Guilty Pleasures (35 page)

Jinx lowered his eyes. “You shoulda seen her, man.”

“Rita
”

His face twisted into a nasty grimace. “Who the hell you
think
I'm talking about
”

“Yo, Jinx, man, you need to chill. This is me.”

Jinx jerked his shoulder as if snatching it out of some invisible grasp. “Yeah, I know it's you. It's always been about you. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, and Rita wouldn't be all in Suarez's pants if it wasn't for you!” He spat out the last word as it if were a curse.

Jake flinched. “You want to tell me what's really going on Rita is doing her job. This is a job, remember
”

Jinx turned somber eyes on his brother. He appeared to deflate. His shoulders slumped; the fire in his eyes dimmed. “I didn't ever think it would be like this.” He tried to smile and failed. “We aren't supposed to be the soft guys that fall for the girl. We're the tough guys that the girls fall for.” His laugh fell flat.

Jake held his tongue and let Jinx talk.

“I'm not even sure when it hit me that I was in love with her. It was all of a sudden, ya know. Like a freak flash flood or something.” He shook his head, short and quick. “And I feel like I'm drowning.”

Jake leaned his back against the wall, stared out toward the guests swimming in the pool. “Eva's pregnant.”

Jinx turned to his brother, the promise they'd made hovering in his eyes. “Well, my brotha, looks like we're both in a bit of a fix.”

“You know that drink you were talking about sounds really good right about now.”

“Don't feel like dealing with the crowd and the noise,” Jinx said.

“Let's go back to my cabin. We need to get out of these outfits anyway before someone notices that we aren't actually working.”

When they returned to the cabin, Jake fixed them both a drink. Just as they turned up their glasses, the cell phone rang. Jake cut his eyes at Jinx and then flipped open the phone.

“Yeah,” Jake said. He listened for a few minutes then hung up. He glanced at Jinx.

“What now
”

“She's changed the drop spot again. Back to the original location—Miami.”

Jinx tossed the contents of his glass down his throat. “Bitch,” he blurted.

“Touché, Ms. Ingram.”

*   *   *

The front door to Suarez's room shut. Eva heard movement coming from the living room area. The window was too small and would take too much work and noise to get out of it. Not to mention the looks she'd get jumping out of a window and onto the deck.

She opted for the closet, tucked herself far into the back, and squatted down on the floor—and none too soon. The bedroom door opened, and Xavier and Rita came in.

 

22

Jake sat in the side chair, and Jinx took a seat on the edge of the bed. Both had a drink in their hands.

“You're really twisted about Rita, huh
” Jake asked after a long silence between the two brothers.

Jinx looked up. “Yeah.”

“Does she know how you feel
”

“Not really. I mean I know she understands that I care about her.…”

“How does she feel about you
”

“Hmph, with Rita, who knows
She doesn't ever say how she feels. For all I know, I'm just another job.”

“They're both cut from the same cloth, like me and you. They had it rough coming up.”

Jinx took a long swallow from his drink. “Yeah, but we weren't supposed to get caught up in the love thing, ya know
”

Jake nodded slowly.

“That's why you totally blew me away when you actually married Eva.” He looked into his brother's eyes. “I figured it was just for the sex. But sometimes I look at you when you're watching her, and it's in your eyes, man. You love her.”

Jake looked away. It was true: he did love his wife, and it made him crazy. It was his weak spot, and he wasn't supposed to have any. And now this baby thing …

“So what are you going to do, man
” Jinx asked, as if reading his mind.

“Eva's been hinting for a while that she wanted to get out of the game. I figured it would pass, ya know. I mean, this is what we do. It's what brought us together.” He glanced off into the distance, shook his head in confusion. “I just don't know. I don't think I can handle it.” He looked into his brother's eyes. “It scares me, John. What if I turn out like our father
”