Page 47 of Gonzo's Grudge
I kept my head down as I crossed the courtyard. The air smelled like wet leaves, sharp with the first bite of winter. I should have been thinking about deadlines, papers, the friends who’d stopped asking me to go out weeks ago. Instead, I was thinking about Gabriel Gonzo Gonzales and how in such a short time he captivated my entire world.
About his arms around me at night. About the way he kissed me like nothing else in the world mattered. About the warnings Catalina had thrown like knives in my face two weeks ago.
And about the voice in my head that whispered: You’re in too deep, IvaLeigh. You’re not built for his world.
I pushed the thoughts down and swiped my key card to the building, heading for my apartment
When the door swung open, he was already there.
Hampton Stanley. I had met him once before when he came to the house to meet with my father.
He sat in Darla’s desk chair like it belonged to him, one ankle crossed over his knee, his suit too crisp for a college dorm room. His hair was perfect, his smile sharper than any knife.
“Miss Walsh,” he opened smoothly. “We should talk.”
My heart thudded once, hard, but I forced my face into something calm. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to save you some trouble.” He gestured to the chair across from him. “Sit.”
“I’ll stand,” I countered, my voice tight.
His smile widened like I’d proven a point for him. “Suit yourself. I imagine you’re wondering who the man in your bed really is.”
My stomach clenched, but I didn’t move.
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, voice lowering like he was telling me a bedtime story. “Mr. Gonzales isn’t who you think. He’s not some misunderstood protector. He’s an outlaw. A criminal. The president of the Saint’s Outlaws motorcycle club, a man who’s shed more blood than you want to count. And you know why he’s with you? Because your father sentenced his son to life in prison. You are his target. You are his leverage. You are a pawn in a grown man’s game.”
The words landed like a hammer.
I kept my face still.
“That’s right,” Hampton shared, watching me like a hawk. “Your daddy put GJ away. And now his outlaw father has decided to cozy up to you. Why? Because you’re a piece to play on the board. A pretty little queen he can move to get close to the judge who ruined his son’s life.”
He paused, tilting his head. “You didn’t think it was real, did you? That a man like him would look at a girl like you and see anything but leverage?”
My chest burned, but I didn’t flinch.
He smirked. “And in case you thought Daddy might save you from all this… don’t count on it. I’ve got your father in my back pocket. Every man has a weakness, and his just happens to be a woman. An affair. A secret he’ll never want exposed. I keep him safe, and in return, he keeps me happy.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides.
“You stepped into a man’s war, IvaLeigh,” Hampton explained, standing now, towering over me. “If you were smart, you’d get out. Take some time off. Study abroad. Paris, Rome, anywhere but here. Leave before you get chewed up.”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t move. I kept my face calm, flat, even though inside I was crumbling.
He studied me a moment longer, then smiled like he’d already buried me. “Be a good girl and get out while you can,” he ordered, and brushed past me out the door.
The second the latch clicked shut, I collapsed.
I threw myself onto the bed, buried my face in the pillow, and sobbed until my chest hurt. Every word he’d said replayed in my head—pawn, leverage, affair, war.
Was it true? Was Gonzo only with me because of my father? Because I was a means to an end?
I couldn’t stop the images—his arms around me, his lips on mine, the way he’d said I was his. All of it twisting now, poisoned by Hampton Stanley’s words.
The door banged open. “IvaLeigh?” Darla’s voice carried in, followed by her perfume. She tossed her bag onto her bed and looked over. “What the hell happened to you?”
Her presence—her laughter, her careless world—made me want to scream. She had Collin. She had her games. She hadn’t had Hampton Stanley tell her she was nothing but a pawn in a war she couldn’t survive.
