Vicious Minds (Children of Vice #4)(32)

She turned to me, still standing under the water. “That’s not a very romantic story, Ethan.”

“Good. I don’t believe in romantic stories.”

“And I’m hopeless romantic.”

“Will you ever give me a straight answer? Or will you just keep using your body to distract me?”

“It’s not just my body that does it, but fine. I’ll tell you. After I shot you and dragged your ass back on to the couch, I took your kidnappers out the same way they brought me in, through that damn back room, and got rid of them. Then I had to use the sink to take sponge bath. Do you know how hard it is to wash dirt, blood, sweat, and gasoline off you in a kitchen sink?”

“You burned their bodies at the gas station?” I questioned, moving to stand behind her. Taking a second bottle, I poured the contents into my hand, rubbing it into her hair.

“Do I look like an idiot to you?” She leaned against me and closed her eyes as I ran my fingers through her hair. “I got gasoline on me because your damn gas station looks like it hasn’t been renovated since 1990. The damn nozzle spilled gas on my feet while I was filling up the car I stole from the station manager. By the way, you’re going to need to hire a new one, I hope you don’t mind. I really didn’t think I could come up with an excuse for coming up out of the back room with three dead men.”

“Little late to ask,” I replied, letting the water pour over head and washing it through.

“True.” She turned back to face me, soaping up the sponge and running it over my chest. “You’re just going to have to live with that.”

Funny, how I had to live with her murder, not her.

“What happened after you filled the car?” I asked as she walked behind me to scrub my back.

“I drove the car about an hour away to La Calera, then burned their bodies before driving back. Oh, and your lapdog, Tobias, I think his name is…I had him send a new worker to the station via text.”

“Seems that was stressful day for you,” I said when she came back around.

“It was. And all you did was get beauty sleep even though this all your fault. Do. Not. Kidnap. Me. Again,” she snapped, staring into my eyes.

“I’ll do my best. Though I wouldn’t hold me to it. I’m a villain if you haven’t noticed. We aren’t known to keep our promises.”

“I know what you are, which is why I didn’t ask for a promise. I gave you warning.” She gently pushed me back and sat down, her body slowly sinking beneath the water.

“As for those dirty cops that lost it, I didn’t do much. They were at the restaurant I was working at and I gave them a special drink and they just got paranoid. How was I supposed to know they were going to turn on each other and burn all the fields thinking that someone found them out?”

“And the 12 tons?” I asked.

That wicked grin came back to her face. “Ask me nicely.”

When I didn’t answer, she sunk all the way under the water.

Finally, I thought, watching her as she held her breath underwater. Finally, someone who didn’t need me to take care of shit. Who thought before they acted. Someone who could think quickly and execute. Someone I didn’t need to clean up after. She was annoyed, but she wasn’t complaining about what she had to do. It was all logical to her, all steps in her plan.

I turned up the heat and stood under the waterfall when she came up for air. She watched me, lust still clear in her hungry eyes. She leaned back against the tub. “The drugs are buried in Maria’s restaurant. You’ve been sitting on them this whole time.”

“How?”

“I gave one of them the key,” she said, as if it was obvious.

“They must have been very close to you to be able to get a key.” I frowned, not sure exactly why that statement bothered me.

She shrugged and gave me an innocent look. “It’s not my fault that the police wanted to protect me. Especially after they heard how many members of the cartel kept trying to ‘wife me’.”

And just like that I put it together.

She must of have gotten close enough to seduce someone in the cartel, but instead of giving in, she told the cops they were harassing her, and the dirty cops used that as an excuse to come by and check out the place, to make sure it was safe for her to work. She gave them a key and they used it to store the drugs. Who would go to a restaurant cops spent time in? Which was why I wanted to speak with Maria to begin with. I suspected she was working for the cops now and made it a point to stay there when I came in. That’s when I met Calliope. And because I was there, those cops panicked, thinking they were busted. She must have met with them secretly and then drugged or poisoned them. The news reports said they were so out of their minds that they were nearly ripping off each other’s faces. They still hadn’t recovered, and many of them were dead.

She did that all on her own?

“Is there any more wine?” she asked, running her hands through her hair. She drank wine like it was damn water.

I reached over and pressed on a remote. Beside us a panel came up and there was a single glass as well as a bottle of red wine. She looked at me then at it and then me again before breaking out in laughter. “I think this is a sign your mother would have liked me. I want one.”

She took out the bottle, uncorking it with ease. “First honors?”