Page 61 of Outcast

Esteban had stopped running behind me and now he was breathing down my neck. Probably waiting for the word from Rita to eject me from the property.

"So you show up at my house? It's not like you to force yourself on a woman." She crossed her arms and cocked out a hip.

I grimaced as memories assaulted me. Of what my father had condoned. What my uncle had done. What I'd witnessed and loathed myentirelife.

The hardness in her expression wavered but she firmed it back up.

"What do you want?" she asked the very question I'd thrown at Esteban.

"To talk." I pulled my shoulders back and sucked in a deep breath. This was it. She'd give me five minutes to lay it all out. Then I'd make her see how this was different. How I wouldn't make the same mistakes I had before.

A cattiness I'd only seen a handful of times flickered over her face. Her gaze moved to Esteban behind me and then back to me.

"You want to stay? I'm not in the mood to talk." Before I could process what she meant, she crooked a finger at Esteban and motioned him closer. He went, like the fucking dog he was. He stopped on the bottom step, and she cupped his face like he was precious.

Dipping closer, she kept her gaze on me as she pressed her lips to his. It was a sensual slide. So fast, it was over almost before it started.

I schooled my expression. Everything Vicente had taught me came down to this moment.

My stomach rolled but I would not show it.

When she stepped back, she pulled a disgusted face and shook her head.

"Get out of here. I need to take care of Dirty Dogs business and it's no place for you."

She went back inside, leaving the door open. Esteban slipped inside after her. Neither of them glanced back as the door shut.

I did the only thing I could do. With my head held high, I walked back to my car, and drove the fuck away from here.

15

ESTEBAN

My lips tingled from the kiss and the back of my neck warmed in satisfaction from slamming the door in Matías' face.

He thought he did something by reminding me that Rita loved him and not me. Fuckingcabrón. I knew that.

But it was what I was willing to do that made all the difference. I could make Rita love me. Show her that I was the right man for her. She might not love me today, or tomorrow, but she lusted for me.

That was enough for me until she did. By then, Matías would be a long forgotten memory.

Rita stopped in the center of the room, then whipped around to face me. Her brows pinched together and her mouth was slightly parted as she stared up at me.

"What's wrong?" Everything fell away except for the obvious upset on her face.

"We have to go to the compound. Tiago is dead."

What the fuck? I almost had to reach out a hand to steady myself. It took a minute for her words to process.

We didn't have deaths like this. Not since we fought with the old Institution.

"We have to go. Come on. I'll take you." I grabbed her hand and bolted for the door, picking up her keys on the way.

This was big. Huge. If this was the work of that new club...

It really had meant war.

I glanced back to make sure she had her shoes on still. She did.

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