Page 18 of Tainted Truth

Glancing down at the brute still grasping my arm, I dart my eyes to the side, reminding him that we have an audience. But, of course, he and the rest of my damn wardens don’t give a fuck.

A throat clears at the head of the table, and Asher reluctantly releases my arm once he makes eye contact with Paloma.

Taking the escape, she and Carmen are giving me, I scurry away. Carmen links her arm with mine as we walk away together and she lets out a sigh, making me think she needs to get away from the table just as badly as I do.

“I’m Carmen, by the way,” she says with a kind smile as we step through the back door.

“Spencer.”

“Yeah, I figured. Rio doesn’t shut up about you.”

My face heats at her comment and all words leave me.

“I’m sorry to bring all the drama here. It’s not usually like that.” She tilts her head to the side. “Okay, that’s a lie—sometimes it is. But when you have five menstruating women all in one room, shit is bound to happen.”

We round a corner that leads down a hallway covered in family pictures and it’s hard to resist the urge to stop and find baby pictures of Rio.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m an only child, so it’s fun to see the family dynamics.”

Carmen turns to me and widens her eyes. “I want to beclear, Ididn’t invite those guys here. Gabriel grew up with Rio, so he randomly shows up, and over the years he added Mateo and Diego.”

Rio grew up with that violent psycho?

Regardless, my heart goes out to her—I understand.

Sometimes it’s nice to have the attention of three attractive men.

But then you find out they kill people in their basement.

“I know what you mean. Sometimes you want to push them away, but they literally won’t leave you alone.”

Or they handcuff you to the fucking bed and then expect you to wear other women’s clothes.

“It’s complicated,” Carmen says on a sigh while her shoulders fall forward as we stop before the bathroom door.

“I’m good with complicated,” I emphasize with a head tilt. “I wish there was something I could do to help. God knows I’m not happy with Rio, Asher, and Zane right now either.”Most days, actually.

“Well . . .” She trails off in thought, then gives me a mischievous smile. “Maybe there is.”

CHAPTER 6

SPENCER

Carmen and I settle back at the table and give each other a quick glance. In the bathroom, she gave me a rundown of who’s who, and a little bit about each. And I tried to explain how I was afraid of them, without giving any details. Carmen swore to me Gabriel, Diego, and Mateo would never hurt me simply because I’m family now.

Family . . . It’s a strange concept—one I always longed for but couldn’t have. Mom said she didn’t need any more children when she had me, and I have my friends at Clay Creations and Abstract Dreams, but for someone to call me “family” feels different.

Paloma sits at the head of the table making idle chit chat with Gabriel who is seated to her left with Mateo, Carmen, Diego, and Mariela seated after him.

On Paloma’s right is Solana followed by Zane, Asher, me, and Rio. Elena sits at the end of the table, quietly bickering with her younger sister, Mariela, about being present for family dinner.

My eyes meet Carmen’s again, and she gives a subtle head tilt indicating the man on her right.

I clear my throat after I take a bite of food. “So, Mateo, is it?”

Mateo perks up as his eyes dart to the men on either side of me and a wicked smile appears on his face. “That’s me, darling. And who are you?”

“None of your fucking business, Alvarez,” Zane spits out at him.

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