have to do in all this? He doesn’t work for Ruben, not directly at least.” I was afraid to hear her answer. Jonas was not one to mess with, at least from the extreme rumors surrounding his reputation. He was highly connected to the Mexican Cartel and did frequent shipments across the border, both ways. Trafficking women was one of them, so I’d heard. What would happen now with his demon eyes set upon us?
“He said he’d paid Ruben the amount we took from him, so now we owe Jonas. He kept blabbing on about some cousin and a music company that he partly owned and wanted us to record a demo for him. If the company liked it, they’d produce our album and he’d get forty percent of our profits. If they didn’t, we could just perform our little ho-dum, dive bar shows and pay him off slowly—fifty percent of each show until our debt is paid, with interest, might I add.”
My blood was boiling. I could feel my face flushing from the coronary I was about to have. “What? You told him no, right ?”
“Pffft!” She plopped onto the bed, wet towel and all, with her dry clothes still clutched tightly to her chest. Yawning, she continued her rant, half her words coming out incoherently. “Duh…of course I did. Why the fuck do you think I got my face all screwed up? He didn’t like that answer though, so guess who our new boss is? Latin Stalker…what fun!” She gave a tiny, morose laugh and yanked the bed covers over her tiny body. “Sorry, Sissy. I tried…” Her words faded as her soft snores filled the empty space around us, hovering along with the rhythmic flow of piano music ebbing from the speaker on Saul’s nightstand.
I felt his gaze on me before I sank down onto the edge of his bed. Liv was lying diagonally across our entire bed.
“Hey,” his voice calmly pulled at my thoughts, and I waited for him to continue. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”
“You shouldn’t get involved, you know. This is our problem.”
He shrugged as my eyes met his icy-blue, blind ones. “Maybe I need a little excitement too. Don’t be selfish now. Share the wealth.” He winked before settling back to his music. His joke brought out a weak laugh from my throat, but I wanted to break down and cry more than anything else. He patted the other side of his bed, and after a moment of hesitation, I slipped down next to him. Exhaustion filled me up all of sudden, even after a good night’s sleep. Saul moved over to one side of the bed as I leaned back onto one of his pillows. It smelled like him, manly musk with a sweet aftershave scent.
It was divine.
We’d been running so fast, so far, for all our lives, just to end up tripping precariously over our own feet, ending up in a whole pile of shit—knee deep, thick, and sinking fast in every which way. We were like the colors flapping in the wind, steadfast, proud—even while beaten by the breeze and dressed in frayed corners.
Chapter Nine
Liv
“HEY, WAKE UP, lazy bones!” I kicked the bed with Audrey and Saul sprawled across it. I hoped they weren’t getting it on while I was knocked out on the next bed over. That’s just wrong.
Stuffing the rest of my clothes and things back into my pack, I ran my hand through the soppy wet mess of my hair. It was about time to check, out and no one was moving.
My sister groaned and sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes. “What time is it?”
“Time to check out. Let’s go.”
“Shoot! Okay, I didn’t really unpack, so it’s cool. I’m ready.” She stretched and started tossing her stuff into her own pack, simultaneously running a brush through her long, honey brown locks. “Where we headed today?”
“I guess we go ahead with our plan to hit the rest of the coast bars. It’s not like we can hide from Jonas anyway. He’s got his dogs sniffing our arses, so let’s just get to it before he has a chance to waltz back in here and grace us with his lovely charm again.”
Audrey nodded,
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley