Blurred Red Lines: A Carrera Cartel Novel

by Kenborn, Cora

  I fought a yawn as I dialed the number. He answered on the first ring, his voice holding a satisfactory mix of trepidation and anxiousness.

  This might be easier than I thought.

  “What do you want, now?”

  “Brody, that’s hardly an acceptable way to greet someone, don’t you think?” I imagined him loosening his tie to breathe easier. They all did.

  “I’m at work, Carrera.” His voice sounded rushed. “I’m going into court.”

  “Be late.” I picked up my coffee, agitated from my conversation with Mateo.

  “I can’t,” he snarled through what sounded like clenched teeth. “Talk fast.”

  “A few officers paid a visit to one of my men early this morning at his cantina. Do you know anything about that, Brody?” The man couldn’t lie for shit. He had to be the worst assistant DA in history.

  “N-no. Nothing, Val. I haven’t heard a thing.”

  I knew he was lying. Brody Harcourt never called me by my first name. It was a human reflex to become friendly and communicate on a personal level when a man lied through his teeth.

  “Nothing? Not a word around the office?”

  “No, I told you, Val. It’s been quiet. Nothing’s come across my desk.” He paused, and his breath became labored. “Why? What happened at Caliente? Something bad?”

  My fingers tightened around my coffee. “I never mentioned it was Caliente.”

  “Well, I just assumed, you said cantina, and I know your guy, Emilio owns Caliente.” He laughed nervously. “Simple process of elimination, Val.”

  Goddamn it. Stop saying my name.

  This conversation was obviously headed nowhere fast. Harcourt knew more than he’d divulge over the phone. He needed some face-to-face encouragement to not be a rat bastard.

  “Nothing happened. The alarm must have tripped and alerted the authorities.”

  He audibly swallowed. “Yeah, sure. That has to be it.”

  Of course, it does, you lying motherfucker.

  Once I got Eden settled, and Mateo came back, I’d pay our fair ADA a visit and jog his memory. Until then, I’d humor his selective amnesia.

  “Enjoy your day, Brody. Watch out for cars when you cross the road.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  It meant absolutely nothing. I just enjoyed fucking with him.

  “Traffic. I heard it’s bad today. You’re late for court.” I disconnected the call in the middle of his string of curses.

  Every man in the Carrera Cartel knew the penalties for lying. That knowledge prevented lies from being told amongst our men. Unfortunately for Brody Harcourt, he’d find out soon enough why there was rarely a crack in our cartel family code of honor.

  Chapter Fifteen

  VAL

  An hour later, I still held the phone in my hand, my eyes shifting to the closed door that led down the stairs to the basement. Mateo made sense. Continuing to interact with her wasn’t the smartest move, but I couldn’t deny the magnetic pull she had over me. No matter how many times my brain told my body to shut up and turn away, I found myself facing that goddamn door.

  I’d taken three steps toward it when the phone vibrated. Since only business associates knew my number, I didn’t hesitate to answer in my native tongue.

  “Si?”

  “It’s Consuelos.”

  Chris Consuelos had been hard to bring to control when I’d arrived in Houston six years ago. One night of Nando sitting across the street from his house in a tinted SUV cracked the Chief of Corpus Christi Port Security’s shell before I could pull my phone from my pocket. Nothing changes a man’s attitude faster than an unspoken threat to his family.

  I kept my gaze on the basement door. “Not a good time.”

  “Your boat never arrived, Carrera.”

  The edge in his voice gave me pause. “What do you mean, it never arrived?”

  “Exactly what I said. The boat was never found, but the bodies of your boys washed up on the Padre Island National Seashore. There’s no proof, of course, but if I was a betting man, I’d say they were intercepted not long after they left the coast of El Mezquital.”

  Son of a bitch.

  Small shipments had been MIA here and there for months, but lately, the frequency had tripled. Stolen cargo was a nature of the business, and I’d learned to eat the cost, but I couldn’t ignore it anymore. Writing it off as a coincidence wasn’t an option.

  With the weight of his words distracting me, I stepped away from the door. “What the hell happened, Consuelos?”

