Jaci Burton (17 page)

plenty of product. I just sent the money over. It’s a nice clean

transaction, and so far no hassles with the Border Patrol.”

“You’ve been lucky. How are they hiding it?”

“I had several hiding spots made in the new car I bought

Lacey this year. And the scent is masked in case there are

drug dogs. It’s slick, I’m tel ing you.” He leaned in closer.

“We’re running a ton of coke here in the city alone. I’m looking

to branch out territory, take it statewide and then beyond. You

came back at just the right time. I’d real y like to tap into your

Chicago connections.”

His nonexistent Chicago connections. “You got it. Anything

you need me to do, just let me know.”

As if he final y relaxed, Bo leaned back in the chair. “I have

some real y good guys working for me, but none that I’m close

to like you and I were. I’d like to have you as my second-in-

command someday. If you’re interested.”

“You know I would be.”

Bo nodded. “You’l need to prove yourself, of course. Not

just to me, but to the higher-ups in the Hel raisers national

organization. Once you do, then you’l progress fast and I’l

have you positioned right where I want you.”

“Okay. What do you need from me?”

“I need you to do a run for me into California tomorrow.”

Rick just bet he did. What he wanted was to make sure

Rick had no ties to Ava, so that he could ship Ava off with

Lacey into Mexico. If Rick objected, then there’d be trouble.

This was make it or break it time.

The problem was, everything was now on the line—the

assignment, Rick’s cover, and Ava’s safety. Rick would have

to be very careful how he played the game moving forward.

“That sounds fine.”

“Good.” Bo paused, looked around, then back at him. “So

tel me what’s the deal with you and Ava.”

Rick shrugged. “Ava’s just a fuck. I don’t even know her. I

figured she was a Hel raiser babe.”

“Nah. She’s Lacey’s friend. Pops in to see Lace every now

and then, but otherwise she’s nothing to the Hel raisers. I just

wanted to know if she meant something to you.”

Rick had to play it cool, had to know where Bo was going

with this. “To me? She doesn’t mean anything at al .”

“So she’s disposable.”

“Hel yes, she’s disposable. I don’t keep women in my life.

Never have, never wil .”

Bo’s smirk sent a warning signal his way, especial y when

Bo lifted his gaze over Rick’s shoulder.

Rick turned around.

Fuck.

Ava was standing right behind him. And the shocked

expression on her face told him she’d heard what he’d just

said.

Ava swal owed, but there was a lump in her throat the size of a

basebal .

She was just a fuck. Disposable. He didn’t even know her.

The things he’d said shouldn’t hurt, because he was right.

He was right about al of it.

But goddammit, it did hurt. It hurt bad. She didn’t know

which was worse—being stunned over hearing Rick tel Bo

how he real y felt about her, or finding out how she felt about

him.

When had she started to care?

Rick pushed back from the table. “Ava.”

She held up her hand. “Don’t. Just . . .”

She pivoted and turned, pushing past an open-mouthed

Lacey. Hoping like hel that no one fol owed her, she punched

the button for the elevator, grateful that the doors pul ed open

immediately and no one was in there. She hurried in and

jammed the button for the second floor, her gaze fixated on the

lobby in front of her, searching out Rick or Lacey.

The doors closed and she exhaled.

When she got to her room, she bolted the door and took a

moment to lean against it.

You’re waiting for him. You want him to come after you.

You are so stupid, Ava, because he isn’t going to. Weren’t

you listening downstairs? You’re disposable.

What was she so upset about anyway? She’d come here to

see Lacey, to find out how she was doing and see if she could

repair their friendship.

That part, at least, seemed to be going wel . Lacey had

asked her this morning to go to Mexico with her. A short, two-

day trip, but Lacey said she often went, stayed overnight at a

wonderful resort and got the ful spa treatment, then headed

back. A gift from Bo, Lacey had said, because Bo traveled a

lot on business—what business that was Ava had no idea

—and he felt guilty leaving Lacey alone so much.

Of course if Lacey was in school she wouldn’t be lonely and

bored, but that was a topic Ava intended to bring up once she

got Lacey al to herself in Mexico. So she agreed to

accompany her, in fact couldn’t wait for some one-on-one time

with her best friend.

Time to focus on Lacey, not on Rick. She’d already wasted

too much time with Rick, and look where it had gotten her?

She’d conjured up ridiculous notions that he cared for her, that

she cared for him, as if they had some kind of relationship,

when in fact al they’d had was sex.

She might have been nothing but a fuck to him, but guess

what? That’s exactly what he’d been to her. A hot guy she

could stretch her sexual muscles with. He’d at least been fun

for that.

Now that it was over, she’d concentrate on Lacey.

And forget al about Rick.

Easy, right?

Rick dragged his fingers through his hair and paced, trying to

figure out how the hel he was going to make this right.

The first thing he did after Ava ran off was pretend it didn’t

matter. Lacey glared at him and cal ed him an asshole, but he

just shrugged and Bo laughed. He’d done his job, even if he

felt like shit about it.

