“Is there dirt on my face?” Val sighed. “Abuela wanted something from the attic.”
Abuela turned and grinned that same, mischievous expression.
“She’s up to something,” Duke whispered.
“You think?”
Duke brushed his fingers over her cheek. The way he looked at her, the slight smile that kept spreading wider and wider, these were moments she wanted to capture forever.
Music began playing somewhere down the street.
Abuela thrust paper lanterns at both Val and Duke.
Starting out beyond the edge of town, lights flickered to life. First a few, the lights going to the left or right, then they began creeping up the streets, lighting the way. Usually people simply lit candles or lanterns and placed them outside. Tonight was something special. It was a symbol of everyday people coming together to make their world better.
Duke looped his arm around her waist and she rest her head on his shoulder. A finger prodded her ribs, but she ignored Abuela. Val figured in a few hours the questions would start. When do you get married? What about children? There would be no end to them. Her only relief was that Duke couldn’t follow every question.
The lights crept closer to the city square and the final lighting point—the church.
Val had no idea how this was going to go. They were winging everything, but at least they’d all come together. That was the important thing. No one was alone, and they would figure out a solution for Esteban, though likely not tonight if the amount of alcohol passed around during the decorating was any indication of how much people intended to enjoy the night.
They needed this. All of them. To take joy in the day and season, to repair what damage had been done. Once they had hope, they could solve the Esteban problem.
But tonight was about community, celebration and being with the ones Val cared about.
People around the square began to light their lanterns.
Duke pulled out a lighter and carefully lit both of theirs, which they then placed on the tables in front of the bakery.
They turned and watched the candlelight converge into a line, leading into the church tower.
She squeezed Duke’s waist and held her breath.
The strings of lights coming from the top of the bell tower winked on. A cheer went up and all across La Playa people switched on their lights, bathing the village in a twinkling glow of wonder. The cheer grew, people clapping and hollering.
Even the local so-called band was there. Six men in their mid-thirties struck up a song, the speakers projecting their take on traditional holiday songs out through the valley.
This was it. Christmas had finally come to La Playa.
Val grabbed Duke’s hand and pulled him toward the area under the trees hung with lights. Other couples swayed in time with the music.
“We should tell the team we got married,” she said.
“What?” Duke chuckled.
“Seriously. Then when they’re all, who wins our bet? We can tell them the joke’s on them because we’ve always been together.” Shit. Did she just really suggest they get fake-married?
“And how long would that ruse last?” He swayed in time, turning them around the space between the trees. He didn’t even blink at the idea of a fake marriage and that did funny things to her stomach.
“I don’t know. A month? The pressure would be on you to keep the cat in the bag.”
“That’s an awfully big secret. How, exactly, do you propose that in this digital age, when even your Abuela is on Facebook, would this be possible?”
“You’re no fun.”
“That’s not what you said last night.”
“Oh, that’s so original.”
“Original recipe is a classic.”
Val sputtered a laugh.
A whining noise rose over the sound of the music.
Lights beamed through the courtyard.
People yelled.
Three trucks and a few ATVs rolled into the middle of the open space in front of the church, each vehicle piled with young men, most of whom carried a weapon of some sort.
“Shit. Get people back.” Duke pushed her behind him and reached for the small of his back.
“Don’t.” Val grabbed Duke’s wrist.
They needed to do this peacefully. If Duke and the priest were right, and she feared they were, those were cousins, brothers, children of people she cared about—the people here.
Val could understand how this happened. It was hard to see a future for many of the young people. They wanted a better life, maybe to go to the city, but they didn’t know how to get there. Esteban offered a place to belong, which was the gateway drug to so many other poor choices. There were a hundred different ways simply wanting a community could go wrong. And this was one.
These boys had followed Esteban for their own reasons. Whatever they were, they weren’t right, but she could probably understand them. She’d been lucky. Her family had believed in her dream and helped her get there. Not everyone could do that. People scattered, tables were over turned, and a man stood on top of the cab of the biggest truck, his voice lost in the general noise of it all.
This was her fault. Val had chosen to act, and she’d made this happen, for good and bad. She ducked around Duke and walked forward as everyone else gave the newcomers a wide berth.
“Esteban Rojas,” Val said, pitching her voice as loud as she could without screaming.
The man was an addict, and for all they knew he was on a bender now. The same guidelines for confronting a person with any sort of substance abuse issue applied here, only on a greater scale with more lives on the line.
Esteban stared down at her from his perch atop the truck cab. He had a shotgun propped on his hip. The Rojas resemblance was evident in the fine bones and strong chin of his face, but the drug use had begun to take its toll on his body.
“You. You’re going to regret what you’ve done.” He pointed at her.
Val had to wonder at her reputation if the man she’d never seen before recognized her on site.
Esteban jumped from the top of the cab to the hood. The metal bowed under him, but he ignored it and vaulted off.
“What the hell are you doing?” Duke’s English was distracting at the moment.
