compartment and handed me the gun that was thankfully still in there. It wasn’t my colt .45—that was in the trunk still—but it would do.
“What are you doing?” Camden yelled as I quickly checked the clip and slammed it back in.
“She’s being a good girl,” Javier said, just as the trunk was bombarded with bullets, sounding like metal fireworks being set off. “Fuck!” he yelled and swerved, trying to lose them, as I attempted to lean out of his window. I wedged myself up against the back of his seat and faced behind us. The wind whipped my hair around, the spotlight blinding me, but I managed to keep the gun aimed upward at the helicopter. I had no idea if this would work like it did in the movies but I figured it was better than just sitting in the backseat and doing nothing.
Only problem was, Javier kept swerving and throwing me off balance and the chopper kept moving out of my sights. You’d think that would mean that their bullets weren’t any closer to hitting us but that wasn’t quite the case. One hit the trunk again, a dangerously close call, just as Javier brought the car spinning around the corner and on to another road.
“Where do I shoot?” I screamed above the noise. “The fuel tank?”
“Shoot the fucking person who’s shooting at us!”
“Right,” I muttered. All I could see against the light was the outline of the chopper, not anyone inside. Still, there was a faint red glow whenever the gun went off so I just aimed there, firing off a few rounds and hoping they went somewhere.
Suddenly the windshield in the back of the car was hit and I screamed as it exploded into a million shards of glass. Obviously I hadn’t hit the gunman yet.
“Keep shooting!” Javier yelled as he brought the car around onto another street. We were leaving the hidden, residential hills of the wealthy and into the more open and busier suburbs of Veracruz. It was well lit and now there was traffic we had to contend with.
The chopper ducked down lower and sped up as we slowed to navigate around the cars on the road. The sound of horns, irate yells from drivers, and screeching tires filled the air. I took aim once more and fired again and again, hoping it would hit at least the windshield. But the helicopter came closer, the wind from the rotors shaking my arm like jelly, its landing skids almost coming down on top of us until Javier swerved the car to the left and the chopper had to rise quickly to get above a tall semi-truck in its path. I took the time to grab my arm with my other hand, trying to steady myself, to ignore the cramp in my lower back, the pressure of the door frame against my shoulder.
Come on, Ellie, I told myself as the helicopter came back again, much faster now and much lower, as if it didn’t give a fuck anymore.
“Drive faster!” I yelled but wasn’t sure Javier could hear me over the noise. I took in a deep breath, trying to see past the hair flying in front of my face and started firing.
I fired and fired but it just came closer and closer.
And then there was a dull click.
There were no more bullets left in my gun.
And my other clip was in the glove compartment.
We were fucking screwed.
CHAPTER TWO
“Shit, shit, shit!” I yelled at the gun, trying to figure out if I had enough time to duck back into the car to get the extra round. The helicopter was close enough now that I could see the guy with the semi-automatic leaning out of the door, one of his feet on the landing skids, the gun aimed directly at me.
A shot rang out through the air, blasting my ears.
The man with the gun wavered from his position, the gun slipping out of his hands first before he fell over and smashed onto the street below him, the cars behind us trying to drive around his body on the pavement.
What the hell?
I turned my head and looked over the hood of Jose. Camden was leaning out of his window, a gun in his hand, aimed at the chopper.
“Nice shot!” I yelled at him, feeling a surge of giddiness and adrenaline run through me. I think I was grinning.
He gave me a look that was as blasé as it could be when he was hanging outside of a speeding muscle car having just shot a man in a helicopter. Then with stark determination he aimed again and shattered the chopper’s window. Within seconds the helicopter started to tilt off to the side before going into a tailspin and crashing onto the shoulder of the road.
My mouth dropped open, eyes wide as hell, as the helicopter erupted into a giant fireball that lit up the street, nearly engulfing the passing cars around it. Though we were still speeding away, I could feel the blast of heat on my face.
I looked back to Camden incredulously. Where the hell had this man learned to shoot?
He gave me a weary smile. “I have steady hands.” Then he disappeared inside the car.
I slipped back in as well, my heart racing a mile a minute as I found the security of the back seat. That was a rush greater than a thousand cons. I’m not sure why I expected Javier to say something encouraging, but he just glared at me in the mirror and said, “Took you long enough.”
“You should thank your ass that she’s a good shot,” Camden said quickly. I guess from his perspective, Javier couldn’t really tell whose gun took down the helicopter and Camden was making it look like it was all my doing. I felt simultaneously touched and ashamed. He was trying to make me look better than I really was.
