Vice(45)

Fernando stands there a moment longer, and then he seems to shake himself. He moves off, still staring down the sight of his rifle, and the rain grows harder.

Only once he has disappeared into the forest, vanished from sight altogether, do either of us move. Natalia sags, lying flat on the floor of the tree house. Her sigh is one of relief. “Thank god,” she whispers.

“That your father didn’t see us?”

She shakes her head, smiling. “No. Thank god you finally took me, Mr. America.”





CHAPTER TEN





THE MOUNTAIN





Back at the Villalobos estate, Fernando has locked himself away in his study. I haven’t seen him since Natalia and I walked back through the gates, tired and soaked to the bone, but strangely happy. We don’t kiss as we say goodbye to one another. We don’t even look each other in the eye, in case someone sees something passing between us that shouldn’t exist. She just goes her way, and I go mine. With my cell phone now returned to me, I make a call I’ve been dreading.

“Get your ass home. Now.” Jamie’s never told me to do anything before. Ever. Seems like today is a day of firsts, though. He is majorly pissed, and it’s all my fault. I should never have told him Laura is dead. I shouldn’t have told him I plan on killing Fernando, and I probably should have kept the fact that I just f*cked his daughter up a tree to myself, too.

“You’re mad. Fucking certifiable. You’ve lost your f*cking mind,” he hisses down the phone. “Come home. Get on the next flight out of Ecuador. I mean it, Cade.”

“And leave Fernando breathing? I don’t think so, man.”

“I loved Laura, too, okay? Fernando won’t go unpunished. We’ll figure it out here, though, together, like we always do. And once we have a sane plan of action, we can make sure he pays for what he did to her. This, what you’re doing, is more than ill advised, though, brother. It’s f*cking stupid, and it’s going to get you killed.”

“We’ve all got to die someday.”

“See what I mean? Fucking stupid, Cade. Fucking stupid. We dragged each other out of hell in the desert. We’ve been through nightmare after nightmare ever since we got back. You think I’m going to let you die on your own, in another f*cking country, in another f*cking continent, without coming to get you? You know we’re going out in a blaze of glory together, you *.”

“Do not come down here,” I snap into the phone. “This situation’s already precarious enough as it is. If you show up, the shit is royally going to hit the fan. I just know it.”

“Cade.” His voice is hard and terse. He’s so angry with me, I can hear that plainly enough, but what the hell am I supposed to do? Let him come down here and get himself killed? There’s an extremely high probability that I’m going to end up getting shot in the back of the head out here; I’m not going to condemn my best friend to the same fate as me.

“Jamie. Do not come down here. Promise me.”

“I’m not eleven years old, *. I’m not making promises. If I’m hit with even the slightest suspicion that things are going sideways down there, I’m getting on a plane and I’m dragging your ass out of there whether you like it or not. Do you hear me? Don’t forget, I’m the president of this club, Cade. You’re meant to do what the f*ck I tell you.”

“That’s low. You’re pulling rank on me now?”

“If I f*cking have to. You think I’ll let some hurt feelings get in the way of your life? You’re wrong, man. You’re so, so wrong.”

I sigh heavily. He’s not going to back off here, I know it. It’s shitty that he’s trying to order me home like some f*cking subordinate, when we’ve always been equals. Jamie calls the shots, sure, but he’s never treated me like I need to bow down to him. There’s a very good chance I’m being pig-headed here, and he’s just trying to look out for me, I’m aware of that, but it still stings.

“I’ll be careful,” I tell him.

“Damn right you will. And you’ve got to stop f*cking the girl, man. Trust me. That is going to blow up in your face in no time at all.”

Jamie can hardly talk about f*cking the wrong girls. He’s in love with a woman he shouldn’t have gone anywhere near with a ten-foot pole. He knows how hypocritical he sounds, because he says, “Learn from my mistakes, brother. I know you’re mad, and I know you’re hurting, I am too, but please…just don’t do anything stupid.”

I grind my teeth, closing my eyes. “Okay. I’m gonna play this smart, I swear.”

Jamie’s quiet for a moment, and then he huffs out a deep breath. I can imagine the look of worry on his face right now, as he paces back and forth in the Widow Makers’ clubhouse. “All right, dude. I’m trusting you,” he says. “Don’t f*ck this up. Don’t put the club at risk. And whatever you do, don’t get yourself f*cking killed.”





******





The next morning, Harrison drags me out of bed at 6 a.m., and Fernando questions me relentlessly about where I disappeared to with his daughter for four hours. His anger is palpable—the kind you feel like a slap in the face. The man is all over the place. One minute he’s asking me to stay away, the next he’s telling me to take his daughter out into the forest. Now it seems as though we’re firmly back in “stay-the-f*ck-away-from-her-*” territory.