Page 83 of Emerald

Nash continues to smile at me. “You look so fucking hot jealous.” He chuckles.

“I’m not fucking jealous of her,” I spit back.

“The way you grabbed her hand and removed it from me. Then told her I was yours had my dick fucking hard.” He smirks. I roll my eyes at him and continue to walk away. “Hey, now, no need to be shy about it,” he teases, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “I know I’m yours,” he whispers into my ear. “Even when someone else is touching you.” I stop and turn to him.

“I don’t know how you can stand it.”

“I can’t. But it’s for the greater good,” he explains. “Now, I think you might be a little hangry.” I am. “Come, let me take you to lunch to say thanks for the tux.”

“Fine,” I grumble as we head over to one of the resort’s beachfront restaurants.

31

NASH

We are greeted by the pompous Maître D and shown to our table. The restaurant is busy for lunchtime midweek, but I guess this is what people do on holidays. A waiter comes back and hands us two menus and I notice his eyes running over Elena hungrily.Back off you little fuck.

“That waiter was checking you out,” I tease, especially after what just happened at the boutique.

“Oh, was he?” she answers while reading the menu, not looking up, “was he cute?” She smirks, pulling down the menu to look at me.

“No.”

“Jealousy looks cute on you, too, Nash.” She chuckles before the blood drains from her face as she’s looking over my shoulder.

“Hey, everything okay?” I ask, but she seems to have zoned out as she continues to look over. “Ellie,” I say her name sternly and it makes her look at me. “What’s going on? You’re pale.”

“I think I just saw a ghost,” she says quietly, and I can tell she is still out of it. The waiter comes back, and I tell him we need more time. He isn’t impressed, but in this moment, I don’t care.I turn around and look in the direction that she is looking. My eyes bounce from person to person until I notice the table in the corner which overlooks the beach. It’s Dominguez men, his son Domingo, and his wife, who is not much older than his son.

“Are you worried that they might tell Manuel that we are having lunch together? We can leave if you want.”

“It’s Anna.” Her voice is barely a whisper.

Now it’s my turn to pale upon hearing her words. “Anna? As in the girl who disappeared with you?” I turn around again wondering if she is looking somewhere else, but I think she is looking at the blonde with Domingo. No. She’s mistaken, that is Pedro’s wife. They have been together for… shit … almost four years. No. There is no way in hell that is her friend. There’s no way.

“Yes.”

“Where is she?” I ask. Please don’t let it be them.

“She is sitting with a younger man in the corner. She’s in red and he is in green.”

Fuck.

I turn around and the blonde is smiling and laughing, looking comfortable with Domingo, some might even say too comfortable.

“That can’t be your friend. You must be mistaken,” I tell her.

Her blue eyes, thanks to the contact lenses she wears, glare at me. “How the fuck would you know?” she snaps at me.

“That is Annika Dominguez, the second wife of Pedro Dominguez who is the head of the Yucatan Cartel. The man she is with is his oldest son, Domingo. I don’t think that is your friend.” I sure as hell hope she isn’t for her sake.

Elena shakes her head. “It’s her, I know it is,” she says before abruptly standing. Shit. No. She can’t just walk over there and welcome her back from the dead. Reaching out, I grab her wristand pull her back down into her seat. I see the fire in her eyes as she wants to fight me on it.

“You can’t just walk over there, that’s suicide. If she is really your friend, then you need to know who she has been for the past four years,” I explain to her.

“What do you mean? I know who she is.”

I shake my head. “That woman is one of the most ruthless women in the cartel. She is as bloodthirsty and power-hungry as her husband.”

---