feet.
“Want a beer? We just picked up some groceries.”
He nodded, the corners of his mouth barely curling up before he looked out the window. He was adrift in his own thoughts, already lost to this room. I never wondered much about Lonzo. His role in this mess was always defined as one of our bodyguards. I seriously never considered he could have a life outside of it or the Cartel. It made me wonder if he did.
I headed to the kitchen for the drinks.
“Have you heard from Emilio?” I yelled back as I popped the tops off both bottles. Returning to the living room, I handed him one before I got comfortable on my armchair once more.
“No.”
He threw back a long swallow, savoring the taste of the beer before his gaze met mine. His expression was a wealth of inaccessible knowledge. His apathy frustrated me, and that was how he always came off when we’d been on tour—just always there, watching, seeing everything, and knowing more than anyone should. What did those dark eyes hide? Now that I thought about it, he probably knew everything I could ever imagine asking about, especially about the Esperanza brothers.
And what did he know about me and Audrey? I shuddered to think about it. That could be good or also be a really bad thing.
“I thought you were the best of friends.”
“There’s no friends in this business.”
Okay then…I swallowed hard and tapped my fingernails on the cool glass of my beer.
“You know what I think?”
“What’s that, Miss Westing?” He leaned forward, placing his empty beer bottle onto a coaster on the coffee table. His eyes flicked back up to me, drilling into me like obsidian blades. It had me squirming in my chair some, unnerving me with every second those eyes remained fixed on me.
“I think you do know and you just don’t want to tell me a fucking thing.” I gulped down another swallow of beer and gave him a hard stare. I didn’t believe him. His amused expression made my blood boil for some reason, so this feeling that he was hiding stuff couldn’t be too far off the middle. I didn’t want to be a player in some game that only Lonzo knew how to play. I was done with games.
“All in good time, Miss Westing. You’ll know everything I do, all in good time.”
Chapter Fourteen
Audrey
I eyed Lonzo sitting in our living room and downing beer like there was no tomorrow. He obviously drank a lot because after drinking most of the twelve pack we’d bought earlier, he was as sober as I was without drinking a thing. Even so, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was up to no good. I tried to let it roll off my back, but it wasn’t easy. I shoved dishes into boxes and folded the last of the laundry, but found myself glancing his way every time I passed the living room.
Something was off about this whole thing, and I contemplated begging Liv to not go with him to wherever it was they were going to, but I knew she wouldn’t have it. There was no stopping my sister when she set her sights on something. She’d get tunnel vision, focusing until there was nothing between her and her goals. It was a tragic trait for her. It’d been the source of so many heartbreaks.
I wondered if she got that from my mother or my father. Was I so one track minded?
Taping shut another box, I called out to Liv so she could help me put the last few boxes into the station wagon and I could then swing by our storage unit before sunset. The furniture was going to be put into storage later, but most of our belongings, which were almost all boxed away, were already stored. It was bittersweet labeling the cardboard with a sharpie. I didn’t want to leave this place. It was full of happy memories of me and Saul together.
The memory of him froze me in a daze. I missed him immensely, though it’d just been less than a day. I wanted him here with me. Through the sharp ache that threatened to seize the beating of my heart, I breathed through the pain. He wasn’t here,
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes