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Sometimes, I could hardly believe the arrogance of this man. ‘Nothing,’ I said as I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to create some distance between us.
‘Nothing?’
I saw the surprise on his face and felt the satisfaction at him being completely clueless for once.
‘I have fundraised for every cent in this place. I haven’t used any of your money. I don’t need your money, Alejandro.’
‘What? Why haven’t you at least asked for a donation from the business?’
I shrugged. ‘I wasn’t sure that you’d be interested.’
‘You didn’t think that I’d be interested in helping abused women and children?’ he said with a scowl.
‘No,’ I replied.
His face changed in an instant and now it was full of anger and fire. He reached behind me and opened the door handle. ‘Let’s go,’ he growled.
I stepped out of the store room and he followed close behind me. I was about to say something to ease the tension that was now between us, but before I could he’d pulled his phone out of his pocket and had it pressed to his ear. A few seconds later, I heard him barking orders in Spanish.
Kristen and another of the workers, Casey, approached us as Alejandro put his phone away and he smiled at them, his mask firmly back in place.
‘Alana, I need to show you the TV in the rec room,’ Casey said. ‘It’s huge!’ She grabbed my hand and I gave Alejandro an apologetic shrug and left him talking to Kristen.
Twenty minutes later, I was chatting to a few of the kids in the den when Alejandro approached me.
‘Alana, it’s time to go,’ he said softly.
I checked my watch. It was getting late and I supposed I’d taken enough of his time. ‘Okay,’ I said.
We said goodbye to everyone and then walked out of the building. I saw the car waiting over the road and went to cross but Alejandro grabbed my arm and shook his head. Then Jacob approached us, and handed Alejandro a set of keys.
‘Be gentle with her, Boss, won’t you?’ he said.
Be gentle with who? I swallowed. Did he mean me? Was I about to punished for my earlier slight against him?
‘Of course, I will,’ he said with a smile.
‘Night, Mrs. Montoya,’ Jacob said with a nod and then he jogged over to the car.
Alejandro took my hand and started walking down the street in the direction Jacob had come from. ‘Here’s our ride,’ he said as he steered me towards an old Mustang.
So the she Jacob had been referring to was a car. Alejandro had lots of cars — all high end and top spec. I wondered who this old beat up Mustang belonged to, and why we were driving home in it. Suddenly, I felt incredibly anxious.
‘Why aren’t we taking the car?’ I asked him.
‘Because I’m taking you somewhere, and it’s not the kind of place I want to go in a limo.’
He opened the passenger door for me and I climbed inside. I leaned over and opened the lock on the drivers’ door panel for him. He slid into the seat and ran his hands lovingly over the steering wheel. That was when I realized this was his car, and that he wasn’t about to push it over a cliff with me inside.
‘Where are we going?’ I asked.
‘You’ll see,’ he replied as he started the engine. The car roared to life and he smiled to himself.
Half an hour later, we had driven out of the city and into the projects. Alejandro pulled up outside an old fashioned diner and turned off the engine.
‘Why are we here?’ I said as I looked around. It was one of the poorest places I’d ever seen and not the type of place I’d expect Alejandro to even know about.
‘My mother grew up in this neighborhood. Born and raised here until she met my father when she was seventeen. When I was a kid, she still used to come back here every Saturday morning to check on her old friends and neighbors. She always brought me with her and I learned to play basketball on the court right over there. That’s where I first met Jax too,’ he said as he pointed to the court in the distance. ‘My father used to try and stop her. He said it was too dangerous. But she used to sneak here anyway. It may sound crazy, but we were probably safer here than we ever were in our gated mansion.’
