The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2) (15 page)

He couldn’t do it, so he said, “I just love you. That’s it. Only love. Not sex. I can just love someone. Love is good. Sex is cruel.”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said with a bitter laugh. “But I think sex can be kind.”

“It’s dirty.” Chuito confessed it like a sin, because he thought about dirty sex with Alaine all the time. “Angels don’t like dirty.”

“Except I’m not an angel,” Alaine corrected him.

He smiled. “You are an angel. You cry during fights. You’re sweet, mami. You don’t wanna be with someone like me. Not like that. Friends are good.”

“I do want it, Chu,” she said without hesitating. “I want it more than anything.”

Chuito closed his eyes at the white-hot rush of lust that surged into his bloodstream, so hard and blinding it made his head throb worse. It had been so long since he’d touched a woman. Just the thought of having Alaine under him, flushed and breathless, made him almost dizzy with the longing.

If it had been a different time, he might have caved, but he was feeling like the devil himself for agreeing to stay in Garnet when his cousin was in deep with gang life again.

He needed a little self-punishment.

Or a lot.

“No sex. Friends only.” He groaned because that honestly
hurt
to say. “Friends last longer. I’d die for my friends. I’d do anything for you.
Anything
.”

“Not anything. But that’s okay. I’m patient. Love is enough for now.”

He laughed at that. “Maybe you wouldn’t like the way I do it.”

“Maybe I would,” she countered. “Maybe I would like it a lot.”

Coño.

Chuito had to take a shuddering breath. His cock got harder at the way it sounded when she said it, with that teasing catch in her voice. He was saved from having to say anything when Wyatt pushed the door open.

Chuito rolled onto his stomach and turned his head to look at him. “What?”

“Are you ready? Jules went to get done up. I told her we’d meet her at the club. There’s a place at the other hotel. We’ll walk. She’ll take a cab.”

“You want to go to a club? Really?” Chuito gave him a wide-eyed look of horror. “Do you dance?”

“Yeah, I dance.” Wyatt gestured to himself. “You think I can’t dance?”

“I—” Chuito opened his mouth in stunned disbelief. “I don’t—” He shook his head. “I just didn’t—”

“I guarantee you it’s a line-dancing place,” Alaine said into his ear and then giggled. “I promise. Ask him.”

Chuito narrowed his eyes at Wyatt. “What kinda club?”

“It’s a country-western club.”

Alaine burst into giggles on the phone.

“No,” Chuito told him. “I’m not going line dancing with you.”

“It’s not only line dancing,” Wyatt argued. “It’s all kinds of dancing, and they have a mechanical bull if you don’t want to dance. I’ve been there a dozen times. You’ll like it. They got burgers and peanuts and beer.”

“Wyatt, no,” Chuito told him firmly. “I cannot be seen in some cowboy club the night I win a title belt. My people will disown me.”

“Well, what kinda club were you thinking of?”

“A Latin club,” Chuito countered. “Don’t you think, if I’m going out, I should represent?”

“Does that matter?”

“Yes, it matters. If you want to go dancing, it’s got to be a Latin club.”

Wyatt considered that for a long time before he shrugged. “I’m sure I could do that. This is your night. You’re supposed to enjoy yourself. If you wanna go to a Latin club, I’m game. Jules will probably love it. Is there food?”

“No, probably not. We just dance.”

“Not even snacks? Quesadillas or something?”

“Carajo,” Chuito cursed as he looked at Wyatt, still wearing his Cellar shirt from the fight and faded jeans. “You have to change, Wyatt. Normal clubs in Vegas have dress codes. Do you have something nicer to wear?”

“You just won a title belt.” Wyatt looked at him pointedly. “We’ll get in.”

“Oh my God.” Alaine laughed on the phone. “Please tell me you’re gonna take video of this.”

Chuito laughed with her. “I’ll take video. We’ll make him salsa.”

“Do you salsa?” Alaine still sounded very amused.

“I’m Boricua. Knowing how to salsa is built into my genetics.” He grinned. “Sí, I salsa, mami.”

“I wish I could salsa with you,” she whispered, suddenly nostalgic. “I want to see you dance.”

“We’ll dance,” he promised her. “You want to dance. I can dance. I’ll do that for you.”

“Okay.” She sounded pleased. “Go have fun.”

