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Manny began picking at his blood spattered jeans, suddenly nervous. “I was at the skatepark after school,” he said, “and someone pointed a gun out of a car window as it passed. I threw myself on the ground, so they only grazed me.”
“That was smart,” I told him. “You did good.” I glanced at Angel, who nodded in confirmation. Some of the tension in Manny’s shoulders relaxed.
“What kind of car was it?” Angel asked. “Anything you might have noticed.”
“It was a dark SUV,” the boy said quickly. “The license plate was JIFK13.”
Angel grinned. “You’ve always been my smartest cousin,” he said. “We’ll run the plate and take care of things. I promise.”
Run the plate? Like the police do? The question ofhowwas on the tip of my tongue, but I decided it wasn’t worth it to ask. “What will you do?” I asked. “When you find out who shot him?”
Angel gave me a look that gave me my answer: he would eliminate that person. Probably in the most painful way possible, considering he could have killed Angel’s favorite cousin. It should be disturbing, how quick my husband was to murder someone, but the fierce look in his eyes dropped a hot weight in my stomach. Why was it that the most unhinged things that he did turned me on? What kind of person was I?
“Is your meeting over?” I asked. “Can we go home?”
“Yes. Omar will take Manny back to his mother’s. I’ll drive you home.”
I was more than ready to get out of this dress…but I was worried about leaving Manny. “Are you sure Omar can take care of him?”
“Hey.” Omar’s deep voice made me jump. My brother-in-law was standing in the doorway, glaring at me. “I’ve taken care of more people with injuries than most nurses in the local hospital.”
I had no doubt that he was right. “Can you begentlewith him?” I asked.
Omar scoffed. “That’s his mother’s job,” he said. “Not mine.”
Angel rubbed at his eyes. “Omar, just get him home, all right?” He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. The heat of his palm seeped into my skin. “You come with me.”
I glanced at Manny, who was smiling at Omar, and agreed. “Take me home,” I said and wondered, distantly, when I started thinking of the compound — and Angel — as home.
CHAPTER18
Angel
Emma was quiet when I opened the passenger door for her. She barely even looked my way. When she settled into her seat, her hands were shaking so badly that I had to bring the seatbelt down around her and click it into the buckle. “What’s wrong?” I asked. I touched her chin, brought her troubled blue eyes to mine. “You did exceptionally well tonight.”
She shook me off. “I just want to go back to the compound,” she said. “Please.”
That wasn’t all it was; I was sure of it. “Emma.” Her shaking got worse. “Tell me what’s wrong.” She shook her head. “After everything you did for Manny tonight, I’d do just about anything for you. Tell me what you need.”
“I jerry rigged first aid on a fourteen-year-oldchild,” she breathed out, “after sitting through a meeting about international drug smuggling…I’m about to crawl out of my skin.”
I studied her for a long moment. She didn’t seem disgusted or scared, just unsettled. Disturbed, maybe. “What can I do,mi esposa?”
Her eyes rolled shut. “Take me home,” she repeated, and I was a little stunned to hear her call the compound “home.” It was the first time I could remember her doing so. I shut the passenger door. I didn’t think that would be the end of things, but for now, it was all I could do.
* * *
When we pulled into the compound, Emma reached over and gripped my hand. “Will you —?”
“Will I what,mi esposa?”
“Take me upstairs,” she said, “and touch me.”
It wasn’t totally surprising to hear her ask for such a thing. Emma might have started off shy and virginal, but she wasn’t afraid of her own desire. “I thought you said you were crawling out of your skin.”
“I am…I need you to help me make it fit again.” Emma stared at me, and that look of confusion and desire — the look that I was becoming addicted to — was clear in her eyes. I didn’t quite get what she meant, but I could see the need there.
I brushed my thumb over the apple of her cheek. “Go to our bedroom,” I told her. “Get ready for me.”
