Jake: The Hottest Guys You'll Love to Love (Best of the Bad Boys Book 1)

by Jessie Cooke

  I took a long, hot shower, dressed and braided my long hair. All of that took me over an hour and when I came back out, the sexiest man alive was still sleeping soundly. I started over towards the bed to wake him when I saw his phone sticking out of the pocket of his jeans on the floor. I thought about that text he got right before we left Austin. There was something in it that troubled him. I looked back up at him. He hadn’t moved. I knelt down and slid the phone out of his pants. I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t have a lock on the screen. He was way too trusting. I could have robbed him blind. I slid my thumb across the screen and then pushed Messages. The last message he’d gotten was from an unknown number. It said,

  “I don’t want a scene in your country. My men saw you take my niece into your house. I want her. Have her on Fremont Street at eight p.m. Friday night. If she’s there, you walk away, debt paid. If not, your head decorates the entry gate to my estate…the birds love to feast on the eyes. You think you’re being a big man here and protecting her and the boy. All you’ve done is make matters worse. This isn’t your fight. Throw in the white towel and walk away.”

  That was it. No name, no salutation. I looked at him again and the lump in my throat moved into my chest. Uncle Arturo wouldn’t think twice about taking his pretty head off his shoulders. I couldn’t keep putting him at risk. It was Tuesday. That gave me three days to find my father and be where my uncle wanted me by Friday night so that Conan could walk away free. I knelt down and slid the phone back in his pocket. Then I slid open the drawer of the nightstand and took out the notepad and pen that the hotel left there for the guests.

  I sat down in the chair next to the bed and wrote, “Hey Gringo! It’s been fun. Thanks for everything. Someday I’ll catch up to you and pay you back for all of this. Keep that pretty face safe once it heals. Cat.”

  I stood up and looked at him again. God, I wanted to go and crawl back into the bed with him. I wanted to wrap myself back up in his arms where I would be safe…but then he wouldn’t be and suddenly the damned white boy with the funny name had me giving a shit. I blew a kiss at him that he would never get and quietly slipped out the door.

  11

  Conan

  I rolled over and groped the sheets before I opened my eyes. When I didn’t feel anything. I opened them…and for one long, frightening second, everything was so blurry and all I could see were colors. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope. Fuck! I sat up and dug my fingers into my eyes. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but when I opened them back up, it was still a little blurry, but I could see shapes and shadows.

  “Catalina?” I waited but there was no answer. I didn’t hear the shower or any kind of motion in the room. “Cat?” She didn’t answer. I rubbed my eyes again and threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. I stood there for a second until the dizziness passed. The sight in my left eye was returning to normal. The right was still blurry but I squinted it to compensate and made my way into the bathroom. The door was open and she wasn’t there. Shit!

  I went back into the room. Her new dress and shoes were gone. She ditched me. I sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to examine why that hurt so bad. It was never supposed to be a relationship…shit, it was never supposed to happen in the first place. That didn’t make my chest ache any less. I didn’t have any fucking idea where to begin looking for her. She’d never told me her father’s name or exactly what it was that he did. Even if I found her, then what? I wasn’t taking her to her fucking uncle. She obviously didn’t want me or she wouldn’t have left. I looked up again and was at least happy to see that I could make out the room in detail. I glanced around and that was when I saw the note. I picked it up and read it. That ache in my chest deepened. What if Guzman finds her? Fuck!

  I lay back on the bed and tried to think. My head was filled with visions of her big, dark eyes and her sexy little brown body. I could smell her and taste her…fuck! I sat back up and got my big, confused ass in the shower. Once I was dressed I started checking my phone for any place in Las Vegas where politicians might congregate. I found out I hadn’t paid much attention in school to geography. The capital of Nevada is Carson City which was over four hundred miles from Vegas. The only possible place to find politicians in Vegas would be city hall…at least legitimately. I was sure on the D.L. there’d be plenty more places I could find one.

  I stuffed my phone and my wallet in my pocket and headed for city hall. I wasn’t going to be able to live with myself if I didn’t at least try to find her. If anything happened to her…. I couldn’t even fucking think about that.

  A half an hour later I found myself standing in front of a slightly ridiculous looking glass building. It was probably the gaudiest thing I’d ever seen in Vegas. I took a look around at all the people outside. I didn’t see Catalina anywhere. I went inside and stood in front of the reception area looking at the photographs on the wall behind the desk. There was a picture of the mayor. It was a lady. Barring a really good sex change operation, I doubted that was Catalina’s father. There were plenty of pictures of men along either side of her. There was a county commissioner, a police commissioner, a sheriff, and city councilmen. Some of them were probably too old…unless her mother liked them mature. A couple of them were the right age, but what the fuck was I going to do? Walk up to each one of them and say, “Hi, did you once have a Mexican lover?” Right…maybe if I wanted to get locked up.

  “Can I help you, sir?” the receptionist finally noticed me standing there. I saw her glance over at the security officer. I suddenly realized how I must have looked, standing all bruised and staring at photographs on the wall.

