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  I forced a grin of my own and shrugged. “I was tired of the dry spell. I couldn’t let a full year pass without sex. The idea was far too depressing.”

  In fact, it was depressing. But I didn’t do one-night stands. Not after the first and only time. That was a really unpleasant way to lose my virginity. I hadn’t been keen to repeat the experience. Thinking about it, I supposed what was actually depressing was that I couldn’t find a guy I could trust enough to be in a relationship. I couldn’t tell anyone about my messed-up past. But without intimacy, I didn’t want to try sex again. It had been painful and meaningless, and I had felt like crap about myself afterward.

  Besides, I wouldn’t get into Tri Alpha if I had a reputation as a slut.

  “Are you going to see him again?” Rachel pressed excitedly.

  If by him you mean the scary gangster who’s practically holding me hostage, then hopefully not. I would just have to stay in public places. He couldn’t take me away against my will if I was surrounded by normal people. People who weren’t involved in the criminal underworld.

  “I don’t think so,” I hedged.

  “You slut!” She exclaimed again. “You are totes amaze!” A playful smile teased around her lips, and she raised her eyebrows suggestively. “And what about Craig?”

  I blinked. “What about him?” Craig was a nice boy from my Medieval History class. He was sweet, but he was terrible at the subject, which happened to be in my major. With his strawberry blonde hair and pale blue eyes, I found him cute in a goofy, clueless way. Nothing more than that.

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Don’t be an idiot. He’s totally into you. Now that the dry spell’s over, you should go out with him.”

  I gave her a level look. “I don’t see what an end to celibacy has to do with going on a date.”

  “Oh come on,” she scoffed. “You know what a date means. His roommates go out, you watch a movie alone at his place, he gives you beer – or wine, if he’s a gentleman – and then you make out.”

  I pursed my lips. That had to be the least romantic version of a date I’d ever heard. But then again, that was college guys for you. Somehow, I had hoped sweet Craig would have at least taken me to dinner.

  Now I had more than enough problems on my plate, and I didn’t need to waste time thinking about trivial things like how the cute boy in Med History looked at me. I shrugged at Rachel.

  “I guess I prefer older men. More mature.”

  “How old was this Kyle?” She asked teasingly. “Forty? Is that mature enough for you?”

  It was my turn to slap her arm. “Whatever, Rach. At least I got some last night.” I needed to turn to conversation to her before she started poking holes in my story. “When was the last time you saw Chris?”

  She blushed, and I almost felt bad. She had been crushing on Chris Johnson in a major way for months now. He didn’t seem to take things too seriously, but she wanted more.

  “We went on a date last weekend.”

  “Is he a gentleman? Did it involve wine or beer?” I joked.

  She laughed rather than being offended. Rachel was very open about her sexual exploits. “Oh, Chris is pure class. He bought me Jacob’s Creek merlot.”

  “Very classy,” I nodded my approval, then we both burst into a fit of giggles.

  God, I loved this. I actually felt my age when I was around Rachel. I could be a twenty-one year old idiot and not have to worry about things like whether or not my brother would come back from dealing every night or whether Jonas might take out his displeasure on me. I didn’t have to think about seeing my father with strangers’ blood on his hands, casually washing it off in the kitchen sink before we sat down to a falsely cheery family dinner.

  I shook off my dark thoughts and pulled myself into the moment. Rachel and I arrived at Starbucks, and I ordered a caramel mocha Frappuccino with extra chocolate whipped cream and extra caramel sauce. It barely tasted like coffee; it was perfect. I hadn’t indulged in anything so decadent in months. I may not have actually burned off calories having sex, but I felt a betrayal by my father and abduction by a Latin King warranted a boatload of sugar.

  We spent the next hour and a half devouring our chocolate-coffee treats and hot gossip. My fake sex story was mercifully left alone for the time being. I had bought myself some time to fabricate more details, if I needed to. I was sure Rachel would return to the subject in the near future.

