Page 40 of Jack of Hearts
Nate gave him a two-finger salute. “I know you’d like to shoot the bastard, but try to refrain.”
“I’ll try, but no promises.” The dude better not test his patience, though.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Two weeks had passed, and Madison hadn’t heard a word from Alex. It was what she wanted and for the best. Who was she kidding? For the best, sure, but it wasn’t what she wanted. She missed him, and it made her grouchy. Mostly because there was no reason to miss a man she’d only intended to have fun with.
At least her mother was cheerful. Angelina bounced around the bookstore like a puppy on speed. Light had returned to her mother’s eyes, and that was the only bright spot in Madison’s life these days. That and the bookstore. She loved every nook and cranny, every single minute she spent here.
The coffee and tea side of the business was doing even better than expected, and Angelina had perfected her latte foam art to the point people were disappointed when she wasn’t behind the counter. Angelina was proving invaluable in so many ways. She’d even found a woman who made awesome baked goods, which beat the cookies and pastries she and Lauren had been picking up each morning at the grocery store. They were so delicious that they had doubled their daily order to keep from selling out before the day was over.
Madison couldn’t wait to put their other plans into motion, especially starting the book club that would meet once a month in the bookstore. She was working with a local author for their first reading and signing, and eventually they would create a children’s section. Her head was full of ideas—such as having a ladies-only adult coloring book night with wine and cheese—and she had to rein herself in so that she wasn’t running around creating chaos by starting too many things at once.
If not for men, life would be perfect. One thing she needed to do was tell Lauren about Ramon. There was no predicting what her cousin would get up to next, and her friend needed to be aware of what was going on.
“Got a minute?” she asked, tracking Lauren down in the stockroom.
“Sure. What’s up?” She stood with a stack of books in her arms. After setting them on the worktable, she stretched her back.
“Back hurting?” At Lauren’s nod, she walked behind her friend and put her thumbs on Lauren’s spine, massaging her.
“Ah, that feels good.”
“As soon as we can afford it, we need to get a stockroom person. They can do shipping and receiving as well as restocking the shelves.”
“Sounds good.”
“I wanted to talk to you about my cousin.” It was embarrassing to admit her own cousin was sexually harassing her, but what if he showed up sometime when Lauren was here by herself and Ramon turned his attention on her?
“Have I ever met him?”
“No.” Madison gave Lauren one last rub before sitting on the edge of the desk. She sighed, hating that she even had this kind of problem. “I’ve made a point of not letting you anywhere around him. He’s a slimeball.” She told Lauren the things he’d done to her.
“Are you kidding me? That a family member would do something like that is disgusting. What’re we going to do about it?”
“Nothing.” At Lauren’s outraged expression, she held up her hand. “Calm down Crusader of Wronged Best Friends. I’m telling you because a few weeks ago, I saw Ramon sitting in his car across the street. I don’t know if he’s done that before, and I don’t know if he was watching for me to come out or what. We just need to be aware, okay?”
“Since I don’t know what he looks like, I wouldn’t know him if I saw him.”
Madison scrolled through the photos on her phone, finding one of her mother standing on the beach with Jose and Ramon. “Here. That’s him and his father.”
“Wow. He’s hot.”
“Lauren—”
“Oh, believe me, I have no interest in slimeballs no matter how good-looking. Why can’t we make his life miserable or something?”
“Because I think he’s dangerous.” She didn’t have proof that Ramon was involved in the drug business, so she kept her suspicions to herself. “He drives a black Hummer. If you ever see him or the Hummer parked outside, tell me, okay?”
“You got it. Now, speaking of hot guys, what happened with Alex? I thought you two were really into each other.”
“It didn’t work out, is all.” She didn’t want to talk about Alex.
“Well, when you are ready to talk about it, you know I’m here for you.”
Madison hugged her best friend. “I know.” She left Lauren to finish the restocking. Returning to the store, she stilled at seeing her uncle and cousin talking to Angelina. It was as if by speaking of Ramon, she’d conjured him up. Why the hell were they here?
She took a deep breath as she strode over to them while sending up a little prayer that Lauren wouldn’t come out of the stockroom. “Uncle Jose, Ramon, this is a surprise.” And not a pleasant one.