  For the first time, fear crept into his detached voice. “I have no idea, but my guess is there’s only one group with the cajones big enough to cross you.”

  Muñoz.

  My hand tore through my hair as my fingers ripped the strands from the root. Scenes of what would happen when word reached my suppliers that Muñoz enforcers had intercepted their shipment flashed through my head. “Do you realize what this means, Consuelos?”

  “It can’t be good.”

  “Good? These are the fucking Columbians, Consuelos. Suppliers don’t send an IOU to collect a debt on ninety pounds of cocaine.” I closed my eyes and cursed. “They wipe out entire neighborhoods.”

  “That sucks, man.”

  I opened one eye at his dismissal. “Don’t be stupid, you, pendejo! If you think they don’t know what you ate for breakfast this morning, you’re an idiot.”

  His voice shook. “You mean…”

  “Update your insurance policy.” I disconnected the call without another word. Callous? Probably. But I had more pressing issues than Chris Consuelos’s newly-soiled pants. I had hours to figure out how the hell to appease an eleven-million-dollar debt and smooth trade negotiations with my best supplier.

  This feud had gotten way out of hand. Rivalry was one thing, but they’d fucked with my business one too many times. I’d had enough. Filling my chest with a calming breath, I released the death grip I had on my phone and started to dial the last man I wanted to talk to, when a high-pitched scream echoed from the basement followed by a clang of metal.

  Warning that had built inside of me all morning exploded into a siren. Dropping the phone, I flung the door open and took the stairs four at a time, pulling my gun from my waistband.

  Eden stood next to the iron bed, her cherry-red hair disheveled and wild, with a crazed look in her eyes. Bent over the mattress with her hands clasped together, she jerked roughly on the handcuff, snapping the metal into her wound with each pull.

  Shocked at her ferocity, I stood with my gun pointed at her while she continued to jerk and pull, screaming like a wounded animal. Blood poured down her arm, and the food tray lay on the floor just under repeated marks and chips in the wall where she’d beaten into it. I assumed it was to get our attention.

  It worked.

  Unfamiliar with unbalanced females, I tried reasoning with her. “Cereza, you need to calm down.”

  As if I were prey that had wandered into the lion’s den, she shifted her eyes toward me with her chest heaving. “This is calm. Uncuff me…now.” Every word she spoke dripped with disgust, spoken between clenched teeth.

  “You know that’s not going to happen. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t calm the fuck down.”

  She paused a moment before turning her eyes away and continuing her maniacal screaming. The safe house was secluded in a rural area, but it wasn’t sound proof. I had to shut her up. Letting out a sigh, I shoved my .380 caliber pistol back in my waistband and sat down on the bed.

  “Sit down, Cereza.”

  At my command, she quieted, the fight seeming to melt out of her. Sinking next to me, her shoulders slumped forward in defeat. “I’m scared.”

  “I know.” Her closeness raced my pulse, so I increased the distance between us. “I’m sorry about your brother. I know what it feels like to lose family.”

  “Did you kill him?”

  “No.”

  She inched closer, he
r small frame shaking. “Who did?”

  “Rivals.” I needed to move away from her. That’d be the smart thing to do. I shouldn’t let her feel as if we were equals. I needed her fear to keep her on edge, but for some reason, I craved her closeness.

  “Why?” The tremble in her voice gutted me.

  I could give her nothing but honesty. “Bad blood.”

  She glanced up with tears pooling in her bright blue eyes. “My brother died because of some vendetta between drug cartels?”

  I couldn’t explain. The less she knew, the safer she’d be. “It’s more complicated than that, or you’d be dead too.”

  Silence raged between us. Neither one of us moved as both of our eyes pinned to the wall in front of us. She folded one leg underneath her and sighed loudly. I wanted to relieve some of her pain, and I’d never wanted to relieve anything for anyone. It confused the hell out of me.

  I didn’t know how to console her, but instinctively, my body turned inward. “Eden, I…”

  With lightning speed, she shifted, catapulting herself into me. Something shiny glinted in her hand moments before it plunged into my left bicep with a searing burn I’d only experienced once in my life.

