The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(56)

He took everything I offered him and more last night, and now I wanted it again. I wanted more. His uniquely Ryker scent still coated my body, burning my senses and taunting me with his absence. The ghost-like memory of his embrace as he held me last night lingered in the air, teasing me. The weight of his body against mine as he moved inside me was like an invisible blanket, covering every inch of my skin, branding me for life.

And that kiss…I shouldn’t have let that happen. I should’ve refused him and walked away, but that was the problem. I could never deny Ryker anything.

I slammed my hand against the steering wheel with a muttered curse. What the f*ck was I thinking? I’d never see him again. I refused to believe otherwise, and wanting anything from him, even for a split second, was dangerous. “Move on, dammit. Move the f*ck on!” I screamed in the empty car.

I knew Ryker was trouble from the first minute my eyes met his in that bar. If my ego hadn’t been bruised and battered by Evan’s betrayal, I would have walked away without a second glance and never looked back. Ryker said he would have found me anyway, but maybe things would have been different. Maybe I could’ve eluded him. Maybe I would’ve found someone else at the bar. Who the heck knows?

I shook my head and white-knuckled the steering wheel. I needed to put distance between Ryker and me. Distance would make everything better. This thing with Ryker, whatever it was or wasn’t, had ended. My sanity depended on my ability to scrub every last memory of him from my mind, my body, and my soul. What happened between us was my secret. I couldn’t share it…ever. Nobody would understand. When I felt stronger, I could come to terms with my behavior and make sense of it, but I had a feeling it would be a long, hard road before I succeeded.

As the trees cleared, I saw the highway about two hundred feet in the distance.

Highway 307.

The highway to freedom.

The highway to Evan.

The highway to my family.

The highway to my old life.

The highway away from Ryker…forever.

Forever was a long time.

I swallowed my heated sobs and wiped the evidence of my tear-stained face with the back of my hand. It was over, and just as the thought floated through my mind, I saw Evan leaning against a black sedan on the shoulder of the road, his sandy brown hair blowing in the wind, and his hands shoved deep into the front pockets of his perfectly starched khaki pants. Even from a distance, I noticed the wide smile on his face. That charming smile used to make my stomach flip, now it made it twist. He cheated, but what I did was infinitely worse. I betrayed him with my mind, body, and soul. Going back to my old life, pretending as though nothing happened, didn’t seem possible. But what options did I have?

I bit down hard on my lip until I tasted blood. “You can do this,” I whispered to myself, even as my mind begged me to thrust the gearshift into reverse and run back to Ryker. We were over. I needed to accept it and move forward, just like Ryker said.

I’d face Evan and my family alone. I’d spent the next god knows how long weaving elaborate lies about my time as a prisoner because Ryker’s name would never fall from my mouth ever again. He may own my body and a twisted part of my heart, but he wouldn’t own my words. “Let the games begin,” I said as I rolled down the window. The salty sea air washed over my skin and calmed my tattered nerves until the numbness swallowed me just as I had hoped.





Chapter Twenty-Nine




Ryker



I raked my hands through my hair as I watched the back of Hattie’s car until it disappeared into the twisted vines and shrubs of the jungle. Only then did I pull my cell phone from my front pocket. “Senator Deveron, Miss Covington has been released.”

“Hold on, let me put my phone on speaker. My son will want to hear this too.”

I gritted my teeth, barely holding back the anger I wanted to unleash on both of them. “Fine,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Okay, go ahead,” Senator Deveron said.

“You can retrieve Miss Covington where the road leading from the compound intersects with Highway 307 in twenty minutes. She’ll be driving a light blue sedan,” I said.

“Perfect. Rever’s plane landed an hour ago. He should contact you soon.”

“He already did,” I offered. I wouldn’t have let Hattie drive away if I didn’t have confirmation of his release.

“Mr. Vargas, this is Evan Deveron.”

“Yes?” I responded with thinly veiled disgust dripping from my voice. I hated this f*cking * from the moment an acquaintance introduced me to him, and that was before I met Hattie.

“I trust that Hattie will be untouched and in good condition.” Evan wanted to sound calm and business-like, but his voice wavered. He’d never be half the politician his father was, which was a good thing. He actually had a conscience living somewhere inside of him. Unfortunately for him, a conscience was a fatal flaw in D.C.

“Are you questioning how I do my job? You hired me to make you look like a f*cking hero. Don’t question my methods, or I’ll drag her ass back here and you’ll never get your second chance,” I barked through the phone, refusing to answer Evan’s question. After last night, there was no way anyone could call Hattie untouched. In fact, I made a point to touch every inch of her so I’d be so far under her skin, it’d be my face she’d see anytime Evan or any other stuffy * touched her.