“Leave these people alone. They just want to celebrate Christmas.” She held up her hands and focused on Esteban.
“Leave them alone? You should have thought of that before you interfered.” Esteban took a step closer. The drug use was more pronounced in closer proximity. She could smell it on him, from the standard bad breath to his hygiene, Esteban was a man who would come apart at the seams if he didn’t get help.
“I’d like to talk about this more if you would just—”
A loud crack echoed in the stillness.
Val gaped at a little old woman, at least a decade older and more wizened than her own Abuela, who’d smacked the head of a young man bent double.
“This is where you’ve been? When you told us you were in school?” the little woman had a volume many times greater than her size.
“Oh shit.” Val winced.
There was being in trouble, and then there was being in trouble with Abuela. Even the men around him cringed and pulled back, surrendering him to the wrath of his family. The little old woman didn’t give two shits that her bigger, gun-wielding grandson was part of a well armed, heavily drugged gang. The young man’s family marched up, the mother grabbing him by the ear and twisting him to his full height while grandma continued to beat the hell out of his backside under the baleful glare of the male members of the family.
Val did not want to be that man.
“What the hell?” Esteban turned and gaped at the rest of his group.
Few men would meet his gaze.
“Nicolás?” A woman stepped forward, her jaw slack with shock.
Val’s stomach dropped to the ground. She couldn’t imagine being caught like this by her family.
&nb
sp; “Stay back.” Esteban hefted the shotgun at his hip and glared at his band of boys. Most of them were hunching, too scared to face their family. “You have guns. Use them.”
“No!” The boy who must be Nicolás rushed forward, hands up, and stood between the woman and Esteban.
A group of women Val didn’t recognize from La Playa edged forward, calling out more names. One by one the families came forward and collected their wayward offspring, some with open arms and others brandishing shoes. They dropped the guns in a pile at the bottom of the stairs leading to the church, and all the while Esteban gaped and squawked like the spoiled brat he was.
Duke grasped her hand and squeezed.
“This isn’t going to end well,” he said, pitching his voice low.
“Maybe it will?” She nodded at the shadows behind Esteban.
Three figures emerged from the darkness.
Esteban sputtered and yelled threats at his slowly dwindling band. He talked about shooting people, but didn’t do it.
Val peered around the group, but there was a very important face missing. The older, non-drugged up man from the camp site.
The whole group, the entire gang, was boys under twenty-five.
“Esteban!” The oldest Mr. Rojas called out.
Esteban spun. His older brother lashed out, landing a solid punch to Esteban’s jaw. He went down hard, and the last few boys hanging around the trucks scattered. Rats fleeing a sinking ship.
Duke wrapped his arm around her waist and squeezed tight.
This was it. The whole nightmare was over. Or at least the threatening part. There would be months if not years of work to do in mending the families and the boys taken in by Esteban’s spoiled plan.
She turned and wrapped her arms around Duke’s shoulders.
How was it their only casualty was an old cabin no one cared about?
They’d bitten off more than they could chew—and they’d won.
“Ms. Sanchez?” The younger Mr. Rojas and his wife—Esteban’s parents—approached them.
Val let go of Duke and turned to face them.
“Is everyone okay?” she asked.
“Yes,” Mrs. Rojas said, though her face remained creased with concern.
“We wanted to say thank you to you and your husband,” Mr. Rojas said.
Val’s cheeks heated. She’d never been so glad that Duke had little to no idea what was being said. She also wasn’t going to correct the Rojas’.
“Thank you for coming tonight. I hope you don’t have to leave.” Val glanced at the priest busy directing people collecting the weapons. “I’d like for you to meet our priest. I think he’s going to be leading up some plans to help Esteban’s...friends.”
“Esteban’s brother is taking him home. Our place is here, making amends with the people our son has wronged.” Mr. Rojas nodded at the streets beyond where people were milling about, shaking off the confrontation.
“What’s going to happen to your son?” she asked, even though she dreaded the answer. The Rojas’ had money to make this go away.
“My father is calling the authorities to come take our son’s weapons and him into custody. This battle is out of our hands. We’ve tried everything, but it’s time for him to face the consequences, even though that means we may lose him.” Mr. Rojas stared at the ground, his expression sad and worn.
“You don’t know that. It will be rough for a while, but—have hope that your son will get help, okay?” Val had to believe that people like Esteban could change. Otherwise what was the point in anything she did with Jackie’s efforts or Duke’s team?
“We can hope, but...we have been through this with him before. The only difference is this time...” Mr. Rojas gestured at the village, the lights, the people.
Mrs. Rojas pulled her husband away, leaving Val and Duke standing in the square while people bustled around them. The guns were gone, locked up tight, and people were moving on with the simple business of living once more.
“Did Mr. Rojas ask you if we were married?” Duke peered down at her.
“Nope.” Val glanced around. “Hungry yet? I think I spy something coming out.”
“I’m going to get an answer out of you.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his chest.
