Jack of Hearts (Aces & Eights Book 1)

by Sandra Owens

  “As head of the family, I take responsibility for her,” Ramon said. “You can’t blame me for that.”

  Yeah, he absolutely could. “I think your father might dispute your claim as head of the family, then there’s Madison. I doubt she’d like knowing you’re spying on her.” The dude didn’t like that. No surprise there. Alex’s impression of Ramon was that he was lazy but saw himself as heir to a drug cartel empire, entitled to take whatever caught his imagination, which at the moment was his cousin.

  “If not for me, my father would still be a pissant wannabe.”

  Alex almost snorted. The man talked big when his father wasn’t around. “Here’s the deal. The next time I catch you or one of your people following me or Madison, our business is done.” He crowded Ramon’s space. “And stay out of Madison’s life.”

  “She’s just another woman, bitches all of them,” Ramon said, sneering. “You should keep that in mind.” He waved a hand, as if shooing Alex away. “Be back tonight. We got someplace to be by eleven.”

  Alex wasn’t at all reassured that Ramon was taking him seriously about leaving Madison alone, but except for killing the bastard on the spot, there wasn’t much he could do about it now.

  “Fine. Later.” He strode away before he really did lose his cool. Outside Ramon’s house, he texted Nate, telling him that they needed to talk and he was on the way over. Although he fully intended to go straight to his brother’s, he ended up parked below Madison’s window. The curtain was closed and there was no light shining around the edges. Had she gone to bed already? She’d made it clear she was done with him, and he should go. She was better off without him in her life.

  He’d just check on her, make sure she was okay, then he’d leave her be. After tapping his special code, he waited. Impatient after a few minutes, he tapped again. Nothing. Either she wasn’t in there, or she was refusing to see him. He backed away.

  “Smart girl,” he said, determined to ignore the ache that felt like someone was stomping on his chest.

  At hearing Alex’s boots clang against the metal stairs of the fire escape as he descended, Madison lifted the edge of the curtain. She’d almost opened her window, but even though her heart had turned cartwheels at hearing his signal, she’d somehow managed to keep her feet planted in place. As he’d stood on the other side of her window, so damn close, she’d stayed frozen. He’s not good for you. He’s not good for you. He’s not good for you. had been her mantra during those long moments, and she’d clung to the words, willing them to keep her strong.

  He glanced up as he swung a long, muscular leg over the bike seat. She leaned her head back, but even though she knew he couldn’t see her, he seemed to sense her watching him. By a slight dip of his chin, he acknowledged her. He started the bike, turned in a tight circle, and rode away, the rumble of his Harley fading along with the bike’s taillights.

  The ache in her chest confused her. Her time with him was temporary, a chance to go a little wild and have some fun. So it shouldn’t feel like her heart had been ripped out.

  She squeezed her eyes shut against the burning tears. “Good-bye, Alex.”

  She had been in her room, but her message had come through loud and clear. Get lost. Alex didn’t blame her. He banged his finger on the button for the tenth floor. After he’d lied to her—and oh yeah, she’d known it—she didn’t trust him.

  It had been a great day right up until the time Ramon’s man had made an appearance. As soon as he’d said it was a road rage deal, he knew he’d lost her. That had sure screwed up his plans for tonight, but he told himself for the hundredth time since riding away from her place that it was for the best. He needed a clear head, and she needed to be as far away from him as possible. It didn’t sit well, though, that she’d be anywhere near her cousin. Somehow, he’d find a way to keep an eye on her.

  “Thought you had a date tonight,” Nate said when Alex entered and went straight to the fridge.

  Alex grabbed a beer. “Obviously not.” His brothers shared a look, both knowing him well enough to pick up on his anger. “Ramon had us followed.” He plopped down on the sofa, set his beer on a coaster, and tugged off his boots. “Said he was just keeping an eye on his cousin.”

  “You talked to him?” Court asked.

