The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2) (19 page)

Before now, they’d been dancing salsa, not this hybrid, more sensual form of moving that felt like a guilty pleasure. The beat was the same, the steps were sometimes the same, but this was so much more intimate. A tease. A candy-coated sin that wasn’t a sin because it was labeled dancing instead.

Alaine loved it.

She let herself be completely soft in his arms, moving where he wanted her to move, because it felt so damn good to let go of everything else and just be with Chuito. All she had to do was feel the drums throbbing and listen to the erotic, lulling sound of a man singing in Spanish about dancing with his woman.

All night.

They danced until the sun came up.

Chapter Eighteen

Garnet County

October 2014

Present day

The night she graduated felt like the first step to something bigger, but Alaine didn’t know it would take three more years and too much tequila before she would find out what it felt like to have Chuito lead her body where he wanted it to go
without
the music.

She waited the full length of law school, with nothing but dancing to sustain her. At one point she even gave up and started dating other men, but she and Chuito always danced and not the arm’s-length salsa dancing he taught her when he got home from winning his title. She made him hold her close like he did the night she graduated, forcing her to be soft, because Alaine liked her candy-coated sin too much to let it go.

Now where was she?

Lost, angry, and
extremely
frustrated.

The headache probably didn’t help.

She’d been cranky all morning, and Jules wasn’t one to let things like that go.

“We got a subpoena for the Thompson case,” Jules called, obviously thumbing through the mail the postman had just dropped off. “Can you hand me their file?”

Alaine set down her coffee and started looking through the stacks of files on her desk. Of course she was drowning in work today of all days, when all she could think about was the way Chuito looked last night with his face between her thighs. Just the thought of it was enough to cause a thrill of desire to make all the fine hairs on her arms stand on end.

“Hello?”

“I’m looking!” Alaine snapped as she made louder work of sorting through the files so Jules could hear her. She thumped another file against her desk. “Can’t you hear me? Looking.”

Except, quite unfortunately, the Thompson file wasn’t on her desk. She glanced up to see Jules leaning against the door frame to her office, her arms folded over her chest as she stared at Alaine with an arched eyebrow.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Jules asked.

“I’m just tired.” She shrugged. “Everyone’s allowed to have bad days. You had a perpetual bad day after the twins were born.”

“Do you have two wailing, Italian infants keeping you up all night?”

“No, just one confusing Puerto Rican,” Alaine mumbled under her breath.

Before Jules could answer, the front door to the office opened, and Alaine’s father walked in, looking pressed and refined in a business suit, with his red hair pushed away from his face.

Which, really…just made her morning
perfect.

“Reverend,” Jules greeted, her voice icy as usual when it came to her dealings with Alaine’s father. “Can we help you?”

“Mrs. Wellings.” Her father inclined his head at Jules. “How’s the family?”

“Do you care?” Jules asked in annoyance, because Alaine’s father didn’t exactly approve of Jules, or her husband, Romeo, to say nothing of Romeo’s extended family.

“Can I have a moment to speak with my daughter?” he asked, clearly giving up on the ruse that the two of them felt anything less than absolute loathing for each other. “If you wouldn’t mind?”

“Are you asking me to step out of my own office?” Jules laughed at his audacity. “If so, then yes,
I mind
.”

“Alaine,” her father said harshly as he leveled a cool gaze at her still sitting behind her desk. “Step outside, please.”

Alaine groaned in frustration, because this really was the last thing she needed. She moved her chair back and put her hands on the desk to get up, but then stopped.

Why did she think she owed him anything?

She had been surviving on her own for a long time now.

She’d gotten a law degree without him, yet there was still this young part of her that always feared his disappointment. Not enough to push aside her own desires. She’d done what she wanted despite him, but face-to-face she tended to bend to his will.

And it always infuriated her later.

So this time, she spread out her open palms on the desk and stayed where she was. “You know what? No.” Alaine lifted her head and looked him dead in the eye. “I’m working right now. If you have something to say, please say it and let me get back to what I was doing.”

