Twisted Tides (Forged Hearts #2)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

JAMESON

“Zombie” by Bad Wolves

“ I better take a shower.”

She gets up and walks to her dresser, retrieving a pair of panties and bra set. I take them and toss them onto the bed where her suitcase lies open, waiting to be packed. I tug her back into me. My hand splays over her flat abdomen, and I trail my fingers down to her slick, wet folds. I gather up our cum dripping down her legs, pushing it back up into her. She is sticky, and the thought of her filled with me, with us mixed in our sexual act, has me already hard.

“Leave it. If you must leave me, take a piece of us with you.” I breathe out slowly and drop my head onto her shoulder. She tilts her head to look back at me, but I can’t meet her eyes. I am in a bad way at having the best thing that has happened to me leave and walk straight into danger. To be sold off to the highest bidder.

What if we can’t get there in time to save them? What if I lose her forever?

I shudder underneath as the fearful emotions roll out of me and onto her.

She turns around in my embrace and picks my head up. “Okay.” She looks into my eyes, and sadness pools in hers. “I’ll take you with me.” I nod and kiss her. “Always,” she breathes onto my lips.

Our moment is interrupted by the front door closing. We realize our time is up. Our moment finished. We step away from each other.

“I’ll just change.” She walks into the bathroom, and there is a knock on her door.

“Evie?” Mateo asks from the other side of her bedroom.

I walk to it and step out, closing the door behind me. “She is just finishing up packing.”

He nods, and there’s another knock on our apartment door. Mateo looks out the window and sees Emma and Eduardo outside. He drops his head for a moment, then opens the door. It’s time, and we have run out of it on our end.

Eduardo enters the apartment, bringing in all his tension and rage. The room feels incredibly small with all of us here. The anxiety I am feeling is crippling, especially with the impending doom I feel at Evie and Emma walking through that door with Mateo, knowing that he is going to take them straight over to Mr. Martinez and Ramón. They will all go to Brownsville and be kept at his house until Emma and Evie are to be married off for the benefit of Mr. Martinez’s political associations and financial security.

Eduardo is holding Emma’s hand in a death grip. Her eyes are wide as she looks over every apartment space to see if Evie will magically appear.

“She’s getting ready. Almost packed.”

Emma nods. I look over to their clasped hands, and Eduardo’s fingers release Emma’s hand and then regrip it firmly. He’s holding her emerald heart charm in his hand, and I snap my head up, attention piqued.

I’ve known Eduardo for a long time. Part of being friends for so long is that we can read each other perfectly without any words being said. He’s asking me about the bracelet and the earrings I had made for Evie. I nod very subtly and then fix my sights on Mateo. We purposely didn’t tell him about this. The fewer people that know, the better it is to keep a close eye and ear on the girls.

They both have SOS options on their trackers. Evie also has a small microphone to pick up conversations in her earring. I am sure their bags will be looked at or maybe even confiscated and disposed of. We don’t want to risk the chance that they are taken anyway.

“Emma’s suitcase is in the car.” Eduardo looks over at Mateo. “I trust you, Mateo, to guard your sisters with your life.”

Mateo steps forward, never breaking eye contact with Eduardo. “I have always guarded my sisters with my life and would gladly give up my own for their safety. They are the only reason my life is worth living. Without them, I have nothing else. They are my family.”

Emma leaves Eduardo’s side and runs to her brother, throwing her arms around him. I look to the door of Evie’s bedroom, wondering where she is, but she is there standing, listening to the entire conversation. I don’t know how long she has been there, but it must have been long enough because she joins her siblings in a group hug.

Mateo kisses the top of each of their heads. “I promise to do everything in my power to get us through this. He pulls back, looking down at their short statures.

“I just want you two to know that there may be times when I have to act or behave a certain way. I might be cruel or say things that are very out of character from the brother that you know. The brother you know would never say or mean those things, but it is something I might have to do. I have a part to play, and you do, too. Let’s do everything we can to stay safe and do what must be done.”

Mateo looks over to Eduardo, who is speaking to him. “I have to know that he dies and this is over. There is no other option, Mateo.”

“I’ll make sure to get word to you when to come.”

They nod in agreement. “We will come, Mateo. I promise.”

“Okay,” he says to Eduardo. “We better go before Mr. Martinez gets suspicious.”

We close up the apartment that Evie and Mateo have stayed at the longest together, and I feel like we are closing a chapter in their life. Mateo turns back to look at his place, standing in the middle of the parking lot. He is silent for a while, until he finally speaks as we wait for him to load his vehicle.

“I hope that when we return here, it is to start a different life. A life where we all are free to live, fulfill our passions, and pursue our dreams. I don’t know who I am anymore, other than Evie’s guardian angel or Emma’s savior—their brother. I want to live a life for myself and maybe, just maybe, find the happiness they have with a partner that is so in love with me that we cannot exist without each other. I can only dream of having a life like that one day.”