Javier grunted and kept Jose swerving in and out of the cars on the road.
“Now what?” I asked.
“There will be more helicopters where that came from,” Javier answered. “We’re going to have to avoid the highways now.”
“Can we switch cars?” Camden asked.
“No time,” Javier said, not looking at him. I watched his grip on the steering wheel, the pronounced ridge of his knuckles. He was gripping it hard – he was rattled to the bone over what had just happened. I wasn’t sure if that should make me feel better or not. “We’re not stopping until we have to.”
It was about three in the morning when we finally had to stop. Jose ran out of gas right outside the city limits of Apizaco, not too far from Mexico City. Luckily we were able to pull up to a small albeit rundown motel to shelter us until the nearest gas station opened in the morning.
“Are you sure it’s even open?” I asked Javier as we climbed out of the car, legs stiff and tired from the voyage. Taking the back roads and staying off the major highways meant it took us much longer than it should have, though I was appreciating the fact that we arrived close to our destination and still in one piece.
He jerked his head at the motel. “They’ll take our money.”
It was a row of rooms all facing a dirt parking lot. It reminded me a lot of Shady Acres, the motel where Camden and I had met Uncle Jim, just before he set me up and Javier shot him in the head. I tried to control the wave of anger and sorrow that was rollicking through me. I couldn’t keep dwelling on the past, things that would drown me if I let it. I couldn’t succumb to it now, not in this situation, not with the murderer right beside me.
Crickets filled the night air as Javier went toward the small house behind the motel, probably to go wake up whoever was in charge of the place. There were no other cars in the parking lot and from the look of the dilapidated grounds, they probably didn’t have much business. I suppose the fact that it was the middle of the night and Camden and I were dressed as if we were attending the Oscars wouldn’t faze them either.
I looked at Camden as Javier disappeared around the corner. “How’s your shoulder? Ready for those pills?”
He grimaced. “We’ll see.”
I took a step toward him, feeling entranced by his presence so close to me. This was the first instance we’d been alone all night, and after the escape from Travis’s and the consequent car chase, he was looking larger than life. His tuxedo tie had come undone, his white shirt unbuttoned a bit, just enough to show off his tats, which looked dark in the dim light.
“Can I see?” I asked, reaching for his jacket. I wasn’t a nurse by any means, but I still wanted to help. He’d gotten fucking shot trying to reach me.
He shrank back slightly, something I pretended didn’t hurt like hell, but in the end relented and let me help him get his jacket off. His shoulder was completely soaked through with blood.
“Jesus, Camden,” I couldn’t help but exclaim. “We need to get your bandages changed.”
I carefully pulled the rest of the jacket through his arms.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said.
“What do you mean, ‘don’t worry about it?’”
He gave me a leveling gaze. “It’s not your problem. It’s mine. I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can but—”
“Ellie, I think you need to stay with Javier tonight.”
My lungs felt like they were suddenly dumped full of glass.
“What?” I managed to get out.
He rubbed his lips with the back of his hand and brought his gaze over to the motel. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust that fucking bastard for a second.”
“And I do?” I asked incredulously.
He smirked, only for a second. “Well, it’s hard to say.”
“Camden, the minute he discovered the tracking device on my necklace—”
“Oh, so that’s what happened?”
I inhaled quickly though my nose, trying to keep from panicking. “I didn’t set you up. He found out! You have to believe me.”
He sighed and looked back at me but all I could see were the lights of the motel in the reflection of his glasses. “I believe you, Ellie. I believe you.”
“But you think I should stay with him?”
“If you don’t trust him either, then you know we can’t leave him alone. We’ll wake up and the car will be gone with all your stuff. He’ll abandon us. I don’t care what he says. There is no way that he needs us to do what he wants. He’s got connections … we’re just being allowed to tag along and I don’t know why.”
I almost stamped my foot. “But I can’t stay with him!”
“Obviously if I do, one of us will end up dead. At least for you it’s as natural as wiping your ass.”
I glared at him. “Why are you doing this?”
He shook his head, as if to himself, and kicked a stone that went skidding across the dry soil of the lot. “I’m doing what needs to be done. It doesn’t mean you have to sleep with him, Ellie. Just keep an eye on him. I’ll be stationed outside the door anyway.”
I walked over to him and placed my hands on his firm chest. “I want to stay with you.” I bit the bullet. I didn’t care.
He peered at me, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. He opened his beautiful mouth, about to say something then abruptly closed it for a few moments. “He’s coming.”
