“Jesus Christ, woman,” he grated out. “I don’t give a crap about that, OK? I don’t mind bringing you back for your shift.”
“No. That’s just silliness.” Her tone was getting all crisp and formal. “Go home, Aidan, and don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine and I’ll even have time for one of Luke’s amazing breakfasts tomorrow before I start cleaning.”
He paused, still trying to find a problem with her plan. “I don’t know…”
“Well, I do.” It was final, he saw now. Those dark eyes were hard and flat, and he knew that Gabriela was a woman who didn’t let herself get pushed around. It was just one of the many things that he loved about her. “I’m staying here.”
“Alright,” he sighed, admitting defeat and respecting her decision. “I’ll get you some bed things and some toiletries.” He looked her up and down. “You have any extra clothes to sleep in?”
“Ummm. No.” She had a change of socks and underwear in her staff room locker, but no other shirts or jeans. Guess I’m sleeping naked.
“OK, here.” Without any warning at all, he yanked off his t-shirt and Gabi was suddenly staring at his bare chest.
Oh. My. God.
His body was… Jesus, what the hell was the word for it? Hard and large, toned and muscular. Perfect, just damn perfect. There was a line of golden hair that ran down the middle of that sculpted torso, over his belly button, down in to his jeans. Gabi wanted to lick him all over, follow that line with her tongue, go deeper and darker. She wanted that body covering hers, she wanted that body inside hers. She wanted that body to be all hers – hers to touch and taste and take.
“Take it,” he said, handing over the shirt, unconsciously articulating her most secret desire aloud. She accepted it without a word, fought down the urge to hold it to her flushed face. She wanted to inhale the strong, safe smell of Aidan, wanted to just suck it deep in to her lungs. The shirt was warm from his body heat and her knees went weak at the thought of having that heat up against her own.
“Thanks,” she managed. “I’ll wash it before I give it back.”
He smiled. “No biggie.”
Truthfully, he’d prefer that she not wash it before returning it. He loved the idea of Gabriela sleeping in something of his, her pure, fresh scent being left on the material by her golden skin. He almost groaned as he realized that it might even absorb the scent of her sweet pussy. Fuck, he’d love to bury his nose in to that musky perfume – on a t-shirt was a poor substitute for the real thing, but he’d take it. Goddamn, he’d take anything from her.
She turned now, forced her eyes away from Aidan’s chest and shoulders and abs. “Which room should I take?”
“Uh. Number Two, I guess.” He felt disgust move over him at the next words he had to utter. “It’s been the least busy tonight.”
She nodded, understanding full well what Aidan meant. The back rooms at Curves served multiple purposes, some innocent, most not so much. They could be rented out and often were by bikers passing through Denver, or young couples looking for cheap accommodation. But they were also known fondly as ‘crash rooms’ and any bar patron could go in there with another bar patron and do whatever they hell they liked. They were, in effect, fuck rooms and Gabi had seen first-hand evidence of this when she cleaned the rooms every morning.
Gabi was no prude and she truly didn’t care about other people’s sex lives – God, I’d love to have some action in my own! – and so long as she had clean sheets, she’d be fine. The fact that some biker had probably been given a blow job on that bed minutes before was no big deal. She’d most definitely avoid sitting on the sofa, though, and she’d be sure to scrub the bathroom enthusiastically before touching anything with her bare skin. Talk about breeding grounds for disease: she was sure that a biological weapon could be developed out of those back rooms.
Aidan walked over to the small storage area just off the staff room and now Gabi got to enjoy the view from behind. His back was broad and his ass was incredible. She actually ran her tongue over her lips at the sight of those muscles moving under his skin as he reached up for the sheets.
“You’re all set,” he said. “You head down and get yourself sorted and I’ll grab some bathroom stuff.”
“I suppose it’s too much to hope for a travel toothbrush and toothpaste set?” she said.
“Nope. We’ve got a few.”
“Awesome. Thanks.”
“Sure. I’ll go talk to the boys about watching out for you and I’ll bring the last few things to Room Two. Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Gabi grabbed the socks and underwear and walked down the hall to the crash rooms. Sure enough, the door to Room Two was open and she walked in. Yep, it smelled of cigarettes and perfume and sex, but she didn’t care at this point. The adrenalin had worn off and she was totally dead on her feet. She opened the window to air the place out and started to strip the bed.
Aidan came in just as she was making the bed up with clean sheets and pillow cases. He looked around and set the towels, toiletries and room key on the clean sheets, not wanting the towels to touch the bedside table. Urgh.
“You sure about this?” he said. “My offer still stands.”
She looked at him standing there – bare chested in his jean jacket now, like some kind of goddamn fantasy man – and she smiled.
“I’m sure. Thanks for everything and I’ll see you tomorrow maybe.”
“Oh, for sure you will. I’ll be here at three o’clock.”
“OK, great. See you then.”
“Goodnight, Gabriela.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he finally turned. “You sleep well, yeah?”
“I will. Goodnight.”
