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“I know enough,” He spits the words out, and I know this is only going to get worse if I don’t pull back. I knew that Bodhi was referring to his brother’s accident. I didn’t doubt the validity of that accusation, either. But he’s fueling the fire beneath my feet with the anger he holds over his own situation.
I reach out and place my hand over his arm, stepping closer to him.
“I know that you have just as much cause to hate Mateo as I do,” I say, and squeeze until he looks up into my eyes. “But you just threw me to the wolves.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
He’s silent for a minute, contemplating.
“Listen, I know that you meant well. I do,” I say. The furrow in his brow loosens, and he reaches for my hip. “But you don’t have any personal experience with Mateo, and I do. I wish I didn’t, and I try to keep our interactions as minimal as possible for a reason.”
“I know, but babe… you can beat him. You’re good enough,” he says.
Pride swells in my chest, but it’s quickly smothered by fear.
“I’m glad you feel that way, but if you think for one second that this is going to be a fair fight, you have another thing coming. He isn’t just going to let me walk away from that debt.”
Consuming, black fear sweeps through me, twisting around my heart the longer we stand here. My mind flashes with terrorizing thoughts. Memories of that day in the garage years ago filter in, making my limbs grow cold. But Bodhi is still too lost in his own rage to notice.
“Why would he make this deal if he didn’t plan on following through?” Bodhi asks, clearly annoyed at this point.
I’m about to ask what makes him think Mateo could ever be trusted when I realize something. Bodhi is an upstanding guy. He says what he means and means what he says. He’d never lie to get the upper hand. Sure, he may be hotheaded at times, but I’ve come to learn that has a lot to do with age… and the fact that he’s a man. To outright lie or cheat, though, that isn’t how Bodhi functions. So, he wouldn’t expect someone else — even Mateo — to cheat.
He doesn’t know the things that I know about Mateo. The things that Eli learned the hard way, or the warnings he gave me after.
He’s clueless about it all. As far as he knows, Mateo is just some dealer who sold to the racer responsible for causing the wreck that killed Tommy. That alone is enough to make him hate Mateo.
I still myself, looking into his eyes.
“Bodhi… do you know who he works for?” I ask, dropping my voice low and leaning a little closer.
“No,” he draws the word out like a question.
I didn’t think so.
Taking a deep breath, I tell him what I know.
“He works for Santiago Castillo,” I whisper, and watch the recognition light his eyes.
“The… the Santiago Castillo? The Cartel boss?” he whispers harshly, his eyes wide with understanding and fear, though he tries to mask the latter.
“The one and only,” I say.
Eli learned about Mateo’s affiliation with the Castillo family when he was made an offer to join their ranks. From what he said, Mateo answers directly to Santiago himself. When Eli refused their offer, he was supposed to be dealt with. To this day, I’m not sure why Mateo chose to send him to prison over killing him, but I’ll be grateful for that choice every day. If that means I pay a debt for my brother’s life, then so be it.
“A debt to Mateo is as good as a debt to the Castillo family themselves,” I say, and see the moment Bodhi accepts that this is bigger than it seems.
“Why don’t you just let me take care of it?” he asks, reaching out and cupping my cheek in his hand. I know that his offer is filled with good intention, but I can’t willingly accept that help, knowing it links him to the same cutthroats responsible for so much pain already.
“Thank you, but I’m not going to drag any other innocent people into this, especially you.”
“Why especially me?” His brows furrowed, and I hate how his first reaction was to always go on the defense. I feel like his dad is to blame for that.
“Because I care about you too much to let you risk putting a target on your back for me,” I say, holding him just a little tighter with that admission.
“And I care too much to let you take this on by yourself,” he says, cradling my cheek in his hand.
