Page 101 of Skin Deep

Eloisa was one of her sisters. Candelora and Veronica were the other two. They all lived and worked on the property.

I stood up, going to head toward the gates, just as Georgina stepped out of the casa.

“What are we talking about?” she said, carrying a wooden bowl full of salad. A full carrot was sticking out, pointed down. She threw it to Gus. He caught it with a crunch, and laid down with it, gnawing on it like a bone.

She sat the bowl down, then she came to stand next to me. I set my hand on her waist, pulling her closer. She looked between me and Stella. “What is going on?”

“Someone we do not recognize at the gates,” Stella said. “Ciccio is going to check it out.”

Stella and her sisters called me that sometimes. Ciccio. (It sounded likecheech-oto me when they said it.) I found out it meant honey, sweet. Georgina laughed when she told me they called me that because of my body. It was better than Grumpy Indiana Jones, or whatever the fuck my family called me behind my back.

“I will go with—”

“No,” Stella said, cutting her off. “You will help me get the rest of the food out. Ciccio will not be long.”

Georgina watched me leave with narrowed eyes. Gus tried to follow me, but I told him to stay. He was too bright to have out at night. He couldn’t blend. And I wanted him to stay with his mamma. I liked how protective he was over her already. I stopped by our casa on my way to the front, grabbing the gun I kept in the nightstand next to the bed.

The property was well protected. Two massive citrus groves—one for blood oranges and one for lemons—spread out in front of the property. A long road separated them. Then the land opened some, and the gate that ran the perimeters of the property came into view. Behind it was the main villa. Behind that—countless numbers of smaller places. Some of them were run down and not even habitable. That was why I had assumed it was a resort at first.

I heard screaming coming from the other side of the gate, cut off by the sound of a car door slamming shut. Tires crackled against the road.

Eloisa and Veronica stood with their hands on their hips, staring toward it. When they heard me approach, they turned, both of their mouths pinched.

Eloisa lifted what looked like a handgun. “Stella told me not to, but I shot one in his ass with a rubber bullet.” She nodded to a ladder that was leaning against the fence. She’d climbed it and shot over it.

Probably because the barrel was too fat to fit through the small, round openings placed sporadically on the fence. They were created on purpose—for a long, thin barrel of a gun to fit in and for an eye to peek out of. Whoever secured this place had secured it thinking of war.

“They gone?” I said.

“Going.” She nodded. “But I did not get the one—what’s his name?”

“Mil-something,” Veronica said.

“Mil-something. There were three of them with him. His bodyguards? But Mil-something will be back.”

“He said so,” Veronica said. “The other one, Elias—he was relentless, too. He would not stop. It could have ended much differently for our G.”

It could have. And I’d never forget it. When the sisters turned to go back to their own places, I did, too. My thoughts were heavy as I followed the trail back to Stella’s place. The gun tucked into the back of my pants felt too cool—it should have been hot against my skin after I killed that motherfucker.

“Shit,” I barely breathed out, stopping in my tracks.

Mac had stepped out of the darkness. He almost reminded me of a ghost coming to life, his vivid blue eyes the most alive thing about him.

He grinned at me. “Man in love with your wife? Being a nuisance? Imagine that.”

I read between the lines—Man in love with your wife? Being a nuisance? And you’re pissed about it? Seems fair to me.But for once, he had no clue what the fuck was going on. I didn’t have the patience to explain it to him either. One day, I’d get him to see the light. But as murderous as I felt, I was too lost in red to even find my way back in the darkness.

I was going to kill that motherfucker, Miles, and then bury him next to his buddy, Elias.

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