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“Nevermind.” I have no right to know if he's fucked any of these people before but can't help but wonder anyway.
“Does EG sound familiar to you?”
“No? I don't think so.” I shuffle in my seat, my legs bouncing up and down. Those men are after me and it's all I can think about. What do they want? I had mostly stayed out of trouble until it was time to get close to Antonio. Sure, there were times I stole to see what all I could get away with. More like practice for bigger things to come. I was good at it too. Fast and light on my feet. I didn't need anything I took but it gave me a thrill each time I did it, so I kept going.
“He's the man who sent the others to pick you up. I was wondering if his initials would sound familiar.”
“It doesn't. Not that I can remember.” If he's from this world then the only way I could have met him is through the Herrera cartel.
“You can't think of a reason why anyone might be after you? Maybe something you have or took?”
I inhale and exhale. “No. I mean, I do work for a cartel and sneak drugs into other countries.”
“They have no interest in our operation whatsoever. Only you.”
“I only stole from stores, neighbors, and people’s cars before breaking into Zacharias's trucks and warehouses.”
He rests his hand on the gear shift. Closer, move closer. Please. I feel like I'm going to jump out of my skin if he doesn't touch me soon.
“I don't have much to go on other than the name he gave those men, his description, and a location I may or may not find him at. The man we first ran into had no idea who he was delivering you to because he had his goons handling everything and they hardly know shit about the guy either.”
“So you don't think the location will help much?”
“It's something to go on and where they last met with him. According to them, he never stays in one place for long. But I think I'll let him come to us. Makes it easier now that we're expecting it. I'll inform everyone at the warehouse. I doubt he'll touch you there. Too many guards and guns.”
I cringe at the thought of going back there. I used to think the hideaway under the stairwell Lucian tucked us away in sometimes was bad. I couldn't have been more wrong. “Don't remind me.” The guards are sometimes the worst part. One likes to do very thorough pat downs when he gets to me, and I swear my stomach folds into itself when he forces me to take all my clothes off.
Needing to be sure I don't know who EG is, I ask, “What did they say that man looks like?”
He closes his mouth and opens it again. “Scorpion tattoo on his neck, bald head, and a pink scar under his right eye.”
My throat tightens and everything spins around me. That description. Fifteen years later and I haven't forgotten the man who used to visit my dad often. How I used to ask to touch his shiny head every time he picked me up and hugged me. Uncle Eddie. Except he isn't my uncle—that's only what my dad referred to him as. He showed up randomly and never stayed long. Is he the one who left the ring in the fire? Did he dig my dad's body up from the ground so he could send me some message?
Why? Who was he to my dad? Some business partner? Was he who my dad wanted to sell me and my brother to? I did hear my dad once tell him we weren't the right age yet. My gut wrenches, bile threatening to crawl up my throat.
“You doing okay?” Antonio's voice wraps around me like a wave of comfort.
“No.” Lifting my knees, I tuck my feet under the seat to keep my legs from moving as much but my hands are all over the place now. I can't tell him who I think it is. Who I'm sure it is. Then he'll know who I am and I might never see him again. I want to tell him. So badly. But I need more time to figure out how. He'll see me as nothing but a liar, some con artist or worse—nothing but his former husband's little brother.
Antonio's large, warm hand falls over mine and he links our fingers together. “Tell me what you need me to do to help.”
“I don't want to talk about this anymore.”
“Deal.” He runs his thumb over my skin and I crave more.
“What else?”
“Keep holding my hand until we get to your acquaintance's house.”
“Anything else?”
My teeth sink into my lower lip and I squeeze his fingers. “Sleep in the same bed and hold me.”
Silence stretches uncomfortably between us before he finally says, “Alright.”
Eight
Antonio
