My eyes widened and my heart leapt in my chest. “That would be nice.”
She smiled. “Great. Talk to Ross this shift and work it out.”
Oh God, Joaquin and I just might swim above water this month.
“Thank you,” I said, barely swallowing past the lump in my throat.
“I know some of the staff will complain about Ross being gone, but they’ll get used to the temporary change,” she said with a chuckle. “Welcome to my world.”
When I stepped outside the office, my eyes swung around the casino, and landed on Gloria near one of the men’s restrooms. Her eyes looked swollen and her gaze flitted quickly away.
Convincing her of anything was going to be harder than I imagined. Wait until I was giving the orders around here tomorrow.
23
Meadow
That night I received a text on my cell as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. It was from Alex.
Alex: Are you awake?
Me: Yes
Alex: Mind if I call?
Me: Please.
Hoping that didn’t sound too desperate, my heart was galloping in my chest, and I couldn’t wait to hear his voice.
I answered quickly so as to not wake Joaquin.
“Hi, hope this is okay.” Tranquility settled over me simply from hearing that rich baritone in his voice.
“It is,” I said, trying not to sound so breathless.
“Are you in bed?” he asked in a low murmur.
Suddenly I felt warm so I peeled back my covers. “Yes.”
I heard a sound low in his throat and I could feel my nipples tightening.
“I . . .” he blew out a harsh breath. “Had trouble sleeping and I figured it was because I missed your lumpy couch cushions.”
A laugh burst from my lips. “You were actually in my bed the last couple of days remember?”
I winced as soon as I said it. I recalled how his body molded to my sheets, the very ones I laid in, almost too well.
“Hmmm, I remember,” he said, his voice sounding husky. “That was much better than the couch. Warm and soft . . .”
“Alex,” I said, feeling my underwear grow instantly wet. “Not fair.”
“God,” he said as if reining himself in. “Sorry.”
I tried for a change in subject before I dissolved to molten ash. “I . . . get to play manager at work this week, because Ross had to take some time off.”
“Cool,” he said. “That’s a no-brainer, you’d be good at it.”
I blushed. “Thank you.”
“So does reimbursement come with that?” he asked in a tentative voice.
“Yes,” I said. “We could use it around here.”
I didn’t know why all of a sudden I was talking to him this personally about our money situation, but it felt natural. Real. Like he understood that I was a single mom just trying to make ends meet.
He was so far away and truth be told, I missed seeing him.
“Gloria will give me some grief but I’m used to that,” I said, sinking down further in my sheets. “I saw Charlie at the casino today too.”
“Was Charlie there to visit Dakota?” he asked.
“That’s what she said,” I said.
I heard rustling, like he was settling against his bed. “They became friends last year when we were investigating the Nakos case.”
“Charlie gave me her number,” I said. “I kind of had it out with Gloria today about Sparrow and I think there was a moment there where I got through to her.”
“You think there’s something she knows that she’s not giving up?”
“I’m not sure,” I said, twisting the covers in my fingers. “But maybe if she talks to Charlie . . .”
“Charlie was wondering the same thing,” he said without hesitation. “She’s good at her job.”
“She’s also gorgeous,” I said. “Why have you two never—”
“She’s not my type,” he mumbled and a shiver ran through me.
“Really?” I said, nearly embarrassed at how seductive my tone sounded, fishing for any compliment he might throw my way. Anything that might tell me that he longed for me just as much. “What’s is your type?”
“Dark hair,” he said in an enticing and playful voice. “And one long braid.”
“Is that so?” I grinned into my pillow, feeling lighter than I had just a moment before. “Are you at a hotel right now?”
“Yes,” he said. “I can’t tell you my location but it’s near Red Hills.”
I’d heard about that reservation. Native American conditions were rarely reported on the news. We were sovereign entities, so in a way were far removed from white politics. But we had plenty of our own. We had been a people stripped of our land, thrown away in a sense, described as savages way back when.
Eventually we were given portions back, but by then we were already lost and downtrodden, unable to recapture what we once had. We were given subsidies from the government, but a tone of helplessness had already permeated my people. It left us feeling powerless.
There used to be a time when our sense of community around here was grim. In our most terrible times we were without plumbing and amenities. But somehow, through the grace of the Great Spirit, we had rallied.
“Tell me about Red Hills,” I said.
“I’m not sure you want to—”
“Please.”
“Meadow, it’s not like—” he said and then hesitated. “Some parts are . . . dangerous and desolate.”
I had heard plenty about the drugs, guns, and alcoholism.
“Some feel desperate to make money,” he said, his voice grim. “Just to survive.”
“Is that why you’re there?” I said, feeling a deep ache in my gut. “You think Sparrow is using my people to pass drugs over the border?”
I was pushing him now, even though I knew he couldn’t tell the finer details of the case. But I was nearly desperate to create a picture of my ex so I knew exactly how far he’d fallen away from humanity.
