Texas Hold 'Em (Smokin' ACES) - By Kay David Page 0,23
minutes ago.”
“He what?” she sputtered. “I can’t believe— He actually went to your place?”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist. It’s not the first time he’s been out here.”
She thought back to the previous conversation she’d had with Silas. She should have realized what was going on. “Did you two old women talk about me behind my back?”
Her jibe was ignored. “He still loves you.”
She couldn’t speak. Her throat actually seemed to close, and her lips refused to move. “No. No, no, and hell no. That’s crazy talk. Santos and I are over. Way over.” She took a breath. “Did he say that? That he loved me?”
“He didn’t have to say it.”
She felt a perverse tick of disappointment. “So you read his mind?”
“It’s plain as the nose on your face, girlie.” His voice turned deeper and more strident. “It’s your duty to help him find your mother, Rose. I don’t like this anymore than you do, but Santos’s story is good. Not iron-tight, but good.”
“I don’t trust him.”
She could hear Silas’s old yellow lab snuffle as if he agreed with her. The sound hung in the air for a second, then her grandfather spoke quietly. “Why would he lie to you, Rose?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“So? People lie to get what they want. Sometimes in our business, it’s the only way.”
When she didn’t answer, he spoke again. “What would be the point of coming to Rio if he wasn’t sure Gloria could help?”
She still didn’t have an answer.
“You took an oath, Rose. You have an obligation to uphold the law.”
Obligation. Duty. Oath.
His words stayed with her the rest of the day.
…
Tugging off his cowboy hat but leaving on his head wrap, Santos entered Aqua Frio’s only café that evening and headed for the booth his agents had commandeered. The scent of onions and cumin made his mouth water despite the dagger-like stares being thrown his way. The diners lining the counter and sitting at the scattered tables didn’t welcome him or the others, and Santos understood. He had felt the same way about bikers once upon a time. But not all the ones he’d met in the past few months were like Nasty. Their chapters were their family, and they were fiercely loyal. Plenty of them rode in charity rides when they couldn’t afford the gas, and he’d even been to a church service just for bikers. They loved God, their country, and their friends, and they made sure everyone knew it.
Just like any other faction in the world, there were good ones and bad ones.
He slid into the booth as the waitress approached the table. She wasn’t the typical weary woman he was accustomed to seeing in places like this, and he’d eaten in quite a few of them. This girl was young and pretty, and her smile was artless as she looked down at them.
“I’m April. What can I get you gentlemen?” She nodded toward Jessica. “And lady?”
“Got any recommendations?” Bentley asked with a grin.
“Yeah,” she deadpanned. “The restaurant one block over.”
Austin chuckled, and she smiled, her blue eyes crinkling. “Actually the tacos are pretty good.”
“Tacos it is, then,” he said as they all nodded. “And if you have it, a round of cold beer for my friends.”
“We might run out of tacos, but we never run out of beer.”
She retreated to the swinging doors at the end of the bar, and they began to talk over the last few days, stopping to joke with the waitress when she brought their drinks. The conversation ended abruptly when King Landry pushed inside the eatery.
Santos groaned. The deputy wore a frown, and it was coming their way. If the locals had ears that could swivel, they would have pointed them toward their booth.
King stopped in front of them and let his gaze swipe over the agents, but his stare landed on Santos and stayed. Putting his palms on the table, he leaned forward. “You ought to be in jail,” he said softly.
“Probably so,” he drawled. “But not because of what happened earlier.”
“If I’d been taking your statement, you’d be behind the bars right now.”
He understood the man’s hostility. The deputy clearly felt Rose was being threatened in some way. If Santos had been in King’s boots, he might be even worse, especially if he was halfway in love with her, which King struck him as being. Every man who had ever known Rose, for one reason or another had wanted to protect her. And that was the last thing