I stepped back and took my hands off him.
Javier appeared around the corner and came marching to us with a smile on his face. “Well I got us our rooms. Uno, dos and tres.” He gestured to the first three to our left.
Ugh. Sharing a room with Javier would be a nightmare but Camden did have a point. I didn’t trust Javier and knew he was capable of screwing us over at the best opportunity. Staying in separate bedrooms this early in the game would be the perfect opportunity for him to up and leave us. Javier’s alliance only went to his sister, not to Gus, and the fact that he was even agreeing to help us at all said a lot. Unfortunately, I didn’t know exactly what it said.
“I’m staying with you,” I quickly said to Javier. I didn’t bother putting on an act, smiling or acting coy. He’d see straight through me anyway.
He raised his brow. “Is that right, angel? And to what do I owe your angelic company?”
“Because you’re both the same,” Camden filled in. He stepped forward and quickly swiped the key out of Javier’s hand. “You’re meant for each other.” He took off for his room, his back straight and proud. My heart both lurched and ached at his words, how badly he was brushing me off, how ill he thought of me.
Javier was surprised and loving it. He turned to me, mouth slightly agape. “Wow. Something tells me he was trying to be insulting.”
I couldn’t even fake a smile. “Which one is our room?” I asked, feeling sick as the words came out.
He grinned at me, all snake, no conscience. “Whichever one I choose, angel. Have you got all your belongings?”
Normally I would have brought out everything from the trunk but there were an awful lot of lives in there, an awful lot of stuff. With me keeping an eye on Javier all night, it was probably safe.
I shook my head. “It’s fine.”
He smiled again, especially as Camden shut his door to room number one.
“Let’s take numero tres, si?” Javier asked. “More privacy.” He grabbed my hand and led me toward it though there was nothing gentle or warm in his touch. Those days were over. I was back to dealing with the spurned Javier, the hunter and the sadist.
He opened the door and flicked on the lights. A few cockroaches skittered underneath the bed, and moths darted to the threadbare light fixture hanging from the ceiling. The room was as run-down as I’d ever seen and for one twisted second I was glad I wasn’t sleeping there alone. In the next second, though, I was reminded that the company of insects was preferable to his.
He closed the door behind us and put his hand at my neck, holding me there, and leaned into my ear. “Do you want top or bottom?”
I stiffened for a moment then rammed my elbow back into his gut. “Fuck you.”
He let go of me and coughed loudly, still trying to smile. “You should be glad I’m giving you the option, angel.”
“You’re a sick pig.”
He straightened up and shrugged. “It’s what you liked until about, oh, twelve hours ago. Tell me, angel, what is it about that boy that makes you forget who you really are? Is it the tattoos, because you know I have those.” He quickly shed his linen shirt and stood bare-chested before me, the tattoo of his mother’s name on his inner arm. He turned around slowly, making sure I saw the large cross going down his spine. “Or is it those horrible glasses of his. You know, I can look like a fucking idiot if I really wanted to.”
I narrowed my eyes, keeping far away from him like wary prey. “He sees the good in me.”
He laughed. “The good. Of course. The good. So, is that why you’re spending the night with me? Because I looked into that boy’s eyes tonight and there was no good in there left for you.”
My gaze locked with his, a war without further words. His eyes shone yellow-green in the light, looking more inhuman by the moment. Deep in his insanity, he was making some sense. That’s what I hated most about Javier, that there was always a kernel of truth to his words, a truth that made you fall for the lies.
I sucked back my breath and nodded at the sagging bed. “You better get a good night’s sleep.” Then I grabbed one of the pillows and the top sheet and brought it over to the thin Mexican rug that ran along the end of the foot of it.
“You’re serious?” he asked as I started making my bed on the floor.
“Good night,” I told him, lying down on top of the sheet. I didn’t trust the cleanliness of the floor and it was too hot to have a sheet on top of me anyway. I rolled over so I was facing away from him who was still standing near the bed.
“Come now,” Javier said. “Sharing a bed with me isn’t that bad. You’ve been doing it for the last week. Is the inevitable sex too distracting?”
I grinded my teeth together but didn’t say a word.
Suddenly he dropped to the ground on top of me, flipping me over so I was on my back, pinning both of my arms to the ground, his face just inches from mine. Wild strands of his hair partially obscured his feverish eyes.
“I’ll scream,” I said hoarsely, fear pulsing through my veins.
He grinned. “You know I love that.”
Then he lowered his lips to mine, his warm and salty taste engulfing me. I did my best to keep my lips shut, to wriggle my mouth out of the way.