  “You bet your ass I did.” He released his Velcro ankle holster and set it and his gun on the coffee table. “You should try giving hell to a man wearing nothing but a Speedo.” He shuddered. Nate and Court laughed. “Not funny.”

  After telling them what had happened, he gave them the license plate number of the Escalade. “Run it,” he told Court. “It might be registered to Ramon, but maybe not.”

  Nate went into his bedroom, returning with his laptop and handing it to Court. Alex grabbed his beer, taking a healthy swallow. Although he and Nate were computer literate, Court was the tech nerd and could pull up the information they needed twice as fast.

  “Hector Ramirez,” Court said, his eyes darting across the screen. “Male, age twenty-eight, five feet nine, one hundred seventy-two pounds. Dude’s got a record. Two drug busts and one grand theft.” He shook his head. “Stole his mother’s car when he was nineteen, and she reported him.”

  “Nice friends you got there, little brother,” Nate said.

  “Screw you.” He finished his beer and set the bottle back on the table. “I have to meet up with Ramon tonight, and it’s the last thing I want to do, but duty calls. I’m gonna go shower, grab something to eat, then head out.”

  Nate gave him a two-finger salute. “I know you’d like to shoot the bastard, but try to refrain.”

  “I’ll try, but no promises.” The dude better not test his patience, though.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Two weeks had passed, and Madison hadn’t heard a word from Alex. It was what she wanted and for the best. Who was she kidding? For the best, sure, but it wasn’t what she wanted. She missed him, and it made her grouchy. Mostly because there was no reason to miss a man she’d only intended to have fun with.

  At least her mother was cheerful. Angelina bounced around the bookstore like a puppy on speed. Light had returned to her mother’s eyes, and that was the only bright spot in Madison’s life these days. That and the bookstore. She loved every nook and cranny, every single minute she spent here.

  The coffee and tea side of the business was doing even better than expected, and Angelina had perfected her latte foam art to the point people were disappointed when she wasn’t behind the counter. Angelina was proving invaluable in so many ways. She’d even found a woman who made awesome baked goods, which beat the cookies and pastries she and Lauren had been picking up each morning at the grocery store. They were so delicious that they had doubled their daily order to keep from selling out before the day was over.

  Madison couldn’t wait to put their other plans into motion, especially starting the book club that would meet once a month in the bookstore. She was working with a local author for their first reading and signing, and eventually they would create a children’s section. Her head was full of ideas—such as having a ladies-only adult coloring book night with wine and cheese—and she had to rein herself in so that she wasn’t running around creating chaos by starting too many things at once.

  If not for men, life would be perfect. One thing she needed to do was tell Lauren about Ramon. There was no predicting what her cousin would get up to next, and her friend needed to be aware of what was going on.

  “Got a minute?” she asked, tracking Lauren down in the stockroom.

  “Sure. What’s up?” She stood with a stack of books in her arms. After setting them on the worktable, she stretched her back.

  “Back hurting?” At Lauren’s nod, she walked behind her friend and put her thumbs on Lauren’s spine, massaging her.

  “Ah, that feels good.”

  “As soon as we can afford it, we need to get a stockroom person. They can do shipping and receiving as well as restocking the shelves.”

  “
Sounds good.”

  “I wanted to talk to you about my cousin.” It was embarrassing to admit her own cousin was sexually harassing her, but what if he showed up sometime when Lauren was here by herself and Ramon turned his attention on her?

  “Have I ever met him?”

  “No.” Madison gave Lauren one last rub before sitting on the edge of the desk. She sighed, hating that she even had this kind of problem. “I’ve made a point of not letting you anywhere around him. He’s a slimeball.” She told Lauren the things he’d done to her.

  “Are you kidding me? That a family member would do something like that is disgusting. What’re we going to do about it?”

  “Nothing.” At Lauren’s outraged expression, she held up her hand. “Calm down Crusader of Wronged Best Friends. I’m telling you because a few weeks ago, I saw Ramon sitting in his car across the street. I don’t know if he’s done that before, and I don’t know if he was watching for me to come out or what. We just need to be aware, okay?”

