Page 41 of Shameless in Vegas

“I know you’ve been around some reallybadpeople, baby doll,” he murmurs against my lips, pulling me harder against him, “but I’m not one of them. You can trust me. Okay?”

Timid relief starts to overtake my anxiety, and what he believes is upsetting me is a convenient excuse, so I allow myself to be the damsel I know he can’t resist saving.

Producing some convincing crocodile tears, I blink and swallow thickly as I nod. “I know,amor. I’m trying. It’s just… things before…” I drop my chin and shake my head. “It was awful.”

“Awhoney.” He lifts my chin to kiss my lips again. “I know it was, but it’s over now.” He wraps his large arms around me and squeezes so tight that I can barely breathe. “You have nothing to worry about anymore, and we are gonna be so happy. Right?”

My face is buried in his chest, and even though I’m on the cusp of suffocating, I can’t deny that I have come toloveboth his scent and the cocoon of his muscles all around me—which is a problem I need to deal with.

“Right,” I manage to squeak.

“Yeah.” Joaquin releases me just before I go lightheaded and swats my ass. “All right. Let’s go chat with the realtor and then go meet up with our peeps. I bet you’re starving, huh, babe?”

I’m not crazy about this ass-smacking thing he’s started doing, and I rub my butt as I put on a pleasant smile. “I am.”

He leads me out of the condo, and I take one last look at it, still considering the absurdity of living in such a place. We stroll out of the unit and down the hall to wait for the elevator, him with his arm wrapped securely around my waist as he slips out his phone to check something. While he does, I cast a glance down one end of the long hallway and then the other one.

Just as I start to look back toward the front, my gaze catches on someone at the far end of the hall, leaning casually against the corner.

My heart nearly stops dead.

Xavier.

Dressed in all black and rubbing his meticulously maintained goatee, looking exactly like the devil I know he is.

I expertly fight off any reaction and merely cut a sideways glance at Joaquin, who’s slowly scrolling upward on his phone, perusing the documents sent to him earlier by the realtor.

I have no idea what Xavier is doing here. He never intervenes or shows up like this.

But then again,Ihave never faltered in my work like I have recently. Not having my phone when Joaquin whisked us away to the hotel and then not being able to check in with him last night due to bizarre exhaustion have probably led Xavier to believe that I’m slacking. He probably assumes something’s going on that I’m not telling him, so I guess he needed tocheck inwith me. Inperson.

I didn’t even know he was in New York.

Joaquin is still obliviously scrolling on his phone, and I can’t tear my eyes from Xavier’s, which are glinting like the fucking serpent that he is.

Just as the elevator bell dings, Xavier points atmeand then slowly draws his index finger across his throat before slipping back out of sight.

Like a warning.

Like apromise.

One that perfectly demonstrates exactly what he’s going to do to me at some point.

Whether that point is sooner rather than later, I know it’s coming eventually, regardless of how well I do the job I’m currently assigned to do.

I am merely a pawn, and when the cartel is done using me, they will dispose of me.

And in the meantime, I have to kill a genuinely good man who’s about to put me up in a three-million-dollar penthouse and says things like,you can trust me, andyou havenothing to worry about anymore, andwe are gonna be so happy.

If only it all wasn’t one big steaming pile of bullshit.

ELEVEN

JOAQUIN

NATALIA’S A DAMN GOOD actress, I’ll give her that much. She didn’t so much as flinch when I tried to shake her down back at the condo, but I’ve got another idea, and Elle is going to help with that.

You see, Elle is some kind of psychology genius, and I’m going to pick her super smart brain over lunch. I purposely choose a seat across from Natalia at the restaurant so I can watch her every expression, and I’m hoping I can chip away at this faux front she’s got on so she’ll eventually just fess up.

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