Punished (Calavera Hotels #1)

Chapter Eighteen Adrian

I wake to feather-like touches on my back. Mireya’s soft touch exploring me and picking up where we had left off. We woke up various times throughout the night to feel and explore one another. I couldn’t get enough. I turn over so my eyes meet hers. She is so beautiful. That first hit of her was exhilarating. The feel of being inside her was my very own form of destruction. Losing her once broke me, but I don’t think losing her again would work in anyone’s favor. I am too ruthless, too raw, and too broken to let her be happy without me. I am the worst thing for her, but I don’t care. She was always supposed to be mine. I reach out and cup her face.

“If you keep doing that, we’re going to go another round.”

She bites on her lower lip and hides a smile. She brings her hand to mine.

“When did you get the tattoo on your back?” She’s talking about the large Santa Muerte tattoo I got while in prison. I had forgotten the last time she saw me I was ink-free.

“About two years after I was sentenced.”

It had been a dark time. Before I even knew about The Consuelos or made my way into Los Antros. I was tried as an adult, but mentally I wasn’t prepared for the shit that went on in that place.

“One of my first cellmates was a Santa Muerte devotee. He talked about her like someone I knew. This dark presence that had followed me but never hurt me. She was there to protect me when I was younger. One time when I was eight-years-old, my mother didn’t come home for a few days. The house was dark, and I was hungry. I felt La Santa Muerte in that moment. Before I knew who or what she was. It was darkness and fear, and yet there was comfort in it.”

“La Santa Muerte,” she whispers as if afraid to say it but curious to understand it. “I never knew about your mom. About—” I press my finger to her lips.

“Shh… Ya. I didn’t want anyone to know. I don’t want anyone’s pity,” I say as I move to find my pants.

“I felt like that for a long time, too–alone and lost. Sometimes I still do.” She comes up from behind and wraps her arms around my waist, her bare chest on my back. It’s the first time in a long time I feel whole, but I can’t give myself to her. I know better than to trust anything anymore. Not when my own mother could see the monster inside of me. I turn around to face her.

“Any image you have of me in your mind, you need to shatter. I’m not that same person.” She looks into my eyes, and where I thought I would find hurt, I see understanding.

“I don’t think either of us is.”

A fter Mireya leaves, I do my daily workout routine, then head down to Enrique’s office to see what he wants me to do for the day.

When I walk in, he’s sitting at his desk, drinking a large cup of coffee. The mug in his hand reads “Antes muerta que sencilla.” It fits his personality. Enrique Consuelo would much rather die than show up anywhere looking simple. His fitted Prada suit and Rolex are evidence of that.

Thalia stands, looking out the ceiling-to-floor window. She has her hair up and is wearing her signature color of all black, with dark makeup to match. She looks up at me and smiles. The devilish grin a taunt, like she knows something I don’t. Knowing her, she must have seen Mireya leaving my penthouse this morning and has been waiting to confront me about it. I ignore her and make my way into the office.

Enrique gives me his once over as he examines my outfit.

“Adrian. My favorite sobrino, sit down.” He gestures to the seat in front of his desk and I sit down. He hasn’t known me long enough to consider me his favorite nephew, but he wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to get under Thalia’s skin. She rolls her eyes and moves to the seat next to me.

“What’s this about?” she asks, her voice slightly annoyed.

“I wanted you both here for this. I have been doing some digging into Constance.” He holds our gaze, pausing for dramatic effect as he continues.

“Now, I love Mireya dearly, despite her fashion sense, and I know Thalia does as well. So, as much as I hated Constance and her fake designer wearing ass, I never tried to dig deeper into what she was up to. She’s always been like a cucaracha around here, but it’s time we bust out the Raid.”

“I’m missing my hair appointment because Constance offended you with fake designer clothes? ”

“No. I was concerned she had something up her sleeve. The way she was looking at you, Adrian–I did not like that. So, I called my resources, and sure enough, she’s up to something. One of the valets told me she was calling someone and talking about Adrian. So, I pulled up the camera footage for that day.” He turns his laptop around to show us a video on the screen. When he presses play, a panicked Constance dialing a number on her phone fills the screen.

“Adrian is out, and he is working at the Calavera Hotel,” she says into the phone. She’s panicking and asking the recipient how I got out and how I figured out I was related to the Consuelos? I can barely make out the rest of the conversation.

“Who could she be talking to?” Thalia asks.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I sent the footage over to Patricio, so he knows, but I want both of you to keep an eye out for her.”

I need to keep an eye out for Mireya. Figure out what her relationship is like with her mother. It wouldn’t be hard to hack into her phone and see if they have been plotting something together. She very well could be the one Constance called. For all I know, they could both be trying to set me up again.