CHAPTER FOUR
“The life-or-death kind.”
I PUMP MY LEGS as fast as I can, the diamond necklace clutched tight in my fist. Hot, dry wind licks at my skin. The coiffured bun at my nape loosens each time my feet hit the ground, until it unravels, my hair tumbling from its coil and lifting with the wind.
I shoot a quick glance behind me and find the security guard still hot on my heels. I’m surprised at how fast he is, considering his hulk-like size. But at five-foot-four and one hundred and forty pounds, I’m faster.
I zip left and sprint out into moving traffic, ignoring the blaring horns and screeching tires. When I get to the other side of the street, I shoot another glance over my shoulder. The security guard is dipping and dodging through the traffic, fighting to get across.
Hurdling over a cinder block, I keep it moving. My legs and arms pump faster, my breath and energy waning. I dart up a ramp to a raised parking lot and duck low as I zig-zag behind vehicles, intermittently checking behind me for the security guard.
When I stumble upon an old convertible with the top down and the keys still in the ignition, it’s as if it’s my lucky day. I hop inside and am about to turn the key when pain stings across my scalp as I’m grabbed by my hair and yanked out of the car.
“Fuckin’ little thief!”
The security guard slams me against the car and backhands me across the face so hard I blink into fleeting darkness before stars light up that darkness like fireworks. I’ve never been hit so hard in my life. Is he even allowed to do that?
“Here! Take it! Take it!” I shriek, shoving the necklace at him. “I’m sorry!”
Grabbing the necklace, he glares down at me. “I’m gettin’ sick and fuckin’ tired of little bitches like you thinkin’ you can do shit like this and get away with it ‘cause you’re pretty.”
“No, no. I’m in a lot of trouble—”
“Shut the fuck up.” He wraps his fingers around my throat, tight, and hauls me up against him. “You’re comin’ with me, you little bitch. You’re lucky it’s daylight or I’d—grrtkk.” His eyes roll back in his head as his fingers loosen and fall from around my neck as he drops to the floor with a thud.
Wondering what on earth just happened, I stare down at him in utter bewilderment.
A familiar birdcall whistle hits my ears, and when I glance up, I realize who happened.
The window of the jeep that sandwiches us next to the convertible is down. And in the driver’s seat, holding a taser, is Trenton Garza.
“In trouble again, Hellcat?” he says with a bored expression. He shakes his head at me and orders, “Get in.”
When I stoop down to steal the necklace from the security guard’s hand, he growls out a firm, “No.”
“You don’t understand! I need it—”
“Get the fuck in, Lexi.”
After gnawing at my lip in contemplation for a few seconds, I decide leaving it is better than taking it. I would just be putting myself into one kind of deep shit to get out of another type of deep shit. If GLITZ gets their diamond necklace back, there won’t be a reason to hunt me down to press charges.
So, swallowing my shame, I round the jeep and get in. Trent peels off before I even get the door closed.
Only when we’re out of the parking lot and in traffic does he reprimand, “Tell me you didn’t just attempt a jewelry dash.”
Face still aching, I flip down the visor and check in the mirror for bruises. Thankfully, there’s only an angry spread of red across my cheekbone. The last thing I want right now is to be walking around with a shiner.
To say I’m mortified is an understatement. Had it been anyone else who witnessed me getting caught after a failed jewelry dash, I wouldn’t have cared. But not a Garza brother. Especially Trent. It seems like every time I land myself in a bit of a pickle, he’s the one to show up out of nowhere, judging me and bossing me around. That’s why I’ve always ditched him. Out of sheer embarrassment.
Gahhh.
“Lexi,” he prompts when I don’t respond.
“What?”
“Why did you do that? Do you need money?”
Scooping my hair back, I twist it then wrap it around into a tight but unsecured bun. “Outer downtown central.”
“Huh?”
“That’s where I want you to drop me off,” I say tersely. “Richmond’s Guest Apartments.”
“Fuck that. I’m not dropping you anywhere until you tell me why the hell I just had to save you from going to jail.”
“No one asked you to do anything, dude. You could’ve just minded your own damn business like everyone else.”
“Do you need money, Lexi?”
“Look, if you aren’t going to take me home, then let me off right over here.”
“Home? Fuck yeah, I’d be happy to take you home. Let’s spin this car around right now and take you straight home. Where you should be.”
“I see you’re still an asshole,” I mumble under my breath.
“And you’re still pigheaded as shit.”
I reach for the door handle to jump out, but it’s as if he anticipated it because he locks it from his side faster than I can pull the lever. I switch the lock open, but he just as quickly locks it again.
