Page 41 of Her Passionate Hero

“They fucked with Aliana. Tried to kill her. They’re going to pay. So it’s going to be substantial.”

“Shit, that’s a lot of words. But tell me friend, just you and what army?”

“I’ve got two friends with me.”

“God, man, you’ve lost your fucking mind. So what favor do you need from me?”

“Intel.”

LL sighed. “Give the phone back to Pablo.”

Pablo stared darkly at Hunter the entire time he listened to LL. It was clear he wasn’t happy with what LL was telling him. He’d wanted to kill Hunter. “Okay, okay. I hear you,” he finally said. LL must have hung up because Pablo looked at the others in his group.

“We have to take this guy to LL.”

“For real?” the young guy asked.

“Shut up. I tell you something, you do it. No questions. Got it?”

The kid shut up and nodded.

“You,” the man said, pointing at Hunter. “You’re sitting in the back.” He turned to one of the other guys. “Tie him up and blindfold him.”

Hunter held out his hands in front of him, and the dumbass tied him that way. Then they tied a scarf around his eyes. Real amateur hour. They shoved him into the backseat of the SUV. Damn, it even had that new car smell. LL must be doing pretty good for himself. Wonder if the Los Demonios had Escalades?

They went eight blocks up and four blocks over. No real need for the wheels and the blindfold had been no use whatsoever, not that he was going to tell them.

Hunter pretended to scratch his head with his shoulder and was able to move his blindfold enough to watch as they pulled up in front of an auto body shop. One of the young men jumped out of the back seat, and someone appeared out of the shadows inside the gate. They talked a moment, then the guy from the inside unlocked and opened the chain link gate, and Pablo drove inside. They were locked back in.

“You can take off his blindfold now.” Hunter rolled his eyes as the guy next to him did. For fuck’s sake, he had his hands tied in front of him, he could have done it himself. LL needed a better crew.

Hunter looked around and saw they were at an auto body shop.

“The car doesn’t look like it needs body work,” Hunter noted.

He was met by silence. Seriously, these guys needed to buy a sense of humor. How did LL stand them? Just one more thing that went in the ‘Con’ column.

They all got out of the vehicle, Pablo untied him and motioned for Hunter to follow him. The guy who let him into the gate had it all—bald head, bandana, and neck tattoos—he couldn’t be more ‘gangy’.

“Howdy,” Hunter said in English. This guy actually grinned.

“Hey, Tex,” he replied in English. At last, a sense of humor, he could see why LL kept this one close. “You from Texas?” the man asked Hunter.

“Nah, just spent time with Texans. It rubs off,” Hunter replied.

Gatekeeper switched to Spanish. “Let’s hope you continue to keep LL amused, or you can deliver on your promise. I kind of like you. I’d hate to have to kill you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Hunter replied in Spanish.

Gatekeeper turned to Pablo, “I’ll take him in to see LL. You wait here.”

“But―”

The gatekeeper shut him down with a look. It was a good look, something Gray had perfected over the years. Hunter could do it with new recruits too.

“Follow me.” Hunter followed him from the car bay doors into one of the grungiest garages he’d seen in a while. They bypassed the office doors on the left and went up the narrow staircase. At the top of the stairs, the gatekeeper knocked on the door.

“It’s open.”