what time it is. Nicolas, pull Donny out of bed and have him join you on night watch. We’ll have a meeting with security in the morning to discuss our new guest. Miss Aguilar will be with us for the next month. I want her taken care of, unharmed, but kept under lock and key. She isn’t to step foot outside her room without my permission and isn’t allowed any contact with the outside world. Mari, she’s going to need a change of clothes and whatever else you think she should have to clean herself up … and a meal when she wakes up. Am I clear?”
All three respond with variations of ‘yes, sir,’ then scramble off to carry out my orders. Jovan is already heading up to his private suite of rooms on the second floor, stripping off his suit jacket as he goes. He gives me a playful salute once we reach the landing, then we go our separate ways. Elena’s location on the third floor ensures she’ll be secure, but far enough from me not to be a distraction. If I can’t see those full, pouty lips, I’m less likely to fantasize getting her on her knees.
It’s been too long since I’ve had a woman. Family business has held my attention over the past several weeks and I’m like a soda bottle shaken up and left to sit with the top sealed … ready to blow at any second.
Half the men who answer to me have longtime girlfriends or wives and children. Those with families live in quiet, isolated suburbs, becoming husbands and fathers when they walk through their front doors and transforming into cartel soldiers once they cross back over the threshold. It’s exactly the kind of life I don’t want. Having a family means making myself vulnerable. Keeping a woman close means having a pressure point that my enemies can toy with anytime they want. I learned that lesson the hard way as a boy, and it’s one I’ve never forgotten. Casual arrangements with women who give me what I need before going off to live their own lives works for me. With a single phone call, I can have the woman of my choice on my doorstep within an hour.
I’m so tired that even the thought of getting my dick wet does nothing for me.
Running a hand over the stubble on my jaw, I push open my bedroom door and start undressing. All the things weighing on my mind can wait until morning. I’m down to my briefs by the time I reach the bed, my eyes already growing unfocused. Mariana has left my customary sleeping pill on the nightstand, so I chase the tablet with half the glass of water sitting beside it. In recent years, sleepless nights became too frequent for me to keep my edge, so I had my personal doctor prescribe something to put me down for the night and keep me down until morning. The downside is that once the dreams start, I can’t pull myself away from them. It’s a double-edge sword, the ability to sleep through the night without waking. It means my demons follow me into the darkness of my mind, holding me captive until the sun rises.
4
Elena
It takes a minute for me to realize where I am when I come back to consciousness. Blinking my blurry eyes, I stare at an intricately carved white ceiling, framed by massive bedposts reaching several feet above me. Sheer white fabric cascades down each post and bright, stinging sunlight filters through them, giving the room a hazy glow. Or maybe the glow is a side-effect of whatever I was drugged with. I’m still incredibly drowsy and my mouth is as dry as stale bread. My limbs feel heavy and disconnected from my body, and every time I try to close my eyes the room starts to spin.
I raise a hand to my face, finding my skin clammy and cool. I groan at the pounding between my eyes.
The sound of scuffling startles me, and I sit upright so fast that I grow dizzy and fall back onto the pillows. Swallowing past a wave of nausea, I search my peripheral vision for the source of the sound. A man stands at the side of the bed, looking down at me. He’s short, but with a jacked figure. His shoulders and chest are broad and his arms bulge at the sleeves of a white t-shirt. He’s wearing a pistol on his hip.