situation. When she looked up and saw Mano rapidly walking across the street, understanding flooded her. He looked like he was angry, but he always did, so maybe it was his resting face look. Whatever was rolling off him in waves wasn’t something she wanted to deal with right now.
Judy’s eyes cut at Tad, “Is this an ambush?”
Tad shrugged nonchalantly.
Judy didn’t like the ease of his body language. Arrogant bastard. Any shyness had been pushed aside by her sense of fight-or-flight.
Tad straightened up from his laid-back posture. He needed his story to be told, and pissing the girls off was only going to cause them to not give him what he wanted.
A slight nod of his head so subtle it could barely be seen.
“I’m as surprised as you are. I think he’s following you two. Not me. I haven’t seen Mano in years.”
Both women looked at him suspiciously. Was he flipping the script on them? Spinning things? Cartel men were great at mindfucks, and both women knew it.
“You know him?!” Page’s voice rose enough to cause patrons to look in their direction.
“Know him? I grew up with him. He and Antonio Wayne and Ricardo Ramirez were childhood friends of mine.”
“Great. You could have told us that before we met you.” Page looked at Judy, “It seems like we’ve gotten in deeper than I realized. The notorious ‘cartel mindfuck.’ Not cool. What is this? What do you really want?”
“Go big, or go home,” Judy shrugged. “What?” Judy squeaked out when her friend looked at her in disbelief. “I’m just saying…you wanted a story. He’s got one to tell. An interesting one at that,” she said the last part under her breath. No need in feeding the man’s ego.
When Tad laughed, Page didn’t think there was anything funny about her present situation. Mano didn’t look happy about the meeting. Clearly, Mano wasn’t ghosting her, he was biding his time. He would be a man who was hard to read and even harder to gauge when it came to relationships. Page had her work cut out for her.
Chapter Fourteen
Antonio Wayne’s black eyes pierced into his wife. He stroked a lock of her long red hair; something about the feel of it settled him. His hips pinned her against the wall, and he could feel his cock hardening at the feel of his body pressed in close to hers. Roxanne had been gifted to him by his brother Ricardo. When he’d first saw her, he was shocked—not much shocked Antonio Wayne Ramirez.
He didn’t have any intention of getting married, but his older brother wasn’t the kind of man you said no to—it was disrespectful. It hadn’t taken long for him to become intrigued with the woman who didn’t bow to his every whim. He’d owned a strip club, and he was accustomed to beautiful women, but none of them had the fighting spirit Roxanne did. She was as much of a fighter out of the cage as she was in. She had been a cage fighter with her friend Juanita, and when they stole one-hundred thousand dollars from Ricardo, their fate had been sealed. Marriage to the Colombian cartel brothers would be their recompense.
He could see her heart race, and it intrigued him; the strumming in her neck that revealed she was in fear of the man she was married to. He pressed his thumb against her jugular and smiled a wicked expression that sent a chill through her. Her anxiety turned him on, her tears excited him, and her reluctance only served his need to dominate the love of his life.
“You still fear me.” The words dripped from his tongue like honey, but with a sting to them.
“You’re a killer, a sadist, a man I never know what to expect from. Yes…I fear you,” she admitted with no shame. Anybody with a brain feared the man—he was ruthless. It was the reason Ricardo used him to torture people. Antonio Wayne’s entertainment was coming up with new ways to make people suffer—nothing like your guy walking in the room excited about figuring out a new way to use a drill. He was part psychopath—part sociopath—and full-blown sadist.
Roxanne pressed her knee gently against his groin and stroked. Teasing him, provoking, and bringing out his animalistic nature was something she enjoyed doing. Feeling his cock thrusting deeply into her never got old. He had a way of mixing pleasure and pain that was delicious. In their world no one else existed.
“You tease me, Roxanne.” He thrust