Page 22 of Rage & Paradise
I’m not going to be ashamed of it either.
Not only am I thinking about what I said, but also about what’s going on now.
We’ve got new clients, which means undoubtedly one of them will probably pop a fucking coronary trying to get some time with Estrella. Someone is probably over there right now fucking her brains out. She’s moaning and creaming all over another man’s dick.
“Fuck!” I yell to no one in particular as I turn over in my bed and punch the pillow. I need to get a fucking grip. She’s not my woman. I don’t want her as my damn woman. So why should it matter who the hell Estrella chooses to have sex with? She could get plowed through by a damn football team, back to back, and it shouldn’t make a fucking difference to me.
It shouldn’t, but it does.
There’s no way that I’m going to be able to fall asleep now, not with my mind racing like it is. So I get up out of the bed anddo a little shadowboxing. What is supposed to be a simple half-paced exercise quickly turns into an all-out battle with the man in the mirror.
My hands move fast. I’m bobbing and weaving to get away from the invisible punches flying back in my direction.
I don’t know how long I’m going at it, but when Lobo kicks my door open, I’m nearly about to collapse from exhaustion.
“What the hell, man? You ever heard of privacy?”
“I forgot to give you the damn pager.” He rushes forward into my room and hands me a small electrical device. It truly looks like one of those neon transparent pagers people used to wear in the nineties.
“What pager?” I ask as I fumble what he’s giving me, dropping it to the floor.
“The pager for Seda. If they need something or there are issues, they hit the button on the reception desk and it triggers a panic button.” Lobo leans forward and points at the pager I’ve picked up from the floor. “Panic button.”
“So you needed to kick in my door to tell me about a pager?” I squint at him, more than just a little pissed that he isn’t respecting my space.
“You never know when an emergency—” Before he can finish the statement, the pager in my hand shakes and flashing lights go off.
I stare at it like it’s a joke before I look back up at Lobo, waiting for him to start laughing. “You rigged this, didn’t you?”
“Fuck, no!” He barks before he takes off out of my room like a bat out of hell, running straight out of the clubhouse in the direction of Seda. I’m close on his heels.
Before we even make it across, we hear the one sound that threatens to rip the soul straight out of my body.
Gunshots.
TWELVE
Oro
Lobo and I run like the devil himself is chasing us.
He slows up just as he gets to the front door of Seda, but I won’t do any such thing.
I keep going, ready to burst through, until Lobo sticks his arm out and grabs me before I can push through.
I hear screaming and glass crashing. No more gunshots though.
“What the fuck!” I try to pull out of Lobo’s grip, but he holds me steady.
“Calma. Just wait. Are you carrying?” he questions me.
It’s only then that I look down and realize that I’m in a pair of flannel-printed pajama pants and a wife beater. He’s got on a similar outfit. Neither of us is prepared for whatever it is we are about to walk in on.
“Shit. I didn’t. Everything is back at the clubhouse.” I shoot a look over my shoulder.
“Me too,” Lobo whispers.
More screaming and crashing. “We can’t waste time going back,” I hiss at him.
