Page 24 of Seductive Desires

I scowled at him. “I don’t need a holiday. I can watch the studio while you’re gone.”

“No, Mari, you can’t. You're unhappy and it shows with the way you deal with customers.” He paused. “I think you should call him.”

I jerked up, almost throwing myself off the bed. “You’re nuts. You know why I can’t, Carlos!” Was he conveniently forgetting the whole major criminal thing?

“I know what you told me. But how much of what you know is from a disgruntled employee? You haven’t even given him a chance to explain.”

I threw my arms into the air. “And what? What exactly is he going to say? He didn’t say she was wrong! I asked more than once!”

He rolled until he was seated on the edge of the bed, looking down at his hands. “Mari, is it possible that maybe he’s more than what he does? We’ve all got shit we’ve done that we’re not proud of. You remember how you met me, right?”

I flinched. Yes, I remember. He was a male stripper trying to put himself through art school. “But that’s not illegal! And it’s not something to be ashamed of! You didn’t hurt anyone!”

“And who's to say Mateo has? You said he was a money launderer. To my knowledge, that doesn’t mean he’s out shooting people. He’s more like a shady accountant.”

I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t date criminals, Carlos. I stay out of trouble so I can stay hidden. You know that.”

He nodded. “Well, regardless. You’ve got the next two weeks off. Fully paid. You can either pull yourself out of your funk or you can call the man. Let me know when you decide.” He stood, kissing my cheek lightly. “I love you, Mari. You’re my best friend. I want you to be happy. So for once, try not to focus on just what you need. You deserve to get what you want too.”

ChapterTwelve

After Carlos left,I wallowed in self pity for the rest of the day. When I woke up the following morning, I decided enough was enough. I needed to pull myself together and focus on what was important. School. I only had a few months until I graduated and I had a big paper due at the end of the year that would make or break my grade. It all would be riding on this.

I was packing up my bag to hit the library when my phone rang.

“Mariana! You look amazing!”

I frowned. “Um, hi Jo. What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the magazine!”

She was overly excited and not making much sense. What magazine? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, you haven’t seen it yet? You should look in the Chicago Elite magazine. Page 10.”

This was weird. I wouldn’t be in a magazine unless maybe I was in the background or something. Which wouldn’t be good. Luckily, Carlos was bringing over stacks of magazines every time he came to try and cheer me up and the magazine she was talking about was one of them. I held the phone between my shoulder and my ear so I could flip through the pages. When I finally landed on it, my stomach hit the floor.

Splashed across the whole page was a huge photo of Mateo and I dancing at the gala. I had no idea people had been taking pictures at the time. I scanned the article and luckily my name wasn’t in it. But my face sure as hell was. We were smiling at each other as he spun me. It looked like a fairytale picture.

Terror seized me and I felt my body go cold. “Jo… how long has this article been out?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Not long. A couple days. Why?”

A couple days was long enough. I felt my stomach twist and resisted the urge to dry heave. I need to leave. Now.

“Jo, I have to go.” I didn’t wait for her to respond. I hung up, running back to my room. I grabbed a duffle from under my bed and started shoving my clothes into it. I felt like there was static in my ears, my fingers trembling. My phone rang again. Carlos’s name flashed on the screen and I snatched it up. He was the only one who knew. He could help me.

“Carlos!”

“Oh, Mari! I forgot, there is one thing I want you to do for work.”

“Carlos, wait–”

“No, I know, I said you could have time off and you totally can. I just need you to go look at a potential new gallery for me. It’s connected to the museum and almost never available so it can’t wait until I get back. Please?”

I heard noises in the background, calling for people to board the plane. He must be at the airport already. I fought back tears. “Okay… I’ll do it but–”

“Oh my gosh, thanks, chica. I completely blanked on it. It’s today at noon, so you still have some time to get there. I gotta go though, I need to board. Love you!”

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