Page 46 of Till Death Do Us Part

Rei was asking questions and the man with his face near the windshield was trying desperately to shake his head. Suddenly, Rei took a step back and the man slowly stood with both hands raised.

Rei yelled at both men.

My heartbeat echoed in my ears.

What would happen to me if Rei was hurt?

I held my breath as Rei walked away, toward the direction we’d entered the building. My gaze scanned the dashboard, wondering if I could drive this car if necessary or if Rei had left the keys. Given my lack of experience with driving, I couldn’t guarantee that attempting to drive an Audi R8 was any safer than encountering the men outside.

Lost in my thoughts, Rei pounding on the window caused me to jump.

He motioned for me to come out.

For longer than a moment, I sat, trying to collect my breath and thoughts. A salty tear slid down my cheek as I longed for Kansas City and people I knew and trusted. My gaze went back through the window, seeing Rei’s impatient stare.

Nodding, I opened the car door. The chill of the evening sea breeze combined with the darkness caused my flesh to pebble with goose bumps. “Are we safe?”

“Mistaken identity is all. Nothing to worry about.” He gave me one last look over his shoulder. “You might want to stay with me.”

Good idea.

Doing as he said, I stayed at Rei’s side as we climbed a long case of metal stairs. Our steps reverberated noisily through the large building. My legs were complaining by the time we made it to the landing. Looking down, I saw we were easily two or three stories in the air. The door we reached had a small panel within. After Rei knocked, a man opened the small panel. The setup reminded me of an old speakeasy. The man within scrutinized us, his gaze lingering on me.

“SeñoraRoríguez,” Rei said.

The window shut and after a series of clicks, the door opened. With a full view of the man, I sucked in a breath. He was tall and beefy, with the perfect bouncer physique. As we stepped inside, my nose scrunched at the multitude of odors permeating the air. The volume of voices rose with cat calls, whistles, and comments about my ethnicity as thirty or more sets of eyes turned in our direction.

Rei removed the same blade from wherever he kept it hidden.“SeñoraRoríguez,” he said loudly.

All the eyes turned away and the remarks ended. The low din of conversations resumed.

The giant room we’d entered was filled with long picnic tables, enough to seat probably a hundred or more people. Scanning the people within, I saw I was obviously the only woman. The men sat scattered around in small groupings. Electronics and weapons of all types were on the tables.

Rei tilted his head toward one end of the room. I stayed at his side as we walked between the tables toward another door. As we progressed, the men pretended to ignore us, instead concentrating on their task at hand. They were cleaning guns, sharpening knives, working on computers, or eating from takeout containers.

An armed man stood beside the door Rei led me to. The guard didn’t question us. He nodded and opened the door. This room had an overwhelming odor: the distinct combination of perspiration and disinfectant.

As I tried not to inhale too deeply, my focus zeroed in on the man sitting up on a cot—my husband. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his left arm was wrapped with bandages. His dark stare went from Rei to me.

“Aléjandro,” I said softly as a lump came to my throat. I hurried to him. “Are you…? Can I touch you?”

His lips quirked as he lifted his right hand. “Always.”

Aléjandro looked up at the men standing near us. Seeing his brother’s knife, he asked, “Que pas??”

Rei responded, knowing I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

From the sound of it, my husband wasn’t happy about our downstairs welcoming crew. Finally, Aléjandro cocked his chin to the side, and Rei as well as the other few men stepped away, leaving us as alone as possible.

I waited until their discussion ended.

Taking his hand, I scanned from his messy hair down his handsome face that had a dark shadow of whiskers. My gaze continued down his bare chest, his sculptured abs, and finally, to his trim waist where his blue jeans began. Once I was certain the only bandages were on his arm, I sat at his side and ran my fingers over his chest before looking up into his gaze. “If you’re trying to scare me, you’re doing a good job.”

With a grimace, he lifted both hands to my cheeks and pulled me toward him until our lips touched. “You’re trembling,” he said as our kiss ended. “Are you scared?”

Swallowing, I nodded. “Of everything. But” —I hesitated to say anything— “I got the feeling I’m not exactly welcome here.”

“You are and I’ll kill anyone who makes you feel that way.”

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