Bold Tricks

CHAPTER SIX

“Ellie, do you mind sleeping with me tonight?”

I looked behind me at Violetta. I was pulling Jose up to the motel that Dom had recommended. It was actually a clean-looking place, quite busy, with noise thumping from the bar at the end of the row. That was where Dom had wanted to meet us.

“I’d love to,” I told her.

“If it’s not one Bernal, it’s another,” Javier remarked.

I glared at him though he didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he merely tapped the front of the seat so I could let him out. Camden was still asleep from the alcohol he downed, his head resting against the window.

We had been at Alonso’s for about an hour. Eventually Violetta was brought out to us, high as a kite on morphine and with a sling around her shoulder, protecting the makeshift cast covering her arm. Camden had successfully drunk half the bottle of mystery booze and had lapsed into an even more quiet and introverted state. Alonso didn’t seem to mind, he just wanted us out of his house and gone. I wondered if he really was a doctor, and if so, if he was still practicing. The more I learned about the cartels and the people tied to them, the more their history interested me. I couldn’t imagine someone like Javier being anything else before becoming a drug lord and I couldn’t see him going on to any other career if he had to. This was Javier’s past and future, this was his destiny, and nothing else would ever compare to that.

I certainly never did.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself. I knew now what I didn’t know then, that for some people love was never enough. It’s just sad that I had to learn that twice, two lessons six years apart.

Okay, maybe I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself. It was hard not to when I was reminded of what I had with Camden and what my actions had cost me.

We stepped out of the car, Camden slowly stirring awake, and surveyed the area. So far so good. Nothing suspicious, no one out to kill us. Not yet, anyway.

“I’ll get us the rooms,” I said, about to walk off but Javier pulled me back.

“With what money?” he asked.

I pulled out my wallet from my back jean pocket and waved it at him. “There’s more than a few lives in that car, more than a few credit cards. One of them will work.”

He raised his brow. “Perhaps you should start taking inventory of your stuff before you begin making assumptions. You know what happens when you assume, don’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, they make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.”

“They get you killed,” he said quickly. He pushed me back slightly and took off for the motel office, tossing over his shoulder, “I’ll get this. And yes, I’ll make sure you and Violetta can share a room together.”

Oh, of course, like he was letting us. The ass always had to be in control.

I turned to see Violetta and Camden standing beside each other and leaning against the car in matching poses, her dark skin glistening in the heat of the night, his body, strong yet tired. Both of them were a little fucked-up in the head at the moment, their eyes glazed, their half-smiles loopy. I had to admit, I was kind of envious. It would be nice to be oblivious to the shit going on around me at every given turn.

Javier did have a point though. Once he came back with the room keys – Violetta and I were sharing one but Camden and Javier had separate rooms, thank god – I decided to take everything out of my trunk and start going through them. My aliases needed organizing. If we ever did return to America, I’d have to choose a new life to live, a new person to become.

I was exhausted thinking about it.

Maybe, just maybe, I could pick one life and stick with it for a long time.

I looked over at Camden who was helping take stuff into my room, Ziploc bags of license plates, boxes of falsified papers, IDs, checks. This new life felt entirely dependent on one thing.

Him.

The motel room was a lot nicer than the one we stayed at before. Sort of a Best Western, middle-ground quality of place. No roaches on the floors, no geckos on the wall. Shit mattresses, I discovered as I pounded my fist on the bed, but I didn’t care.

Camden had just put the final box on my bed, Violetta sprawled out on hers in a state of drug-induced euphoria, when I noticed Javier lingering at the doorway.

“I’m going to be meeting Dom in about twenty minutes,” Javier said to me. “Is that enough time for you to get ready?”

I frowned and he quickly added, “You know he’ll want you there, if this is going to get anywhere. I figured you might want to shower and look nice.”

He rapped his fingers along the doorframe, his mouth opening as if to say something else, then he turned and walked off.

