Page 92 of South Beach Bodyguards

“What is your problem tonight?” Ryan asked, throwing his cards down on the table. “I’m out, by the way.”

“Who are you talking to?” I asked, tossing a chip to match Romeo’s raising of the stakes. I didn’t have a problem. There were exactly no problems in my life. Which didn’t explain why I was in such a foul mood.

“You, asshole.” Ryan took a pull of his beer. We were having our poker night at his father’s house, and his girlfriend Isabel, brought a bowl of chips to an end table next to us. “Thanks, baby,” he said, giving her a kiss. “You’re so sweet.”

“Excuse me while I vomit,” Alejandro said.

Isabel wasn’t offended. She just smiled at Ryan and the rest of us. “Don’t be mean or I won’t give you the hot wings I just made.”

“Wait, seriously?” Alejandro asked, practically drooling. “You are the most wonderful woman in the world.”

I stared at my hand, grateful for her distraction from Ryan’s irritating question. But it didn’t take him long to circle back around.

“Lewiston. You’re off your game. What’s going on?”

“I got shot this morning,” I said. “It pissed me off. I’m just in a bad mood.”

“That’s not what it is. I’ve seen you hurt worse than this.”

“I hate Ricardo Davis.” I took a card after Romeo. “That’s all it is.”

“It was more than that. You seemed to have hit a nerve with Ricardo’s sister-in-law. She was spitting mad.”

I slapped my cards down, annoyed. “Like I’m going to be if you don’t shut the fuck up. What, you get a girlfriend and now you’re all in touch with your feelings? Go to hell.”

Alejandro whistled. “Dude, chill.”

Ryan looked unperturbed by my attitude. He was the calmest of our crowd, anyway, and now that he was getting laid on the regular, he was really chill. He was like a giant lion lulling in the sun, his woman next to him. I was jealous of that contentment. It was like regular sex with the same chick had made him perpetually satisfied and who wouldn’t want that? I did. I just couldn’t have it.

Looking after Isabel, who had retreated into the kitchen again, Ryan just grinned. “I’m in touch with a lot of things. You should try it.”

“I’m good.” What I was, was plagued by memories of Olivia against my kitchen wall, her soft cries in my ear, her body clinging to mine. I couldn’t go into that room again without picturing her there. Without remembering the way she had smelled, sweet and tangy. I could never make a cup of coffee or fry an egg in peace again.

Romeo laid down his cards. “Actually, you’re out fifty bucks, motherfucker.” He had a full house.

Damn it. I tossed my cards. I had two jacks. Whatever. I glanced at my phone again for the fifteenth time. For some stupid reason I kept expecting Olivia to text me. Which was ridiculous. She had made it pretty damned clear she didn’t want to see me again.

“No money and no lady,” Alejandro said. “Sucks to be you.”

It did.

Not only was I lusting after Olivia, I was worried about her. I figured she was safe now that Benito had been paid, but it concerned me that she was identical in appearance to Eva. That was the whole reason she’d been kidnapped in the first place. What if someone was too stupid to realize she was Eva’s twin? That Ricardo’s wife wouldn’t be attending college classes or living in a small apartment.

“I don’t see you with a woman, Alejandro,” I said.

“No, because I don’t exclude myself to just one. I need to share all this with as many ladies as possible. It’s too good to allow just one to have all the fun.”

That did make me laugh. “Keep deluding yourself, asshole.” But Alejandro wasn’t bragging with nothing to back it up. He was the kind of guy who was always smiling and laughing and women liked him. He coaxed even the most aloof and jaded girls to giggle and get naked with him.

“I’m going out tonight. Want to join me and see who gets more digits?”

I debated going. It sure as hell beat sitting at home and thinking about Olivia. But at the same time, I wasn’t in the mood to party. I would find the scene irritating. “No, thanks.”

“I thought so. Afraid to lose.”

That made me roll my eyes. The only thing I was losing was my patience. Normally hanging out with the guys was a good way to blow off steam, talk shit, and feel bad ass. But now I was just restless. I was only a few blocks from Olivia’s apartment, and she was all I could think about.

“He definitely sounds chicken shit,” Ryan agreed.

---