Karina Halle - Bold Tricks

He grinned at me, all snake, no conscience. “Whichever one I choose, angel. Have you got all your belongings?”

Normally I would have brought out everything from the trunk but there were an awful lot of lives in there, an awful lot of stuff. With me keeping an eye on Javier all night, it was probably safe.

I shook my head. “It’s fine.”

He smiled again, especially as Camden shut his door to room number one.

“Let’s take numero tres, si?” Javier asked. “More privacy.” He grabbed my hand and led me toward it though there was nothing gentle or warm in his touch. Those days were over. I was back to dealing with the spurned Javier, the hunter and the sadist.

He opened the door and flicked on the lights. A few cockroaches skittered underneath the bed, and moths darted to the threadbare light fixture hanging from the ceiling. The room was as run-down as I’d ever seen and for one twisted second I was glad I wasn’t sleeping there alone. In the next second, though, I was reminded that the company of insects was preferable to his.

He closed the door behind us and put his hand at my neck, holding me there, and leaned into my ear. “Do you want top or bottom?”

I stiffened for a moment then rammed my elbow back into his gut. “Fuck you.”

He let go of me and coughed loudly, still trying to smile. “You should be glad I’m giving you the option, angel.”

“You’re a sick pig.”

He straightened up and shrugged. “It’s what you liked until about, oh, twelve hours ago. Tell me, angel, what is it about that boy that makes you forget who you really are? Is it the tattoos, because you know I have those.” He quickly shed his linen shirt and stood bare-chested before me, the tattoo of his mother’s name on his inner arm. He turned around slowly, making sure I saw the large cross going down his spine. “Or is it those horrible glasses of his. You know, I can look like a fucking idiot if I really wanted to.”

I narrowed my eyes, keeping far away from him like wary prey. “He sees the good in me.”

He laughed. “The good. Of course. The good. So, is that why you’re spending the night with me? Because I looked into that boy’s eyes tonight and there was no good in there left for you.”

My gaze locked with his, a war without further words. His eyes shone yellow-green in the light, looking more inhuman by the moment. Deep in his insanity, he was making some sense. That’s what I hated most about Javier, that there was always a kernel of truth to his words, a truth that made you fall for the lies.

I sucked back my breath and nodded at the sagging bed. “You better get a good night’s sleep.” Then I grabbed one of the pillows and the top sheet and brought it over to the thin Mexican rug that ran along the end of the foot of it.

“You’re serious?” he asked as I started making my bed on the floor.

“Good night,” I told him, lying down on top of the sheet. I didn’t trust the cleanliness of the floor and it was too hot to have a sheet on top of me anyway. I rolled over so I was facing away from him who was still standing near the bed.

“Come now,” Javier said. “Sharing a bed with me isn’t that bad. You’ve been doing it for the last week. Is the inevitable sex too distracting?”

I grinded my teeth together but didn’t say a word.

Suddenly he dropped to the ground on top of me, flipping me over so I was on my back, pinning both of my arms to the ground, his face just inches from mine. Wild strands of his hair partially obscured his feverish eyes.

“I’ll scream,” I said hoarsely, fear pulsing through my veins.

He grinned. “You know I love that.”

Then he lowered his lips to mine, his warm and salty taste engulfing me. I did my best to keep my lips shut, to wriggle my mouth out of the way.

“Oh, angel,” he murmured near my lips. “Stop the act. We both know you want this.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I grunted, “or I will make you pay.”

He chuckled and lifted his head, peering down at me curiously, still keeping a death grip on my arms. “You’re not thinking straight. You’ve got everything backwards, you know?”

“I’m thinking just fine.” I stared right back at him, refusing to be intimidated, even though he was straddling me on the floor of our hotel room. “You’re backwards.”

He gave a subtle shake of his head. “How quickly you change your tune, how easily you are manipulated. You think that just because Camden came for you that it means he knows what’s best for you?”

“I know what’s best,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

“You don’t,” he said, “and you never did. You keep trying to be good, to be this person that you’re not, and you think the minute someone tries to convince you, tells you something that you want to hear, that they must speak the truth.” He ran his fingers down the side of my face, gently at first before pressing them in harder near my mouth. “So beautiful, so naïve. You know, even though he is here it doesn’t mean you’re obligated to be with him. It doesn’t mean you owe him anything. You never asked him to come after you.” He traced my rigid lips with his forefinger. “It isn’t too late, you know. I can forgive your lies, your … lack of loyalty. I can forget that you ever conspired with him. We can do this, just the two of us.”

“Do what?” I asked once he removed his finger.

His smile was lopsided. It would have looked cute on anyone else, but the depravation in his eyes soiled it. “Rule the world. Don’t you remember? I’ll be the king and you’ll be my queen.” He leaned in closer and closed his eyes, whispering, “Travis is in our reach. We are so close now. You are so close to getting your revenge.”

“No,” I said. “I only want Gus back. You can have Travis.”

His eyes fluttered even though they were shut, as if he were having trouble comprehending what I was saying. “Of course, your Gus. And your mother too, I suppose.”

I swallowed with effort, stifled again by the memory of seeing her at the party. “Yes, my mother. I’m just here for them. That’s the only reason I’m going after Travis.”

He opened his eyes, narrowing them slightly. “I figured as much. You know, you’ll change your mind when you see Travis again. And I’ll be the one handing you the gun to finish the job. Then you’ll have your people back. And then, with his blood on your hands, you’ll finally have your peace. Don’t forget what you were prepared to do earlier. Don’t pretend like you weren’t going to drop that poison into his meal. Don’t act like you weren’t fully prepared to kill the very man that ruined our lives.”

“Our lives?”

He blinked a few times. “Your pain has been my pain.”

“I call bullshit on that.”

“And I call bullshit on you. You know what you mean to me, angel. You know the lengths that I’ll go to, all to make sure you get justice.”

I took in a deep breath, so conscious of how close his face was to mine, so mindful of his lips that looked ready to come crashing onto mine again. I had to say what I needed to say and had to say it right. Being straight was the only way out.

“Javier. I appreciate you saving us. And I do want to get your sister someplace safe. And if you can really help me get Gus back, then I owe you everything in the world. But what we shared, what we had, is over. It was over the moment I found out your true intentions. It was over the moment I realized I was being manipulated like some fucking puppet on a string. And it was over when I realized you and I are as toxic as the poison you put in my necklace. That has always been the truth and that will never change. The us that was is gone. This is the new us. We can help each other and if we can’t, then we shouldn’t be in each other’s lives. If you’re going to have your own agenda and your own plan other than helping me get to Gus, then we should part ways, right now, tonight, and never look back at each other. Never look for each. Move on and forget. Do you understand?”