Chapter THIRTY-SEVEN
“IF YOU’D HAVE answered your damn phone, you’d have known we were coming,” Dallas ranted back. “But no, you don’t, and that led us to think someone followed you back here and something bad had happened.”
“You could have knocked instead of behaving like Peeping Toms.” After recognizing the faces in the window, Austin had assured Leah it was okay. But naked, embarrassed, and sitting bare-assed on the floor, she’d bolted into the bathroom. He’d snagged his sweats from the bag on the sofa and went to give his two partners hell.
Before he got to the door, he’d heard their laughter and considered killing them.
“We thought someone might be in there holding you at gunpoint. Knocking didn’t seem smart,” Tyler said. “Besides, we didn’t expect to find you—”
“Just shut up before you piss me off more.” Austin considered another reason they were here, one that would tear Leah’s heart out. And that would tear his heart out. “Is her brother okay?”
“Yeah. We moved him to a hospital outside of Austin.”
“So y’all really came because I didn’t answer the phone?” That’s f*cking nuts. He was a grown man and was trying to do grown-man things.
“No, we were coming anyway. Roberto and that friend of his are on their way, too. They have a plan to catch DeLuna. I wanted all of us to go over it together.”
“Is Luis okay?” At the sound of Leah’s tight voice, they all turned to see her standing in front of the kitchen table. She’d donned his clothes. In one hand, she held his jeans, which were about eight sizes too big, bunched up on her waist. On her other side, his shirt hung clear to her knees.
Austin’s breath hitched in his lungs. He’d never seen a more adorable sight. She looked like a little girl playing dress-up. But he knew below all that cotton was a woman whom he’d just had incredible sex with… twice. And it would have been three if they hadn’t been interrupted.
For reasons he didn’t understand he liked the thought of her in his clothes. Liked how her hair danced around her shoulders as she shifted her gaze from him to his two partners. Then Austin noted the concern in her eyes.
“Luis is fine.” He fought the need to bundle her up in his arms. But not one to show affection in public, he didn’t move. Still he couldn’t look away.
She shuffled to the side of the bed, his jeans bunched up at her feet. She retrieved a stack of her folded clothes, then waddled back into the bathroom.
He stared at the closed door, unsure why his chest suddenly felt like an open vault.
Tyler cleared his throat.
Austin turned. The two of them stared at him. “What?”
“Nothing,” Tyler said, but his expression said it was something. “She’s cute.” He grinned. “Well, she’s more than cute.”
“Don’t go there.”
“Hey, both of you walked in on Zoe naked.” Tyler laughed. “The only one of our girls we haven’t gotten to see naked is Nikki.”
Austin and Tyler looked at Dallas. “Over my dead body,” he growled.
They all laughed, but then Austin realized they were putting Leah in the same category as their wives. It wasn’t like that. Was it? “But Leah and I aren’t… you know.”
“Looked like you were…‘you know’ to me.” Dallas cracked a grin.
“I mean, it’s not… serious.” But damn if it didn’t feel serious.
“Looked serious.” Tyler glanced at Dallas. “Didn’t it to you?”
Dallas grinned. “She threw tomatoes at him and he didn’t get mad.”
“Shit!” Tyler said. “It’s definitely serious.”
“Stop this!” Austin snapped, uncomfortable in his own skin.
Uncomfortable with his own thoughts.
Uncomfortable with the feeling in his chest.
“We didn’t start this. You did,” Dallas said. “And for the record, I warned you she was the dangerous kind.”
It was twenty minutes before Leah came out of the bathroom—wearing her own clothes. She still looked adorable, but it didn’t hit him so hard now that she wasn’t wearing his. He pushed his silly concerns about his feelings aside and reminded himself that each of them had their own lives and lived almost two hundred miles apart.
Dallas had called Roberto, who was supposed to be pulling up anytime. Wanting to warn her about what was going down, Austin met her in the kitchen.
“A couple other guys are coming here.” He hesitated. “I just wanted to warn you that… we’re going to be discussing your half brother.”
She nodded. “I want him caught. He’s a monster.”
“I know.” Austin studied her. He wanted to touch her so badly, he had to poke his hands in his pockets.
She glanced toward the opened door where Dallas and Tyler stood on the porch.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She leaned in. “They saw me naked.”
Unable to resist, he pulled one hand out and passed a finger over her cheek. “You want me to kill ’em?”
She giggled.
He slid his finger to her dimple. And he wanted to keep sliding his touch. He exhaled. “I can’t wait for them to leave.”