  By the time we left, I had become so immersed in my persona as a happy-go-lucky co-ed that I had managed to put all thoughts of Santiago from my mind. I was with Rachel. I was perfectly safe. We had almost made it all the way back to our apartment block when a strong hand closed around my upper arm, stopping me short.

  I whirled with a gasp, fear slicing through my stomach as I immediately thought of Santiago. He had come for me, after all.

  Only when I looked up – way up – I realized the man holding me was a stranger. His tanned skin and dark eyes suggested Latin heritage, and the tattoos that covered his brawny arms gave him a dangerous aura.

  Latin King.

  Only, I didn’t recognize him as one of the men who had taken over Derek’s club. I tugged against his hold on my arm, but he didn’t let go.

  “Are you Jonas Carter’s daughter?” He asked in a heavily-accented growl.

  My eyes widened as I tried to summon up my best innocent look. I was aware of Rachel shifting nervously at my side.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked breathlessly.

  His fingers tightened, hard enough to bruise. I did my best to keep from wincing. I didn’t want to cause a scene. Not so close to where I lived. If the other students saw…

  “Don’t play dumb with me. I know your father went to Los Muertos.” He spat. “That Westie scum killed my cousin. He has no place with the Kings. You tell him Emilio Ramirez de Los Furiosos says this.”

  “Charlotte?” Rachel’s voice was high and thin, but she stayed by my side. “What’s going on?”

  “Go inside, Rach,” I ordered in an even voice. “I’ll be up in a minute.” My two worlds were threatening to collide. I couldn’t allow that. And I had to get Rachel well away from the line of fire.

  “What are you doing here, Ramirez?”

  Oh, shit. I recognized his voice before he appeared behind the man who still kept a vice-like grip on my arm.

  Ramirez turned to face Santiago, but he didn’t release me. Santiago’s eyes fell on where his fingers were digging into my flesh, and his face transformed from simply angry to vicious in the space of a second.

  Ramirez’s expression matched it. “Muertos scum. You tell Jonas Carter Los Furiosos are coming for him.”

  “Carter is one of us now. If you have a problem with that, then we have a problem.” He casually moved his hand to his hip, his fingers hovering near a bulge in his waistband. I recognized it for what it was: a gun.

  “Let Charlotte go, and get the fuck out of here.”

  Ramirez’s lips peeled back from his teeth, but he released me. “We do have a problem, Santiago. I’ll see you around.” He turned on his heel and stalked off.

  Santiago’s eyes turned on me, and the furious fire in them made my knees go weak. I was in so much trouble. He held his hand out, obviously expecting me to take it.

  “Come on, Charlotte. Let’s go.”

  “Wait,” Rachel interjected. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Rachel,” I tried to keep my voice from shaking. I had to come up with some sort of sane explanation for this. “This is, um…” I realized I didn’t even know his first name.

  “Javier,” he supplied, and he turned a dazzling smile on my friend. The expression lit up his features, and the sharp lines of his face suddenly transformed from harsh to ruggedly masculine. My mouth popped open. How did he go from scary to gorgeous in the space of an instant? “I’m Charlotte’s boyfriend.”

  All the wind was knocked from my chest. Really? That’s how he was going to play this?

  Far from a
ppearing charmed by the suddenly suave man before us, Rachel’s lips twisted in distaste as she took in his threadbare white t-shirt and faded jeans. She turned her frown on me.

  “Your boyfriend? So I’m guessing this is your older guy?”

  I winced. She clearly wasn’t buying my “Kyle” story anymore. “Um, yeah,” I said sheepishly. What else could I say? I had to get Rachel away from the Kings, but it seemed I wouldn’t be so lucky. Ramirez had made it clear he would threaten me to get to Jonas. And Santiago had proven he would come to my defense. If I had to choose between being exposed and vulnerable – and putting my friend in harm’s way – or being trapped with Santiago outside class time, I would choose Santiago. The lesser of two evils. He at least claimed he wouldn’t hurt me. Well, he said he didn’t want to hurt me. It wasn’t the same thing, but it was the best I had.