“My people, too. On the other side of that border. It’s . . .” he hesitated, but then went all in, no longer trying to spare my feelings. “It’s how Sparrow operates. Throws around his money and privilege to get what he wants and asks for silence in return.”
“And if somebody betrays him?”
There was a drawn out, choked silence. He knew I was asking two things at once. About our safety as well as others. In the back of my mind a fear that had been cloaked now took center stage. I had probably been frightened of Sparrow all along.
He’d been impulsive, a bit unhinged, when he was younger. Like a firecracker that needed to be contained. He’d tell me he was going to get out of this town, that he’d make real money. And I thought it was just kid talk because we’d both grown up so poor.
“I think you can answer that for yourself,” Alex said.
We sat in silence, while I digested that information.
“Meadow, I . . . you know I’d do anything to protect you if I could.”
“Not from the truth though,” I said. “I want to know everything. Promise me you won’t hide the facts from me. I need to know what he’s become.”
“I promise,” he said, after a slight hesitation.
“Are you . . . will you ever be back in town again?” I held my breath petrified of the answer.
“I want to,” he said. “Will you give me a reason to be?”
My chest ached. “I . . . I don’t know how or what—”
“I don’t, either,” he said. “I just know that I miss you. And I haven’t felt this way . . . God, I know it seems so fucked up.”
“Outside of the sticky detail that you’re hunting Joaquin’s father,” I said. “We don’t even live in the same town.”
“I wish I could be there with you right now,” he said in a low and soothing voice and it made my heart leap to my throat. “Lie next to you and hold you.”
“That would be my wish too,” I said, nearly desperate t
o feel his arms again, see his easy smile.
“I want to kiss your lips and your beautiful skin and your—”
I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my lips. “God, Alex.”
“Touch yourself for me,” he said. I didn’t even hesitate, my hand naturally traveled down to my underwear. “Are you doing it?”
“Yes,” I gasped, beyond turned on. I didn’t even feel any shame.
He groaned. “Damn, you turn me on so much. My cock is in my hand too. I’ve been thinking about you nonstop—how sexy you are—I’m going to rub myself raw.”
I felt my fingers slick wetter and I kept up the quicker pace.
He continued talking and I kept breathing. “The way you went down on me in the shower. I’ve never had a mouth so sweet.”
“Alex—” I was writhing now.
“And baby I haven’t even gotten a chance to taste you yet. Even your smell makes me insane,” he said. “First chance I get I’ll lick your pussy so good. That’ll only be second to burying myself inside you.”
I was on the verge, panting now, just imagining his lips in my most intimate places.
“God, I’m so close,” he moaned. “Are you almost there, baby?”
“Y . . . yes,” I stuttered out.
“Come with me,” he bit out as if he were gritting his teeth barely hanging on. “I want to hear that sexy sound.”
The dark room began to fuzz around the edges as his name fell sharply from my lips. “Alex.”
“I like hearing you say my name,” he said right before he groaned long and hard.
I rolled to my side gasping for breath, my chest heaving, wishing all of this could be real for one more day.
24
Meadow
It’d been a couple of days since I’d heard from Alex. He’d sent me one text telling me he needed to drop off the radar for a while and that he was thinking about me. It made me worried for him but also set in the reality that he was so far away.
I was nearly done with my shift at the casino and though my role had transferred to management this week, the workload wasn’t any less. If anything, it was more, because I could no longer ignore co-workers who were goofing off or slacking at their job. Now I’d become their glorified babysitter.
Gloria had been different since our talk in the locker room that one day. More subdued, even though I’d taken over Ross’s duties this week. I figured she would’ve done something to spite me, like left a bathroom stall dirty or spread gossip about me. Either she realized I now had the authority to write her up, or she was attempting to finally bury the hatchet between us.
“How’s it’s going?” Stuart asked just as I was making my way to the employee locker room at the end of the hall.
“Pretty good,” I said. “I can see where my challenges are going to come from.”
“It’s always a different experience from this side of the desk,” he said. “Let me know if you need anything this week. And give that little bear of yours a hug.”
Joaquin loved the nickname Stuart had given him.
“Thanks,” I said, squeezing his arm as I passed by. “I will.”
As I approached my car in the underground garage I saw Gloria hunched over her driver’s side door and immediately noticed there was something wrong.
“Who did this?” she said. A jagged, angry line ran across the blue paint job. Her car had been keyed.
I turned to look around the cement enclosure, but I saw nothing or nobody suspicious. “You noticed it when you came out?”
She nodded, her finger tracing along the uneven route. “Could it have been them?” She looked over her shoulder and then up and down the row of cars.
“Who?” I asked, stepping closer to her.
“Those men,” she said with a shiver. “You said Mr. Flores had run them out of town.”
I supposed it could’ve been a couple of drunken fools, except this was the employee section of the garage. I marched to the station entrance where one of our younger employees sat collecting tickets. “Micah, did you see who might’ve defiled Gloria’s car?”
He turned around, concerned. “What do you mean?”
“Somebody keyed her driver’s side door,” I said, pointing in Gloria’s direction. “Is West around?”