  “Since I don’t know what he looks like, I wouldn’t know him if I saw him.”

  Madison scrolled through the photos on her phone, finding one of her mother standing on the beach with Jose and Ramon. “Here. That’s him and his father.”

  “Wow. He’s hot.”

  “Lauren—”

  “Oh, believe me, I have no interest in slimeballs no matter how good-looking. Why can’t we make his life miserable or something?”

  “Because I think he’s dangerous.” She didn’t have proof that Ramon was involved in the drug business, so she kept her suspicions to herself. “He drives a black Hummer. If you ever see him or the Hummer parked outside, tell me, okay?”

  “You got it. Now, speaking of hot guys, what happened with Alex? I thought you two were really into each other.”

  “It didn’t work out, is all.” She didn’t want to talk about Alex.

  “Well, when you are ready to talk about it, you know I’m here for you.”

  Madison hugged her best friend. “I know.” She left Lauren to finish the restocking. Returning to the store, she stilled at seeing her uncle and cousin talking to Angelina. It was as if by speaking of Ramon, she’d conjured him up. Why the hell were they here?

  She took a deep breath as she strode over to them while sending up a little prayer that Lauren wouldn’t come out of the stockroom. “Uncle Jose, Ramon, this is a surprise.” And not a pleasant one.

  Ramon sidestepped, brushing his arm against hers. “We came to invite the two loveliest ladies in South Florida to dinner.”

  She inched away from his touch. “I already—” At the pleading in her mother’s eyes, she clammed up.

  Uncle Jose frowned. “The invitation isn’t optional, Madison.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t already have plans then.”

  Her uncle made a tsking noise. “Such a smart mouth isn’t attractive on a young lady.”

  If she hadn’t accepted that loan from him, she would tell him where he could stick his invitation. While she was growing up, he hadn’t paid any attention to her. He’d once roughly pushed her away when she’d tried to show him a doll she’d gotten for Christmas. “I don’t have time for silly little girls,” he’d said. From that time on, she’d avoided him as much as possible.

  “We would love to have dinner,” Angelina said, putting her hand on Madison’s arm, a plea to please be nice. “We’re closing in ten minutes if you don’t mind waiting.”

  Panic swelled inside Madison. She wanted them out of the bookstore before Ramon saw Lauren. If she knew her cousin, he would decide he wanted Lauren, too. “No, let’s go now. Give me a minute to let my partner know I’m leaving, and I’ll meet you all out front.”

  “I’ll just go get my purse.” Angelina hurried off.

  Madison took a step away, but her uncle grabbed her shoulder, stopping her. His touch wasn’t gentle. “I’ve been waiting for an invitation to see how you invested the loan I gave you, Madison. One never came, so I decided not to wait any longer.”

  A reprimand. “I wanted to be up and running first, Uncle, so you could see for yourself that the bookstore will be successful. I know you had your doubts.”

  When he’d offered to loan her the money to put up her share of the bookstore, she’d been surprised. He’d been so nice about it that she’d even thought he was starting to like her. Now she had to believe it had been an act, a way to assert his authority over her.

  He dropped his hand from her shoulder. “You and I will sit down very soon to review your books and your business plan. We’ll be in the car. Don’t keep me waiting.”

  Blood raced through her veins, roaring in her ears. She curled her toes, trying to anchor herself to the floor to keep from attacking him as he walked away, her cousin by his side. The very day the bookstore turned a profit, she was going to the bank to get a loan to pay him back.

  Ramon glanced back, a smirk on his face.

  Fuck you. Fuck you both. Hands fisted at her sides, she blinked away the tears burning her eyes as she went to tell Lauren she was taking off early.

  Dinner had been torture. There had been too many questions from her uncle and cousin for comfort about High Tea and Black Cats Books. She’d tried to be as vague as possible, but her uncle wasn’t going to be satisfied with superficial answers for long.