  With a sigh, I turned my eyes away from Rachel so she couldn’t see the shame in them. “Could you give us a few minutes, Rach?”

  I forced myself to place my hand in Santiago’s large one. As his fingers closed around mine, I could practically feel him tugging me away from my perfect life. I had wanted so badly to believe I could have a normal college experience, but that had just been another pretty lie.

  “Sure,” Rachel said frostily. “I’ll see you upstairs.”

  I fought back a grimace. I didn’t want to be seen standing here with my scary boyfriend. What would the Tri Alphas think if they saw me with him?

  But it seemed I didn’t have a choice. With my hand firmly in his, I felt like a child on a leash. But I supposed embarrassment was preferable to pain and imprisonment. I had learned a long time ago to take what I could get and bear it with a smile. I carefully plastered on a pleasant mask for the rest of the world to see.

  Normal. I’m normal. If I could convince everyone else, maybe it would be true.

  Chapter 4

  “What part of our deal didn’t you understand?” Santiago’s fierce frown was firmly back in place as soon as Rachel was out of earshot. Keeping his tight hold on my hand, he tugged me around the corner to a street with less foot traffic. His grip wasn’t painful, but his fingers might as well have been iron.

  “Let me go, please,” I requested softly. I hated the feel of his touch upon me. It would be far too easy for him to break my hand if his anger flared hotter than it already was.

  His fingers flexed briefly, but he released me a second later when he came to a stop. Still, he didn’t back away. He remained firmly in my personal space, towering over me. I didn’t dare step away in case he thought I was trying to escape him again. Even though we were in public, that didn’t mean I was safe. Ramirez had proven that.

  “I asked you a question,” he prompted in a harsh undertone. He was so close that I could smell the masculine scent that was uniquely his. Passersby might think we were a couple, huddled close for an intimate conversation. I decided to keep up the pretense. Staying close to Santiago was preferable to a confrontation with a more violent Latin King.

  “I…” I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. “I’m scared, okay?” I turned my voice down to little more than a whisper as I told the truth. “I don’t want this. Please. I just want to go back to my life.”

  He grimaced and leaned closer into me. His intent was to keep our heated conversation private, but I couldn’t help reading a threat in his nearness. He was crowding me, boxing me in with the brick wall at my back. Something clenched low in my belly in response.

  “I already explained this.” His murmured words were clipped with impatience. “I have to keep you with me. You’re leverage. I don’t want to hurt you, and I’m sorry if you’re unhappy. But this is the best deal you’re going to get. Besides,” to my amazement, he softened slightly, “you’re not safe out here alone. Not anymore. Surely you can see that.”

  I let out an exasperated huff. “If I’m in danger, it’s your fault.”

  He nodded, accepting that. “That doesn’t change anything. If you don’t allow me to stake my claim over you, I can’t protect you from rival tribes. A lot of Kings have good reason to hate your father. They will use you in retaliation for us taking him in unless they fear Los Muertos more than they want vengeance. They have to know you belong to me if you’re to be protected.”

  “And since when do you care about protecting me?” I asked bitterly. “You said it yourself: I’m just leverage.”

  His expression was enigmatic, and he bent forward to answer with a whisper in my ear. My breath caught in my throat. “Yes, you are. But I didn’t take a beating from Ortiz just to see you abused by someone else. You might not believe me, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Yes,” I hissed. “You don’t want to. That doesn’t mean you won’t. You can see why I’m not comforted.”

  He pulled back slightly, and I could see his expression had turned stony. His indifference to the possibility that he might have to cause me pain made my blood run cold. Then he went and made everything worse.

  “I’ll remind you that Ortiz and Reyes are shadowing your brother’s every move. You were given to me to keep him in line, but it can work both ways. If you want him to remain unharmed, you’ll obey me.”

