* * * * *
I was negotiating the alley toward Nick and my garage when a car reversed out of a back drive right into the alley, right in front of me. To avoid it I slammed on the brakes and came to a bone-jarring halt.
I stared out the windshield. The car was dark, no lights.
Fuck, f**k, f**k!
I threw the Camaro in reverse and looked over my shoulder but all I could see was a motorcycle parked perpendicular to my car.
I’d wasted precious time shifting to reverse. I should have locked my doors. I didn’t even get a chance to move when my door was thrown open.
Before I could grab my gun or stun gun on the seat beside me, someone reached in, undid my belt and yanked me out of the car.
He slammed the door and then slammed me against the car and got up close, his hard body to my soft one, his heat slamming into me like a physical thing.
When I got a look at him in the hazy alley streetlight, I went still.
He looked like a somewhat younger, tougher, rougher but just as red-hot-handsome version of Eddie Chavez.
This had to be Hector Chavez, Eddie’s brother.
Oh my God.
Before I could say a word or do a thing, he started speaking. “Get off the street Law. Shard, Jermaine and Clarence are lookin’ for retribution, no matter what protection Crowe is offering. They aren’t gonna take you down. They’re gonna take you somewhere and play with you awhile, games you won’t think are fun.”
I’d stilled at the sight of him but his words sent a chill through my blood.
“When they’re done, you’ll beg them to kill you,” he went on.
Um.
Yikes.
“Do I make myself clear?” he asked.
Without delay I nodded. He made himself clear all right.
He stared at me. I could tell his eyes were dark, liquid black like his brother’s and I found myself wishing for more light just so I could read them.
He got closer, this wouldn’t seem possible but just like Vance had, Hector did – right deep, face-to-face in my space.
“You tell anyone you saw me, you’ll blow my cover and I won’t be happy mainly because I won’t be breathin’.”
I swallowed.
“Nod if you understand,” he demanded.
I nodded again, I understood.
He was a cop… or something. Likely deep cover if even Eddie and Lee didn’t know what he was up to.
“Does that mean you don’t want me to say anything to…?” I started.
He looked to his left, nodded once, then back at me. “The boys’ll know to keep their mouths shut.”
Then as fast as he’d come, he was gone, disappearing into the night. The car in front of Hazel took off, the motorcycle behind her did the same. I never even saw the drivers.
Wow.