  “I’m going to make a run to the ladies’ room,” Angelina said, after their dinner plates had been removed.

  Not wanting to be left alone with her uncle and cousin, Madison pushed her chair back, intending to go with her.

  Her uncle wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “Stay.”

  Dread tossed around the food she’d eaten, and she put her hand on her stomach to try to stop the sickening roll.

  “Your bookstore is going to be hugely successful, Madison. Do you know why?” Uncle Jose picked up his wine glass, giving it a critical eye. “I’m going to have to talk to Hector about serving inferior wine.”

  Madison wasn’t sure she was even still breathing. She had no idea who Hector was. The owner? The wine steward? Whoever he was, she didn’t care. It was her uncle’s ominous question that had her heading for a full-blown panic. She didn’t want to know the why of anything that came from him.

  “I can see I have your attention, Madison. Good. I’m going to invest additional funds into your business.”

  And make her even more beholden to him? No thanks. “Thank you for the offer, Uncle, but it’s not necessary. We’re doing good, better than expected actually.”

  “Nevertheless, you will allow it.”

  Suspicion crept into her mind. Her uncle didn’t do anything without a reason. There was something going on here that she didn’t understand. “Why would you insist after I’ve told you I don’t need another loan?”

  Irritation flashed in his cold brown eyes. “It isn’t a loan, Madison. In fact, I will keep a separate book for the funds, which you won’t question.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Her uncle and cousin exchanged glances, a message passing between them, then Ramon put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing so hard that it hurt. “You don’t need to understand, cousin.”

  Oh God. Oh, almighty God. Were they talking about some kind of criminal activity? Risk her and Lauren’s dream if . . . not if, when they were caught? They could even go to prison. Did her uncle care so little for her that he was willing to see her hauled away in handcuffs?

  She jumped out of her chair, running to the restroom. When she passed her mother, she kept going without a word. She barely made it into the stall before she lost her dinner.

  “I don’t feel so well,” she said when she finally returned to the table. “I’m going to cut out, go home, and crawl into bed.” She couldn’t bear spending another minute with her cousin and uncle.

  Her mother put her palm against Madison’s head. “You do feel a little warm, sweetheart.”

  “Probably something I ate didn’t agree with me, is all.” Or it c
ould be the two evil men at the table who had her wanting to pull the covers over her head, hiding from the monsters invading her life.

  How had she agreed to allow Ramon to take her home? Okay, she knew the answer to that one. Because after her uncle had as much as said that he planned to laundry—was that the right term?—money through the bookstore, she’d lost the will to fight anything they threw her way.

  She’d never in her life understood what it meant to be defeated. Now she did. But she was Michael Parker’s daughter, dammit. Her father would die before he allowed his beliefs to be taken away. Somehow, she’d find a way to be true to what she believed in, too.

  Jose and Ramon had refused to let her call for a taxi to take her home. Angelina had sided with them since Madison was supposedly sick. Her mother had said it was the only way she’d know Madison would arrive safely, and wasn’t that a joke? So here she was sitting in Ramon’s car, alone with him.

  “How about making me a latte?” Ramon said when she reached for the door handle.

  Her and Ramon alone together anywhere near her apartment where there also happened to be a bed? So not happening. “Not tonight. I’m sick, remember? And by the way, neither you nor your uncle are putting any of your dirty money through my store. Do you hear me, Ramon? It’s never going to happen.”

  “I’m really tired of you acting like a bitch, cousin.” He slammed his mouth over hers.

  Her stomach lurched, and she shoved him away. “Get off me.” She scrambled out of his car. “You’re a pig, Ramon,” she yelled as she ran, digging for her keys. After fumbling to get them into the lock, she yanked open the door.

  “Madison, stop.”

  She tried to pull the door shut, but it bounced back when it hit his foot. “Go home, Ramon.” She tugged on the handle.

  “We need to talk, you and I.” With little effort, he pulled the door open. “I don’t think you understand the way things are going to work.”