And just like that, he realized how hard it was going to be—only seeing her on the weekends. What he’d seen as his safety net was beginning to feel like a trap. But it was better that way. Wasn’t it?
He pulled his hand back and tucked it in his jeans. Snared. Trapped. He cared. He cared too damn much. Yet his eagerness to run wasn’t nearly as strong as it should be. How the hell had this happened?
When Austin stepped out on the porch, he heard a car pulling up. Roberto and Brad Hulk, the big guy who swung a mean toilet plunger, got out of the car. Brad nodded a silent apology at Austin.
Austin nodded back, letting the guy know there were no hard feelings, but he couldn’t deny that it felt damn good when he saw the man’s swollen nose and bruised eyes. Sure, his own eye still carried a mark, but not as bad.
They brought chairs out on the porch and Roberto told them of the plan. He’d call Cruz, claim he missed DeLuna’s call because he’d been shot, say he still had the cocaine from the New Orleans deal gone bad, and offer to drop it off. Once he got the cocaine there, they’d have the cops raid the place, finally placing DeLuna with the drugs.
“It’s too dangerous,” Dallas said.
“He’s right.” Normally, Austin didn’t shy away from a little risk. But after hearing the message DeLuna left on Roberto’s phone, it seemed apparent that DeLuna would shoot first and ask questions later.
“Tell me another way,” Roberto said. “And make it fast. The longer I take to contact them, the more suspicious they’ll be.”
Leah stepped out onto the porch. “What’s going to prevent Rafael from killing you?” she asked Roberto.
Austin had known she’d been listening. At first he worried it would be too much for her to hear, but then he realized she had a right to know.
Roberto met her gaze. “If he thinks I’m working for him, he won’t.”
“But when the police show, he’ll know you set him up.”
“I’m going to try to be out of there by then.”
“Yeah, try. But I listened to your plan, and you never mentioned how you were going to do that.”
“It’s risky, I know, but I haven’t come this far to walk away.”
“But have you come this far to die? Because that’s what’s going to happen. And my half brother has hurt too many people already.”
It was almost seven, dark, and quiet, except for the voices on the front porch. Leah had offered to make sandwiches for everyone. They’d declined. So she sat at the table staring at her hands. The cabin door opened. She expected it to be Austin; he’d come in earlier and just held her. It had felt so good, his arms around her, resting her head on his shoulder.
She looked back. Roberto shut the door and eased inside. “Can I sit down?”
Leah nodded, and suddenly she couldn’t help thinking of Sara. She’d been mesmerized by this man, and yet now he was probably going to go off and get himself killed. And it was Leah’s half brother who was probably going to do the killing. She wondered how she could even be related to that monster.
“Sorry for upsetting you,” he said.
She looked at him. “Don’t do it.”
He dropped his hands on the table. “When you went to see your brother, didn’t you know it would be dangerous?”
She took a deep breath. “Luis is still alive. But your wife—”
“I know, and as crazy as this sounds, until I get justice for them, it feels like my wife and son are alive, too.”
Deep down, Leah knew if Rafael had killed Luis, she’d feel the same way. “I just want the ugliness to end.”
“I do, too.” He ran his hand over the edge of the table as if considering his next words. “About Sara and what she did. I’m hoping you’re not upset with her. I know she was worried about it.”
Leah leaned in a bit, confused. “What happened with Sara?”
He closed his eyes a second. “I just thought… she said she was going to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
He appeared to debate speaking up.
“Sara’s my friend, I’m sure that whatever she did was… fine.”
He nodded. “She’s the one who took the bullet out of my leg.”
“Okay.” Leah gulped, trying not to think of the consequences if… if police got word of that.
“I put her in a bad spot. Don’t blame her.”
“I don’t.” And Leah wouldn’t. But then she couldn’t help adding, “She really likes you.”
He frowned. “She did. I pretty much ruined it.”
Her protective nature for her friend surfaced. “What did you do?”
His expression filled with remorse. “I was an idiot. I tried to apologize, but…” He raked a hand through his hair. “Just tell her I’m sorry.”
As soon as Roberto walked out, Leah went on a witch hunt for Austin’s cell phone.
Sara’s car was done early, so she’d had the shop bring it to her. She dropped off the cat at the other vet clinic and was picking up Brian, when her phone rang. Again. She let it ring.
Her mom looked at her suspiciously. “You aren’t going to answer that?”
“Nah,” she said.