Camden eyed me. “I’m going with you.”

“You might be kind of drunk, Camden,” I told him, though the determination in his voice warmed me like the finest cognac.

“I’ve never felt better,” he said, enunciating each word. His eyes, my god they were still such a clear fucking blue, even in the pallid light of the hotel room. They bore into me with such startling clarity, sending shivers down my back like trailing fingertips. He would be coming with me.

I wished he’d be coming in me. A vision of us in this hotel room, alone, him nailing me to the bed, the headboard banging, slammed into my head.

“Are you okay with that?” he asked.

I suppressed the thought, the flare of heat between my legs, and smiled quickly. “Yes, of course.”

Meanwhile Violetta’s head flopped to the side, her arm still bound to her stiffly in the sling, and started snoring lightly. I motioned to her. “Do you think it’s safe to leave her here?”

He watched her for a few moments, blinking a few times, before saying, “I think she needs to sleep it off.” He went and sat down on my bed. “I’ll be here when you get out.”

I grabbed my bag of clothes I had brought out of the car and brought it into the bathroom. I had a quick shower, trying to rub off all the grime – both real and imagined – with the flimsy hotel soap, then picked through my clothes. Everything that had been in my trunk was musty and wrinkled, some even dirty. I had a packet of unopened (and decidedly unsexy) Hanes underwear, a bra, another pair of jeans, a pair of gladiator sandals that I thought were dressy enough, a pair of Timberland hiking boots, a plain white tee shirt, a couple of wife-beaters, a coral-colored blouse, a plaid shirt, and a light blue tank dress that went to the ground. I wasn’t exactly known for my fashion sense and even with the cherry blossoms covering the scars on my leg, bringing me beauty that I didn’t have before, I didn’t see myself branching out anytime soon. Dressing up in my old clothes for Javier hadn’t exactly helped either.

I slipped on the tank dress, opting to go commando for the evening, and put on the sandals. I looked at myself in the mirror. Once again, I felt like a different person was staring back at me. This me, this Ellie, was tired and hardened. I rubbed the residue mascara away from under my eyes and applied a new coat. My skin was brown from the sun now and I didn’t need much else.

When I came out of the bathroom, Camden straightened up on the bed. I felt strangely shy in front of him, especially as his eyes trailed up and down the length of me.

“Do I look okay?” I asked him, feeling the need to say something. “I mean, if you can see me, that is.”

He bit his lip and stared, a multitude of emotions flashing through his eyes, too fast for me to pick up on each individual one. I thought I saw lust in there – maybe that’s what I wanted to see.

When he still didn’t say anything, I walked over to the dresser where I had my clutch purse left over from the other night at Travis’s and rifled through it for my lip stuff. His silence at my back was a heavy weight, laden with too many uncertainties between us. It was eating at me, burning through me, rendering me with a lead heart. There were so many things I had to focus on, to worry about, fucking impossible things, and yet I needed him to tell me I looked beautiful. I needed him to tell me I was something to him.

I heard him get off the bed and walk toward me, that heaviness, that warmth that he brought with his bones, teased at my back. He stopped, close enough to touch me, and I was about to turn around, perhaps to do something foolish, when he crouched down.

“How is my art?”

His hands found my leg, one of them lifting the hem of my dress, the other slowly moving over the cherry blossom tattoo. I sucked in my breath, holding completely still, trying to contain my nerves that were firing wildly as his fingers ran along the ridges of the ink. He touched me gently over every vine, leaf and petal, until I had to supress a shaky moan that tried to escape from my lips.

“It feels fine,” I said softly when I found my voice.

“It looks beautiful,” he said.

“I had a beautiful artist,” I told him. I turned at the waist and look down at him, my blue dress glowing in his tanned hand, his other one placed firmly around my calf, his strong fingers imparting heat that sunk deep. He was looking up at me, lips parted slightly.

I couldn’t take a second more of this.

I turned and dropped to the ground, my knees rubbing against his.