  “Fuck!” Throwing myself backward, I landed on the floor three feet away from her grasp. Curse words flew from her mouth as she yanked on the cuff, screaming like a woman possessed. I pulled my hand away from my injured arm, stunned to find blood dripping from my fingertips. Shifting my gaze back to Eden, my eyes landed on a three-pronged fork she held like a sword.

  The bitch fucking stabbed me. “Are you insane?” A newfound anger coursed the same veins where sympathy had just occupied.

  “Come here, Val Carrera. Come tell me how complicated it is, Mr. Drug Lord. Explain it to my face, because I’m dying to hear it straight from your lying goddamn mouth!”

  I’d had enough. She’d overstepped the line. Jerking the handle of my gun from my pants, I threw it across the room and out of her grasp. Lunging at her, I secured her free wrist in a strong hold. The stunt she pulled exerted all her stored energy, and in her weakened state, she was no match for me. Collapsing underneath me, I easily wrestled her to the bed and pinned her arms above her head. My own arm throbbed in pain, and after Consuelos’s phone call, I’d been fucked with enough for one day.

  “I knew I couldn’t trust you.”

  Her eyes went blank. “Just kill me now,” she whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Aren’t you the goddamn boss?”

  “Yes, I’m the goddamn boss. You should fucking remember that. Men have died for less than the shit you just pulled.” I didn’t even know what the hell I was saying. She had me seeing red. I had no intention to hurt her, but I’d learned over the years that perception was power.

  She turned her chin toward me and blinked. “Then do it.”

  “What?” I didn’t know what I expected to come out of her mouth, but that wasn’t it.

  With her arms restrained, she used the only thing she had left—her legs—which I currently had myself wedged between. Thrashing, she dug her heels into my lower back. “Just do it, so I don’t have to feel anything anymore or pretend like you give a damn.”

  I don’t know what possessed me. Our bodies pressed together and heat radiated off her with a ferocity I couldn’t deny. The fire in her words and the desire that had my balls in a vice since I’d laid eyes on her, all drove me against her mouth. She gasped the moment I licked the seam of her lips, and I didn’t hesitate to dip my tongue inside. Still riled, Eden resisted for a few seconds, pushing her body away, and then against me.

  Shifting her cheek to the side, she gulped in a lung full of air, her chest heaving. “Get off me!”

  “Well, you might want to arrange a conference between your mouth and body, Cereza. There seems to be a miscommunication. For a woman who doesn’t want me to touch her, you’re pressing pretty close.”

  She fought against my hold on her wrists. “You disgust me!”

  I loomed over her, my pulse roaring in my ears. “You’re an insane, homicidal bitch!”

  “Oh, you’re one to talk. You murder people for a living.”

  I knew who I was, but her black-and-white assessment made me wince. A vein throbbed against my temple as I lowered my face against hers with a snarl. “You tried to stab me, what does that make you?”

  “A failed mission.”

  I should’ve walked away. The heated sparring flipped a switch in me, and after one taste, my need for her shattered. Logically, I knew if I didn’t pull away, I’d do something I couldn’t take back. But before registering the thought, I rejected it and crashed onto her lips again.

  Tightening her fist, she attempted to punch me, but the stronghold I had on her prevented any movement. I had no forethought and no game plan. A riotous mix of lust and hate converged inside of me, pouring both into a kiss that took both of us by surprise. With a breathy gasp, she stopped struggling and moaned into it. Her body melted into mine, our tongues tangling at a furious pace.

  “I should hate you,” she whispered between frantic kisses.

  “I know.”

  Bowing her back, she pushed her chest into mine, dropping her chin back and offering her neck. Wordlessly, I accept the invitation, diving in and sucking her skin between my teeth.

  “I want to hate you.”

  Groaning, I released her neck and followed a path down her collarbone. “Then hate me, but God, let me have what I’ve craved for months.”

  At those words, something shattered inside Eden. Reservation died and both legs snaked around my waist, crossing at the ankles, and urging me closer. A long-drawn-out sigh ghosted from her chest on a whimper.

