Page 65 of Tequila & Lace
I smiled tightly and took a sip of my water, trying to think of what to do. He’d hired me as an escort. Obviously I wasn’t going to—gross!
“So tell me, Andi,” he leaned forward, crossed his hands on the table and looked into my eyes, “what do you think gives you the right to disobey my orders?”
My head tilted to the side in confusion. “Your orders?”
He smirked. “You don’t know who I am?”
“Bryce,” I whispered.
He leaned back in his chair. “Well, that’s funny. Usually the whores I fuck are the only ones who know my first name.”
“I—”
“Which one of my whores is running her mouth, Andi? Huh?” He hit the table with his fist and I jumped. Paul looked over and I shook my head slightly.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He leaned forward again. “I’ll ask you again. What gives you the right to disobey my orders?”
“What orders?” I asked, scrunching my eyebrows.
“Come on, Andi. Don’t play stupid. I know some of you whores are stupid, but you don’t look like one of them. Jasmine told me you were smart. Let’s act like it.”
My head cocked back. “Jasmine?”
“Okay, so you are stupid.” He laughed.
My gaze flicked to Paul and he was staring at us. I wanted to motion for him to come sit with us, be my back-up. I felt like my head was spinning. I was talking about one thing and Bryce was talking about another—and then it clicked.
“You’re Martinez?”
“Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner, folks!”
When I’d left the hotel twelve years ago, I thought I would return to the trailer park to save Bryce, but forty-eight hours later I’d learned that Tony took him and my mother, only to never be heard of again—until now. I never knew why.
As I stared into the honey eyes that were similar to mine, I knew there was no saving this man I didn’t know. It was too late. Even though he had my eyes, his weren’t warm and inviting. They were cold and dark, as if they didn’t care if he lived or died on any given day. Tony had raised him and made him the man he was today. The boy I was raising would never treat a woman the way he was speaking to me. He would never call women whores. Would never order a woman around. He would be more like Paul—more like Seth even.
I gave Paul one final look and then I acted. Whatever happened beyond this point was out of my control. I had a gun and if I had to shoot my own blood, then that was what I was going to do. Paul raised his eyebrows and his gaze lowered to my hand as it went inside my clutch. I saw him reach behind his back as I pulled my gun out and stood.
“FBI. Get on the fucking ground, hands behind you back.” I pointed my gun at Bryce and he laughed.
Paul stood with a look of confusion on his face as his gaze went back and forth between me and my brother.
“Get on the fucking ground!” I repeated, the gun in both of my hands as I pointed it at him.
Two big goons ran in behind Bryce. Paul pulled his gun and pointed it at them. They skidded to a stop and drew their own guns. “All right, everyone needs to calm the fuck down,” Bryce interjected, trying to get everyone to lower their weapons. People in the restaurant were screaming and running for the doors.
“Bryce, you’re not running the show. Get on the fucking ground. I’m not going to ask you again!”
Bryce laughed again, grabbing his belly as though he couldn’t contain himself. “I don’t take orders from whores!”
Reaching into my purse, I grabbed my wallet and pulled my badge out. “Does this look like I’m fucking around?” I shouted, showing him my credentials that accompanied the gold plated badge.
The sound of guns cocking followed bypop, pop, popsent the room into a frenzy. Pain tore through the flesh of my right arm, causing me to lose my balance as I saw Paul rush Bryce. He tackled him, sending them both crashing into the wood table. Fists flew as Paul connected his with Bryce’s jaw and I scrambled to my feet. Paul flipped him over, pulling Bryce’s arms behind his back with a little more force than necessary.
With the barrel of the gun against the back of his head, I repeated myself again to Bryce, “Hands behind your back.”
Paul held him as I looked for Bryce’s guys. They were lying motionless in puddles of blood where they stood before.