I grabbed his face, his rough stubble pressing into my palms, and kissed him.

Hard.

There was surprise for a second, a hesitation, a pulse that refused to beat on. Then Camden kissed me back, his soft lips enveloping mine, his mouth opening to give me life. He put his hand behind my head, holding it there with power and control.

My heart was an elevator car, the cable suddenly snapped, and I was freefalling and falling and falling as his lips and tongue and hot, wet mouth took away every inch of my resolve. The more he kissed me, the deeper and longer we found each other, the thirstier I got for him. I felt like if we stopped, I would die, empty on the inside and forever longing.

“Ellie,” he whispered into my lips. “I … can’t.”

And I was empty.

I pulled away and looked at him, fighting the tears of frustration that were tickling behind my lids. “You can’t what?”

A jarring knock at the door prevented him from finishing his sentence.

The door swung open and Javier stepped in. He eyed the two of us, crouched together on the floor, our hands entwined in the other’s hair, our chests heaving and unseen hearts hurting. Breaking.

He couldn’t what?

Do this?

Love me?

I didn’t even care that Javier was watching us, waiting for us to say something, to explain ourselves. I cared about what Camden was going to say next.

“Well, isn’t this awkward,” Javier said. Though his tone was light there was no mistaking the fire that was burning in his eyes. He looked at me like he was ready to slit my throat and be done with it. He didn’t even give Camden a second look – this was all about me.

He finally tore his eyes away from us and over to the bed where Violetta was sleeping soundly. He made a tsk-ing noise and shook his head. “And you were about to fuck each other in front of my sister, is that right?” He looked back at me, chin down, lips pouting ever slightly. “I never pegged you to be such a whore.” He smiled as if forgetting his manners, adding, “Angel.”

It didn’t sting. It didn’t hurt me. I wouldn’t let him hurt me anymore.

But Camden sprung up as if he had been waiting for this and launched himself at Javier, his fists flying. Javier was quick too, and managed to duck, though not without Camden clocking him on the side of the head with a powerful blow.

The two of them tumbled to the ground, crashing against one of the bedside tables. Violetta didn’t stir, not even when I started yelling at them to stop it. I know I’d said I wanted to see this fight happen, but not now, not like this. This wouldn’t bode well for Camden and I, especially if Camden won again. Javier would never ever let him live that down.

Perhaps not even let him live.

Javier was fighting back, dirty, of course. His physical strength was no match for Camden’s and he repeatedly went for Camden’s injury on his shoulder, with every jab and hit he had. He was cruel and ruthless and got the job done. At one point Javier stuck his thumb hard into Camden’s bullet wound until Camden released him, crying out in horror.

This was my chance.

I leaped onto Camden’s back, wrapping my arms around his neck and good shoulder.

“Stop it!” I screamed in his ear. “This is what he wants.”

Violetta mumbled something at that, then adjusted herself on the bed and fell asleep again.

I looked up at Javier who was getting to his feet, his lip bloody again, his suit disheveled. He grinned, enjoying himself, and let out a wicked laugh. “You have no idea what I want.” He wiped his fingers across his lips and raised his dark brows at the blood on it. “Huh. Not even sure how you managed to do that again. You know, if you’re not careful Camden, you’re going to end up with nothing.”

“And yet you still haven’t killed me,” Camden said with effort. I could feel his heart racing in his chest, the rage that wanted to keep flying out of him until Javier was a lifeless pulp.

“I didn’t say anything about killing you,” Javier said. “I just said you’ll end up with nothing. And you will. You want to help Ellie get the things she wants, you have to start playing a lot nicer than you have been. A lot nicer.” He sighed and smoothed his hair behind his ears. “Ellie, if you want to see your Gus again, you come with me. Right now.”

He went for the door and I climbed off of Camden and said, “Not without him. I’m not doing this without Camden.”