“Not for a couple more hours,” he said, well aware of his supervisor’s schedule.
“Will you tell him Gloria needs to speak to him?” The garage was bound to have security cameras. Maybe he could pull the recording.
My heart pounded in my chest as I looked over my own car on the way back to Gloria, who sat practically slumped over her seat. “Hey, you okay?”
When she looked up at me, there was fear in her eyes and it made me pause. It was the first time she had allowed me a glimpse of her raw vulnerability.
I fished out my cell and the card Charlie had given me.
“What are you doing?” she said, eyeing my phone.
“I think it’s time, Gloria,” I said. “Don’t you?”
“Time for what?” She attempted to hide her panic with indignation, but I wasn’t buying it.
“To hear all the facts,” I said and then asked Charlie to meet us in about an hour at an out of the way diner off the freeway where nobody knew ours names or faces.
By the time I was off the phone, there was a rigid set to Gloria’s jaw. She had probably realized how uncertain she looked. Freaked out. We needed to get moving before she changed her mind. No way she’d agree to drive with me.
“You can follow me,” I said, heading to my car. “Wouldn’t want anybody to get suspicious, like we actually tolerate each other or anything.”
She cracked a brief smile before turning on her ignition and shutting her door. She could’ve ditched me on the way there, and I looked in my rearview mirror several times to see if she actually had, but I think she had finally gotten to the point where she needed some answers. Even if the car keying was a random act, it was enough to jolt her into action.
When we walked in, I spotted Charlie at a back booth sipping a mug full of coffee.
“This is surprising,” she said as we sat down across from her.
“I think Gloria and I have finally found some middle ground,” I said, sighing. But Gloria remained quiet, her eyes sullen, and her posture uncomfortable. “And we’d like to hear more . . . about Sparrow.”
“Good to know,” Charlie said but then cut her eyes to Gloria who looked around the place warily, not uttering a single sound.
“Gloria’s car was vandalized,” I said, to move the conversation along.
Charlie sat up suddenly. “How?”
“Keyed on the driver’s side,” I said.
“Might be a coincidence.” Gloria sank back against the booth and thoughtfully chewed on her lip.
“Anything like that happen recently?”
I thought of the fire in the playground, which seemed as random as her car being damaged. Or maybe they weren’t connected at all.
Gloria shook her head. “But those men could be back in town.”
“We haven’t seen them,” Charlie said.
Gloria crouched lower in the booth. “Or maybe one of Sparrow’s contacts is sending a warning.”
“What kind of warning?” Charlie asked.
“Not to give Sparrow up,” she said, after mugs of coffee were placed in front of us along with cream and packets of sugar.
“Suppose it’s possible. Sparrow has tons of connections. And plenty of . . .” Charlie cringed, as if unsure whether should say anything or not.
“I’d . . . I’d like to hear what you have to say.” Gloria cleared her throat. “That’s why I’m here.”
Charlie stared at her a brief moment and then nodded. “I was going to say he has plenty of admirers.”
I swallowed thickly and glanced at Gloria out of the corner of my eye. She hadn’t flinched at the news. “Give us all of it, the ugly, the dirty. We need to know.”
“He has other women,” Charlie
said. “Other families . . .”
I gulped back warm bile threatening to claw up my throat. The women I figured. The families? Damn.
“You mean he has other kids out there?” Gloria gripped the edge of the table and I bit the side of my gum so hard, I probably drew blood. “Not only Joaquin?”
“That’s right,” Charlie said, leveling her gaze on us. “He’s a bastard plain and simple.”
“He’s been playing me? Us?” Gloria asked meekly, as if trying to find her voice. I raised my cup to help my parched throat.
“For years, apparently,” Charlie said. “Bigamy is the least of his sins.”
Gloria’s eyes widened and I nearly choked on my coffee. “Bigamy?”
It had never occurred to me that he’d be married to anybody else. A rage boiled inside of me. How could he?
“Believe it or not there aren’t that many repercussions for bigamy,” Charlie said as my mind reeled. Gloria’s hands were fisted in her lap. “That second marriage is always invalid. The first one remains legal. We can hold him on that small charge if it comes to that, but not for long.”
“Am I his first marriage on record?” Gloria asked, biting back a snarl. I’ve seen that facial expression, but never directed at him.
“Yeah,” Charlie said.
We sat there in stunned silence for several long moments attempting to wrap our brains around that news. Everything I thought I knew about Sparrow had just disintegrated into dust. What we must’ve looked like to Alex and Charlie. Stupid gullible women. But no longer. Not if I had anything to do with it. For Gloria’s sake, I was glad this information was coming from Charlie, and I hoped we could help nail the bastard to the wall.
“Has he hurt others?” Gloria’s throat seemed to close up but she got the words out. “Killed people?”
Charlie only stared at her, allowing her to answer for herself. Gloria nodded and swung her head down. I tentatively allowed my fingers to rest on her shoulder and she didn’t shrug me off.
Three Sacred Words (Golden Arrow #2) Page 14