“Oh, angel,” he murmured near my lips. “Stop the act. We both know you want this.”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I grunted, “or I will make you pay.”
He chuckled and lifted his head, peering down at me curiously, still keeping a death grip on my arms. “You’re not thinking straight. You’ve got everything backwards, you know?”
“I’m thinking just fine.” I stared right back at him, refusing to be intimidated, even though he was straddling me on the floor of our hotel room. “You’re backwards.”
He gave a subtle shake of his head. “How quickly you change your tune, how easily you are manipulated. You think that just because Camden came for you that it means he knows what’s best for you?”
“I know what’s best,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
“You don’t,” he said, “and you never did. You keep trying to be good, to be this person that you’re not, and you think the minute someone tries to convince you, tells you something that you want to hear, that they must speak the truth.” He ran his fingers down the side of my face, gently at first before pressing them in harder near my mouth. “So beautiful, so naïve. You know, even though he is here it doesn’t mean you’re obligated to be with him. It doesn’t mean you owe him anything. You never asked him to come after you.” He traced my rigid lips with his forefinger. “It isn’t too late, you know. I can forgive your lies, your … lack of loyalty. I can forget that you ever conspired with him. We can do this, just the two of us.”
“Do what?” I asked once he removed his finger.
His smile was lopsided. It would have looked cute on anyone else, but the depravation in his eyes soiled it. “Rule the world. Don’t you remember? I’ll be the king and you’ll be my queen.” He leaned in closer and closed his eyes, whispering, “Travis is in our reach. We are so close now. You are so close to getting your revenge.”
“No,” I said. “I only want Gus back. You can have Travis.”
His eyes fluttered even though they were shut, as if he were having trouble comprehending what I was saying. “Of course, your Gus. And your mother too, I suppose.”
I swallowed with effort, stifled again by the memory of seeing her at the party. “Yes, my mother. I’m just here for them. That’s the only reason I’m going after Travis.”
He opened his eyes, narrowing them slightly. “I figured as much. You know, you’ll change your mind when you see Travis again. And I’ll be the one handing you the gun to finish the job. Then you’ll have your people back. And then, with his blood on your hands, you’ll finally have your peace. Don’t forget what you were prepared to do earlier. Don’t pretend like you weren’t going to drop that poison into his meal. Don’t act like you weren’t fully prepared to kill the very man that ruined our lives.”
“Our lives?”
He blinked a few times. “Your pain has been my pain.”
“I call bullshit on that.”
“And I call bullshit on you. You know what you mean to me, angel. You know the lengths that I’ll go to, all to make sure you get justice.”
I took in a deep breath, so conscious of how close his face was to mine, so mindful of his lips that looked ready to come crashing onto mine again. I had to say what I needed to say and had to say it right. Being straight was the only way out.
“Javier. I appreciate you saving us. And I do want to get your sister someplace safe. And if you can really help me get Gus back, then I owe you everything in the world. But what we shared, what we had, is over. It was over the moment I found out your true intentions. It was over the moment I realized I was being manipulated like some fucking puppet on a string. And it was over when I realized you and I are as toxic as the poison you put in my necklace. That has always been the truth and that will never change. The us that was is gone. This is the new us. We can help each other and if we can’t, then we shouldn’t be in each other’s lives. If you’re going to have your own agenda and your own plan other than helping me get to Gus, then we should part ways, right now, tonight, and never look back at each other. Never look for each. Move on and forget. Do you understand?”
My heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my lips, in my fingers. I had no idea how he was going to take this.
He stared at me stone-faced, as if he didn’t even hear me. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and looked up at the ceiling. “I think I understand. Yes, I think I hear you.” He cleared his throat and straightened up, still straddling me but at least my face was free from his lips and grasp. His eyes still focused upward and he said, “Angel, angel, angel,” while shaking his head back and forth. “I thought I knew you. I only knew the … fetus … compared to the woman you could be.” He looked at my sharply. “What a fucking disappointment you are.”
Then he quickly got up and marched over to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. I sat up, rubbing at my face. He hadn’t hurt me but his touch still lingered like aftertaste. The thing was, a part of me still wanted that revenge on Travis. But now that it was his idea, I wasn’t about to give him credit. Javier had the advantage when it came to tricks, to contacts, to the plan. But I felt like I had the emotional upper hand. I didn’t know how long it would last and I didn’t know what kind of man it would make him – this would be the second time I’d spurned him after all. He was a loose cannon, a wild card and it was the moment I underestimated him that he’d totally pull the rug out from under us.
