Page 9 of Carnal

“You’re right. We can’t. I’d been over it a hundred times, and all I can come up with is there were drugs at the party that night and no one said shit to the cops about them. So that’s where we should start. Who’s your dealer? Is there any connection there? To Tiffany?”

Mitch was silent for a beat. “I don’t think so. I’ll check it out.”

“No. Don’t fucking ‘I’ll check it out’ to me. Tell me.”

There was another beat of silence, and I stopped to turn to him.

“Mitch.”

“Fine. His name is Rafael, he’s actually one of Joaquín’s buddies. I’ve never had a problem with him and seriously doubt he was involved.”

“Joaquín introduced you? I thought he never got high.” Where did Joaquín meet this guy? I’d known that motherfucker for years, and I’d never heard the name Rafael.

Mitch laughed. “No, he was just smart enough never to get high around you because he thought you’d tell his sister. Joaquín used harder than I did.”

Joaquín did drugs? Fuck. I guess I never knew him at all. There had been a rumor going around a few years back that Joaquín was caught up in some drug smuggling, but he used to laugh when I brought it up, and I never believed it because I never saw him use drugs. I hadn’t really thought about it until the other night when Autumn mentioned that Tiffany said Julián’s dad was a drug dealer. I’d racked my brain trying to think of any other connection between Joaquín and Tiffany, but the only thing I could think of was that Tiffany had brought the drugs to the party. It was thin, but it was all I had right now.

“Yeah? Real smart. He just ended up in jail for murder instead of drugs. How did the two of you never get caught?”

“I hook Paul up. He hooks me up.”

Oh, Jesus. Paul was in on this too? Paul was the polar opposite of Mitch. He wasn’t a bad boy, a womanizer, or an asshole. Granted he was cocky as hell, but he had every right to be. Paul was a ring knocker, an Annapolis graduate, and a second-generation SEAL officer. As the commander of the squad, if something shady was going on, he had to know about it.

Plus, the party had been at his in-laws’ house.

No wonder they always pissed clean.

“When can I meet Rafael?”

“I’ll invite him to The Pickled Frog tonight. I doubt he’ll talk to you, though. Maybe he’ll hit on Ksenya.”

Great. Just what I needed. Another shady motherfucker sniffing around her.

“Fine. I’ll make sure she shows up to work tonight, but she doesn’t need to know who he is. With our luck, she’ll try to drug him and interrogate him at gunpoint, too. She wants answers, but I don’t want her anywhere near this. In fact, I don’t want you calling her, either.”

He laughed. “I thought you wanted to be done with her? I mean fuck it man, she’s fucking hot. Always has been, but now man, she’s perfection. I know we aren’t supposed to take a Team guy’s girl, but if you want nothing to do with her, I’ll gladly take her off your hands. Technically, she’s a new woman now, and she’s just my type. Hot, dangerous, and crazy as fuck.”

Fuck this dude. I got up in his face and stared him down. “Stay the fuck away from her or I’ll kill you. It’ll be over when I say it’s over. I fucking hate her right now, but she’ll always be my girl.”

I left him in the sand and ran past him, letting the rhythm of the waves guide me. I had hoped that confronting Mia would help resolve this mess, but talking to Mitch made me realize I had just begun to scratch the surface of all the secrets and lies that surrounded my Team.