  It was that whimper, breathless and sultry with a hint of remaining fear, that broke the hold on my resolve. Lifting my mouth from her chest, I took in the flush painting her cheeks and the want in her eyes. Her lips struggled to form words that never came.

  They didn’t have to. Only one made it past a whisper. “Val…”

  The sound was my name. The meaning was fuck me.

  Reaching a hand in my pocket, I pulled out a small metal key. Holding her cuffed hand steady, I turned the key, springing the lock free. Before she could react, I grabbed her free hand and crossed it over the other one, snapping the lock in place over both.

  Glancing above her head, her eyebrows lifted, but my body lit on fire as I stared hungrily at her bare skin. Fusing my mouth to hers once more, I plunged inside, needing the taste of her more than I cared to admit. With her arms bound above her head, her back arched even more and pressed her breasts into my palms.

  I wasn’t a man used to waiting for what he wanted. This moment would be no exception.

  Hooking my fingers around the bottom of her tank top, I yanked it up and over her chest, taking her bra with it. The moment her round flesh sprang free from the lacey material, my cock hardened to a level that had me wincing in pain. I’d never wanted a woman this much.

  Anticipating the taste, I flattened my tongue and raked it over the sensitive flesh of her nipple. A low gurgling groan rumbled in her chest as she jerked on the cuff restraining her. I wasn’t particularly into BDSM, I just still didn’t trust her.

  “God, Val…”

  Closing my mouth around the tip, I sucked vigorously, eliciting a wail from her tilted chin. Curses flew from her mouth as I divided equal attention to the other one. Satisfied she’d had enough, I resumed my descent.

  By the time I reached for the button on her jean shorts, I couldn’t hold back. Unzipping in a frenzied pace, I yanked them down her legs, taking the pathetic scrap of lace with them, just as I’d imagined doing that first night at the cantina. Tearing off my own pants, I paused for a moment of clarity to grab a condom out of the pocket. Seconds later, I leaned over her and plunged two fingers deep inside her depths.

  “Jesus, Cereza. You’re drenched for me.”

  “Val!” She screamed, yanking on the handcuffs a
nd twisting underneath me. “Stop talking!”

  Growling, I removed my hand and lined the head of my cock at her entrance. With one last look, I closed my eyes and drove inside without reservation. A scream tore from her throat with the force of my possession, and she tensed, her walls clenching me tightly. The pressure sent blinding waves of red swirling across my closed eyes.

  Fuck, nothing had ever felt this good.

  There was no turning back. The need to fully possess her was too strong. With a primal groan, I plunged the rest of the way in, drawing another piercing scream from her lungs. I almost pulled back, but she wrapped her legs tightly around my waist, encouraging me.

  That was all I needed. Taking control, I drove inside her repeatedly, each thrust harder than the last. Blind lust replaced common decency as I fucked her like a wild animal. Her back slid against the metal rail of the bed, and I bit down on her shoulder as our hips collided. Our bodies moved in a chorus of furious movement that eventually pinned both of us flush against the bed frame.

  I’d never fucked this hard. I wanted to fuck her harder. I wanted to fuck her unconscious.

  “Val, God…”

  “Do you want to come, Eden? Is that what you want?” Every word I spoke was punctuated by a forceful thrust that shifted her body backward.

  She screamed as her inner walls clamped hard around me. “Yes.”

  “Then ask me, Cereza.”

  Her eyes widened, then darkened. “Fuck you.”

  A snarl plastered across my lips. “No. I’m. Fucking. You.” On the last word, I threw her right leg over my shoulder and went deeper. The angle forced her back to bend over the rail, and her head to disappear behind her.

  “Shit!” With a scream, she squeezed the life out of me as she convulsed. I held her through the aftershocks, still pounding into her as my mind went blank.

  “Quiero que me acabes...” Wanting you will end me.

  As I exploded, my mind unscrambled, and I slowed my pumps until my body stilled. Resting inside of her, the frenzy ended and clarity returned.

  Fuck. What’ve we done?