The Viper (Untamed Hearts #1)(40)



“Sleep, chica.” Marcos was looking at his phone, using his thumb to flip through whatever he was doing. “You don’t have to stay up for me. I know how to entertain myself.”

She laughed, thinking of what he admitted to doing in the car the night before. “I know you do.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening tonight.” He laughed with her, his eyes still on his phone. “You wear me out.”

Katie folded the page on her book and tossed it aside, curling into him instead. She looked at his phone, seeing that he was on Facebook. “You have a lot of friends.”

“Most of ’em aren’t friends.” Marcos didn’t seem to be shy about her watching. “Acquaintances.”

Katie studied the pictures and posts he paged through, most of which were from Miami, though there were several from Puerto Rico. A few from California. She spotted one in Nevada and four in New York. Over half of them were written in Spanish. Even the ones that were in English were cryptic, using slang she didn’t understand. There were lots of pictures of strong, tattooed men flashing strange hand signs. They all looked like they were partying and having fun. Other pictures were of babies. Or backyard barbecues with the Florida sun shining down.

“You hate it here, don’t you?” she asked curiously as she looked into his world, finding it miles apart from hers. “In Garnet, I mean. You hate this town.”

“I like you.” He squeezed her arm with his free hand. “I like my cousin when he’s not being a hijo de la gran puta. The rest of this town can f*ck itself.”

“You would never move here, would you?”

“No,” he said without hesitating. “I couldn’t live here.”

“What if you got a fighting spot at the Cellar?”

“I can’t get a fighting spot at the Cellar.”

“But what if you did?” Katie pressed.

“I can’t, Katie. I have a record. They don’t want me.”

“That seems unfair,” Katie pressed, because it irritated her. Jules’s husband had a record, and he’d done just fine. “Romeo Wellings has a record. He was a fighter.”

“Well, he’s screwing the boss. Maybe if I went down on Jules Wellings, she’d change her mind.”

“Do you want to go down on Jules Wellings?”

“Ay Dios mio, no. I hate that bitch. I wouldn’t do it for all the green in the world.”

“Romeo was a fighter before he was screwing the boss,” Katie mused, because it all seemed so unfair. “The record didn’t hurt him.”

“Not with mafia ties, no.” Marcos seemed to agree about the unfairness. “His brother probably bought him that UFC contract.”

“I’m sure Romeo isn’t involved in the mafia.”

“You keep believing that.”

“The mafia nearly killed Jules and Romeo. Why would he want to be associated with them?”

“There’s different mafia just like there’s different gangs. Gangsters shot at my house, remember? That doesn’t change the fact that I’m still one.”

“You really think of yourself as a gangster?” The word felt strange on her tongue.

“Sí.”

Yes. Just one word, without hesitation.

That was very curious, considering all the pain it had brought him, and she couldn’t help but say, “I don’t understand.”

“I know, cari?o.” He tossed his phone on the nightstand and then rolled into Katie. He wrapped his other arm around her, holding her tight as he pressed a kiss to the soft spot on the curve of her neck. “You’re not supposed to understand.”

She threaded her fingers with his, and then studied their hands molded together. His tanned, work-roughened palm against her smooth, pale one. There was nothing in the world that should allow them to be there, companionable and peaceful in her bed.

“I don’t want you to go,” she admitted softly.

Marcos was silent rather than respond, and Katie was trying very hard not to let her feelings get hurt. She had no business getting as attached to him as she was. Everything in her wanted to try to find some way to hold him here, away from his other life, but she knew Marcos wasn’t a man to be controlled like that.

Her phone beeped on the other nightstand, and she reached out to grab it. She looked at the screen, seeing it was another message from Grayson.

Why are you ignoring me? I’m concerned for you, Katie girl. Tell me you’re okay, or I’m coming over there.

Katie didn’t doubt his threat and was thinking of a response when Marcos ripped her phone out of her hand.

“What are you doing?”

He rolled onto his side when she tried to grab it back, using his shoulder to block her. She crawled over him, trying to reach for the phone when she saw him typing, but she didn’t actually get the phone until he let her have it.

She fell onto her back and read the message Marcos had typed.

Fuck off.

She winced. “I would never type anything like that, Marcos.”

“You should type something like that. He thinks he still owns you.” He took her phone from her and flipped off the ringer before tossing it on the nightstand. “You want me to fix that problem before I leave? I’ll do it. Gladly.”

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