She locked the door behind him and that was when her knees gave out. She sank to the bed, trembling, the night’s events finally starting to really hit her. It was like by being safe to fall apart, she just went ahead and did exactly that. She sat, her arms wrapped around herself and rocked back and forth on the bed.
You’re safe, you’re OK. Chances are they have no idea you were even there, but if they do, they won’t find you here. You have some time to get your head together.
After ten minutes, her shaking stopped and she felt exhausted, all the way to her bones. It took all she had to get to her feet and scrub the shower, sink and toilet, but she did it. She had a hot shower and brushed her teeth before slipping in to Aidan’s t-shirt. Immediately, her senses were overwhelmed by the smell: masculine, uncompromising, strong. All Aidan.
Soothed by his invisible presence, she climbed in to bed now, the shirt pulled up over nose so she could breathe him in more deeply. The noise from the bar was distracting but it was going on three o'clock now and she was done. She remembered to set her cell phone alarm for nine o’clock, then she closed her eyes, let sleep take her away from this whole awful day.
I’ll figure out what to do tomorrow. For now, I’ll sleep.
It’s all going to be fine.
**
Trigger MacGee stared at the list of staff names. He was damn sure that he was looking for a woman, judging by the size of the footprints, who had some reason to be at Parker’s Garage at midnight on a Friday. The list was short, he saw now.
Exactly two names long. That makes things fucking easy, huh?
“So who the fuck are Gabriela Torres and Juana Navarro?”
“The cleaning bitches,” explained Ace Cuddy. “They’re there three times a week and they’re supposed to be out by eleven. But I guess one of them was there late tonight.”
“Fuck.” Trigger shook his head. “OK. These cunts legal or what?”
Ace checked some documentation. “Torres is for sure. Navarro – hard to say. No ID on file.”
“Nothing on Navarro at all?”
“Nope. They’re both paid in cash but Torres has a passport number and a dr
iver’s license. Nothing at all on the other one, though, so she may be an illegal.”
“So we start with her. If she disappears, I bet not many people will be rushing to the cops to report it, yeah?”
“That seems to be the way these fucking spics work,” Ace agreed. “They avoid the cops like the plague and they understand ‘wrong place, wrong time’ justice just fine.”
“Good.” Trigger’s cold blue eyes narrowed. “Addresses?”
“Nope, not here. But I’ll get them, don’t you worry. I’ll talk to Spicer as soon as I can track him down, find out what he knows about them.”
“You do that, man. Finding these cunts is priority number one.”
“You think they’re hiding?”
“I expect that they are, actually. But nobody’s ever been able to hide from me once I made up my mind to find them.”
Ace nodded. That was true and he knew it.
These women are dead fucking meat. I wonder if they have any idea who they’re screwing with?
Chapter Two
As her cell alarm beeped shrilly on the pillow next to her, Gabi opened her eyes and groaned. She was used to getting by on very little sleep, but she was still wiped out. She’d had nightmares all night and she’d jerked awake more than once, heart pounding and hands gripping the bed sheets, sure that someone was in the room with her.
I guess witnessing a murder messes with your ability to get a decent night’s sleep, huh?
She dragged her ass out of bed and wandered to the bathroom, yawning hugely. She had another shower – a longer one this time, in an attempt to relax some of the crazy tension in her body – and got dressed again, missing the smell of Aidan surrounding her. She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. Yeah, she looked like hell and there wasn’t so much as a lipstick in her purse to take a stab at doing something about it.
Weary, sore, scared, she pulled back her long hair and quickly made the bed. Then she sat down on it and considered her options. She didn’t think she had that many, so it didn’t take all that long.
OK, she was scheduled to work her shift at Curves until four o’clock today, then she was meant to go home. Gabi had no goddamn idea what she’d be doing at four-oh-one, but it sure as hell was not going to be heading back to her apartment. She’d be a wreck there all alone, waiting for the hammer to fall. And truthfully, if these guys were cold-blooded killers, chances are she’d never see it coming, anyway. A hand on her mouth, a knife in her throat, a bullet in her gut. She couldn’t live like that, waiting for something to happen.
That meant that she had to stay here for another night, maybe more, until she figured out what to do. But what excuse to give this time? She had no earthly reason not to call her landlord and have him open her door and bring her a replacement set of keys. Unless… unless her landlord was ‘out of town’ for the weekend?
She bit her lip and thought about that. Raul was a sleazebag and the truth was that he’d take days to get to her if she had really lost her keys. But Aidan wouldn’t stand for it, she knew, and neither would Jax Hamill, her boss.
If they heard that she was going to be locked out of her place for days on end, they’d haul ass over there and get her door open – by whatever means possible. Aidan might pick the lock in a civilized manner, but Jax would probably just kick it down. Then they’d go and pay her landlord ‘a visit’.
No, best to keep them away from her place altogether. Maybe she should check in to a hotel? She thought about her bank account balance and knew that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe some fleabag motel? But if safety was an issue, the last thing she needed was to trade one kind of threat for another. Anything she could afford would be crawling with hookers and drug dealers and she didn’t need that kind of trouble. She had enough already, thanks very much. And anyway, she knew that Jax would cut her a break on the price of the room here.