He’d hurt Ava. He hadn’t meant to. If he’d known she had

come into the coffee shop and was within earshot, he’d never

said those things to Bo about her.

Bo had set him up, had seen Ava and Lacey coming in and

wanted to make sure Ava heard Rick say those things.

He had his cousin to thank for this mess.

But Rick wanted Bo to think that Ava meant nothing to him,

to clear the way for his advancement in the Hel raisers, and to

make sure nothing stood in the way of Rick being in the right

position to find out what Bo was going to do. There was a

major drug buy on the line, and Rick needed to make sure it

didn’t get cancel ed.

The problem was, he did care about Ava. He did worry

about her. The best thing that could come out of her

eavesdropping would be her fal ing apart and deciding to run

home to her father, thereby clearing the way for him to focus

only on what Bo was up to. Ava would be safe then, and that

part of his job would be over.

Unfortunately, no such luck. And despite the il egal drug

distribution angle, Ava was his primary assignment. His job

was to prevent any major connection between Ava and drugs.

Bringing in cocaine across the border would be a massive

clusterfuck, and probably cost him his job.

He real y liked his job. And it was damn time he stopped

playing around with Ava and started doing his job. What the

hel did it matter what she thought of him? When this

assignment was over, he was off to the next one and Ava

would be nothing but a distant memory.

After Bo and Lacey took off, Rick went back to his room,

grabbed his cel phone and dialed Grange’s number. The

general picked up on the second ring, and Rick fil ed him in on

what was going to happen.

“Wel , shit,” Grange said. “So your cousin is using his

girlfriend as a mule, and has decided to drag the senator’s

daughter into his game.”

“Looks that way.”

“It’s obvious Bo doesn’t have any idea who Ava is, does

he?”

“I don’t think so. No way would he al ow a high-profile

person like Senator Vargas’s daughter to carry drugs across

the Mexican border. A bust could break the Hel raisers and

lead directly to him.”

“Okay. What do you want to do about it?”

Leave it to Grange to drop the bal right at Rick’s feet. “I

want to let Ava and Lacey go into Mexico. But I want to be

there. I also want to get Bo into Mexico. This is an opportunity

to break up a major drug import and distribution ring. I can’t

just walk away from this by pul ing Ava out.”

Grange went quiet for a few seconds. “Risky. The Feds

aren’t going to like this.”

Rick smiled. “But you aren’t going to tel them yet, are you?”

“Of course not. I’l wait until you’re already in Mexico and I’l

take the heat for the decision to let this play out.”

Just like Grange to shoulder the burden.

“Thanks.”

“You’d better have something figured out that clears Ava by

the time you reach the U.S. border, though.”

“You got it.”

“And if things get sticky, get Ava out of there and let this

drug business with your cousin go.”

“I know. She’s the number-one priority. I’l keep you posted.”

He hung up and paced again, trying to formulate a plan. Bo

wanted him out of the state. Rick would have to change his

mind.

Then again, maybe not. Maybe he could head on down into

Mexico without Bo knowing. Or at least without Bo knowing

just yet. Because Bo would find out eventual y—after Rick got

there.

And that’s exactly the way Rick wanted this game to play

out.

He grinned and went in search of Bo.

A
va inhaled and exhaled, sinking deep into the cushy table

where she was being massaged. She could almost imagine

she was floating somewhere in the deep sea, lost amidst the

creatures that inhabited the vast ocean. Just drifting endlessly

without a care in the world.

Lacey was right. Mexico was heaven. She was oiled,

rubbed, pampered, the strains of some sweet classical music

lul ing her into a near coma of bliss.

Al this lavish attention almost took her mind off the gnawing

emptiness and pain of what Rick had done to her yesterday.

Almost.

Fortunately she had Lacey with her—at least some of the

time—talking to her nonstop about everything and nothing.

Now that they didn’t have school and their future careers to

work on together any longer, Ava realized she and Lacey had

very little common ground. Lacey liked to talk about Bo—a lot.

Her entire world revolved around Bo. What she and Bo did

together, where they went, what little presents he bought for

her . . .

And sex. She talked nonstop about al the sex she was

having with Bo.

Which would be fine if al the sexy talk didn’t make Ava think

about Rick. And she’d vowed she wasn’t going to think about

Rick anymore. After al , he wasn’t thinking about her. He was

probably off picking up a new girl, what with women being

disposable and al .

“You’re tensing up ma’am. Try to relax.”

“Sorry.” Ava cleared her mind again and focused on the soft

music and equal y soft hands of Carla, her masseuse. She

closed her eyes and imagined herself rich and pampered,

getting massages like this every week, having an idle life

where al she did was shop and live in the lap of luxury.

Ha. She’d be bored senseless. She was already bored

senseless. She’d been here twenty-four hours and she was

ready to go home. How Lacey did these trips by herself was

beyond Ava’s ability to comprehend.

It was certainly a nice experience. The town was lovely, the

people were friendly, there was plenty of shopping, and the

food was good. The spa and hotel were awesome, catering to

her every need. The staff knew Lacey very wel since she’d

been coming here often. Stil , Ava was bored.