“What a dick,” Paxton said.
“Exactly. Thank you.” She chuckled, but it was a bitter sound. “Deep down my brother is a good person, but his way is always the best way.”
“Has he done anything?”
“He’s what you would think of as a senator, I think. He ran on an anti-corruption platform. The media loves him. I know he does good work, and I get that our college fund made this possible. It’s just not fair. And now...” She shook her head.
“You’re right, it’s not fair.” And Paxton knew first hand just how unfair the world could be.
“Lacey gave me my scholarship acceptance today.” Coco smiled, but it was full of pain. “I know I should be happy and thrilled and excited, but instead I have this crushing guilt that I even need it, that I haven’t started school, other than a few classes. I’m angry. This shouldn’t have been necessary.”
“Hey, stop that.” He took her other hand in his.
Her phone began to vibrate and flash Lacey’s face on the screen.
“Oh, God,” she groaned and sucked in several breaths.
“Give it to me.” Paxton picked up Coco’s phone. Right now he was going to take care of her whether she wanted him to or not. Someone needed to be in her corner. He held the phone to his ear while looking into her eyes. “Hey, Lacey. This is Paxton.”
“Paxton?” Lacey drew his name out several beats. “Hey. This is a surprise. Where’s Coco? Everything okay?”
“Yeah, she just ran to the ladies’ room to catch her breath and I’m holding her stuff.”
Coco mouthed, Thank you, to him.
He nodded at the phone and replied soundlessly, Can you hear?
She nodded.
Lacey continued without missing a beat. “Good. I was getting a little worried. Tell her we’re going to push speeches back a bit, so take her time. In fact, why doesn’t she tell us when she’s ready? The dinner line’s really long anyway and we want everyone to have at least one shot at food before we start talking.”
“I’ll let her know.”
“Is it safe to assume you two are good now?” Lacey asked.
Coco winced and covered her mouth.
“We’re good.” Paxton lifted their still clasped hands to his lips and pressed a silent kiss to her knuckles.
“Good. I told her you’d get it. Don’t let her ball busting fool you, she’s a born introvert. It took her a long time to tell me she needed space. And this is the part where I tell you as her best friend, you hurt her and you will regret it for the rest of your life, got it?”
Coco took her hand back and used it to cover her mouth, stifling laughter.
Paxton resisted the urge to chuckle. “Loud and clear. Congrats, Lacey.”
“Thanks. Don’t keep my maid of honor too long.”
“I won’t.”
He ended the call and Coco burst out laughing.
“I am so sorry,” she said between breaths.
“All good.” He handed her phone to her.
Coco sighed. “I guess I have to go back.”
“She said to take your time.”
“Yeah, but...I feel better now that we’ve talked. Nothing is going to truly prepare me for making that speech. And thank you. For everything today.”
“Glad I was there. Want an escort back to the party?”
“You weren’t trying to slip out early?”
“Thought hadn’t crossed my mind.” He pushed to his feet and held out his hands to her.
She let him pull her up. The worry wrinkle was gone and though he knew she didn’t have any more answers than before, she at least seemed lighter.
“Thanks for listening,” she said.
“Any time.” He slid his arm around her waist and tugged her closer.
“And, um...” She placed her hands on his shoulders, swaying with him, and stared at his tie. “I don’t want to give you the wrong idea, so I’ll go ahead and say this now. I want to go home alone. It’s not you, it’s—”
“Coco.” He cupped her chin and waited for her to look at him. “We’re more alike than you realize. I get it.”
“Oh.”
He turned them in a slow circle to the beat of the song piping through the speakers. “Think I can beg a pity dance to make up for it?”
“Just one?” She leaned into him.
“I’m not pushing my luck here.”
Coco lifted up on tip toe and pressed her lips to his. Warmth unfurled inside of him and he allowed himself to sink into her, explore her mouth with his until they were both breathless. It was going to be one hell of a dance.
8.
Friday. Soweto, South Africa.
Coco stared out at the activity spread out in what was typically a parking lot. The Aegis Group guys had turned it into a command center with a huge tent, housing their planning areas and equipment storage. Today their teams were upgrading and installing cameras around the perimeter of Mlilo. It was astounding to see so much change happening.
And all because Lacey had gone off and fallen in love with the right guy.
Coco shook her head and smiled. Lacey was a force of nature. Nothing should surprise Coco anymore when it came to her friend.
She pulled out her phone and checked the time.
Just after lunch.
Technically she was still on holiday, but she didn’t trust many people with her pangolins, so she’d been up at first light to tend to their injured and Sushi Roll.
She had enough time.
Daluxolo had said she could use his car rather than take her bike into Soweto.
If she was going at all, she needed to go now. Before too much time had past.
She was doing it.
Coco turned and headed toward the parking lot.
“Coco, hey,” a deep, masculine voice called out.
She shivered, the sound of him bringing back all those sensual memories.
