“Yup.” Rio pushed in under Cade’s arm, draping the other man’s arm across his shoulders. “We gotta move before the cops get here.” Glancing around, he caught sight of the street name,Av. Cvln. División del Nte.Okay, he knew where he was. They could grab a truck out of a used lot owned by El’ Mencho. “This way.”
Chapter Nine
Rio took a turn off the mountain road. He glanced at the man sitting in the seat next to him. Jesus, he had gone from doped to the point of almost sleeping, to looking like he was drunk off his head. What the hell had been in that tranquilizer? He had never seen someone react like this before. And he knew that by knowing the normal reaction people who had been given the drug had, meant he himself wasn’t exactly a choir boy. In his head, he snorted at the image that presented. Yeah, choir boy so wasn’t in his repertoire.
“That’s a cliff,” Rio slammed on the brakes, once again pushing his arm against Cade’s chest to keep him from hitting the dash. One accident today was quite enough, thank you very freaking much.
“Drive.” Cade tapped his fingers on the panel for the window buttons, in a rhythm only he could hear, “The wheels on the bus go round and round. The Wheel—.”
“It’s a cliff,” Rio repeated. Seriously, had the drugs he had been given fried the idiot’s brain cells, or were they on strike today, and was he singing? “I can’t drive into a fucking rock, Cade.”
“Mmh?” Cade’s mouth puckered up into a pout, “You made me lose my place.” His fingers moved to tapping on his jeans as if he were playing the piano, “The wheels on the bus…”
Rio exhaled slowly. Out of all the men in the world, why did this one get under his skin and make him bat shit, with just a sound he wasn’t entirely sure was a growl or a groan? But that one little sound, gah, the things it did to him. He shot from frustration to full-on arousal so fast his ears rang. Ruthlessly pushing the noise in his head aside, and shifting in his seat to ease the pressure of his dick against the zipper of his pants, he tried again, “Cade, where to?”
“Straight.”
He’s crazy, right, it’s not just the drugs?Rio blew out a breath, turning the wheel, he edged slightly forward. He was turning around. Driving into a freaking rock was just not possible. About as impossible as making a three-point turn would be on this narrow track. Tapping the brakes, he considered his options, maybe he should just reverse back to the turn. Rio glanced in the rear-view mirror, trying to see if there were anything to tell him which was the best option to take.
A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, grabbed his attention. Turning his head, expecting to see a bird or animal, he couldn’t stop himself from jerking back against the headrest of the seat at the sight of the large gun pointing directly at him. “Fuck.” He slapped his hand against Cade’s chest. His throat felt like he had hiked fifty miles through the Sahara with no water, “We have company.”
“The wheels on the bus…”
Jesus, he’s still singing that damn song.“Cade.”
“Yup.”
The muzzle of the gun tapped against the window, Rio turned to look at the man standing there, only to find he had been joined by another man. Both dressed in jungle camo. Both armed to the teeth. He had no clue which weapons they had, he only knew they were pointed at him and Cade. The first man gestured with his gun.
Get out of the truck? Nope, no fucking way.Rio shook his head, his foot already pressing the clutch. He had to risk it, had to try to get away.Who the hell are these people?He couldn’t see faces over the scarves they wore over their lower faces, but by the body shapes, he didn’t think he knew them. Was there a new player in town? El’ Mencho would be pissed if there were and this would start a cartel war. He inched his hand toward the gear stick, he just had to shift it into position.
“Get out of the truck.” the man outside yelled.
“Lo?” Cade perked up at the sound of the voice. “Hey, Rio, it’s Lo.” He reached to undo his seatbelt, slapping away Rio’s hands when he would have stopped him. Depressing the button, Cade shrugged out of the belt and leaned across him to wave out the window. Only Rio’s hands kept him from face planting. “Lo, I have come home.”
“I can see that.” The man’s eyebrows lifted comically. Even Rio had to admit it was almost cartoon style, their high arches making them appear to jump off his face. Oh, he’d bet money the surprise was real.
Cade’s excitement at seeing his friend was like that of a young child seeing his friends on the first day of school after the long summer vacation. He turned his head to peer at Rio, his face filled with mischief and smacking a fast kiss against his lips. “There.” Cade pulled back, looking very pleased with himself, “Now they know you are with me, they won’t kill you.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?” Rio caught a whiff of Cade’s armpit and wrinkled his nose to shut his nostrils. “Phew, you stink.”
The man outside, tapped on the window again. “Get out of the car.”
“Shh, Lo.” Cade turned back to the window and raised one finger to his lips, “I’ve got to persuade him to drive in the tunnel.”
Lo scrubbed one hand down his face, then jerked his chin in the direction of the second man. From the small space left between Cade’s body and the window, Rio saw the second man stand back and speak into a walkie talkie. Fabulous, he was obviously calling for backup of some sort. This would go either of two ways. One was they just shot them both, or maybe they would tell Mr. High Off His Ass On Tranquilizers that there was no tunnel and one simply did not drive into a freaking cliff.
He watched the two men outside have a short conversation, before the second one walked toward the cliff and the first approached the car.
“I’m gonna get in the back.” The one Cade had called Lo gestured to the door behind Rio. He waited for Rio to nod in response, before opening the door.
“Lo.” Cade climbed off Rio’s lap and back into his own seat, “Babes, this is my best friend, Angelo.” He jerked this thumb toward the man now sitting with his weapon pointed directly at Rio’s back. “Lo, this is Rio.” He pointed a finger at Angelo, “Be nice, I like this one.”
Angelo snorted loudly and tapped Rio on the shoulder, “Straighten up, and drive straight ahead.”
Oh jeez, this one was drunk too? On drugs? “There is no way this car will drive through a cliff.”
“Not driving into a cliff, silly.” Cade muttered, “It’s our bat-cave.”
