Jack of Hearts (Aces & Eights Book 1)

by Sandra Owens

  “Could you spare a cup of that coffee? Maybe two, so I can take one to Lauren?”

  “Ah, sure.” Alex had told her not to let Nelson know they were on to him, so she tried to act normal, as if she didn’t know he was a rat-bastard sneaky night spy, for what reason she couldn’t guess. “Here.” She thrust two cups into his hands. Now go away.

  “Thanks.”

  She stared at his retreating back, narrowing her eyes as he disappeared down the hallway. And she’d thought he was nice. No matter what Alex said, she wasn’t going to let her best friend go much longer thinking Nelson was a good guy. Was he working for Ramon, or did he have his own agenda?

  Alex slipped back into Madison’s bedroom, watching through the crack in the door as Lauren’s boyfriend walked by. Where had he seen the man before? He punched Nate’s number into his phone.

  “See what you can find out about Nelson Lopez,” he said when Nate answered. He gave his older bother the license plate number he’d memorized the night before.

  “It’s six fucking o’clock in the morning, bro. Either call me back at a reasonable hour or text me all that.”

  When Nate hung up on him, Alex texted his brother the license plate number. After Lauren’s bedroom door closed behind Nelson, Alex headed for the kitchen. “Do I smell bacon?” he said, walking around the corner.

  “You do.” She picked up a piece, holding it out to him.

  He locked eyes with her as he approached, lowering his head when he reached her, letting her feed him. The green in her eyes darkened when he sucked her thumb into his mouth.

  “Alex.”

  That breathy way she said his name sent him over the edge. He reached over and turned off the stove before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

  “You’re insane,” she said, laughter flowing from her as he carried her down the hall.

  “That’s what you do to me, so don’t blame me.”

  He almost dropped her when she grabbed his ass cheeks with her hands, letting out a low moan as she kneaded them with her fingers.

  “Mad, you’re playing with fire again.” He dropped her on the bed.

  “I know. I’m such a bad girl.” She blinked far-too-innocent eyes at him. “Are you going to punish me?”

  “Oh, yeah. I sure am.” This girl was either going to be his doom or his lifeline. Right then, as he lowered his body over hers, he didn’t care which.

  “The file he was looking at was somewhere in the middle of this drawer,” Alex said, flipping through the folders.

  Madison sat at the desk, twirling a pen around her fingers. “I can’t imagine what he was looking for.”

  “Here.” He pulled out a folder, memorizing the bank account numbers as he handed it to her. “I’m guessing this.”

  “Why would he be interested in our bank statements?”

  “Good question.” He needed to talk to his brothers and bring them up to speed. By the time he got home, Nate and Court would have the background on Nelson Lopez.

  “I’m going to head home. Do some investigating on the man.”

  “You mean google him? What will that tell you besides he’s a model and some pictures of him pop up? I can do that right now.”

  He had to stop slipping, saying things that raised her curiosity about him. “No, I mean I’ll ask around. Put some feelers out on the street with some dudes I know.”

  She didn’t know he and his brothers were FBI with unlimited resources available to them. As far as she was concerned, he was a friend of Ramon’s, maybe even involved in the Alonzos’ drug business. Although knowing that, he had to question her intelligence for letting him anywhere near her. What did that say? That she had deep feelings for him, enough to overlook everything she thought she knew about him?

  Damn, he wished he could come clean, tell her everything, but that wasn’t wise. She could easily blow the operation, intentionally or unintentionally. More worrisome, if Ramon learned who he was, it could put her in danger. Her cousin would be suspicious that she was passing on information. And, his brothers would kill him if he did.

  “I’ll come back tonight when I can get away. It might be late, so I’ll come in through your bedroom window.” He walked to her, took the pen away, dropping it on the desk, and leaned down and kissed her. “See you tonight, Grasshopper.” He meant to only give her a quick kiss before leaving, but just one taste of her, and he was lost. When he finally pulled away, he thought his eyes were probably as glazed over as hers.