“Alaine,” he chastised, giving her a wide-eyed look before his gaze darted to Jules pointedly.

Alaine followed his gaze, seeing that Jules was still standing there, the hint of a smile tugging at her lips as she raised her eyebrows in obvious amusement and curiosity.

“It’s either here or nothing at all,” Alaine said simply. “I’m busy. I’m tired. I’m in a bad mood, and I don’t have time to get into an argument with you today over things that are none of your business.”

“It’s my business,” he growled, losing some of the fine air of elegance he always tried to exude. “You’re my daughter. What you do reflects on me.”

Alaine stared at him, realizing he’d just summed up their entire relationship. All he’d ever cared about when it came to her was how she made him look to others. A part of her had clung to the idea of what she thought fathers were supposed to be—loving and caring about their child’s dreams and ambitions.

But it had always been about
his
ambitions, and he’d been angry at her for years now because she hadn’t gone along with the program. She wanted to go back and slap her nineteen-year-old self for ever feeling guilty about disappointing him.

This was all on him, and Alaine wasn’t playing anymore.

She was so angry she just sat there gaping at him.

“You broke up with Edward,” he said when she didn’t respond. “After he came to me and asked for your hand. I thought you were settling down. You’re getting your life back in order.”

“I don’t like Edward.” She didn’t even flinch as she admitted, “I have someone else I care for. I misled you into believing I was interested in being with a man you approved of. For that, and
only that
, I apologize.”

Her father took a deep breath. His nostrils flared as he gave her a furious look. “It’s that boy.” He gestured to the stairs. “That fighter.”

“He’s not a boy.” Alaine’s own nostrils flared as she took a steadying breath and tried to contain her anger. “He’s a man. One who’s been there for me all this time when you haven’t.”

“Have you lain with him?” he snapped, his entire face flushed with fury.

“I have,” Alaine said, and it wasn’t a lie. She stood up with the intention of letting him out. “I’ve slept with him many, many nights, Daddy.”

“You let him touch you?” he growled, losing all semblance of the smooth, cultured, and respectable air he clutched at like a lifeline. “I don’t believe it. You wouldn’t.”

“I would.” Alaine let out a bitter laugh, because she had spent the past five years yearning for it with everything in her.

“He touched you? That one? With his tattoos and violence. The spic!” He pointed to the stairs once more in furious disbelief. “They are dirty, disgusting, lazy—”

Just like she had the night before, Alaine hit on instinct, smacking her father hard enough to leave the white outlined impression of her hand on his cheek. Jules actually gasped, but Alaine didn’t turn to look back.

She just stared at her father, unable to believe she had hit him.

A white-hot bolt of fear went through her, and for one long moment she couldn’t breathe, and he obviously couldn’t either. His eyes were wide and horrified as he stood there shaking.

“I’m leaving,” he said in a choked, incredulous voice once the silence became deafening. “And I’m not coming back, Alaine. If you want to lie with that filthy beast, it’s your soul.”

“Yes, it is,” she agreed with a nod. “It’s mine.”

She just stood there as her father stormed out of the office.

And out of her life.

A part of her didn’t want to believe he would end their relationship over something so petty, but she understood he had.

Just like she understood it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

If only things weren’t quite so unstable with Chuito, it would’ve been easier. As it was, knowing Chuito still didn’t want more than friendship left her staring at the door with tears welling up in her eyes.

“So that was—” Jules started, obviously looking for the right words. “Life-altering.”

Alaine turned back to Jules as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Oh, darlin’.” Jules walked over and pulled her into a hug. “It’ll be okay. Why didn’t you just tell me you broke up with Edward?”

Alaine hugged her back, because she needed the comfort desperately. “’Cause it didn’t matter. I never loved Edward. I don’t think I even
liked
Edward.” She let out a sob. “My life is so screwed up.”

“You’re still young.” Jules rubbed her back soothingly. “It’ll sort out.”

