“Jesus, Carmen…” Straightening my spine, I released my hold on her locks, allowing her to stand tall. Unwinding my left arm from her back, I traced my fingertips down her sensitive sides, making her squirm. “How do you feel?”
Eyes opening, she rested her chin on my chest. “Better,” she whispered, her lips curving heavenward. “Still nauseous every so often, but I’m getting stronger. Appetite is gaining strength as well.”
It was the best news I’d heard all week.
“Are you hungry now? If so, let me take you in the station and feed you. Hendrix and Tuck are inside. They can help—”
“I can’t go inside,” she interrupted before smiling dejectedly. “It’s too much of a risk. We have to stay out here, either to the side or back of the building since they are both hidden from the street by the fence.”
Her words were like a bucket of ice water to the face and balls. Chilling, they set my teeth on edge. I detested having to hide what we had from anyone, but I hated having to hide it from her goddamned pimp even more.
His death can’t come soon enough…
“Truthfully, I shouldn’t even be here, but I had to see you.” Her sweet voice, combined with the feel of her nails tracing invisible shapes over my stomach jerked me from the fog of anger that had begun to descend real damned quick. “Still, I cannot stay long. An hour tops.”
My jaw ticked.
Not because I was angry with her—I wasn’t—but because soon she’d have to return to him, the fucker whose neck I’d like to snap with my bare hands.
“You need money?” I regretted both my words and the tone in which I’d spoken them the second they left my mouth. “Shit, sweetheart, I didn’t mean—”
Her index finger found my lips, silencing me mid-sentence. “I know you didn’t. I’m not upset. Promesa. But no, I don’t need any dinero. I came by because I couldn’t bear to be away from you any longer.”
Her words twisted me up.
Nothing less than pure-hearted, she was so damned sweet it made my teeth ache more than any sugary treat ever could.
“But that’s not the only reason,” she added before I could respond. “Someone else wanted to come visit you and I couldn’t find it in me to say no despite the danger.”
I froze.
“Carmen,” I started, body rigid. “Who—”
Movement from twenty or so feet behind her suddenly caught my eye. Running on pure adrenaline as every protective instinct I possessed roared to life, I quickly grasped my pixie’s slim forearm, clutched it tight, and jerked her behind me in one swift move, using my body as a shield to protect hers.
Without knowing who lurked in the shadows, I wasn’t taking any chances. For all I knew the pimp had followed my beautiful girl to where we stood and was now only seconds away from attempting to kill us both.
I welcomed such a move if he had.
I wasn’t the least bit thrilled about Carmen being put at risk, but if he’d made the grave mistake of following her to see me, then he was moments away from taking his final breath.
It was as simple as that.
“James, calm down,” she said, cutting through the red haze that had begun to surround me, clouding the edges of my vision. Moving to my side, she glared up at me, her small jaw set in a hard line. Hands on her hips, she shot me a warning look. “I mean it. Relax or you’ll frighten her.”
Her.
My lungs seized at the single word.
“And if that happens,” Carmen continued, tone hard and full of fire, “I will cut your huevos off and feed them to you.”
Grandmama would be proud….
“Who is—”
“Please don’t do that,” a small voice I faintly recognized, said from the darkness, interrupting me. “Mama C, you know I don’t handle gore very well.”
Shocked laughter bubbled out of Carmen as she jabbed a finger into my left pec, no doubt bruising my skin on the spot. “I meant what I said,” she whispered, eyes still dancing with amusement. “One shot.”
Not giving me a chance to reply, my pixie turned, giving me her back. Extending an arm toward the shadows, she held out her hand, palm up.
“Come, Little One,” she instructed softly. “As I’ve already assured you, James won’t hurt you.” Turning her head, she looked at me over her shoulder. “He’s not like the demonios we both see in our nightmares.”
I swallowed hard.
“No, I’m not.” I said, needing her to hear it from me. I may have once been an abusive piece of shit, but those days were long gone. I’d willingly go to my grave before I hurt Carmen, her girls, or anyone innocent ever again. “And for the record, I’d play in rush-hour traffic before I harmed a hair on your head. Same goes for your mother.”
Carmen’s breath hitched.
Like Faye had told me that first night, Chiquita and Little One may not share Carmen’s DNA, but they were hers all the same.
I was sure the girls would agree.
I certainly did.
“What about Chiquita, Faye, and Amelia?” My shoulders tensed when Little One stepped forward and into the light. She was such a beautiful girl. A beautiful, young girl. Thinking of the shit situation she’d been forced into made my blood boil. “Will you harm them?”
Jaw clenched, I shook my head.
I wasn’t sure who Amelia was, though I suspected she was Faye’s daughter, but there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I’d cause bodily harm to any of them.
And that’s all there was to it.
“Absolutely not,” I answered, honestly.
Her uncertain eyes moved to Carmen, whose hand still hovered in the air. “Come on, bebé,” she said softly. “It’s safe. He’s safe. I give you my