I clasp my hand over Mateo’s shoulder. “Let’s play our parts and get this done. Then we can all get our own happiness, however that may be.”

We load up the cars, and Mateo starts the engine on his. He blasts the air conditioning, trying to cool off the vehicle. It hasn’t been that long since we arrived from the coast, but the city has a way of making it hotter than average.

Eduardo and I shake Mateo’s hand and watch Evie and Emma get in. Mateo shuts his door and puts it into drive, pulling out of the parking lot. I stare at them as they drive away.

As they turn the corner, I see Emma’s hand on the window with tears streaming down her cheek. Evie stares straight ahead. I know that she is trying to be brave. She can’t risk falling apart, and if I know her as well as I think I do, she is counting her breaths and holding them in a practiced fashion the way she was taught to do when she is about to have a panic attack. She is so controlled now, more than ever, and someday I wish that she won’t have to put on a fake act and be able to show me the most vulnerable side she has. I want to swim in a rocking sea of her salty tears and lick them away from her face as she looks up at me through those tears-stained eyes, knowing that I am the only one that will ever see the real her.

I continue to watch them drive away until there is nothing there except an empty street. I turn my attention to Eduardo. Gus comes out of the car and walks over to us. I lift my chin in an informal hello, and he does the same, but his main focus is on Eduardo.

“Are you ready to go, boss?” he asks. His sights never leave Eduardo’s.

“I’ll be there every step of the way, too, buddy. We need to stick together. We have a new priority. ‘Operation bring them home.’ ”

Eduardo looks over at me. “I’m glad you said that, Jameson, because I’m going to need you close to bring our women back and get our family back together as soon as possible.”

“I want that more than anything.” I slap my hand on his back, as he walks over to his car, Gus following. He turns back.

“I expect you to bring your shit and move in until they are back home safely.”

I look at him to see if he is joking.

He continues, “I need all the surveillance ready to go and the station with all the manpower to leave at the drop of a hat. Bring your equipment and get everything ready in my place today.”

I run my hand through my hair.

“Yeah, I guess that is the best way. Be there in a couple of hours.” With that, he drives off.

I am left standing alone, and the gravity of our situation finally hits home. With a newfound sense of purpose, I run to my truck and drive off in a hurry to get to Eduardo’s place. But first, a stop at my mine to start ‘Operation bring them home.’

I fight the traffic and lose miserably. I end up three hours later at Eduardo’s place, well into the evening. I shoot him a text letting him know that I am here and need help getting my shit into his house. I understand this is a secure area, but I don’t want to make several trips back and forth to get everything. The elevator door opens into the garage, and out steps Eli, Philip, and Gus.

Eduardo isn’t present, but I expected this. I know that he is home because his car is here. What I don’t expect is for him to get out of Emma’s metallic-green BMW and walk toward me. I don’t have to wonder why he was sitting in there. I know that it was to feel closer to her and breathe in her scent that envelops him in her car.

Avoiding looking at him, I allow him his own private moment and sling my bag over my shoulder and grab my laptop. Each of the guys grabs a box that is filled with monitors and speakers to amplify the sounds from Evie and Emma’s trackers. I also have a separate screen showing where they are in the house. I have a blueprint of the mini-mansion that Mr. Martinez calls home. I have also tracked his wife’s routines. I like to know where she is at all times. I am sure that with Evie and Emma in her home, things might take a turn for the worse. I want to be able to get to her—mostly to tear her throat out if she so much as lays a finger on our women.

We ride the elevator in silence, and the tension rises with each floor we ascend.

As soon as Eduardo leads me to our workstation, I quickly get everything situated and in working order. I don’t know what happened when Evie, Emma, and Mateo left us to meet Mr. Martinez and Ramón back at their place because they never returned there. Shortly after he left their place, Ramón and Mr. Martinez left as well to an undisclosed location. We know that Ramón already had his bag packed, so the element of surprise is gone.

Mr. Martinez doesn’t want to risk getting caught at Ramón’s place if Mateo breaks his newly formed trust. He wants to ensure that he can witness it for himself. It seems too good to be true that Mateo went along so quickly with everything that his sperm donor said. That’s what we have been referring to him as—the sperm donor. Usually, when things are too good to be true, they are, so he has every right to be cautious.

“There,” I say, pinning the blueprints of the house on the cork board. I take a look around the workspace that looks like a crime center at first glance.

On the GPS monitor, I see the girls traveling in a car heading on Interstate 37, showing their every movement. Eduardo steps into the room, handing me a can of beer.

“I thought you would be drinking something stronger?” I take the beer can, open it, and take a large pull from it. My throat is dry, and my heart is aching, but I keep it to myself.

Eduardo shakes his head. “No, I have to keep my wits about me in case I need to leave. In case something….” He doesn’t finish that sentence, but he doesn’t have to. I already know what he was going to say. “Come on. You need to eat. I ordered everyone pizza, then we can get back to work.”