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I laugh. “Are you some kind of feminist or something?”
He gives me a look of annoyance. “I can be meaner if you want.”
“Please do. This is almost making me forget how much of an asshole you usually are.”
He smirks, but he doesn’t follow it up with anything mean. He just allows the car to fall into silence again, leaving me to process the new emotions that are tearing up my insides like a tornado unleashed on a town built with toothpicks.
Ishouldn’tlike him.
Ishouldhate him.
But he’s growing on me, and I don’t know what to do about it.
8
Nikolai
We pass the intersection with ease, pulling up to what would be a border wall if there wasn’t a hole the size of three large trucks cut into the side of it. At either side of this haphazard opening, Bratva guards stand in the sun. Their job is to verify legitimate crossings and gun down Cartel members who dare use our route to transport their drugs.
Dream is visibly nervous as we’re stopped by the guards, but she quickly realizes there’s nothing to fear as we’re waved through at the sight of my face. Everyone around here knows who I am, and they respect my authority.
It seems like the only person who fails to fall in line is Dream. She immediately jumps into questioning mode the moment we’re in Mexico, demanding to know how long it’s going to take to get to the hotel, how soon we can eat dinner, and if she should text her Cartel contact Diego yet or wait for him to reach out first.
I’m not in the mood for all these questions, of course, but I answer them the best that I can. I’d rather her be satisfied than repeat them over and over until I lose my cool. We know what happened last time, and I doubt she’d let me pull over and spank her now that we’re back in a well-populated area.
That’ll have to wait until we’re at our hotel.
“So, you really are the big boss, huh,” Dream says, leaning back in her seat as we leave the border far behind us.
“I told you that already.”
“Well, you’ve lied to me before, so I need clear confirmation of things before I believe you now.”
I frown, trying hard to figure out what she’s talking about. “I’ve never lied to you.”
When I look over at her, I see a goofy grin spreading quickly across her face. “You lied about being charming,” she says.
“Ah, so we’re back to being happy and playful,” I say, a bit annoyed but also relieved that she was only joking. “I thought you wanted me to be more serious.”
She shrugs, looking out the window at the sprawling greenery. There are mountains in the distance, but here, it’s sunny, flat, and green. “I don’t know, it kind of feels like we’re on vacation a bit. I’ve never been to Mexico before.”
“Don’t get too comfortable,” I warn.
“You think the Cartel is out here?” she asks, looking around doubtfully.
“They’re everywhere,” I reply, though that’s not entirely true. I just don’t want her running off and getting herself into trouble. The last thing I need is a dead American woman on my hands. The authorities would come down on my ass so hard that I’d be limping my way to prison.
Plus, Jasha would be pissed. I promised to bring him some mezcal with a worm in the bottle. He’s fascinated by weird things like that, but I’ll admit I’d also like to try it. It’s supposed to make the drink taste better.
I can’t really do any of that if I’m locked up in Mexico.
“I’m pretty sure there’s nobody out here, not even the Cartel. Where even are we?” Dream asks, leaning forward to get a better look around.
“On the way to Mapimi. Our hotel is close to there,” I reply.
Tonight, we’re staying at an unnamed hotel slightly south of Mapimi. I’m known in this city because my guys often pass through it if we need to go deeper into Mexico for a pickup. It happens a few times a year, but that’s often enough for the owner to give my guys free lodging in exchange for keeping the Cartel away.
In truth, I don’t think the Cartel wants to be all the way out there, anyway, but the owner of the hotel doesn’t have to know that. Peace of mind is what he’s looking for, and that’s exactly what he gets from the Bratva.