  “Um…no, I was just looking for a friend of mine. I don’t think he’s here. Thanks.” I smiled at the security officer. He gave me a suspicious look and watched me leave. By the time I got back to my truck I realized that I was going to have to let it go. She knew where I was and all I could do was hope she’d come back to me if she needed me…or if she wanted me.

  I sat in the truck and sent a text to this Jake guy my trainer told me to call about training in Vegas. “This is Conan Reagan. Tim Grant told me to get in touch with you about training while I was in town.”

  A few minutes later I got one with an address that said,

  “Yep, we’re here.”

  I put the address into my GPS and made my way to the other side of Vegas. There were warehouses and big buildings that looked like they were made for storage. The building with the address on it Jake had given me looked like a warehouse with a small office attached to the front of it. The door had an “MMALV” etched into it. I pushed it open and found a cute little redhead at the front desk. Behind her on the wall were posters of a bunch of guys I’d never met but I recognized right away. My trainer had me watch their YouTube videos to get ideas and in case I ever ran across one of them in the ring. Jacob Wright, Brock Carter, Lance Fields…those guys are awesome and I wished that I could be happier about having the opportunity to train with them.

  “Can I help you?” the little redhead asked.

  “Yeah, hi. My name is Conan Reagan. I’m here to see Jacob Wright.”

  “Oh yeah, he’s expecting you.” She got up and I saw that her skirt was really short. I could almost see her vagina when she moved. I followed her down a long hallway and through a set of heavy double doors. There was a group of pretty girls in a big room working out. Card girls, I figured. She pushed open another big, heavy door and I smelled the guys before I saw them. Their gym was a lot bigger than ours back home, but set up in a similar way. There were about five guys working out on machines, one slamming a bag and two in the small ring, sparring. Jacob Wright was in the ring with a younger guy I didn’t recognize. He stopped what he was doing and put his palm up at the kid. Coming over to the side of the ring he said,

  “Conan?”

  “Yep. Jacob?”

  “Yep. Jake. Thanks, Lucy.” She winked at him and wiggled her way out of the gym. There was more than one pair of eyes
on her ass as she did. Jake pulled off his training gear and climbed out of the ring. “Lance! Take over for me.” The kid in the ring groaned and I saw why when Lance stepped off the treadmill and walked over. He was huge…like fucking goliath. I’d seen his videos, but they didn’t do his height and weight justice at all. Fucker was about five feet across from shoulder to shoulder. He gave me a head tilt and I said,

  “Hey, how ya doing?” He grinned and climbed into the ring with the kid. He didn’t even bother putting any sparring equipment on. The young kid looked like he wanted to bail.

  “So Conan,” Jake was saying. “Your trainer says you have a big fight on Saturday night in Texas. A make or break your career fight. If you don’t mind me saying so, what the hell are you doing in Vegas? And who the hell did that to your face.”

  I shrugged. “It’s a long ass story.”

  “I’ve got time.”

  I laughed. It was a nervous laugh. I had all kinds of nervous energy pent up inside and to tell the truth all I wanted to do was hit something…hard. “The face is from a fight…one sided fight with the narco military in Ciudad Victoria. I’m in Vegas because I picked up a stowaway on my way out of Mexico and she needed a ride.”

  He was looking at me like I was crazy. He waited for more and when it wasn’t forthcoming he said, “Okay then…what do you want to work on?”

  “Can we spar?”

  “Sure, there’s another ring in back, the locker room is over there.” I headed for the locker room. While I was changing I lost my balance and started to fall backwards. I bent down and grabbed the bench behind me. Shit! What the hell was that? My head was spinning a little bit. I sat down and closed my eyes and held it in my hands for a second. Maybe it was just stress. I put my head back up and opened my eyes. Everything was blurry again…mother fucker. I closed them and took some deep breaths. I was really hoping the shit was just stress. I opened them back up…things were still a little blurry, but better. I pushed myself up off the bench and stood there for a few seconds. The dizziness was gone and I could see again. I grabbed my wraps and my gloves and headed back out.

  I knew Jacob was good, but I had no idea he was so damned fast. For a big guy, he moved like lightning. As soon as his trainer yelled out for us to come out, he blew out of his corner like a hurricane. As soon as I was within his reach he started firing off shots. He came at me with his right over and over. Just about the time I had his pattern figured out, he came at me with his left. I crouched down low and went after his torso. I fired off a right hook and then a left before he got out of the way. He grinned at me and came back with an uppercut that I was barely able to get out of. I spun around…and almost lost my balance. I thought I recovered quickly but it must have shown on my face because Jake stopped and said, “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” I put my gloves up and said, “Let’s go.” He came at my legs and I moved out of the way. As soon as I stepped back he threw a right cross. I didn’t see it coming at all. It wasn’t like it was just a fast punch that caught me off guard. It was more like I had no peripheral vision. I didn’t see it…literally. It caught me in the side of the head against the padding there and I went down. I immediately tried to get back up but before I was all the way up on my feet, I stumbled and fell face first into the mat. The darkness floated around for a second and I could hear unfamiliar voices calling my name…and then my whole world went black.

