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“We need to go,” I said. “If they don’t check in within the next couple of minutes, the Azure Cartel will send more of them after you.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Chalk it up to experience. You picked the wrong people to piss off.”
She glanced at her shoes, indignant. “It’s not like I did it on purpose.”
I took her hand and led her out the way we came. She had no qualms about stepping over the unconscious man at her feet. In fact, she looked like she enjoyed it. A little slice of revenge for the turmoil he’d brought down on her.
When we got outside, I made sure the coast was clear. There weren’t any suspicious vehicles nearby, but I had no plans of sticking around and waiting for cartel reinforcements to show up. I helped Vivian into the passenger seat before tossing her duffle bag into the back.
We sped off into the night by the skin of our teeth.
Chapter 11
Vivian
The guest bedroom was nice. Lavish. More than what I was used to. The bed’s silk sheets and goose-down duvet felt like laying on a cloud. After the exhausting day I had, I should have been able to drift off without a hitch.
Instead, I tossed and turned all night, unable to still my mind.
I thought about Molly, how terrified she must have been. I wondered where they were keeping her, if the cartel had hurt her, if she was even alive.
I shuddered, hiding my face in my hands. The thought was chilling. What if they’d killed her just because she pointed out an error in the books in my place? It should have been me. It should have been me who marched into Arty’s office. It should have been me who had to suffer the consequences, not her.
I thought about Wally. I didn’t mean to drag him into all this. He was the only friend I thought I could turn to, the only one I believed would listen. Now I’d exposed him to the cartel, as well. What if they decided to go after him, too? What if they took him like they took Molly?
Guilt churned in the pit of my stomach.
And then there was Jesse.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him. How powerful he was. How he’d fended those men off long enough for me to come to my senses and help. I was adamant about staying hidden, about running, just like he ordered. But hearing him struggle, fight for not just his life, but mine… I couldn’t cower in the bathroom like a frightened little girl. I knew I had to dosomething.
And that something was grabbing the heaviest thing at my disposal and knocking the daylights out of a man who looked like he was two seconds away from murdering Jesse.
His reaction to the who situation was frighteningly sexy.
I pressed my face into my pillow and groaned. That wasnotwhat I should be thinking about. I should be thinking about how grateful I was that he was there, not swooning over how devilishly handsome he looked with his messy hair and sleeves rolled up to the elbow. I shouldn’t be thinking about how good he looked, fresh from the fight and sweat covering his brow.
He smelled musky, but only in the best of ways. He smelled like strength and something feral and strong. Jesse looked at those men with fury in his eyes, like he wanted to rip them apart. But when he saw me…everything about his eyes changed. He looked at me like I was something precious, something to hold and care for and be tender with. Even his posturing was different. Relaxed. Cautious, like I was a deer he was afraid of spooking.
When he held my hands, I almost lost it. We were so close, gravitating toward one another, stuck in each other’s orbit. I never wanted him to let go. His hands were rough from the fight, but oh-so-delicate while holding mine.
The duality wasn’t lost on me. I knew he could feel it, too, whatever this electricity between us was. I just didn’t know what to make of it, if I should act on it. There were so many unspoken questions up in the air, but I was too overwhelmed to ask any of them.
I rubbed my knees together and nibbled on my bottom lip, remembering how Jesse leapt into action.God. Nobody had a right to look that sexy. Even when he was upset at me afterwards, he spoke in a low tone. He was keeping it together for my sake, refusing to raise his voice despite his obvious disappointment.
A warm ache bloomed between my legs.
You said you’d obey my orders.
I groaned, frustrated and tired and distressingly turned on. Now was most certainly not the time to be thinking dirty thoughts about a man who was literally doing me a favor by housing me and keeping me out of harm’s way.
Rolling onto my side, I glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table.
5:34 a.m.
“Fuck,” I grumbled.