  I scowled, even as my stomach turned. He was exactly like my father, using threats against loved ones to ensure obedience. Jonas had certainly used me against Derek time and again. Derek had still been a teenager, and I was just a little girl. My father wanted him to be part of the Westies, to follow in his footsteps. Derek hadn’t wanted that. Jonas had used me to convince him he did. It wasn’t until Derek was eighteen that he escaped into the military, and then I had been left alone with Jonas for nine years. Maybe if either of our mothers had stuck around for more than a few months, life in our father’s house might have been different. As it was, our childhoods had been corrupted by the cruel dictator.

  Santiago was no better than my father. Perhaps worse.

  He sighed, calling my attention away from my righteous hatred. I blinked, and was surprised to find him studying me with something akin to regret.

  “I truly am sorry it has to be this way.”

  Well, that makes it all better now, doesn’t it? I held in the hostile words, but I tore my eyes from his. My own burned with unshed tears.

  His fingers curled beneath my chin, gently guiding my face back to his. I suppressed a shudder at the feel of his touch upon me. It was gentle, but the danger of his nearness made my insides quiver.

  Then my eyes found his, and my breath hitched. All his fury had drained away, and the lines of his face softened. Was that… compassion?

  Don’t be so naïve, I scolded myself.

  But his features didn’t so much as flicker with anger. Instead, he held me in his gaze. His eyes had somehow gone from fierce black to rich chocolate. The handsome man was back. It really wasn’t fair that such a monster could look so appealing.

  “I will be honest with you, because I don’t want you to be afraid of me. I swear, no matter what happens, I won’t harm you. But I need you to obey me. The others will expect me to hurt you, so I’m asking you to please cooperate so they don’t do it themselves. I can’t protect you from my own tribe and keep this deal intact. If they suspect I’m too weak, they’ll simply take you from me. I can promise none of them will be so nice.”

  I stared at him in stunned silence. I wanted so badly to believe him, but why would he say these things to me? Maybe he really meant it. Maybe he really wouldn’t hurt me

  Don’t be so naïve. How many times would I have to remind myself?

  Surely he was just manipulating me into compliance. A kind promise was followed by a warning. And he had been sincere in threatening Derek.

  I jerked my chin out of his grip. “I won’t fight you. I won’t try to leave you again,” I promised glumly. It didn’t matter if he was trying to trick me. Either way, I didn’t have a choice. And at least our deal for him to let me out of the apartment was still on the table. He could have followed through on
his earlier promise and kept me locked up. This way, I could live half a normal life. Surely that was better than nothing.

  “Good,” he rumbled in satisfaction. “Come on. I’ll take you back to your place so you can get your things.”

  The trip to the apartment was nothing short of mortifying. Despite the fact that Santiago flipped on his charm switch, he still stuck out amongst the younger college students. He might be handsome with his perfect smile and defined cheekbones, but a pervasive sense of danger pulsed off him. It emanated from the bulge of his powerful muscles as he moved, in the way his eyes watched everyone around us. They constantly swept our surroundings, and they always seemed to find their way back to me. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

  Mercifully, he waited outside while I dashed upstairs.

  “What the hell, Char?” Rachel burst out as soon as I entered our room. “You have a boyfriend? And he’s… that guy? I mean, he’s gorgeous, but he’s so not your type.”

  I shrugged, avoiding her incredulous green glare. “I don’t really have a type, I guess.” I started shoving clothes into my Tory Burch tote bag. It wouldn’t take long to get everything I needed. I might own nice things, but I didn’t have many of them. Only quality clothes and accessories were permissible if I was going to look the part of a Tri Alpha, but student loans meant I couldn’t afford to stock up on the latest trends.

  “Yes. You do,” she insisted as I hastily grabbed my precious laptop. “Your type is clean-cut college boy. Craig is your type. Not – What was his name? – Javier. He has the whole older guy thing going for him, but I didn’t think bad boy was your thing. And why are you packing up all your clothes?”

  I sighed and rounded on her. I was going to have to face this head-on. She needed to accept that I was leaving with Santiago. It wasn’t safe for her to go poking her nose into things. If anyone could be nosey, it was Rachel.