Her mom, already suspicious since Sara had asked her to keep Brian, and was now there to pick him up, propped her hand on her hip. A hand on her mom’s hip usually led to being referred to by both her first and middle name.
“Sara Jane, sit your butt down and tell me what’s up.”
A frog-size knot tightened her throat. “I’m not ready to talk, okay?” She grabbed her phone to cut it off and saw it wasn’t Roberto.
Shit! It’s confession time. She looked at her mom. “I gotta take this.”
Sara walked into the bathroom. “Hello?”
Leah didn’t bother with formalities. “Are you okay?”
“Fine. Why?”
“I just spoke with Roberto and—”
“I’m sorry. He was bleeding, and then I shot him, and—”
“You shot him?” Leah asked.
“Not in the leg. He was already shot there. He gave me his gun and it went off. It… it only grazed his ear, but I felt bad. If you want to fire me, I’d understand.”
Leah exhaled. “No. I don’t care about that. Well, I do, but it’s okay. He said something about needing to apologize to you. What happened?”
Sara hesitated. “I did something stupid.”
“You mean besides shooting him?” Leah sounded perplexed.
“Yeah,” Sara answered. I had wild, wonderful sex with a man I hardly knew even when he’d practically told me he still loved someone else.
“Well, according to him, he thinks he’s the idiot.”
“He was!” Sara said, still bitter. “But I’m not without fault.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Leah asked.
“No. I want to forget it.” She pushed her own problems aside. “How’s Luis?”
“He’s black and blue, but he’s going to be okay.” Leah paused. “I’m sorry, Sara. You shouldn’t have gotten caught up in this. Even you meeting Roberto is on me. I’ve got this lunatic half brother and he’s… evil.”
“Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault.” Sara hesitated.
“Is Evelyn okay?” Leah asked.
“She’s worried about you. You know how she is, she thinks she’s the mother hen. She’s been bugging me to give her Austin’s number, do you mind?”
“No, give it to her,” Leah said.
“How’s Austin?” When Leah didn’t answer right away, Sara asked. “He won you over, didn’t he? I knew he was a good guy.” She sighed. “Why is it I can pick ’em for other people, but when I pick one for myself it turns out to be a clusterf*ck?”
“Was it that bad?” Leah asked.
“It feels like it right now.”
“Okay.” Leah exhaled. “Shit. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I don’t think Roberto is all bad, either.”
“You’re right,” Sara muttered. “You shouldn’t say that.”
“I know, and I wouldn’t, but he’s about to… You’re right. Forget I said anything.”
Sara paused. “Damn! You can’t start to say something, then not finish. What is it?”
“You better have a damn good reason for disappearing!” Cruz snapped.
“I do.” Roberto looked at the four guys standing on the other side of the porch. He’d first tried to reach DeLuna by calling Don’s phone, but it had gone straight to voice mail. Probably already buried with Don’s body in some landfill.
“Then why the hell didn’t you take DeLuna’s call?”
“ ’Cause I was getting a bullet dug out of my leg.”
“What the f*ck happened?” Cruz asked. Roberto heard someone in the background. DeLuna?
“Don and I had just got to the warehouse and Luke showed up. I was opening the door to the warehouse when a white Saturn pulled up and bullets went spewing everywhere.”
“Did you see who was shooting at you?”
“No. It was dark, then I must have passed out. When I woke up, Don and Luke were dead.”
“Then why are you still alive?”
“Hell, I don’t know. Luck? Whoever did it probably thought I was dead. Do you know who it was?” He put some anger in his tone.
“Forget that. Who got the kid to the hospital?”
“How the hell would I know?” Roberto asked. “The last thing I remember was Don getting the kid out of the trunk. When I woke up I was bleeding like a stuffed hog and grabbed the keys out of Don’s dead hands and got the hell out of there. I found an emergency vet clinic and held the damn bitch at gunpoint and made her dig the bullet out. I’ve been holed up in some damn hotel, eating doggy pain pills.” Lies. He was getting too good at telling them.
“Who’s got the product?”
“I do. And I don’t like driving around with the shit.”
He heard the voice in the background again; this time he was certain it was DeLuna.
“Hang on,” Cruz said.
The line went silent. He knew Cruz was filling in DeLuna. And he couldn’t help wondering if they weren’t onto him and weren’t already planning where to hide his body. God, he hoped it wasn’t in some landfill beside Don and Luke.
“Hey,” Cruz said. “I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you where to meet us. Make sure you answer this time.”