My hands suddenly felt clammy. I couldn’t explain why this shit was fine in my mind but seeing it in reality was a different story.
He got me a drink and then led me over to a round table, sitting down and pulling me onto his lap. Peyton and Melody settled on one of the free sofas nearest us, each with their own drink.
I wondered if anyone could hear the unsteady beat of my heart.
Being so close to Mateo still wasn’t a casual thing to shrug my shoulders at.
His presence filled the room. I could smell his seductive cologne on every breath I took.
“Elena, this is my brother Elias, and our cousin Sergio,” he introduced once I was settled.
Both men gave us friendly smiles of acknowledgment.
“Ah, the stunning new woman in my brother’s life,” Elias grinned, looking way too much like Mateo, only slightly boyish. He had an uncanny resemblance to his brother. They were nearly identical aside from Elias being clean-shaven, and his eyes a little lighter.
Sergio was the green -eyed, bulkier version of the two. He had a lithe blonde sitting beside him, playing a game of bones with Elias.
“Teddy, Diablo, Oz,” Mateo introduced the remaining three men gesturing to each one. Diablo looked like he benched tanks for fun, Oz should have retired from this life three years ago, and Teddy was an average looking Brazilian.
There was another knock on the door and Mateo straightened in a different way than I did.
“Relax.” He spoke softly in my ear, sending his warm breath across the naked skin. Goose-pimples followed in its wake. I tried to play it off. His smug grin proved it was too late for that. “You’re safest in this life with me,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear.
I didn’t understand that statement, either. Peyton shared a quickwhat the fuck?glance with me. The door swung open and more men and three women entered, all dressed in wealth.
I didn’t like any of this, but I couldn’t condemn his lifestyle even if I didn’t agree with it because my papá was also considered a bad man. His occupation was much different than Mateo’s, but he too lived and ultimately died in this world with blood on his hands.
That may be the reason I had some unresolved daddy issues, but that was a different story.
Things rapidly went into my severely uncomfortable zone. The gorgeous dark-skinned woman who had settled beside me pulled a small vial from between her breasts and dumped a little white pile right on the damn table. She leaned down and snorted it right into her nose, making my stomach turn.
No one batted an eyelid. As if sensing my rising discomfort, Mateo murmured something native in my ear and began stroking my thigh beneath the table. He had been playing a card game I couldn’t follow since I’d sat down.
I shifted, feeling his fingers go a little higher, biting into a smile when they abruptly froze at my bare pussy.
“Elena,” he began in a low voice. I stood the second I felt him grow hard underneath me.
“I’m going to sit with my friends.” I pecked his cheek and moved away before he could stop me.
I glanced back at him once I was next to Peyton, feeling a tingle dance down my spine from the look I was met with.
As the night wore on, Melody ended up lost in conversation with Diablo, of all people. Peyton had been wrangled into a game of craps. I found myself alone on a balcony that overlooked the club, leaning against the portion that partially hid me from the rest of the room, checking on my friends every few minutes.
I looked out over the club still full of people having the time of their lives, adding sweet American money to Mateo’s brilliant laundering front.
And I thought of my beautiful sister. She would have been in that room helping deplete the powder supply and deciding which narco she would be taking to bed. I missed her more than I thought I ever could.
She’d only been gone a moment, but it felt like a lifetime.
I’d lost my real sister long ago. The Eva that had gone missing was a dim echo of the girl she used to be. The last heart to heart we’d had she was crying in my lap in a moment of sobriety, telling me this wasn’t her.
The odds of her being alive were slim. I was doing a damn good job of fooling myself otherwise. Painful truths were never easy to swallow. The moment I wavered and began to believe she was gone I felt the need to apologize for letting go. Did it make me a bad person to even consider it?
I glanced to my right and gave a tight smile. Mateo was on the opposite side of the balcony, watching me in a deeply predatory way. I had no idea how long he’d been there.
“I wouldn’t have let you leave the house like that,” he said, after perusing every inch of my body.
“Well, that’s not sexist at all Mateo,” I laughed, crossing my arms over my breasts.