Also? What about her shift at Parker’s Garage on Monday night? Should she go? If she did, she may well be walking in to a trap; if she didn’t go, she may well tip them off that something was wrong. Assuming, of course, that they suspected anyone had even been there.
The security cameras didn’t actually work at the garage, she knew, but she did think there was a system that showed which doors had been opened at what time. Would they get the idea that someone had gone out the back door while they were there with a dead body? Would her jean jacket make them suspicious enough to check the door log?
With guys like this, ideas and suspicion were more than enough, she knew. If they had even the slightest doubt in their minds about a witness having been there, they’d kill her just to be safe. They’d do it sure as she sat here breathing.
Breathing for now. Christ, think, Gabi. Think.
It all came down to Dangerous Curves, she saw now. She was safe here, she could sleep here, she had a job here. It was also Ground Zero for gossip in criminal circles and she’d picked up lots of unofficial information over her three years working here. She knew stuff she shouldn’t and it was all because nobody ever paid attention to the cleaning lady.
Plus, cleaning the crash rooms every morning meant that she saw the trashy, dirty underbelly of some questionable types – literally. She’d picked up bags of drugs, pieces of paper with phone numbers and notes, cell phones left behind with texts open. She’d always just handed things over to Jax or Aidan, collected her pay, kept her mouth shut.
She knew that if that Miguel guy was anybody important and he’d gone missing, then chances were that someone at Curves would be talking about it. Her best move was to stay here for as long as she could and keep her ears and eyes open. Maybe once she had some more to go on, she’d have a better sense of just what the hell to do next. Maybe she could even go home if Trigger and Ace were already caught, or if they’d hightailed it out of town after the murder.
Wishful thinking…
Feeling better now that she at least had a plan, she slowly opened her room door. The hallway was deserted, the bar silent. She knew someone had to be here – Curves was open 24/7 – but whoever it was out there was being nice and quiet. Just what she needed right now.
She locked her door and headed in to the large main room. She looked around and saw a few guys still drinking. They looked pretty wasted and they stared at her blearily, like they could barely focus. A woman was with them, passed out on a guy’s shoulder and Gabi hoped that she was alright.
“Hey, Gabi.” The voice came from behind her and she jumped a bit. She turned to see Curtis Manning staring down at her, his blue eyes dark and watchful. “You doing OK?”
“Yeah. Hi.”
“Sleep well?”
“Sure.” OK, that was a small lie, but what the hell.
Curtis nodded and crossed his huge arms. “You want something to eat? Luke knows you’re here and he’s waiting on your order.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Curtis nodded at the bar. “I made you a coffee when I heard you moving around.”
“Oh, thanks.” She was strangely touched by the sweet gesture and she gave him a real smile. “That was really great of you.”
He nodded again, then glanced over at the table. The woman was lying down now in the booth, flat out and the guys were starting to nod off.
“I’ve got to shift their asses out of here before they can’t function anymore,” Curtis said. “You go get some food and can you ask Luke to call two taxis? I’ll shove their drunk butts in and send ‘em on their way.”
“The woman too?”
“Yeah. She came in with them – the one guy’s her boyfriend. She’ll be safe.”
“Oh. OK.”
She wandered over to the bar and smiled at Luke. He was a great cook and he doubled as the bartender during the day, and he was genuinely kind and tough as hell. He’d come back from Afghanistan with one hand missing and in the three years that she’d been working
here, she’d never seen him so much as fumble a shot glass or a plate.
“Well, hey, girl.” He grinned at her, all curly dark hair and blue eyes. “I hear you stayed over last night.”
“Yep.” Gratefully, she took a gulp of coffee and almost groaned at the strong taste. “Locked out of my place.”
“Curtis said. So… what’ll it be? And if you say yogurt or fruit or some shit like that, I’ll send your sweet ass down to the corner store. I do bacon and pancakes and hash browns. You know – food.”
She laughed. “I’m actually starving.”
“Yeah? So the works it is?”
“Uh-huh. Bring it on.”
“You got it.” He grinned again, all flashing teeth and sexy dimples. “Gimme fifteen, OK?”
“No problem. Can I help myself to more coffee?”
“You bet.”
“Oh. And can you please call two taxis for those people?”
“Ten-four.” He went in to the kitchen and she heard the clattering of pans, followed by the sizzle of butter. She heard Luke talking to someone and assumed it was the taxi dispatcher. She relaxed completely and sipped her coffee.
Sitting here in Curves, blinking at a patch of sunlight reflected on her coffee mug, it seemed very hard to be afraid or worried about anything. Strange that this place – of the sketchy reputation and frequented by serious thugs – had become the only place on earth to make her feel totally secure. Gabi knew that she had to figure this out and she had to do it fast. But not right this minute. This minute, she was going to just enjoy being safe.
**
Ivan Spicer shook his head. “No, Juana never showed up for her shift last night.”
“How do you know?” Ace said.
“She sent me a text a few hours before, said her grandkid was sick and she had to take care of him. She wasn’t at the garage last night.”
Killer Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 3) Page 2