Javier looked to the ceiling and mouthed something to the heavens, like he was arguing in Spanish with God. He exhaled long and slow through his nose. “Fine, bring the ape with you, as long as he can keep himself under control. Other people might not be as forgiving as I am.”

Camden stiffened under my fingers and I willed him to calm down, even though I had to bite my own tongue to keep from saying something. The penny-taste of blood filled my mouth but I only nodded and said, “Come on, Camden. We need to think about the big picture.”

“The picture is bigger than you know,” he muttered.

I was about to ask him what he meant when he brushed me aside and threw his shoulders back, walking up to Javier, looking large and in charge.

“We’re ready,” he said loudly, standing right behind him, his eyes bearing down. I watched their silent exchange for a moment, the complexity in their eyes as they matched against each other in a visual war. The snake and the bear, the man of stealth and lies, the man of soul and strength.

Both men who had a stake in my heart at some point in the game.

This ever-changing game.

Javier finally stepped back, flourishing the act with his arm. “After you,” he said, his words dripping with venom. He looked to me. “Come on, angel.”

I grabbed my purse and headed to the door. I was halfway out of it when Javier’s hand slipped around my waist and he whispered, “You look beautiful.”

I twisted away from his touch and quickened my steps so I was walking beside Camden. He didn’t look at me but his temples were twitching as he tried to keep his temper under control. I felt like we kept on taking one step forward together, two steps back, and Gus kept slipping away all the same.

The bar was dark but not dingy, small but not cramped. It looked like a good mix of locals and vacationing Mexicans who were staying at the hotel. Camden and I were the only gringos in the whole place but no one seemed to notice. They were all too busy laughing and drinking, having a good time.

In the corner of the bar, closest to an old pool table, was Dom. He was sitting with someone now and I could hear Javier mutter, “Fucking animal,” under his breath. I turned to look at him, to gauge his reaction, but Javier pushed past me and went up the table with open arms.

“Esteban, you bastard!” Javier exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

The man, Esteban, got up and the two of them embraced. Once I got to the table, smiling politely at Dom, I got a better look at Esteban.

He was around six feet, medium-build, light olive skin and bright hazel eyes, hair done up like a surfer, all shoulder-length straggles, dark brown with sun-bleached strands. He looked to be about our age, late twenties, and could have been a Matthew McConaughey’s Doppelganger if it wasn’t for the fact that he had a swath of lacerations on the left side of his face. It was weird to see someone so beautiful and ugly at the same time. He was scarred just like me, only his were visible for all the world to see.

And yet here he was, smiling and greeting Javier like old chums, not making any apologies for himself, for what had happened to him, for the scars he had to bear. He embraced it. Like, fuck it, this is me.

After the two embraced, Esteban sat back down and immediately looked to me. He didn’t say anything though, just pressed his pretty lips together into a small smile. His eyes did most of the talking. He knew who I was. He eyed Dom and a similar look was exchanged.

Javier looked to Dom. It was odd to see him so genuinely happy to see someone. “Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?”

Dom smiled. “I wanted to show you that I too have a few surprises up my sleeve.” He nodded at Camden and I. “Please sit down, Ellie. And you must be Camden.”

Introductions were quickly made by me since Javier wasn’t stepping up to the plate.

“Got something on your lip there?” Esteban pointed at Javier.

Javier dabbed his bruised lip, a spot of blood coming away. He smiled quickly. “It’s a tough business.”

Camden quietly snorted beside me but thankfully kept his mouth shut.

I leaned on the table, my hands clasped under my chin and eyed Esteban and Dom. “Before we start getting into the real reason we’re all sitting here, Esteban, why don’t you tell me how you come into all of this.”

Dom let out an amused gasp and sat back in his chair. He watched Javier for his reaction, knowing he was going to be slighted from me taking the reins of this whole thing, of his cartel. But fuck it. This was my mission more than anything. And if I was going to risk our lives to get Gus, I had to know exactly who everyone was and how they were playing into it.

