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“I’ll send Johnny over. I hope you’re ready for him.” Her dark hair swayed with each step she took away from us, her voice carrying over her shoulder, as she weaved across the ballroom overflowing with tables and chairs, all neatly set for a night of fine dining.
“What the fuck was that.” Mack spoke against my neck softly as we made our way further into the hall. To any outsider, he would look like nothing more than a lover, whispering sweet nothings against my flesh, but I felt his anger vibrate through him, tickling my skin in a way that shouldn’t have delighted me so.
“No questions, remember?” I held the smile on my lips for all to see - the perfect portrayal of a woman well loved - giddy with the man beside her.
“If we survive this night, you best believe I’m going to have questions. The Cartel wants medead.” He slid his hand around my lower back, leaning deeper into me, the warmth of his breath leaving goosebumps against my skin as he spoke. I held back my shock. While Johnny wanteda lotof people dead, for his family to want a Society boy eliminated there had to be another level of bad blood running between the two. It meant that I had to step carefully here - not an impossible feat, but something that certainly required far more concentration than I had initially walked in here expecting.
As we found our table, our names neatly displayed on elegant paper in bold cursive script that looked to be handwritten. I’d expect nothing less from the Juarez’s.
Playing up the relationship in this public setting, I turned into Mack, lifting my face to nuzzle against him as I reached towards his neck, whispering words of my own.
“Trust me.”
It was a ridiculous thing to say, but I had nothing else. I needed him to trust me and refrain from asking questions, and I understood the unfairness of it all, for if he had uttered those words to me under the same circumstances, I’d tell him to go fuck himself. But I knew without a fathom of a doubt that I’d protect him - that I would get us out of this mess The Society threw us in. But I wouldn’t explain myself - wouldn’t be forced to justify my actions in the wake of this relationship - especially when this thing had an expiration date.
I pulled away before he could respond, ready to sit down in accordance with the seating chart, but when Johnny slid between us, I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved that Mack was forced to hold his tongue, or if I should be annoyed that Johnny’s presence would only createmorequestions that I couldn’t answer.
Johnny was swift, I’d give him that. Within a blink of an eye, he had slipped between us, his lips pressed against my neck in greeting, whilst he held a knife to Mack’s groin. I knew the trick, after all it was Johnny who had taught me it - had explained that the quickest way to get a man stationery was by threatening the one thing they seemed to value more than life itself. And he was right, for even when I pressed a knife against the throats of my enemies, it was never half as effective as a blade to the cock.
“You brought me a present,mi vida.” It was the same thing he had been calling me for years - as if his little term of endearment would win me to his side, but pretty words didn’t hold any sway over me, and I knew that Johnny would just as quickly bed me as he would kick me out. Not that I wanted anything more, but I still didn’t want to shit where I ate.
“Stop being a brute, Johnny, and take that knife away from my date.” I forced boredom into my tone, my voice flat and even, because I knew Johnny - knew that if he got even so much as a whiff that Mack meantsomethingto me, he’d gut him here in a show of masculinity. It was the same game we always played. He wanted me, I said no, and now I was at his party with a date that he wanted to kill.
Life never seemed simple.
But it worked - just as I knew it would. Johnny grinned down at me as if I had just confessed my love for him. He reveled in the fact that I wasn’tscaredof him - wasn't quivering in my boots in his very presence. He still didn’t understand that he wasn’t the worst predator in the room because anything he would do, I’d already endured, dished out, and then some.
Mack didn’t move his body and inch - didn’t sag in relief now that the knife had been removed, in fact, he looked bored and equally unflinching. Heat and pride coursed through my veins because he wouldn’t cower to Johnny either, and if there was ever any doubt that Mack wasn’t a simple Society boy, it was clean eliminated. I didn’t know a single one of those rich pricks that could endure Johnny’s brand of extravagance without pissing themselves.
“There’s a debt to be paid,querida.” Another pet name slipped from his lips, and I knew that those words of flattery were only spoken to see exactly how much it would piss Mack off - how much of our relationship wasreal, and I found myself holding my breath, praying that Mack didn’t lose it - didn’t give us away. But there seemed to be nothing but unflinching boredom in his gaze, and while that’s exactly what he needed to portray in this situation, my chest expanded with an ache that would have taken me to my knees if Johnny wasn't still pressed against me.
“How much is the debt worth?” I quirked a brow at Johnny, my tone a tad flirtatious as I drew his gaze back to mine. It was then that he showed the hint of a frown - it was there and gone in a second, and if I hadn't been staring straight at him, I might have missed it, but then Johnny was grinning down at me, biting his bottom lip in a way that I was certain made panties drop everywhere.
“You’re going to finally come and play with me to pay off his debt?” The question was asked in an equally flirtatious manner, but I saw through his bullshit because, once more, if I simply agreed, I would be showing my hand. It would be the equivalent of me screaming to the roomexactlyhow important Mack was to me.
I shook my head playfully, biting my own lip in response, noting the way that his gaze dipped down, tracking the movement. And out of the corner of my eye, I watched the muscle in Mack’s jaw tick in anger. “Would that be enough to wipe his slate clean?”
His gaze snapped away from my lips and back to my eyes, and I saw the answer there without him needing to say it. I shook my head slowly, never once allowing the playful smile to fall from my lips because this thing with Johnny could never be anything more than playful flirting.
“Tell you what.” I stepped back, letting him gaze upon my entire outfit, and where I thought he would make fun of what I was wearing, I saw only unadulterated desire as he took me in. They’d dressed me up as the perfect package. Still, I was aware of Mack’s gaze burning against my skin in anger as I brought my hands up to my neck, dipping between my breasts in the process, until my fingers finally stopped their tracks on the diamonds that collared me. I unclipped them, dangling the choker seductively between my fingers as I offered him the diamonds. “Take these as payment.”
Johnny scoffed at the offering, but his fingers still wrapped around the jewelry, his hand almost touching mine. “This isn’t enough to eliminate the debt.”
“Fine,” I shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but it was the answer that I was expecting. “Then let it serve as payment for a truce for tonight. I can’t afford the bullshit of bloodshed, not when I have work to do here.”
Johnny’s laughter was dark and low. “Of course you do.” And this time, as he pulled back, he tugged the diamonds with him.
“Don’t think that this absolves you. Wewillcome and collect. Not tonight, but it’ll still happen.” He turned towards Mack, issuing his warning, but Mack simply glared at him by way of reply. “Thank your lucky stars that you’re here withhertonight, otherwise this event would have gone a hell of a lot worse for you.” Johnny released us, moving across the room, ready to conquer someone else with his special brand of brutality.
It was my turn to hold my body upright - to not give into the urge to sag in relief.
Once it was clear that Johnny wasn’t about to return and the Cartel wasn’t about to fire openly on us, I took my seat, allowing my body to relax into the hardback chairs that were even less comfortable than they appeared.
“What the fuck was that?” Mack spoke as soon as he was comfortable that we were indeedsafe. I wanted to clutch at my temples, roll myself into a human burrito, and sleep for a week, but instead, I sat there filled with poise and grace as I hissed back, “I believe the phrase you’re looking for isthank you.”
Fucking men.
Chapter Twenty-Four : There Are No Friends, Only Foes