“I don’t think it will,” Alaine whispered miserably as she remembered last night again and making the promise to Chuito that it would be just that once. Touching the beauty and having it walk away had been horrible. All it had done was make the loneliness and longing a thousand times worse. “I’m so unhappy.”

“Are you really sleeping with Chuito?” Jules asked as she pulled back to look at her. The phone was ringing, but she ignored it. “You were sleeping with him while you were with Edward? Alaine.”

Alaine flushed with embarrassment. “Not really, no. Sometimes he has nightmares and—”

Jules arched a skeptical eyebrow.

So Alaine just gestured to the phone. “Go get it. Could be important.”

“We’re discussing this,” Jules said with a stern look before she ran to the phone. She answered it and snapped, “I’m busy, Wy.” Then she paused and said, “He’s probably just—” She stopped again and huffed. “Look, just hold on.” Then she called out, “Chuito didn’t show up to train Javier. Is he still sleeping?”

“I think he’s hungover,” Alaine admitted. “We sorta had a fight. I’m sure he finished off the tequila after he left.”

Jules was quiet for a moment before she said to her brother, “Just cut him a break. Alaine thinks he’s hungover. No, I’m not going to wake him up. He’ll get there when he gets there. Javier’s not going anywhere.”

After Jules hung up, she appeared in the doorway to her office and asked, “You just slapped your father over a man you’re fighting with?”

“No, it’s not—” Alaine threw up her hands and sat at her desk once more. She stared at the wood and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

Jules walked over and sat in the chair on the other side of Alaine’s desk. “What is going on?”

Alaine refused to look at her. “It’s just complicated right now. Very complicated.”

“Do you want to talk ’bout it?”

“Not really.”

“Alaine—”

“Not right now.” Alaine lifted her head to look at Jules. “I need to think. I need time to sort it out in my mind.” She shook her head. “I’m not ready to talk ’bout it. Not yet.”

Jules hesitated, her leg bouncing, as if it went against everything in her not to press for more. “Maybe a second opinion—”

“Jules,” she countered, using the stern voice she’d learned from the woman sitting across from her. “It’s something I have to sort out on my own.”

Jules considered that and then made a sound of defeat. “Okay, darlin’, but I’m here.”

“I know.” Alaine nodded. “And I appreciate that very much.”

Jules stood, giving Alaine one more critical look before a small smile tugged at her lips. “Just so you know, that whole thing with your daddy.” Her smile became wide and pleased. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Alaine said as she looked back to her desk. “Probably a long time coming.”

“Probably,” Jules agreed.

Alaine groaned and admitted, “God, could my day get any worse?”

She should’ve been careful what she asked for.

One thing she was starting to learn real fast—things could always get worse.

Chapter Nineteen

When Chuito was in Miami, his life revolved around two things—his family and his gang. His loyalty to both was unbending. He would bleed for them. Carve their markings on his body with pride. Do absolutely anything in his power to make sure they were strong and invincible. He would kill a motherfucker in a heartbeat if they threatened either one…without remorse.

Then he moved to Garnet and learned something.

The loyalty that had been ingrained in him didn’t go away just because he had changed locations. He was here for Alaine, but he still needed something to bleed for. He needed a cause. An organization.

Chuito needed a crew.

Unfortunately for him, that crew became the Cuthouse Cellar.

He got to watch it come together.

He was one of the first fighters to bleed on their mats.

His UFC title belts hung on their walls.

He might as well have a Cuthouse Cellar tattoo on his body to add to the collection of other obligations that decorated his skin and reminded him every time he looked in the mirror that he was never going to be one of those pendejos who only had to worry about retirement.

His existence had always been about making sure he contributed to the strength of something bigger than him. His phone had never once stopped ringing with problems from Los Corredores in Miami. Living in Garnet hadn’t separated him from his gang like he wanted it to. Even when he tried to distance himself, somehow he always ended up dealing with problems. Long distance, and until recently, within the limits of the law, but life changed this past year as it always seemed to do right when Chuito started to think it was going his way.

For a short time he’d even considered trying to make it work with Alaine.