The gravel churned under Paxton’s feet as he jogged to catch up with her. She glanced up at him and her mouth went dry.
He’d showered recently enough she could still smell the overpowering scent of soap. Water clung to his hair. He was out of his molted green pants and solid colored shirt and now wore jeans and a baby blue T-shirt that looked soft enough to pet.
“Where you off to?” he asked.
“Soweto,” she replied before she could think better of it.
“Any particular reason?”
She swallowed in an effort to make her mouth less dry. God, she wanted to lick him. Was that normal?
“I am headed there to see Cameron,” she finally said.
Paxton’s frown transformed his face, and she almost took a step away from him. “Who is Cameron?”
“Cameron. The kid?”
“The kid?”
“Yeah, the kid who stole Sushi Roll?”
“Why are you going to see him?”
“To get some answers, namely who put him up to it? A kid his age doesn’t have the resources to sell a pangolin on his own. Which means there was someone working him and I want to know who.”
“Want some backup?”
“I don’t think you’re the best person to try to coax some answers out of a kid like that.” She didn’t know how to point out that Cameron was a poor, black boy and Paxton was the white guy with a gun. It wasn’t a good look, but she didn’t know him well enough to articulate those thoughts.
“Yeah.” He winced. “Last time that kid saw me was... No, I get it. You shouldn’t go alone though.”
Paxton got it.
Her heart did a funny thing just then and her mind was made up.
“I’m not going alone. You’re coming with me, but just stay in the car, okay?”
“It’s a deal.” He grinned. “Let me grab my stuff from the tent and I’ll be right there, okay?”
“Okay. Grab some water, will you?” Because boy oh boy was she thirsty. The water would have to do for now.
Fifteen minutes later they were headed down the h
ighway toward the city, Paxton behind the wheel. It almost didn’t feel fair. She was the one with the great view. They’d cracked the windows and Paxton had pulled on a baseball cap and sunglasses, which only seemed to highlight how crooked his nose really was.
“How’d you break your nose?” she asked.
“Which time?” he answered without missing a beat.
“All of them? How many times have you broken it?”
“Hell if I know.” He shook his head. “First time was in middle school playing football. Then in high school my dad popped me in the face. I broke it during training during a really stupid accident. Last time I was breaking up a drunk fight between some guys I knew.”
“Wow.” She shook her head.
“What is it you do at Mlilo?” he asked.
Coco blew out a breath and glanced away. “Well, I used to be the assistant to the medical director, but when Mr. Pedersen died that position went away. Since I’d done a lot of work with the pangolins and we bring a lot of them in, that job got slid to me. I guess I’m a senior caretaker, technically?”
She turned her head and stared out of the window. There wasn’t a real place for her at Mlilo. She did a lot of the odd jobs across the whole park. In a pinch she’d do as a vet until one of the professionals could arrive, but that was the extent of her professional skill.
Paxton seemed to sense her unease. He reached over and fiddled with the dial for the third time. “Let’s try a new station...”
Some new rap song on one of the local channels blared through the speakers.
“That’s my jam.” He twisted up his lips and bobbed his head.
She laughed at him. He’d said that about every song he’d heard so far from the spirituals Daluxolo had his stereo tuned to, to the modern pop music they’d tried next.
“Do you really listen to rap?” she asked.
He reached up and turned the music down. “Being friends with Silas doesn’t give me much choice. He’s big on what he calls Mexican rap.”
“Charming. Is he from...Mexico?”
“Not him, but his great grandparents were. Abuela tells this story her mom used to tell about how she was like seven months pregnant and got smuggled across the border in a barrel so she could be with her husband and how angry he was with her.”
“In a barrel? At seven months?” Coco couldn’t imagine how that would work.
“Yeah. All she wanted was to have her baby with her husband. I think they were still teenagers, too. So, when Abuela was born she was a US citizen, and according to her, her mother didn’t realize that was what would happen.” He held up his hands. “That’s just the story as Abuela tells it.”
“You’re pretty close with Silas then?”
“Believe it or not, he’s my best friend.”
“I’d believe it.” She stretched out in the seat.
Paxton launched into a story about their crazy antics whenever they visited Silas’ large family in New Mexico. The way Paxton spoke about these people, it was with warmth and joy, whereas he’d been hesitant and even bitter talking about his own. It was interesting learning the layers to this man. When she’d first met him, he’d been the soldier. He’d surprised her with how much tenderness he was capable of showing toward Sushi Roll. Then he’d shown her yet another side when they were alone.
It was clear to her that Paxton would never fit just one mold. He was capable of such depth and insight. She was the one unprepared for him and it was one hell of a pleasant surprise. He wasn’t just attractive, he was a genuinely good person.
By the time they reached Soweto she felt like she knew Silas to some degree. She wasn’t entirely certain she liked him as much as Paxton did, but she understood their bond better.
“Where we going?” he asked.
She pulled out her phone and gave him directions.