  “Keep your window locked until I signal you, okay?”

  At her dazed nod, he grinned. He liked that his kisses zoned her out.

  “I remember where I saw him before,” Alex said, tapping the computer screen as his brothers looked on. “The night I met Ramon at Rage, Nelson Lopez was there. He was with a woman, and the only reason I noticed him was because they stood not far from Ramon’s table. The dude kept glancing at me.”

  They were in the office at Aces & Eights. Nate went to the wall and pushed the button that lowered a whiteboard. On it were pictures of Jose Alonzo, Ramon, his minions, and a timeline of events since they’d started the undercover investigation.

  This was primarily Alex’s show, his first lead on an operation, and he was determined to prove himself not only to the FBI, but also to his brothers. It was an understatement to say that his involvement with Madison was a complication they hadn’t prepared for. Tough. The bureau and his brothers could just deal with it because he wasn’t giving her up. On the plus side, because of her, they were getting intel they might not have otherwise.

  As for his brothers, Nate was spending a lot of time with the prosecutor, preparing for an upcoming trial for a human-trafficking ring, the victims mostly underprivileged teenage girls, while Court was in the early stages of an investigation into a gang of luxury car thieves based in Miami and rumored to be operating worldwide.

  “Why are you smiling like you just swallowed the canary?” Court said.

  “Trust me, if I swallowed a damn bird, I wouldn’t be smiling. But I was thinking how righteous it would be if your car thief dudes stole Lopez’s i8.”

  Court snorted. “That would be funny.”

  “Children, pay attention.” Nate tapped the whiteboard with his knuckles. “Here’s what we know about Lopez so far.”

  Alex settled back in his chair, giving him a salute. “Yes, sir!” He grinned when Nate growled. The three of them were a team, and no matter how busy they might be with their own investigations, they were always there for each other. Whenever he thought of how far they had come and what they’d made of themselves, he wished the old man were still around so he could laugh in the bastard’s face.

  “I think we have to assume, until we learn otherwise, that Lopez is working for the Alonzos,” Nate said.

  Alex nodded. “Agree. So the question is, what does he want with the bookstore’s bank information? If he’s working for the Alonzos, then he’s following orders, meaning they want those numbers.”

  “Only one reason,” Court said. “They want to use the bookstore to launder money, with or without Madison’s or Lauren’s knowledge.” He glanced at Alex, giving him a shrug. “I doubt Lauren knows anything about it, at least not yet. But I can’t see how Madison wouldn’t know.”

  Alex gripped the arm of his chair to keep from punching his brother. “She doesn’t know.” Did she?

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  That afternoon, Madison made two lattes. “Looks like things have slowed down a little. Come sit with me for a few minutes.” She handed her mother one of the coffees.

  Angelina took the cup. “Lovely. I could use a break. We had a busy few hours.”

  “Oh, I ran into Mrs. Anderly yesterday,” Madison said as she set her cup on the table before her shaking hands spilled coffee on her slacks. “She said she saw you in the park. Are you taking walks there now?”

  “Who’s Mrs. Anderly?”

  “A customer. She usually comes by
in the mornings when you’re not here, but she saw you one afternoon when she stopped by to pick up a book we were holding for her.”

  Angelina shrugged. “Can’t place her, but yes, I’ve started walking for thirty minutes in the mornings.”

  “That’s great. I’m glad you’re getting out more.”

  “Me, too. It’s about time, don’t you think?”

  “I do.” It was past time her mother started living again. “Listen, I need to talk to you about something. Uncle Jose doesn’t want you working here. He told me to . . . well, to fire you.”

  “What?” Angelina set her cup down. “Why would he say such a thing?”

  Because he doesn’t want you around when the cops bust me for money laundering, maybe? “I don’t know, Mom. He didn’t say. It wasn’t a request, though.”

  “Is that what you want, Madison?”

  “No, absolutely not. I love you working here, and you’re so good with the customers. I think you enjoy it, right?”

