Page 17 of Carlos: Trilogy: Part Two

“That means you have a job opening?” she asked, excited.

“I do. Happen to know a sexy lady who’s looking for work?”

Zoe turned to Jenna. “Are you happy with your job?”

Jenna laughed as Carlos growled. He forced Zoe’s face back towards her. “Let me try that again: do you know of a sexy lady who’s looking for work that also lives in my house and shares my bed and is living under a false identity?”

Zoe’s face scrunched. “That’s really specific. I mean, how would that résumé even look? Like—” Zoe’s words were cut off by her laughter as Carlos near tackled her, dragging her up onto his lap.

His hat nearly fell off, but Zoe caught it and placed it over her own head. She looped her arms around his neck, kissing the underside of his chin. Calming, she settled herself against his shoulder.

Carlos tipped his hat out of the way enough to place a kiss on her forehead. “No pressure, sunshine, but the job is yours if you want it.”

Zoe smiled against his beige uniform. “I want it. I’m just nervous about having such a public job.”

“Sometimes the best disguise is the one right in front of you,” he said as if quoting from somewhere. “If we present you as someone who has nothing to hide, why would anyone think you’re hiding?”

Zoe nodded. He had a point, but it still didn’t completely settle her nerves.

The telltale snap of a camera startled Zoe so much, she sat up, almost clipping Carlos’s chin with her forehead.

“Sorry,” Jenna said with a soft smile. “I couldn’t resist. You two just looked too perfect.” She turned her phone around to show Carlos and Zoe the picture she’d taken of them cuddling.

Surprised, Zoe blinked. They looked…content. Like there were no challenges or angst in their world. “I love it,” she sighed. “I wish I had a phone so you could send it to me.”

She was about to ask Jenna to send it to Carlos’s phone when he suddenly sat up more. “Shit, I’m such a dumbass.” He had to shift her hip slightly to reach into his pocket. He pulled out a cell phone. “Here. Keys handed me this on my way in just now.”

“For me?” she gasped. She hadn’t had a phone in over three years.

“You need a phone, Zo. Keys set this up and backdated it so it looks like you’ve had it for years. He even added baby pictures that look a hell of a lot like Kyle.”

Zoe clicked the screen and found a picture of her son swinging on the swings in the communal backyard as the wallpaper. “How… I mean, when…” Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “Is that Photoshop’ed?”

Jenna shook her head. “I saw Keys outside taking pictures of the kids earlier.”

Abby and Bulldog had volunteered to watch Kyle for her so Jenna and Zoe could talk uninterrupted. Her first instinct was to not allow Kyle out of her sight, but she managed to tamp that down. Beyond Bulldog being Carlos’s brother, Bulldog had proven his loyalty to protecting her and her son when he’d help shelter her for a year.

Zoe unlocked the phone to see a text message waiting for her. The fact that it wasn’t the only text message in her phone shocked her more than the message itself.

Keys: Remember to set a password.

“I don’t know what to say,” Zoe said, flabbergasted. “The last time I had a phone, Davis used it to control me. He always checked my messages and used it to track my movements. I couldn’t send a message or make a call without him knowing about it.”

Carlos’s arm came around her, touching her hand over the phone on the table. “Sunshine, I swear to you. This is your phone. I’ll even ask Keys to back off and not look in it anymore. I will never ask you to check your phone. It is yours and only yours.”

Zoe swallowed hard. “You gave me your tablet without hesitation. I could see everything of yours on it. But I…”

“I will never ask for your password,” Carlos continued when she hesitated. “I will even look away now as you set it.”

Zoe, though, shook her head. They’d sworn to be honest with each other, so she was. “No, it’s not that. I mean, it is. The idea of being controlled again frightens me, but not by you. I think just in general.”

He rested his chin on her shoulder, tall enough to do so even though she was sitting on his lap. “That’s a legitimate fear. Hell, some people don’t have cellphones because they think the government uses it to track them. Here.” He covered his eyes with a hand. “Make your password. I’m not even looking.”

“No, it’s not necessary, really?—”

“Sunshine, I’m not looking until you have a password on your phone. I’m stronger and more stubborn than you, so don’t even try to test me on this.”

Zoe looked down at her phone and then across the table at Jenna, who had a hand over her mouth like she was trying to contain a smile or laughter.

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