“How’d you find this kid?”
“Cameron had references. I called and asked around.”
“What are you going to do if you find him?”
“A lot of that depends on him.” She glanced at Paxton. “I didn’t have a good feeling about hiring Cameron on in the beginning because of how he was acting. That doesn’t mean I didn’t want it to work out. There are few enough opportunities as is. I get why he did what he did.”
“Is this it?” Paxton peered up at a four-story apartment building.
“Yeah.” She popped her seatbelt. “Stay in the car. I’ll be back. Do not get out, okay?”
“I’ll be right here.” He placed his hands on the steering wheel.
She paused and glanced at his backpack. “Are you, I mean, do you carry...?”
“Do I have a gun with me?” He turned his head toward her, his eyes shielded by the sunglasses.
“Yeah.”
His whole demeanor was serious now as he slid back into soldier mode. “I do. I have a permit to carry here. It’s a provisional license sort of thing done through Aegis Group. It’s a safe assumption that I am always carrying.”
“That’s probably for the best.” She hated that was her answer, but with how common it was to get held up or car jacked in the city she was glad he would be able to protect himself.
He spoke as she reached for the door. “If you don’t check-in after ten minutes, I’m coming to find you.”
“I’ll text you.”
Coco got out of the car and stepped into a world full of smells and sounds she wasn’t accustomed to. She’d lived in Soweto a good chunk of her life. There was always someone burning garbage, music blaring, someone yelling. The car horns barely registered anymore.
She turned her attention to the apartment building and the collection of young men haunting the steps.
This was going to be fun.
She put one foot in front of the other, walking past the twenty-somethings with nowhere to be and stepped into the dim interior of the building. The hallway was hot. The fans bolted to the walls moved some air around, but it didn’t touch the stifling heat.
Cameron lived on the second floor, if her source was correct.
She climbed to the next floor and studied the numbers before turning right.
There.
This was the door.
She stood there staring at the stickers making up the number for the apartment. This was it. She knew what she wanted to hear, but feared the truth more than anything else. Still, she had to know. If there was anything she could do to put Cameron on a different path, she had to do it.
Coco lifted her hand and knocked. She tilted her head, the sound of a TV reaching her ears.
Something thumped on the floor. Footsteps?
They came closer.
Her stomach knotted up. Mom had always said Coco didn’t know how to avoid confrontation to save her life. It was how she wound up doing things like chasing a kid down with nothing but a stick and some rage.
The door swung open, and she stared at the seventeen-year-old boy who’d briefly worked with her.
He recovered first, shoving the door shut. She slammed her hand against the surface, bracing it open.
“Cameron, I just want to talk,” she said in a rush.
He staggered back from the door, eyes wide with fear.
Shit.
“Cameron, please?” Coco stepped into the apartment and shut the door. Last thing she wanted was a nosey neighbor coming around.
“What do you want?” the boy asked, glancing around the apartment as if a new exit would suddenly appear.
She held up her hands. “Can we just talk? Please?”
“Talk about what?”
“Why don’t we sit down and talk?” She gestured behind him at the square kitchen.
“Are you going to try something?”
“I didn’t bring a stick with me, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Cameron backed up one step then turned. She followed slower, edging into the kitchen, glancing around just in case he surprised her. Instead, he sat at a Formica table with mismatched chairs.
Cameron stared up at her. “My mom will be home in an hour. Are you going to tell her?”
“She doesn’t know you got fired?”
“I told her that.” He sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face. For a moment he looked older than his years. “Just not...how.”
Coco sat in the chair across from him and leaned her elbows on the table. “Will you tell me why?”
“My dad died a few months back. Mom, she’s struggling to feed all of us. She sent my little sister to live with our aunt for a bit...” Cameron stared at his hands. “I didn’t come there trying to get a job thinking I’d do what I did.”
Coco was relieved to hear that. Her worst nightmare was that someone pushed this kid to deceive them into working there. “Who put you up to it?”
“I don’t know his name, okay? He just came up to me. I was staying at a cousin’s place to work out there, and one night this guy is just there. He offered me a lot of money if I could get him a pangolin.”
“I see.” Coco hated the story. Knew she was going to hate it no matter what, but at least Cameron hadn’t come to Mlilo with the intent to steal from the beginning.
She could understand the pressure to provide. It was why she’d gotten a job in high school at the stable. The need to eat drove many people to do things they might not have done otherwise.
“Are you going to turn me in or something?” Cameron regarded her warily once more.
“No.”
She hadn’t considered that in the first place. A young man like Cameron would have many options in life cut off to him if he wound up in prison. He wasn’t the problem, after all. He was just another victim.
Coco’s phone buzzed.
Paxton.
She pulled it out and tapped out a quick message, then laid the phone face down on the table.
“How are you and your mom getting by now?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”
“You eating enough?”
Dangerous Heat (Aegis Group, #8) Page 8