We repeat this over and over until I mumble a curse under my breath and give up. It’s useless. As long as he believes I need help, he isn’t going to let it go.
Like a pubescent teenager pissed from not getting her way, I cross my arms and sulk. “What were you doing in that parking lot anyway?”
“Ah, thanks for reminding me.” He reaches out and plucks his phone from its mount on the dashboard, punches in his password with his thumb, then tosses it in my lap. “Pull up Tiffany.”
Tiffany. Hmm. Must be the woman from last night. When I navigate to his phonebook, I find eight Tiffanys and two Tiffys. “Wow. You sure know a lot of Tiffanys.”
“It’s the one with Vegas in brackets,” he says. Obviously. “Text her: ‘Sorry. Had to leave. Something important came up.’”
I type with deliberately slow fingers, dragging it out for as long as I can to take the attention off me. “Does Tiffany know about all the other Tiffanys?”
“Who are you in trouble with?” he demands.
So much for keeping the attention off me. “I’m not in trouble.”
I send off the text to Tiffany and sneak into his other texts.
“Stop lying. I heard you tell that guard you’re in trouble.”
From Tina: I miss your cock. Accompanied by a topless selfie.
From Camille: Hey Zaddy. I’m in LA for a few days. Can we meet? Really want you in my mouth again.
From Kylie: Kitty misses you. Accompanied by a short video clip of her touching herself.
It’s enough for me to back out of his inbox and toss his phone back to him. “You’re a slut.”
“Quit trying to deflect, Lexi,” he says. “I’m not letting this go.”
He wouldn’t be a Garza if he did, would he? “I’m just…in a bit of a debt.”
“What kind of debt?”
“The life-or-death kind.”
“With who? Slim?”
“Pfft. I stopped working with that asshole a while ago.”
“Who are you in trouble with?”
“I don’t really know, to be honest. Someone named Stefano. Stefano Castello…I think.”
To that he says nothing. He focuses on pulling out of traffic and off to the side of the road, hazard lights on. Only then does he look at me, and his now grim expression makes me squirm. “Lexi,” he says slowly, “tell me exactly what you did to get in the Castellos’ crosshairs, how it happened, and what he wants. Do not lie or leave anything out.”
“You know him?”
“What. Did. You. Do, Lexi?”
His tone and expression are scaring me, so I quit dawdling and just tell him. “My friend Ellie was nabbed at BLACK GOLD for cheating cards. She told them I’m the one who sent her there, and now they’re holding her hostage in return for double what she tried to cheat.”
“How much?”
“Um…” I scratch a nonexistent itch on my neck. “92k.”
He stares at me for a beat, then nods. Flicks on his indicator, and eases back into traffic. “You said you’re staying at Richmond’s Guest Apartments downtown?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m gonna take you there, and you’re gonna stay put. Got it?”
“I can’t,” I protest. “They gave me forty-eight hours—well, thirty-five now—to get them the money or they’ll ‘put her in a crate on a boat.’ Whatever that means.”
“Christ,” he mutters. “Just do what I say, alright? Even if you paid them the money, they wouldn’t let your friend go. They’d make an example out of her.”
A fist-sized lump forms in my throat and I gulp past it. “I don’t understand. I got caught counting in BLACK GOLD years ago and nothing like this happened. They just tossed me out and banned me.”
“That’s when the Castellos were still half-civilized. Now, they’re savages. They run Vegas and answer to no one. Started making an example out of counters a while ago. Thought you knew that, Lexi. You don’t steal from the Castellos.”
I pick nervously at my nails. “I-I didn’t. I’ve only been back here a couple of weeks now.”
He sighs. “I’ll go see Stefano. See if we can work something out.”
“Oh my God, you’ll do that?” I let out a whoosh of breath. “Are you friends, or…?”
His chuckle is sardonic. “No, we’re not friends. And there are no guarantees. He’s a volatile motherfucker.”
“He gave me a card, but there’s no number or address,” I say as I pull the card from my pocket. “His name’s on the front and ‘Just ask’ on the back.”
“‘Cause that’s all you’ve got to do,” he informs me. “Just ask and you’ll be taken to him.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup.”
I relax for the first time since this morning and say a silent prayer that Trent’s impending talk with Stefano Castello works out in my favor.
“Hey,” I say, “I know I’m often an ingrate, but thanks for saving me back there.”
An unpleasant noise sounds in his throat as he mumbles, “I’m already starting to wish I hadn’t.”
Yup, still the same old asshole.