Page 88 of Her Passionate Hero

“Let’s sit down.” He went over and grabbed a Snickers bar, a bag of chocolate chip cookies, and a bottle of water off the refreshment table.

“Hunter, those cost a mint. There’s a vending machine down the hall.”

“I’ll worry about it some other time. Anyway, Aiden’s here now. He can pay for the hotel.”

“I’m paying for my own hotel, and of course, you can have whatever you want. I’m sorry I said anything.” God, she was cute.

“I was teasing about Aiden. I’m paying for your hotel.” But he knew his friend, he’d be paying. Somehow, it’d magically happen. He was fucking annoying about shit like that.

“I’m not going to argue with you, just tell me what’s going on. This is my problem, I want to know about the investigation.”

God, she had like some sort of sexy kitten growl going on. He shifted on the couch so he could adjust his jeans. The last thing she needed is to see how aroused he was when she was alone in a hotel room with him wearing nothing but a robe.

“You met Aiden.”

“Right before you stuffed me in the back of a van. He seemed nice,” she rolled her eyes.

“He and Zed are staking out Mateo’s girlfriend’s apartment. Dalton has a lead on Rafael, and I went and visited LL, who finally had some decent information to offer.”

“He was Rita’s boyfriend, right? You used to talk about him occasionally.”

“He’s Rita’s husband now. They have four daughters and a son,” Hunter scowled.

“What?”

“What is with all these assholes thinking it’s cool to get their kids into the gang life. I would think they would want what’s good for them. Do you know what happened to most of the kid’s I hung out with? Dead, prison, and crippled.” He stood up and raked his hands through his hair. He thought specifically of Felix. Hell, he had friends he’d served with who had ended up losing limbs or in wheelchairs, but they had done something honorable. Not sold drugs.

He turned around and Aliana was in front of him.

“Tell me.”

“LL has his kid, Lorenzo, running prostitutes, he’s so proud of him. What the fuck, Alia? How could my friend’s thinking be so fucked up?”

“I don’t know.” She put her hands on his chest.

“Cariña, I need you to sit back down.”

“Why?”

“It gets worse.”

“Is this about Nicolas? I’d prefer to take my news standing.”

“San Marcos is just as determined or maybe even more determined than LL that Nicolas is going to take over Los Demonios.”

Aliana’s eyes sparkled, and her laughter filled the room. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. That boy is bound and determined to take down his father’s organization. I love him.”

“No, he has a plan.”

“Yeah, I know he does. We have to stop him. We have to get him out of town. We need to convince him to have the church find him a place in the Midwest to hide. He’s done.”

“San Marcos knows what he’s doing. He’s actually pretty proud of his boy. Thinks it shows initiative and leadership. Just the kind of qualities he needs to one day hand over Los Demonios.”

“You know, Mark didn’t strike me as crazy when I met him. Kind of scary, but not nuts. I guess my radar was off.”

Hunter grabbed her left hand in his and then stroked back her wild blonde hair so he could cup her warm cheek. “He has a plan, mi Cielieto, he holds you hostage and forces Nicolas to cooperate.”

She looked at him, confused. “I don’t get it, why did he try to kill me?”