  12

  Catalina

  I’d been waiting in the waiting room for over an hour. People came and went…some of them I would bet weren’t the most upstanding citizens of Clark County. A few guys hit on me as I waited and I pretended I didn’t know English until they went away. Men and women in sharp suits also came in and out and I scrutinized each man wondering if he looked the same as he had in his old photos. I tried reading a magazine, but I couldn’t concentrate. All I could think about was Conan. I only left him an hour earlier and I already missed him. I kept telling myself to stick to the plan. I would meet my father and I would tell him what was going on with my uncle. He would protect me…he was an important man. He had his own detectives that worked for him. He’d make sure that I was safe. I’d also tell him how Conan helped me. He’d want to thank him by helping him too. Conan and I could both go down to Fremont Street Friday night and the cops could come with us. I knew my uncle would never be stupid enough to show up himself…but if my father had his men arrest Uncle Arturo’s men…maybe he’d give up and leave Conan and me alone. Okay, maybe it was more of a dream than a plan, but it was all I had. I didn’t want to go back to Mexico…but I couldn’t risk Conan’s life by not showing up on Friday night either.

  “Miss Guzman?” I looked up into the heavily made up eyes of the woman in the sharp green suit who sat at the reception desk.

  “Yes?”

  “District Attorney Pope isn’t going to be able to see you today.” I’d told her I was a student and I just needed to ask him a few questions. I only needed a few minutes of his time.

  “Oh but…it will only take a few minutes. Please, I’ve come so far.” I was fighting tears. If I did all I had and he wouldn’t even see me…I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I’d never imagined it that way. In my imagination, he was always happy to see me.

  The lady looked at me strangely and said, “Where are you from?”

  I decided to stick as close to the truth as possible. “Ciudad Victoria, Mexico.”

  “You’re a student?” She saw the tears in my eyes and undoubtedly heard the desperation in my voice. I decided to give up the lie and see if the truth would help me at all.

  “No, I lied.” I took out the little pouch I had tucked into my belt and pulled out the newspaper clipping that I’d brought with me. I unfolded it and said, “Is this District Attorney Pope?”

  She took it and looked at it for a long time. She nodded and said, “It is. That photo was taken a long time ago.”

  “Yes, twenty-one years ago. He knew my mother back then.”

  Something flickered in her eyes and I had a feeling she was beginning to get it. She seemed protective of him. She was a middle-aged lady. I wondered if she worked for him back then. “Honey, why do you really want to see him?”

  Still fighting the tears, I said, “I’d really like to tell him that…”

  “He’s not going to see you unless you have a pretty compelling reason. He’s a really busy man.”

  I took a huge breath and let it out. “He’s my father,” I said. I guess I was wrong about her figuring it out already. Her jaw was hanging open and she was looking at me like I was a crazy person. She kept staring at me, not saying anything so I finally said, “I think he’s my father. He and my mother were together when she was only eighteen. She was forced to go back to Mexico before he knew she was pregnant. Please, I just need to see him.”

  She stood up and said, “Wait here, okay?” I nodded and felt hope resurfacing. I waited another thirty minutes or so and when she came back out, she motioned me over. She looked around like she was making sure no one else was listening and then she said, “He’ll see you…but just for a minute, okay?”

  “Okay, thank you.”

  I followed her back and she led me into a huge office. There was a giant window behind the desk open to the city. Giant bookshelves filled with law books covered two walls and a conference table filled the space on the other side of the room. The man sitting behind the desk in the expensive suit didn’t look like the man in my newspaper clippings…but I guess twenty-one years is a long time. “Thank you, Wanda. I’ll take it from here.” Wanda nodded at him, gave me another look that I couldn’t decipher and then left the office and closed the door behind her. “Come, have a seat,” he said, standing up. He was a big man…not fat, but tall and broad shouldered. I suddenly felt timid. It wasn’t a feeling I was accustomed to. I stepped forward and sat down in one of the big leather chairs. He came around the desk and sat down next to me. He stared at me for a long time and then he said, “
What was your name?”

  “Catalina.” That seemed to have some effect on him, but he covered quickly.

  “Catalina, Wanda tells me that you have some idea that I’m your father?” I handed him the clipping. My hand was trembling. It wasn’t going at all like I thought it would. He looked at it and smiled. “I hardly remember being that young. That was my first term in office.”

  “My mother had that…and others. She said you and she were lovers and when my uncle forced her to go back to Mexico, she was pregnant with me. You didn’t know.”

  He was shaking his head. “Catalina, I’m sorry you’ve come all this way for nothing…”

  I jumped up out of the chair.

  “It’s not for nothing. That’s you, right?”

  “Yes, but this came out of a newspaper that anyone had access to, Catalina. I have two children. Twenty-one years ago, my wife and I had already been married for five years…”

  I was beginning to realize the problem. My mother forgot to tell me she’d had an affair with a married man. “Her name is Margarita Guzman. She looked a lot like I do now back then. I don’t believe that you have no memory of her. What I believe is that you don’t want anyone else to know about her.”

  He stood up then too and in a stern voice he said, “I wouldn’t go spreading rumors about public officials if I were you, young lady.”

  “You don’t even care that you have a daughter? Are you so afraid of your reputation that you won’t even acknowledge me?”