I thought back to Camden, wondering if he was in his room or outside the door like he’d said. It hurt like hell that he’d asked me to stay with Javier. I wanted Camden to be protective, to be my shield, especially now when I needed him the most. Instead, he was distant and becoming more distant by the moment. I knew he’d never let anything happen to me, that he would do his best to make sure I was alive, that he’d help me get Gus back, that he’d return me to California all in one piece. I just didn’t know how deep his wounds went either. When he was gone, Javier had been the person I relied on, whether that was a smart decision or not. But now with Camden in the picture, I felt myself naturally gravitate toward him.
Screw Javier and what he thought of my nature. My real nature, my real self, wanted that person to believe in me, to see the good, ignore the bad, and make me feel like I had a future. Camden was my future – though now that he was closer than ever, I felt that future being taken away from me. All because I made a foolish mistake. All because I had no faith.
The fact was, when I really looked at it, when I really searched deep inside, I was still in love with Camden. It was a love I had to bury for the last few weeks, a love I thought I could never have, that I’d never deserve. But I felt it, hidden underneath the layers, like the center of the sun. It was blinding when you had a glimpse of it but it was enough that you knew it was there, shining down on you. I’d let myself get burned if I could.
Yet now that everything had changed between us, that he knew I’d been with Javier, that I’d been sleeping with him … I wasn’t sure how we could recover from that. I could argue my side until I was blue in the face, keep telling him it never meant anything. But he wouldn’t believe that and even I knew that was a bit of a lie, because Javier did mean something. Just for those moments where I could fool myself into thinking it meant more than it did, it still meant something. That was what I was having the hardest time wrapping my head around. How could I ever explain that my body got what it needed at the time but my heart was fooled? That my heart had always belonged to him, even if just the memory of a man I never thought would come for me. What man would ever understand that? Camden was noble but he was still a man with insecurities like everyone else. He’d go out of his way to make sure I was okay but I was afraid he’d never let his own heart get over it. I was so fucking afraid that he’d never let himself love me again.
I felt shredded up inside and my own heart was afraid to repair itself.
I sighed and looked down at my dress. It was dirty, brown from mud, and I quickly shimmied out of it and into a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt I brought out of one of the spare bags from the trunk before Javier came out of the bathroom. I was tempted to go out to Camden, but even then I wouldn’t know what to say. And, he was right. Someone had to make sure that Javier wasn’t about to screw us over, especially now that I’d slighted him. He was extra volatile.
I was sitting cross-legged on the makeshift bed when Javier came out of the bathroom, ruffling his now wet hair, with a towel. A shower would have been nice considering I had dried patches of dirt on my arms but I’d get by without it. I couldn’t risk leaving Javier alone right now.
“You’re still here?” he asked, tossing the towel across the room. He walked barefoot, just a towel around his waist, to the bed. “I would have thought you’d left after what you’d said to me.”
“Sorry, you’re stuck with me,” I told him, turning my head away before he dropped his towel like I knew he would.
“Or perhaps you’re the one stuck with me,” he said. He climbed in under the shawl-like blanket I’d left on the bed and rolled over to his side.
“You’re not going to turn off the light?” I asked.
He laughed quietly, facing the wall. “Believe me, angel, you don’t want to see what comes out in the dark.”
I gradually lay back down, keeping my arms close to my chest. Within moments he was snoring and I did my best to stay awake. Even with the light on, it wasn’t too long before I fell asleep.
I was awakened the next morning by Camden’s warm and strong hands on my face. I smiled into his touch, still half-asleep and delirious with dreams.
“See, she’s alive,” Javier’s voice broke through the clouds. I blinked a few times and looked beyond Camden’s chiseled face. Javier was standing behind Camden’s crouched body, fully clothed and ready to face the day.
“Then why is she on the floor?” Camden asked, looking behind him in annoyance.
Javier turned around and left my vision. “Because she wanted to sleep there.”
Camden looked back at me, shaking his head as Javier left the room. “Asshole. Like he couldn’t have taken the floor himself.” But I could tell he was relieved that I hadn’t shared Javier’s bed. I was relieved too. I fell asleep and slept all the way through the night. I was still exhausted and groggy-headed, though, but I felt more prepared to face the day, to face North America’s largest metropolis, Mexico City.
“What time is it?” I groaned, wishing Camden would keep his hands on me for as long as he could. My eyes drifted over to his shoulder where the blood had dried and I winced at the sight.