  “Oh, I do. My brother is just old fashioned. Thinks women shouldn’t have to work.” Angelina patted her hand. “You leave him to me.”

  Which was going to really make him angry, but she didn’t care. “It wasn’t actually Uncle Jose who told me, but a message from him delivered by Ramon.”

  God, she had a splitting headache. She was a simple bookstore owner. Drugs and threats and perverted cousins were just too much to deal with. If her uncle and Ramon would disappear from the face of the earth, she’d be the happiest person in the world. She rubbed her forehead, wishing she could close her eyes and forget all her problems.

  “Are you all right, Madison? Your cheeks are pale.”

  She forced a smile for her mother. “I have a little headache, is all.” Actually, she had a major headache, which she didn’t know the cure for.

  “Why don’t you go upstairs, take something for it, and have a little nap? It’s almost time to close. Lauren and I can finish up.”

  “Thanks, I think I will,” she said, giving her mother a hug. She should stay and help close, but she couldn’t resist the offer. All day she had put on a front, pretending everything was as it should be.

  Through it all, she’d somehow managed not to tell Lauren that her boyfriend was a scumbag. Oh, but she wanted to. Knowing Lauren, though, she’d go straight to Nelson, demanding an explanation.

  Madison locked the door to her room, kicked off her shoes, slipped her bra out from under her blouse, and crawled into bed. She needed time to think and formulate a plan before she went off half-cocked. What would her father have done?

  He’d investigate, dummy. Could she do that? Learn everything there was to know about Nelson Lopez? Was he spying for her cousin and uncle, or was he up to something unrelated to them? Whatever his reason, she needed to find out soon so she could tell Lauren. Having him in their home at night was unacceptable. No way would she be able to sleep if he was here for the night. Nor did she want to stay at Alex’s, knowing Nelson was up to no good. Whatever he was doing, it had to stop.

  For sure, she was going to ask Alex to stay over at night until Nelson was gone. She decided to take a nap so that she could stay awake if Nelson did spend the night. And she really did have a headache, which, hopefully, a few hours of sleep would cure. Later tonight, she’d get on her laptop and see what she could learn about him. That decided, she closed her eyes, but before she could drift off, there was a scratching at the door. Rolling her eyes, she got up and let Hemingway in.

  “Come to take a nap with me?” He followed her onto the bed, and she fell asleep to his purrs.

  When she awoke, she glanced at the clock to see it was almost midnight. After her sleepless night, she’d needed the rest, although she hadn’t meant to nap that long. Leaving Hemingway curled up on her pillow, she went into the bathroom, splashed water on her face, and brushed her hair. Her clothes were a wrinkled mess, and she changed into a tank top and a pair of boxer panties.

  She’d left her laptop in the living room, which meant she was going to have to get it. She eased her bedroom door open a few inches, seeing that Lauren’s door was closed. Was Nelson in there? She crept down the hall, careful not to step on the two boards that creaked. The laptop was on the coffee table, the top open. Weird. She was sure she’d left it on the side table with the lid closed.

  Back in her bedroom, she locked her door and sat on the bed. The first thing she looked for was the computer’s search history. Nothing unusual showed up, and because the laptop was password protected, she decided she was getting paranoid. Even if Nelson had tried to get into her computer, he would never guess her password.

  She spent the next hour searching for anything she could find on him, turning up very little. What did surprise her was that he was the only son of a famous Cuban actor and a Cuban woman the actor had divorced early in his career. According to one interview with the actor, the divorce was amicable, and growing up, Nelson had spent time with both parents. He had a Facebook page, but his last post, a photo of him with his arms around two gorgeous women, had been eight months ago. It looked like some kind of fashion show, which wouldn’t be unusual, considering.

  The tapping at her window startled her, and she yelped. It was Alex’s signal. Smiling, she unlocked the window. “Hey you. I’m so glad you’re here.” The arms he wrapped around her were strong, his breath warm on her cheek as he hugged her.

  “Missed you, Grasshopper,” he said, then kissed her.

