“If Adam was spreading lies about El Gringo Viejo being C. J. Hart, Jimmy probably wanted an introduction and a special deal for producing meth.”
“For Adam to go that far, setting me up with Jimmy, he has to have some proof about our father.”
Clay snorted. “Adam could’ve been playing Jimmy, too. Who knows? Maybe that’s why Jimmy snatched him. He found out about all his lies. Do what you have to do here, and then let’s bounce.”
“Okay, I want to check his office. Did you go in there?”
“I did and thought about you hiding on the balcony in your wedding dress.” He shook his head. “However irrational your actions, I’m glad you got out in the end.”
“I am, too. I’ll be right back.” She jogged upstairs and used the light from her phone to look around Jimmy’s office. If Adam were safe somewhere, she’d be able to put this entire ugly chapter of her life behind her—and move on to the next ugly chapter.
She opened the top drawer of his desk, using her blouse to cover her fingers. The tokens from Las Moscas were still there. The cartel didn’t care if the police knew Jimmy had been one of theirs. Even better for them to warn others in their employ not to cross them.
Her gaze swept his desk. Looked like Jimmy had already disposed of the framed picture he’d kept of the two of them. Good. It had all been a fake, anyway. A fake relationship with a fake person, a person Adam had done his best to mold after Clay. Did Adam ever tell Jimmy why he wanted him to act a certain way, like certain things? He may have mentioned an ex-fiancé in her past, but Adam never would’ve told Jimmy that ex-fiancé was Border Patrol.
She blew out a sigh and turned on her heel. She didn’t need a fake. She had the real thing now.
BACK IN APRIL’S APARTMENT, Clay studied his former fiancée’s face. They’d returned to her place in hopes of being there for Adam. The danger to April in her apartment had disappeared with Jimmy’s death. A lot of things had disappeared with Jimmy’s death.
If only Adam would come traipsing back in here, a smile on his hapless face, another scheme cooking in his brain, April could be free. As long as her brother remained missing, she’d stay hooked into his drama.
She glanced up from her phone. “What?”
“No luck reaching Kenzie?”
She clicked the phone on the coffee table facedown. “I texted her.”
“We could try the Albuquerque PD now. You could report your car as stolen. If Adam’s in the car, he’ll be found.”
“And arrested for car theft.”
Clay rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to press charges.”
“If Adam is safe and driving around in my car, he would call me and tell me what happened unless he’s still worried about Jimmy. He wouldn’t know about Jimmy yet...unless he was there and Las Moscas has their hands on him now.”
“April, you could come up with about a hundred different theories about Adam right now and still be wrong. There’s no telling what your brother is up to. Leave it for the police. If he gets arrested for drugs, it could be the best thing for him.”
“You’re saying I should leave Albuquerque...or not, and forget about Adam?”
Clay’s pulse picked up pace. “I think you should definitely leave Albuquerque. The place doesn’t seem to agree with you.”
“I wish Kenzie would call me back.”
Clay wedged a foot against the coffee table. “You’re not going to wait around here for Kenzie, are you?”
“You think we should leave?”
“Let’s spend the night here like we’d planned and leave tomorrow.” He toed off one shoe. “You don’t have to be in Albuquerque to talk to Kenzie...or Adam.”
April placed her hands together as if in prayer. “I hope he’s okay.”
He didn’t feel like talking about Adam anymore or speculating about what happened to him. The guy had dragged his sister into a mess, all because of some hunch about El Gringo Viejo and dreams of riches. April’s parents had made sure all their possessions would go to April because they couldn’t trust Adam, even back then. Of course, April had done her damnedest to share her money with her brother. Nobody could ever talk her out of her support for Adam. She’d been loyal to a fault...to Adam.
Clay pinched the knotted muscles in the back of his neck. “Do you mind if I take a shower?”
“Go ahead.” She hopped up from the couch. “I’ll get you a clean towel and make up the other bed, while I’m at it.”
Clay’s jaw hardened. She was as controlled as the day she left him. If she could ignore the sexual tension that had been simmering between them from the minute she showed up in Paradiso, he’d have to follow suit.
He’d explored every inch of this woman’s body intimately; it seemed absurd for them to camp out in different beds. But she probably had the right idea. What good would one night of passion do them if she planned on packing up and leaving him again?
His mouth watered as he followed behind her gently undulating hips to the hallway. That one night of passion could do him a helluva lot of good, come to think of it.
She swung open the door to the hall closet, almost bashing him in the face. “Sorry. I didn’t realize you were right behind me.”
He held up his hands. “I was daydreaming.”
Her gaze shifted to his face as she reached for a towel. She pressed it against his chest. “Here you go. You brought toiletries in your bag, right?”
“Yeah, toothbrush, floss, the works.” He shook out the towel and backed up to the small bathroom where he hung it over a rack on the outside of the shower door.
April seemed stuck in the bathroom’s entrance, and he squeezed past her. “Do
