The Viper (Untamed Hearts #1)(51)

“I think I’m sick of this town,” Katie mused to herself. “I’m starting to hate it here.”

Marcos leaned over from where he was stretched out on the couch and wrapped an arm around her chest. “Why do you hate it?”

“I dunno.” Katie did know; she hated it for pushing Marcos away, but rather than admit that, she just put a folded towel up on the coffee table Marcos had used to break her ex-husband’s nose. She searched for another reason because she didn’t want to fight with him and finally settled on, “I’ve never fit in here, to be honest.”

“You don’t talk like them.” Marcos placed a kiss against her neck before he said, “How come you don’t have a hee-haw accent like the rest of these pendejos?”

“Grayson and I went to college out of state. Maybe if I’d stayed close like Jules, I’d still be Garnet born and bred.”

“I like how you talk, chica.” Marcos took a long drink of his rum and coke that he’d started downing before the sun set as if he was feeling the clock as much as she was. He kissed her neck again and said, “I feel smart just sitting next to you.”

“You’re crazy. You speak two languages fluently. That makes you smarter than I’ll ever be.”

“Whatever. You teach school. I couldn’t do that. Even if I was smart like you, I couldn’t do it. Teenagers are such motherf*ckers. I deal with them all the time, and they annoy the shit out of me. Thinking they’re tough ’cause of the ink on their arm. I’m gonna go back and apologize to all my old teachers when I get home.”

“You should ask them why they didn’t make sure you graduated instead.” Katie set another towel on the table.

“Ay Dios mio, I was such a thug in high school.” Marcos gave a pained chuckle. “I’m sure they couldn’t wait to get rid of me. I was a bad apple rotting out all the other apples just by being there.”

Katie reached up and caressed his hair when he buried his face in the curve of her neck. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

“No, it’s true,” Marcos assured her. “If I had to teach a prick like me in high school, I’d beat his ass on principle.”

Katie laughed. “Teaching probably shouldn’t be in your future.”

“There’s not much of anything in my future.” Marcos took another drink. “Dirt or prison bars.”

She turned around and glared at him. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” He drained the rest of his rum and set it on the table. “Forget the laundry. I’ll fold it later. Come sit on me.”

Katie abandoned the chore and crawled onto the couch. She straddled Marcos, looking down at him in nothing but a worn pair of jeans. She put her hands on the stars on his shoulders that told the world he was a thief and asked, “Why are you drinking tonight?”

“’Cause I’m gonna miss you, chica.” He used both his hands to push her hair away from her face and then cupped her cheeks as he tugged her down. He kissed her, his tongue pushing past her parted lips to brush against hers, and she moaned into his mouth at the feel of it. He tasted like rum, warm and spicy, making her drunk on him almost instantly. When they did part, he was as breathless as her as he asked, “You wanna f*ck?”

“Yeah,” she agreed as she cupped his face and ran her thumb over his bottom lip like he usually did to her. “That sounds nice.”

“I don’t have any condoms here. We left them in the kitchen.”

“I’m on the pill. Let’s just do it without them this time.”

“Co?o, no, are you crazy, chica! You don’t f*ck thugs without condoms.” He rolled out from under her and ran a hand through his hair as he stood. “Promise me you’re not gonna trust people like you do once I leave.”

She sat up and frowned at him. “Why?”

“Because someone could hurt you,” he growled in exasperation. “This world is mean.”

“I’ve been okay so far.”

“No, you haven’t. Have you missed all the shit going on? Your ex broke in. His girlfriend tried to kill you. That’s f*cked up.”

“I don’t believe Ashley tried to cause that accident. I know you do, but I don’t. Even if it was her car, I don’t think she did it on purpose,” she whispered and then looked up at him. “Besides, that accident is the reason we’re here now. I can’t regret that, Marcos.”

“You didn’t win anything when I ran into you.” He pointed to himself. “I’m not a good person, Katie.”

“Yes, you are.” She reached out to him, and he knocked her hand away and walked to the kitchen, but she didn’t let that stop her from fighting him on this. “I did win something.” Her voice cracked as she admitted, “This week has been the most amazing week of my life.”

“Don’t.” He walked back into the living room with the condoms in his hand. “You promised!”

She couldn’t help it, tears rolled down her cheeks without her permission as she burst out, “I don’t want you to go.”

“I got to go, chica. I can’t stay here.” He fell down on his knees in front of her and wrapped an arm around her waist. He buried his face in her neck and whispered, “You know I can’t stay here.”