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He chuckled. “Colorful is an interesting way to describe my sister cursing like a sailor. Not that Ryder seems to mind her temperament.”
“Eh. She can curse all day around my sister, and she’d never know the difference. I had to take Spanish twice because Cherry had no hope of passing it.”
“Is that how you knew what my sister said about the donkey? When she’s agitated, she speaks more rapidly than most who aren’t fluent in Spanish can understand. You surprised me, and that doesn’t happen very often.”
“Not really. The second time I took Spanish I was actually doing math homework during class, but Mrs. Garcia never figured it out because she assumed Cherry was taking notes since she didn’t pass the first time around.”
Even though the room was fairly noisy, and we were unlikely to be overheard, I lowered my voice. “Few people know this about me, but I have a photographic memory.”
He leaned closer while still keeping his distance. “Since you shared one of your secrets, do you want to know one of mine?”
My plan of giving information in order to get information was paying off. While it wasn’t something I normally shared, even with my boss, having a photographic memory wasn’t exactly something Marco could use against me. At least not in any way that I could foresee. Even though he was unlikely to spill any family secrets, I eagerly nodded, hoping he’d give me some scrap of information I could use.
“Ryder doesn’t understand Spanish half the time either. Yesterday I told him his face looked like a bull’s ass and he grinned. My brother owes me fifty American dollars.”
My laugh faded into an unladylike snort, and I felt my face heating, but now was not the time to shrink and die of embarrassment. He’d already mentioned a brother, confirming one of my suspicions. I was onto something. I just knew it.
“Was your brother mad he lost the bet?”
“Are you kidding me?” He rolled his eyes. “The tight-ass was more worried about the exchange rate than the money itself.”
Now there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Marco’s brother was the one my boss had been referring to. Balls! Why hadn’t I thought to look up the names of Miguel’s children? Probably because at the time it hadn’t seemed important. My focus had been on building a RICO case against the club, not uncovering a drug lord’s long-lost son.
But how hard could it be to find out who was running the largest cartel in all of Mexico? Hell, I bet Google could give me the answer in a matter of seconds. When you were that powerful, there was no hiding your identity. Maybe that was why his second son had remained hidden.
“How about you and your sister,” he asked, bringing my focus back to him. “Are the two of you close enough to make such silly wagers just to challenge the other?”
His question was perfectly normal, his words almost playful, but there was something lurking in his dark eyes that wasn’t there before. He overestimated his looks and charm if he thought I wouldn’t notice the sudden shift. Scratch that. He didn’t know I was too broken for either to have the intended effect.
“Neither of us like to gamble, so I’m afraid we’re rather boring compared to you and your brother.”
His dark brows drew together, and I felt like a bug caught in his web, just waiting for him to come along and drain me dry, leaving nothing but an empty husk behind. Damn. I really needed to layoff the late-night nature shows.
“What are you two talking about so intently over here?” my sister asked, making me do a double take at her sudden appearance.
“Nothing of importance,” Marco smoothly replied, a smile forming on his lips.
The same darkness from before still lingered in his eyes, and I couldn’t control the shiver that rolled down my spine. Marco might not be the one running his family’s cartel, but he wasn’t to be dismissed either. The cartels were in some ways more brutal than the Mafia because they didn’t adhere to any sort of code. It didn’t bode well for me that I’d garnered the attention of both the Mafia and the cartel on my first day here.
“Doesn’t matter.” Cherry’s face lit up, completely oblivious to the tension swirling around her. “I’m just glad to see you settling in and making friends. After Hunter made a big deal about you staying with him, I was worried you wouldn’t feel comfortable here.”
Even if I wasn’t here to keep her out of prison, a tricky endeavor that might get both of us killed, there were entirely too many men living under the same roof for me to feel comfortable. But that was my fucked-up issue, not hers, and I wasn’t about to burst her bubble. Especially not when she couldn’t do anything to help me. With any of it.
My eyes wandered back over to Marco and his smirk made my heart stop for a second before it went into hyperdrive. He might not have initially set off my internal alarms by maintaining his distance, but this man was a true chameleon. He camouflaged ill intent behind a handsome face and easy banter, which made him even more dangerous than Hunter. At least with Hunter, you knew exactly what sort of monster you were dealing with.
“Oh, from what I saw, you don’t need to worry about Hunter and your sister getting along.”
Marco was referring to the kiss he’d walked in on before Hunter left with the guy in the jean jacket. What I couldn’t figure out was what he hoped to accomplish with his comment. If he was expecting a Jerry Springer reenactment, he was going to be sorely disappointed.
Cherry may have slept with Hunter at some point, but I knew she wasn’t interested in him. Whenever my sister was into a guy, she giggled like a deranged schoolgirl around him. Every time. Without fail. It was her only odd behavioral trait, and I had yet to see that happen with any of the guys in the clubhouse.
Cherry smiled at Marco, but there wasn’t any of her usual warmth behind it. My sister had two modes: sunshine and rainbows, or a frown that made you feel like a category five hurricane just hit you in the face. This cloudy, rainbow, sunshine business was new.
“That is great to hear.” She patted his arm. “Now, if you don’t mind, Marco, I’m going to steal my sister so I can get her settled into Hunter’s room.”
“Certainly.” Marco straightened up and waved us past him. “I look forward to speaking with you again soon.”
His tone and demeanor were relaxed, so why did I feel like that last comment was more of a veiled threat than polite banter?
