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“It’s my boyfriend,” I say. “But it’s new, and it’s complicated. We’re working through some sensitive stuff, and it’d probably be best if you left.”
“Are you safe with him? You can tell me, Alex. If you need help, I’m here for you.”
My mind scrambles. With each second, the sound of the bike is getting closer and the odds of Mateo and Dixon trying to kill each other gets higher and higher.
I have to get him out of here.
“I’m safe. It’s not like that. We just had an… awkward situation, and we have to talk it out,” I say.
“Awkward?”
Why won’t he get the hint? What do I have to say to get him out of here?
“It’s, uh, sexual,” I say, stumbling over my words while my brain spins. Think, Alex, think. What story can I come up with to make Mateo walk away? What would… what would Moose do? That’s it! Moose! “We went to an art exhibit recently. It was a bunch of nudes on bearskin rugs. There was this one painting there of a gargantuan man. He was quite hairy, just bulging and thick, but muscular, too. Powerful. And he had an enormous cock. It was erect, he was bending over, and…”
“You know, I’ll leave you and your boyfriend to sort your sex-things out on your own,” Mateo says. He gives me a quick hug. “Just keep me informed about what’s going on with this Erik Marquez guy. I’m here if you need me. Take care of yourself, OK?”
“I will. Thanks for the photo, Mateo. It means a lot to me.”
I watch him go, wistful. Memories of better times moisten my eyes while I wait for Dixon. He nearly leaps off his motorcycle the second he comes to a stop. He charges to me, just as I run to him. For a second, the world stops as I hug and kiss him. All thoughts of everything — murder, revenge, my childhood — flee from my mind as I lose myself in the man I love.
Then he sets me down. Three paltry words set my world on fire.
“We’ve got him.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Dixon
For a minute, she just stares at me, wide-eyed and gorgeous. Then that stare becomes a kiss so deep it reaches down to the depths of my soul. Every bruise, every burn — it’s all worth it for that kiss. When she finally pulls back, she looks at me with an adoration that I can’t ever recall feeling for myself. What a fucking monumental thing love is.
“You have him?”
I nod, grinning. “We do.”
“Where is he? I want to talk to him.”
“He’s somewhere safe. Ghost is working on him,” I say. When it comes to Ghost and the things he does in interrogation, I keep my exposure to a minimum; I’ve heard rumors, and those rumors have been dark enough that I have no desire to see if they’re true, or if the reality is even worse. With Ghost, you never know. “When we have answers for you, you’ll know.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“Not good enough? Do you know the hell we went through to get this guy? He was prepared. There were fucking traps, Alexandra. We almost died.”
“Almost? My brother died. I want to look this asshole in the eye and make him talk.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know what Ghost is doing to him right now.”
“What? Do you think I’m some innocent girl? I grew up in this life. I know what goes on in these things. Plus, I got the drop on you, and I was ready to kill you and dispose of your body in a way that could never be traced back to me. Thank you, podcasts. Let me talk to him.” Her voice writhes and surges like a living, furious thing, and I know that, if I let Alexandra in the same room with Erik Marquez, there’s a damn good chance she will kill him before we can get the information we need out of him.
“No. Not until he’s ready to confess.”
“What do you mean ‘no’?”
“Be patient. You have to trust me.”
“I trust you. But I’ve fucking earned this. I’ve suffered, Dixon. Every day for the last three years, there hasn’t been a moment where I haven’t felt my brother’s death. And now, when I can finally face someone who knows what happened, you’re going to take that away from me?”
I have to convince her to trust me, to be patient and allow Ghost to do his work, because Erik Marquez is a hardened, experienced killer, and Ghost may be the only man who can actually break him. I grab her by the shoulders and peer into her eyes, meeting the fury there with unwavering determination and love.
