The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(106)

“So you stopped at a mall?”

“Well, I certainly didn’t stop to shop at a gas station.”

Tino stepped up and pulled the sunglasses off the brim of Chuito’s Miami Heat hat, looking at them for a moment before he rolled his eyes. He put Chuito’s sunglasses on and walked off, suitcase in hand, like he expected them to follow.

Chuito turned to Alaine. Then he reached out to her and pulled her into his arms. “Are you okay, mami?”

Alaine nodded and curled into him. She rested her hand over his heart as she took a long, shuddering breath. “I was worried we wouldn’t find you. You scared me.”

“You shouldn’t have come.” He sighed, even if she felt amazing against him and his heart was beating hard and fast now that he had her in his arms again. “Why didn’t you just let me go? You’re smarter than this.”

Alaine pulled back and stared at him, her light eyes swimming pools of blue accentuated by dark eyeliner. “I’d rather be in hell with you than anywhere else without you.”

“Hey, lovebirds,” Tino called out across the parking lot. He snapped his fingers and pointed to the direction Chuito had said the Benz was parked. “Let’s go.”

“I seriously need to kill him,” Chuito said as he glared at Tino, who held up his hands, the suitcase swinging. Chuito ignored him for a second and turned back to Alaine. “You look beautiful, though.”

“Thanks.” She smiled, making a stray tear run down her cheek. “This dress is worth more than everything I own. I can’t believe I let him buy it, but he’s sort of pushy.”

“Madonn’!” Tino called out. “You got ninety-nine problems, motherf*cker, but—”

“No!” Chuito shouted back before Tino could finish. “Just no.”

“I’m just saying.” Tino gestured to them impatiently. “You got the girl. Let’s go. You got other shit to deal with.”

Chuito draped an arm over Alaine’s shoulders and pulled her to him. She snuggled into him and didn’t say a word when she felt the gun he had tucked into the back of his jeans as she slipped a hand around his waist.

Then they followed after Tino.

Together.





Chapter Thirty-Eight


The phone led them away from the bright lights of the city and into a run-down, depressed area that had Alaine checking the door locks more than once. Always out of the corner of her eye, as she silently hoped Chuito didn’t see her doing it.

She was surprised how many people were out. It was past two in the morning, but she was starting to realize why Chuito stayed up all night.

Miami, it seemed, was a city that didn’t sleep.

Chuito was driving. Alaine sat next to him in the passenger seat, and Tino was in the back, resting his arm on her chair as he looked at her cell phone.

“Cazzo.” Tino groaned in annoyance. “Jules is still calling you.”

“It’s so late. I feel bad.” Alaine sighed and looked to her phone just as Tino sent the call to voice mail. “We should at least text her and let her know we’re okay.”

“Here.” Tino turned on the dome light. Then he leaned into Alaine and wrapped his arm around her seat, holding out the phone to snap a picture of all three of them. “Smile.”

Tino took the picture of him with a dazzling smile. Hers was lame at best, and Chuito had managed nothing but a side glare of annoyance.

“That’s not a very good picture,” Alaine complained.

“It’s good enough,” Tino said as he sat back and texted it to Jules. “Oh shit, you were supposed to turn left.”

“Co?o.” Chuito looked behind him and then worked on turning around. “Turn off the f*cking dome light.”

Tino turned it off and leaned forward once more, pointing left. “Right there.”

All of them looked at the big, dark building three stories high on the corner of the street. There were dogs in cages outside it, and Alaine frowned as Chuito slowed down.

“Why are there dogs?”

“The better to bite you.” Tino looked at the phone again and then lifted his head to stare out the window. “This is it. The Ferrari’s in there.”

Chuito kept driving rather than stop, which had Alaine breathing a sigh of relief. She had been terrified the entire ride here just knowing what they were going to do once they got here.

“Now what?” she asked both of them. “What happens now?”

Chuito looked back to Tino, as if he wasn’t sure either, and then said, “Well, we need to know more about what’s going down in there.”

“And we need somewhere to crash,” Tino added.

“What about your mother’s place?” Alaine suggested. “Is she near here?”

“No, she’s not near here. We’re in the f*cking hood, mami,” Chuito said as he glanced at her. “You think I’d put my mother in the hood?”

Alaine shrugged, because she felt like she had just landed on another planet. “You said that’s where you lived.”

“I used to live here. Actually, I used to live a mile down the road, but—”

“Can we just focus?” Tino interrupted him. “We need to watch the warehouse. We need to crash. Do you know anyone around here we could crash with?”