Chapter Fifteen

Garnet County

June 2011

It was raining the day Alaine graduated.

Not a mild rain either, but one of those really violent storms that were a bit early for the start of June. If she were superstitious, she would worry that it was a bad sign.

Fortunately, she wasn’t superstitious.

She was in a very good mood as she sat in the passenger seat of Chuito’s new car, fighting with getting her robe off as they made the drive from Mercy back to Garnet. Taylor Swift played on the radio, blending with the
swish, swish, swish
of the windshield wipers.

“My hair,” she complained as she tossed her robe into the backseat. She pulled down the visor and looked at herself in the mirror. “Oh my God, Chu. I look awful.”

“You look fine.”

“No.” She rubbed at the mascara under her eyes that had run at some point. “I look like you after a fight.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“What are you complaining ’bout? You look sharp in that suit. I’m the mess.” She laughed as she turned up the radio. Then she leaned down and picked up her purse. “I like this song.”

“I noticed. I hear you singing it in the shower.”

“It’s a love story,” she explained as she used a makeup-remover cloth to clean her face. “I like love stories.”

He sighed. “I know.”

“Are you gonna buy me dinner?” she asked as she sent him a grin. “Sit next to me at Hal’s and everything.”

“I dunno about that.”

“Like a date,” she teased.

“I’m not going on a date with you,” he said with a snort of disbelief. “If your father doesn’t shoot me, Jules will. That man hates me. I can feel it every time I pass him. He hasn’t said a word to me since I moved here, but I can tell he hates me.”

“Shoot, I haven’t talked to my daddy in four months, and he wasn’t exactly polite when I showed up for Sunday service.” Alaine huffed as she worked at reapplying her makeup. “He didn’t come today. You did. Did I sound okay?”

“You sounded great.” Chuito gave her a smile. “I sure as fuck couldn’t get up and give a speech like that.”

“You give speeches after your fights.”

“Those aren’t speeches; they’re just dumb fighters grunting at each other.”

“You’re smart.” She glared at him. “I know you’re smart.”

“I’m not college-valedictorian smart,” Chuito argued. “That’s something, Alaine. I’m proud of you.”

“Proud enough to sit next to me at Hal’s?”

“I have to stop at the Cellar,” Chuito said rather than commit. “Is that okay?”

“Won’t that keep Jules waiting?”

“Jules can wait,” Chuito said dismissively. “It’s good for Jules to wait. She’s so impatient about everything. Carajo, if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was on blow.”

“Why didn’t she ride with us?” Alaine frowned as she considered it. “Save gas.”

“’Cause she’s impatient,” Chuito repeated. “She can’t wait for anyone. She’s worse than my mamá.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that.”

“Right?” Chuito laughed and then tilted his head. “I’m gonna get gas.”

“Why?” She held up her hand to his dashboard. “You have half a tank.”

“It’s cheaper at this station. I don’t get out here that often.”

“We can’t stop for gas and stop at the Cellar. Jules will be sitting there for thirty minutes. You know how she drives. She’s probably already there.”

“Jules is fine.” Chuito pulled into the gas station. “It’s five cents cheaper than Garnet.”

“Five cents.” She laughed incredulously. “You are so cheap, Chu. I will give you the extra quarter.”

He turned and looked at her when he parked at the pump. “Do you have a quarter?”

She frowned at that, because they both knew she was struggling with law school to pay for. She had enough in scholarships and financial aid to get by without relying on Jules to pay for it like she had for the first four years of her education, but taking on the extra expenses was going to hurt.

“Exactly,” Chuito said as he opened the door. “Keep your quarter, ’cause we both know you need it. Let me get gas.”

Alaine stopped fussing with her makeup and texted Jules.

Running late. So sorry. Chu had to get gas ’cause it’s five cents cheaper.

Jules texted her back right away.

Take your time.

Alaine frowned at her phone, because that was odd for Jules.

Chuito got back into the car, and Alaine said, “Jules said take your time. Weird.”

“Shit.” Chuito winced. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

She just stared at him. “Here?”

“What’s wrong with here?”

She gave the gas station a horrified look. “There’s a reason their gas is five cents cheaper. It comes out of the maintenance of their facilities.”

“You’re so spoiled, mami.” Chuito laughed at her. “I feel like I should be honored to sit next to a real-life princess.”