  His mouth hungrily devoured hers, and his tongue slipped through her parted lips, tangling with hers. Madison sank against him, and he lowered his hands to her hips, his fingers digging into her skin.

  “Bed,” he gasped between kisses.

  “Yes.” She laughed when he scooped her up. The man made her happy, made her feel sexy and wanted. If he ended up breaking her heart, she would find a way to deal with it. She would eat gallons of pistachio ice cream and cry buckets of tears for a few weeks, and then she’d be over him. Wasn’t that how it worked?

  Alex listened to the steady sound of Madison’s breathing as she slept. They’d made love twice, and now she was curled up to his chest, her bottom pressed against his erection. Yeah, he wanted her again. It was crazy, the way he couldn’t get enough of her. He’d never been in love before, so he wasn’t sure if that was what was happening to him. And it wasn’t just the sex that had him wanting to be with her. It was everything about her.

  He flattened his hand over her stomach, his hold on her possessive. The investigation with Ramon was nearing its end. They had enough evidence on Jose, Ramon, and Trina to make an arrest. The only thing holding them back was knowing that Ramon was meeting a new customer on Friday, and he and his brothers wanted the man’s name. Once they had his identity, arrest warrants would be issued for the Alonzos, Trina, and the distributors.

  Alex couldn’t wait for it to be over. He wanted Madison to know the real him, if she was still willing to let him be a part of her life. She sighed as she turned onto her stomach. He fell asleep with his palm resting on her ass.

  The next morning, he awoke to see Madison sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed with her laptop open. She wore boxer shorts and a little shirt with straps, and her hair was mussed. He smiled at the way the tip of her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on whatever she was reading. It was a little quirk he’d noticed before when she was intent on something.

  “Morning, beautiful.”

  She glanced up at him and grinned. “Morning. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “You didn’t.” Obviously, a little morning fun wasn’t going to happen. That was too bad. “Be back in a minute.” He went to her bathroom, used the john, and then found the toothbrush she’d given him the last time he had slept over. Not much he could do about his face without a shaving kit. Would she mind if he kept some toiletries here?

  When he returned, her gaze roamed over his body. “It always amazes me how men walk around nude so easily.”

&nbs
p; “It always amazes me why women are so shy about their bodies.” He sat behind her, putting his chin on her shoulder. “What has you looking so serious this morning?”

  “Nelson Lopez. Did you know his father was Rafael Lopez?”

  “Yeah, found that out yesterday.”

  She tilted her head. “What else do you know?”

  “Not much. Still checking him out.”

  “Have you ever seen him around Ramon’s?”

  “No, why do you ask?” Their assumption was that he was spying for the Alonzos, and if she was asking that question, she might be coming to the same conclusion. He hoped she was. It would be easier if the idea came from her.

  She closed the laptop. “I honestly don’t know if I can trust you. I want to. My heart tells me that I can, but I don’t understand why you hang out with Ramon. I think he sells drugs. My uncle, too. Is it really because you and Ramon are just friends?” She drew circles on the comforter. “Because I have to tell you that I have trouble believing that.”

  He scooted around to face her. “Look at me, Madison.” He waited for her to lift her eyes to his. “I told you the truth when I said I don’t use drugs. I don’t sell drugs. I’ve never even smoked a joint because if my brothers had caught me doing anything like that, they would have beaten my butt raw.”

  “Yet, you’re friends with a drug dealer?”

  “Not really. The more I was around him, the less I liked him. Since I’ve learned how he treats you, I’ve pretty much avoided him.” His lies to her were coming home to roost. It would be over soon, and he’d be able to tell her everything. He couldn’t wait for that day to come.

  “Okay, I’m going to trust you, but if you go straight to Ramon—”

  “I won’t. I swear it on the lives of my brothers.” He hadn’t been sure he’d ever see that kind of trust shining in her eyes. It made him want to promise that he’d never hurt her, but that was going to happen as soon as he made his confession. Aware that he was walking a fine line between what he had to do for the job and being as honest with her as he could for now, he stayed silent.