Esteban raised his brows and said, in near-perfect English, “Well, Miss Watt. My brother used to work for Javi–”

“He still does,” Javier interjected.

Esteban gave him a look. “Yes. But I haven’t heard from him in a while and I am sure you haven’t either. Anyway, I joined in after Travis. I’m part of the new and improved cartel. The younger one. The stronger one.” He grinned. “Of course, things don’t always go as planned. I got into a, well, a scuffle down here with another cartel. I should say, the police that the cartel was paying off. Not the Zetas, the Gulf. But what does it matter what cartel it is, right? Alliances mean nothing these days. So in this scuffle, I had a load of shrapnel to my face and was presumed dead. I wasn’t, hey. But let them think that.”

“You let me think that,” Javier said. “You let Alex think that.”

“It was for the best,” Esteban said.

“Alex is your brother?” I asked him, remembering all too well the other henchman of Javier’s.

He nodded. “I saw all the fine ladies he was pulling in with his new cars and suits and wanted in.” He winked at me then waved over the waitress.

We all shut up while she came by and took our orders (more beer, naturally), then as soon as she was gone, I launched into more questions.

“So why are you here now?” I asked him.

He gave Javier a look, as if saying ain’t she the eager beaver. Then Esteban gazed me directly in the eye, unblinking, piercing. Suddenly, terribly serious. “Because Javier and Dom cannot do this on their own. You cannot do this on your own. Travis’s compound is in the east of the Honduras. Right in the heart of the jungle. Not even accessible by road. They chopper in and out. We can’t do that. We have to hike it and it takes several days. Then when you get whoever you’ve come to get, it won’t be so easy to leave.” He took a swig of his beer. My limbs felt leaden at the news. I had imagined him being in a house similar to the one in Veracruz, not a fortress in the middle of a jungle, not some place we’d have to hike to. “Speaking of, this man that you say Travis has, Gus? There’s a woman too.”

“My mother.”

“Yes, so I hear.”

“Will they be expecting Ellie?” Javier asked.

He nodded. “I think so. But maybe not you.”

“How could they not be expecting Javier?” Camden asked suddenly. “They’ve been chasing us all over.”

Esteban gave a half-shrug. “It’s just a hunch. Anyway, it doesn’t matter who they expect because we will go there all the same and when we do we’ll all be dead to them, equally.”

I sighed and put my head into my hands. This was getting more and more impossible by the moment. I felt Camden’s hand on my knee, giving it a squeeze, but even that didn’t help.

“No one said this would be easy,” Dom said gently.

Such concern from the cartel. How nice.

“When do we go?” I said, straightening up and running my hands down my face. “What do we need to do?”

Esteban eyed Javier, as if he was unsure of his place to speak now.

Javier took it and ran with it. He pushed his chair back and leaned into it, his legs splayed, his beer dangling from his fingers.

“This is what we’re going to do,” he said smoothly. “The five of us will head to Honduras. I’m sending Violetta away in the morning. Dom, we’ll need someone to take her to Puerto Vallarta. She can stay with her sisters or not but I want her out of the picture. Este, you gather what information you can. You’re the tech expert here. The logistics of the operation have to be sound. I mean asshole tight, you understand? If we need more than us five, then you bring a few more in. Just remember, I want this as small as possible. The more people who know, the more we’re at risk.”

“Can the five of us really get into Travis’s place and get my mother and Gus out?” I asked.

Javier smiled patronizingly. “My dear, I think you’re underestimating me. You don’t need to match his team to win. Besides, I don’t plan on killing everyone there. I only plan on killing him and whoever else gets in my way. The others, they will surrender to me once he is gone. We need a small team, maybe six of us if we have to. With the best weapons. The best tech. The best … depravity.” He slammed back the rest of his beer and slammed it on the table. “Have a little faith.”

His words rumbled through me like a heavy bass chord.

Faith.

Another thing I’d lost along the way.