Page 53 of Velvet Deception

Neither of us would.

“Ride me, my sweet angel. Let us mark tonight as the one that starts the rest of our future.”

With love.

With his finger rubbing in and out of my ass, and as I lifted and sank up and down on him, I wanted to reach my bliss, accepting the full-body burn of desire. My orgasm would stun me, I knew it would, and I anticipated the sweet relief that would lance through me.

With his hot lips brutal against mine, as we kissed like we couldn’t exist without each other, he stuffed me full while I rode him. A moment later, we came together, falling into the utter ecstasy and beautiful blessing of an orgasm that robbed my breath.

I would never be tired of making love to this man.

And I knew now more than ever that hewasmine.

Mine to keep.

No matter what secrets lurked in his past.

22

DIEGO

Buoyed by the thought that Sofia loved me, I tried to keep the demons of uncertainty away. If she loved me, if she could vow to stand by me no matter what, then what was the purpose of worrying about who I used to be?

That was the question that plagued me, though. That was the question that I couldn’t ignore on the principle that ignorance was bliss. It wasn’t. Knowledge was power, and I was determined, more than ever, to have all the power of being prepared for whatever darkness lingered in my past. Especially if it could come back to hurt her or Ramon.

An association with the Cartel would certainly be a means of harming them.

If I were to believe Manny, I used to work with him on runs. And that sure as hell didn’t mean anything recreational or fun. No way. When a man was clearly marked and branded as an employee of the Cartel, arunmeant drugs. Or women. Or guns. Or any other number of coveted things on the black market.

I wantednothingto do with that. I couldn’t believe that I was ever a person to be affiliated with such evil.

But the more I mulled over it all, I convinced myself that it couldn’t be that far-fetched. That it couldn’t be a lie that I was once involved with the Cartel to some extent.

I knew how to kill, and kill well.

I didn’t have to stop and think twice about how to dispose of a body or clean up blood, clearly experienced with it.

I fell into what seemed like a stealth mode all too easily.

I was found wearing a disguise.

What bothered me the most was that pleasure in inflicting pain. When I fought and killed those two men threatening Sofia and Ramon, I enjoyed it. I took glee in knowing I’d hurt them and would end their lives. If that didn’t make me a sicko, a sadist, then what would?

You did that to save them, though. You did that in the name of self-defense and protecting those you loved.

If I were a Cartel member, that justification wouldn’t work.

The next day, I drove Sofia’s car to drop her off. It was the first time I’d done it, and the only reason I drove her and Ramon was to be able to pick him up at the end of his early release from school and Señora Vasquez wouldn’t be able to drive him home like usual. It was the last day before his Christmas break. While I wanted to look forward to his being around more, I couldn’t evade this dark gloom.

I wanted to have money and the means to make it to get Sofia and Ramon gifts.

I wished I could go out and let everyone see that I was starting to view him as my son.

I thought about what we could do together to further celebrate Christmas. Mass, festivities, and parades.

Instead, I was just stuck in this limbo.

“I love you, Diego,” Sofia said before she got out of the car to go to work.

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