Page 59 of Devil's Claim

I had no idea how to be a decent human being. That was the crux of it. What Christine had experienced had been as sophisticated as I could envision.

What about Maverick?

Fuck. Just watching the two of them together had made me realize I was woefully under-skilled to deal with a kid.

“You do understand that woman will wake up one day and realize you’re full of shit,” Jago said from his lounge chair. Since when had the man ever taken time to sun himself?

His unchanged scowl annoyed the hell out of me.

I leveled him with a harsh glare.

He shrugged and pulled his drink from the table into his hand.

“I’m just warning you that you don’t know this girl.”

“And how long did you know Genevieve before your entire world changed?” I moved around him, heading to the outside bar.That was new as well, a fucking tiki representation of something tropical. I’d made fun of him for two full weeks after he’d had it installed.

Another of Genevieve’s influences.

“That was entirely different. I was required to be with the lovely woman in my life.”

“You’re full of such goddamn bullshit.” I was angry, furious. Mostly with myself.

“You aren’t her hero.”

“So I told her. I know how the story goes, Jago. I’m not some fucking fool.”

“No, you’re not. A woman in your house and a child? Wow. Instant family.”

“I didn’t say I was marrying her.”

Although the temptation had crossed my mind; another absurd idea, but one that could add another layer of protection. Just like his marriage to the daughter of a rival cartel within Spain had provided for Jago.

However, it wasn’t possible for me. I could never settle down.

“Look,” he said as he sat up, planting his feet on the pool deck. “You’re a killer through and through.”

“Is that meant to be your weekly pep talk, cause it’s not working.”

“You can be such an asshole. What I’m trying to tell you is that you’ve killed enough people, mostly enemies, to start a city ofyour own. Done out of necessity, but that weighs on a man after a while.”

“You’ve certainly added your numbers to hell’s population.”

“That’s what I’m saying. I had no balance. So maybe having Christine in your life isn’t such a bad idea. I’m just warning you that things will change. You’ll change. Every feeling. Every emotion. Every kill will become more personal, every action taken thought about more than once. That could spell danger for both of you. Correction, the three of you. Who knows, you get a dog and she gets pregnant. That’ll add to the complications.”

He burst into laughter.

“Oh, for the love of fuck. That’s not going to happen.”

“Uh-huh. Famous last words. You’re lucky you found each other. As long as she can tolerate a gruff, most of the time pain in the ass bad boy then you’re golden.”

“I’m not a pain in the ass.”

“Oh, hell, yes, you are. If you want to retire or just take a nice long vacation with that main squeeze, I’m all for it. Just not until Fassi is found.”

Why was it that around him I always seemed to be gritting my teeth? “You can be such an asshole sometimes.” I poured two shots of whiskey into the glass instead of my usual tequila. The last thing I wanted was to be reminded of Miami at this point.

A total clusterfuck.

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