“Okay.” She shrugged. “Go catch something. Have fun.”

“I stand up to take a piss.”

“Thank you, Chu,” she said as she gave him another look. “I surely do appreciate you sharing that.”

“Maybe you didn’t know.” He laughed again. “I’m just clarifying.”

“I would rather pee in the woods than use those facilities.”

“That can be arranged. There are plenty of woods on the way back.”

“Just go!” She shooed him off. “Wyatt is supposed to meet us there. It’s rude to make them wait this long.”

“If you looked up
rude
in the dictionary, it’d have Wyatt’s picture,” Chuito pointed out. “I’m not too worried about it.”

“Go!” she shouted at him.

“Bossy.” He got out of the car and gave her another deep-dimpled grin. “Good thing I like bossy women.”

Alaine gestured to the gas station rather than respond.

She watched as Chu ran to the gas station, getting positively soaked in the process. Then she went back to working on her makeup, thinking she should’ve asked Chuito to look and see if they were selling umbrellas in the gas station.

As she sat there, her phone beeped again, and she looked at her lap, seeing another text.

How long?

She closed her mascara and picked up the phone and started texting with Jules.
Late. Like thirty minutes.

What?? What are y’all doing?

Chu had to pee.

Not at the Harkin gas station.

That one!

Gross!

Right?

When Chuito got back into the car, Alaine turned to him. “Jules agrees with me ’bout the gas station.”

“Really?” Chuito did a very good job of appearing surprised as he rubbed a hand over his head, brushing off the rain running into his eyes. “The queen agreeing with the princess. I’m shocked.”

Alaine dug into her purse and pulled out a bottle of hand sanitizer. “Here, give me your hands.”

“I washed my hands,” Chuito argued.

Alaine grabbed one of his hands and squeezed a considerable amount of hand sanitizer onto his open palm before he could complain any more.

Chuito looked at it. “Does it have glitter?”

Alaine studied the bottle. “I don’t think it’ll show up. It doesn’t make my hands glittery.”

“You’re the whitest white person ever. You glow without glitter.” Chuito sniffed his hand and gave her a look. “Does it have perfume in it?”

“It’s Winter Sparkle.”

“Coño.” He rubbed his hands together and then shook them off in annoyance. “Ay Dios mio, I smell like a woman.”

“Better than smelling like gas station facilities.” Alaine went back to putting on her mascara as Chuito turned the car back on. Once they got onto the road, she looked at his hands and observed, “Oh, it does glitter on you.”

Chuito gave her a glare.

Alaine giggled in response.

“I hope you appreciate that I’m being very agreeable with you ’cause today is your day,” Chuito said and then pointed to the radio. “Listening to this mierda while sparkling and smelling like a woman.”

“We can put on your music.” Alaine tossed her purse on the floor. “Gimme your phone.”

“It’s okay. We can listen to this. It’s your day.”

“No, I like your music.” She reached over and fished into his pocket for his phone, making him jerk in surprise.

“I’m gonna get into a wreck!” Chuito shouted at her. “You can’t just grab at my lap!”

“Why?” Alaine gave him an innocent look. “That shouldn’t make you uncomfortable. I thought we were just friends. What’s your passcode?”

“I’m not giving you my passcode.” Chuito yanked his phone back.

“Why do you have a passcode? I don’t have one.”

“That was your choice, Alaine,” Chuito snapped as he opened his phone and clicked on his music.

“You shouldn’t do that and drive.”

“But I can have you groping at my dick while I drive? That’s not dangerous?”

“That’s dirty.”

“I
am
dirty,” he said as he plugged in his phone and messed with the buttons on the radio until Latin music overtook the country music. “That’s why we’re only friends.”

She held up her hands in defeat and leaned back. She closed her eyes, listening to the music. “This makes me think about dancing with you. I like this song.”

“I think you like
all
songs.”

“Is it a love story?”

“Does it sound like a love story?”

Alaine shrugged. “How would I know? It’s in Spanish.”

“But the song, does it sound like a love story? It’s fast-paced.”

“There can’t be a fast-paced love story?” Alaine laughed and then asked, “What’s it about?”

“It’s about dancing. He’s singing about dancing with his woman. All night. Until the sun comes.”

“I’d like to do that. Dance all night until the sun comes up,” Alaine mused to herself. “Is it dirty?”