Page 78 of South Beach Bodyguards

“Yes.” Benito and I were being friendly, but there was tension there between us. The way there always was since the night Rachel died and I had blamed Benito for her overdose. I hoped after this, I wouldn’t have to see him again anytime soon. “You’re going to leave my girlfriend out of this, aren’t you?”

He paused, one sandal on the asphalt. “You don’t get to ask for favors. I let you live today, that was your last favor.”

Fury made my nostrils flare and my muscles tense. “Then I guess we’re even. Because I let you live six years ago.”

“Fair enough.”

I followed him to the car. He opened the car, grabbed the bag from Ricardo, whose hands were cuffed behind him, and pulled a gun on him. “Steal from me again and I’ll blow your fucking head off you greedy motherfucker.”

The accountant was still in his car across the parking lot and once Benito left, I handed Ricardo over to him. I wanted done with this whole mess. Now that I knew Eva and Olivia were safe for now, and Benito was satisfied, I started to feel the crash. The dark blanket that had been smothering me for years descended thick, heavy, wet with negative emotion. I didn’t want to think about Rachel. I avoided that at all costs.

I called Olivia with Ricardo’s phone, which I had kept.

“Ricardo?” she said, answering immediately. “What is going on? Do you want to talk to Eva?”

“It’s me, Wester. Ricardo is on his way back home. Everything okay there?”

“We’re fine.” She sounded clipped now that she knew it was me.

I sighed. I was hungry. Tired. My arm hurt like a bitch. I wanted a hot shower and a warm woman in my arms, but that wasn’t going to happen. “Ricardo is going to send you and Eva to New York City to stay in his apartment there until we know for sure everything is safe here.”

“What? I’m not going to New York. I start back to class in two days.”

I rubbed my temples, sighing into the phone. “Olivia. Use some common sense.”

“Why do you care?”

That was a good question. I shouldn’t. I didn’t want to. I wanted to walk away, go home, shower this day and night off me and go back to my very boring and ordinary daily routine.

But I pictured Olivia, beneath me, her eyes wide and dark, trusting me. Opening her body to me to save herself. I couldn’t quit that image. I couldn’t quit the way it had made me feel. The first thawing of my icy heart in years. I didn’t know what it meant and it kind of scared the hell out of me, but I couldn’t just walk away without knowing she was safe. That her sacrifice, in having sex with me, hadn’t been for nothing.

I wasn’t good at displaying genuine emotion. I wasn’t even good at caring. All I could manage was, “Because I do.”

It didn’t impress her. “Well, stop. I’m fine. I’m going back to the Gables and I’m forgetting all of this ever happened.”

If she could tell me how to do that, I’d love some advice. “All of it?” I asked, my tone seductive. I was back on sure footing, the charmer. The guy who knew how to shift through the women who wanted relationships and find the ones who didn’t. Who just wanted a good time. “You want to forget every last detail of my tongue on you?”

“Especially that.” But she suddenly sounded breathless. “That never happened as far as I’m concerned.”

“That’s too bad. Because that was my favorite part.” My car was hot as hell despite the air conditioning blasting and I wanted out of my jacket. I tried to shrug out of it but winced when dried blood prevented the fabric from moving on my arm.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Just trying to take off my jacket. I’m fine. I’ve had worse.”

There was a long pause. “You should go to the emergency room.”

“No, thank you.” But I appreciated the concern. “I’d rather have you with me so I know you’re safe. That’s the only thing that will make me feel better.”

“I almost believe you,” she whispered.

She had a melodic voice when she wasn’t yelling at me. Not as sweet as her sister. Still sharp. But weightier. More purpose behind her words. I sat in my stifling car in the park and fought the urge to punch my dashboard. This wasn’t fair. To her. To me. Yet I pushed it. Pursued it. Craved her. “Believe it. Let me pick you up and take you home and make sure you’re safe.”

“Only if you let me see your arm and take care of it.”

The idea of having her touch me in a non-sexual way was oddly intriguing. No one had in years. I barely let my own mother touch me anymore. I granted her a hug on her birthday and Christmas, but for the most part I held people out of my personal space, unless it was a hook up. “It’s a deal, Olivia.” Her name came easily off my tongue. As lyrical as her voice. “Though I may not be welcome at Ricardo’s. Meet me at the security gate. Have one of the guards take you down there. Pack your stuff if you’re not planning on going back.”

“Okay. My sister will go wherever Ricardo tells her and if she leaves, I leave. But I’m not missing classes.”

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