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“Hey, Cross. Missing me already?”
“I could spend a few more years without hearing from you. You only come to me when you’re in trouble. You never call to say you wanna hear my voice. I feel so used.”
I chuckled. “What can I say? I’m toxic as fuck.”
“So...are you in trouble?” His voice turned serious.
“I’m not sure yet. It’s possible.” I took in a deep breath. “One of my partners saw a member fromEl Rey Alacránaround town.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he hissed, all playfulness gone. “Have they tried anything yet?”
“Not that we know of. I just learned about it yesterday. We’re looking into it, but we’re not sure why he’s here or if he’s working with someone local. I wanted to give you a heads up and ask you if you knew anything about it.”
“That’s the first time I know of Holy Water being involved. Maybe he’s just passing and isn’t targeting your town?” His voice showed me he didn’t believe in it, just like I didn’t.
“I highly doubt it.”
“Have you been working with anything related to that?”
“Not exactly. We have this one assignment to investigate drug trafficking around here, but we think it’s about heroin, and so far we couldn’t connect our guy to theAlacráns.”
“And they deal mostly with cocaine, not heroin.” He came to the same conclusion, dismissing the connection.
“We’ll keep our eyes open, and I’ll tell you about any new developments. I’d appreciate the same.”
“Of course. I’ll look right into it and keep you posted.” He puffed over the phone. “Who would’ve thought quaint Holy Water would be trouble?”
“What can I say? We like to keep people on their toes. There’s plenty of activity here.” Not exactly true, but not a lie either. “Maybe you should get out of your shackles and move here. We could always use a guy like you.”
“Who knows? I might take you up on this. My grandparents are from there, and my grandpa decided to move back; it’d be good to be closer to him.” His exhale was heavy, and he sounded tired. I didn’t expect him to consider my offer. If he ever wanted to change the scenery, I’d be more than happy to vouch for him and bring Ethan to our team. “You all be careful. These guys are sick.”
We disconnected, but his warning churned my gut. I knew that already, but hearing someone else say it made me uneasy.
Yet all it took was one look at By Any Beans to improve my mood. The coffee shop was already closed, but knowing Isabella was somewhere in that building calmed something inside me. I couldn’t inspect that very closely if I wanted to stop a panic attack from coming.
I rolled my left wrist to check the time on my watch.Who cares if I’m twenty minutes early?
I pushed my door open to get out of the car. I came to the front door of the shop, meeting my cheerful face in the reflection. Only then did I realize there was another door that led to the unit upstairs. I buzzed the intercom and waited, shifting my legs and rubbing my hands over my dark jeans.
“Hello?” Her metallic voice made my heart beat even faster.
“I’m here to collect an owed date.” Her giggle warmed something in me and placated my anxiety.
“There must be some misunderstanding. I was under the impression I had a good...twenty minutes before paying my debt.”
“You should’ve read the fine print.”
“I guess you’re right. My naive mistake.” She laughed.Bzz. “I’ve just buzzed you in. Come on up.”
I went up the narrow staircase to her apartment. Right before I could knock, she opened her door, and I was greeted by her bright smile, making me weak in the knees. I couldn’t understand or ignore the effect this woman had on me.
She was wearing a flowy, green dress that matched her eyes. She was barefoot, so I had to lean my head to look at her. Her wavy, auburn hair was loose, and her scent wafted around us, intoxicating me. I was screwed.
“Hey.” I was breathless. I was also pleased to notice her inspection of me was as thorough as mine of hers. “You look gorgeous.” The pink hue on her cheeks was enticing.
“As do you.” She balanced on her toes and leaned closer to give me a lingering kiss on the cheek, and I held the threshold to stop me from lunging on her and pressing her to the closest surface, the whole dinner forgotten. “I’m almost ready.”
“Take your time,” I managed to reply in a strained voice. “I’m in no hurry, and you’re worth the wait.” That seemed to mean more than just our evening plans.
