Page 8 of City of Salvation

I yanked my leg out of his grasp, kicking his face as I pulled it back onto the stage.

“Oops,” I said, dropping down into a crouch in front of him.

“Fucking bitch,” he yelled, clutching his nose as blood leaked out. Pathetic. I hadn’t even hit him that hard.

CHAPTER 4

DEX

HER IRE MADE MY DICK HARD

“Pa'arriba, pa' abajo, pa' centro, pa' dentro.”

I let out a groan as tequila slid down my throat in a delicious burn. Fuck, I needed this damn drink. I needed this damn night, period. I’d spent the last two days tracking down a Reaper piece of shit and then spending somequality timewith him.

It’d been happening more and more lately.

“Heardla jefais letting you use her playground.” Robert’s voice was low so the other patrons at the bar didn’t overhear him. The club was all legit on this side of the walls, and Ryan wouldn’t appreciate it if we scared them off with talk of hacking off body parts. “I’d have thought y’all would have one,” he said, glancing over my way.

All I gave him was a grunt as I tried to track down where the bartender had run off to. “We do. Problem is, we are toeing the fucking line with starting a war with those fuckers. Don’t want anyone to find a Reaper in our…playground.”

“Claro.” Rob nodded in understanding. “Since they aren’t welcome around here, there’s no real chanceof them showing up looking for their man,” he said, connecting the dots as to why I was torturing someone on cartel soil.

If the Reapers started sniffing around the dude’s disappearance, we could claim he’d trespassed on Los Muertos’s turf, and La Brujita doled out his punishment. She’d already marked her line in the sand a few months back when she’d dropped off another Reaper body at their clubhouse gates after they’d showed up at Lotería.

Which was a fucking boss ass move on her part.

Pres figured we’d be in the clear with this cover, but fuck, shit had been wild over the last few months, and we still hadn’t recovered.

“Can we get two more doubles,” I called out, shoving our shot glasses toward the pretty brunette who’d been eyeing me all night. She giggled at the wink I sent her. When she walked away, I dragged my hand down my face like I could wipe away all the shit of my past.

There was this danger zone with alcohol, where I’d had too much and couldn’t keep the memories locked away, but not enough to feel oblivion. I always tried my damnedest to get through as quickly as possible.

That’s what we were going for tonight, the sweet embrace of oblivion.

A flirtatious voice had me moving my hands away and reaching out to grab our refills. “Thanks, doll,” I said, giving her the charming smile I’d perfected years ago—the one I used to ease people’s concerns about how I was really doing.

I pushed one of the glasses toward my newest friend. His tanned hand snapped out to catch it.

“¿Otro?I’m supposed to be working tonight,” Robert responded with a growl of annoyance. Throwing the shot back, I rolled my eyes at his weakass attempt at getting out ofbeing completely sloshed tonight. The smokiness lingered on my tongue and a cough escaped.

She hadn’t skimped on the tequila, pouring it to the tip of the rim. I didn’t know if that was because I was with her boss’s right-hand man or because she wanted a ride on thegüerito.

“Beto, there’s, like, a fuck ton of criminal bikers here tonight. What’s going to happen?” I threw my arm out behind us toward the area of the club that housed the main stage, which was where all my brothers were hanging around. “Plus, Ryan’s here. She’s a menace on her own. Fuckin’ told my whole club she’d cut their balls off and shove them down their throats if any of them touched the girls without consent. Which I would have done, regardless of her feelings on it,” I said, blowing a kiss to the bartender when she dropped off a whole bottle of mezcal, noting the number scrawled on the napkin below it.

Yeah, it’s definitely because she wants to fuck.

“Pendejo,” he mumbled.

I could feel him glaring at me as I watched the woman walk toward the end of the bar, a little extra sway in her hips.

“Close your mouth. You’re drooling all over the marble. It’s gross, especially because Isabella is like a sister.”

“Well, yoursisterhas a nice ass.” I turned my body back toward Robert. “Salud. Here’s to drinking till we fucking forget.” I took a pull from the bottle, pocketing the napkin. “You know, the real answer to why we are only using ten percent of our brain is because the other ninety percent is made up of all the trauma threatening to take over.”

Robert eyed me, blinking a few times before his face morphed into a look of concern. Shaking his head, he peered into his glass. “Damn, man, not even Vicks will fix you.” There was a slight pause, like he was trying to decide if heshould say aloud what was running through his mind. “Also, it really scares me that you said that with a smile.Salud.” He threw the clear liquid back.

Robert’s response had me grinning wider. He had no clue.

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