Page 54 of Bad Men

“Ten … ten years?” I whispered.

An eyebrow lifted on his brow. “You’ve been sleeping with them for ten years?”

I blinked. “What? No. Only two, three days.”

He hummed softly. “Do you consider yourselves close?”

I shook my head. “I don’t really know them.”

“See, I find that fascinating.” He placed the gun lightly on his thigh and folded both hands overtop. “You claim you don’t know them, yet they felt comfortable enough to involve you in a task they were given the other night. Can you explain that?”

Maybe it was the roar of terror hammering against the walls of my skull, but I couldn’t make any sense of his question.

“I don’t…”

“I know Nero took you somewhere you didn’t belong, Mia,” he interrupted with a sharpness that hadn’t been there before. “Don’t try to deny it, please. It will upset me.” He lowered his gaze as if to collect himself before continuing. “What did Nero tell you on your outing?”

This again.

But this wasn’t Davien asking. I wasn’t safe with this guy. This guy would not be merciful or understanding. He would kill me if I answered wrong.

“That he didn’t want me to walk home alone,” I breathed, opting to tell as much of the truth as possible.

“He didn’t tell you why he was there or who he was waiting for?”

“He just said he was waiting for some guy who owed him money,” I breathed, wishing my tongue would stop sticking to the roof of my mouth.

Alejandro cocked his head to one side. “What guy?”

I released a shaky exhale. “He never said his name.”

“What else did you talk about?”

My head was shaking before I could stop it. “Nothing. I asked him to come over. That was it.”

“Did the guy show up?”

I shook my head again. “Nero said he must have missed him.”

The monster in the seat next to me lowered his gaze in thought. His free hand lifted and absently scratched at the corner of his nose with a neatly manicured nail.

“Do you know what Nero and Davien’s jobs are?”

I forced the muscles of my shoulder to jerk up once. “They sometimes run errands for Eduardo.”

“Errands,” he mimicked with an almost tilt to his mouth. “Do you know what kind?”

I immediately shook my head.

“They never told you?”

I knew what Nero and Davien did for a living. I knew — to some extent — what they’d done. It was more than most women could handle I knew, but it didn’t bother me. I didn’t care. My need for them overshadowed the knowledge that they were bad men.

“Why would they?” I whispered, willing my stiff lips to move.

“Men talk,” he stated simply. “We like impressing beautiful women with the bad things we’ve done.”

“They’ve never told me anything about anything.”

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