“I might have...let him assume...”
Duke grinned and kissed her cheek.
“I thought you said you didn’t know Spanish.” She had to pull Abuela aside and tell her to calm her comments if that was the case.
“I’m a quick study.” He swayed, taking her with him.
“How much do you understand?”
“A bit. Key words. Context. Body language.” He kissed her neck, and she shivered.
“You know, everyone’s outside right now...”
Val grabbed Duke’s hand and dragged him around the courtyard, skirting the shadows. Tonight was about celebrating what they had, and Duke was everything she wanted.
11.
SUNDAY. LA PLAYA DE Belén, Colombia. 6 days until Christmas.
Duke reclined back against the stone steps to the church and sipped from the bottle. Despite rinsing it out several times it still smelled of tequila though he’d filled it with water. His liver was begging for a break after a couple of hours that were pretty damn fuzzy.
“Thirsty?” He offered the bottle to Val, who was curled up on her side.
She mumbled something and took the bottle.
Until the guns were picked up by the authorities someone had to remain on watch. He’d offered to take a shift while still heavily into his cups without thinking through what he’d be doing. At least they’d scrounged up a couple outdoor cushions to make a sort of comfortable seat on the church steps.
They weren’t the only ones snoozing outside under the pre-dawn sky, but they were probably the most sober.
“You know what I just realized?” Val said.
“Hm?”
“Jackie and Felix will be here this afternoon.”
Duke groaned.
“How are we going to explain all this?” Val chuckled and set the bottle of water on the stairs, then pillowed her head on her arms, twisted onto her side.
“Which all this are we talking about?” He eased back down, leaning on an elbow and pulled the blanket they’d stolen from her bedroom after the dancing stopped.
“Oh, Jackie is the only person who knew about my crush on you. This isn’t going to surprise her.” Val’s smile blossomed and what he wouldn’t give for a little phone battery to snap a picture.
“Really? Did you tell her all about how much you wanted me?”
“Shut up.” She smacked his arm then snuggled closer.
“Are you going to need hours to go over every intimate detail?”
“I’m going to smack you with that bottle.”
“I think I’d be more afraid of your shoe.”
Val sputtered a laugh, and he chuckled. He’d seen a lot of strong women in his day smack the hell out of their children and the men in their life, but nothing would compare to last night. The tension, no one daring to breathe—except one little old woman who wasn’t going to take shit from anyone. Val would age into that kind of woman, keeping everyone else in line and as headstrong as ever.
He kissed her brow, steering clear of those siren lips of hers. Before last night he’d thought himself the respectful sort of boyfriend material.
She sighed and wrapped her arm around his waist.
“What happens next?” she asked.
“We watch the sun rise, and then someone will come relieve us and we can get some sleep before your friends arrive.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She glared up at him.
“You mean between us.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. He’d entered into this hooked on her so badly there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for her, and he had no idea if she felt the same. “What do you want to be next? You are right, we haven’t had a normal relationship.”
“Normal i
s boring, right?”
Duke stared down at her, his heart, out there walking around on two feet and taking on a potentially violent gang. She was precious to him, and she didn’t know it. What if something had happened last night? What if things had turned out differently? She could have died without knowing she’d become one of the cornerstones of his world.
“There’s no going back to how things were,” he said.
“Would you want to?” She turned her head and kissed his wrist.
“No, I’m just stating a fact. From the moment we met, I knew you were someone I wanted in my life.”
“Is that why you flashed me your abs? Were you hoping I’d be dazzled by your sculpted physique?”
“Guilty.” He grinned. In truth, he’d asked her to pull his stitches out almost a week early just for an excuse to meet her.
Val pushed up and kissed his lips, keeping it light.
“I knew pretty soon after we met that you were someone I’d follow anywhere. It took me longer to accept that, yeah, I was not immune to your good looks. Among other things.” She smiled and his heart seemed to swell in his chest. “I want more of us. I was scared that together, we’d be one person. I’d lose who I was with you, but I think we’re stronger together. I need someone to help me focus and you? You’re an amazing leader, and now I know that’s just one part of who you are.”
“You’ll have to give me boundaries. When it comes to you I’ve barely been able to stick to them.”
“Boundaries? Who needs those?”
“I don’t want to get too serious, unless that’s what you want.”
“I’ve told you the story about the time Jackie and I—”
He groaned. How those two women had survived egging each other on was beyond him.
“Don’t do that. I’m not finished.” She chuckled. “Have I told you the one about Jackie and I on the boat?”
“Yes. You have, and it’s a wonder you haven’t been killed.”
“All I’m saying is, I’m in this. All the way.”
“Me, too.” Duke searched her face, as if he could find the words he wanted written in the lines around her mouth, the glint of her eyes. “I want a better way to say I love you.”
Val’s eyes widened, and he wondered for a moment if it was too much too soon. He licked her lips and blinked a few times.
Heart of Danger Page 11
