Love Undercover by LK Shaw

Author:LK Shaw [Shaw, LK]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

“Can I ask a personal question?”

I lay cuddled up next to Tomás, my arm thrown across his chest while I traced random patterns over his skin. He stiffened against me, but so quickly relaxed that I almost thought I imagined his tension. We’d been sleeping together for almost a week now, and I really didn’t know anything about him. I thought once would be enough to get him out of my system and I’d no longer care. Except my thirst hadn’t been nearly quenched. Neither my thirst for his body or my thirst for knowledge about him. He was a conundrum. Brutal, yet gentle. He didn’t behave like I expected a cartel member to behave. Sure, he was ruthless, but never with me. I didn’t understand. It was almost like he was two people.

“I may not answer, but you can ask.”

Well, that didn’t sound promising. Still, there were so many things I wanted to know about him.

“What made you join the cartel? I mean, if your brother is a drug addict, wouldn’t that be a reason not to become a part of it?”

Tomás was silent for so long, I didn’t think he was going to respond. I’d almost given up on getting an answer when he spoke with resignation.

“You don’t always have a choice.”

His response was cryptic at best. I didn’t want to push, but I still wanted to understand.

“Do you ever talk to your brother?”

“Every couple months I visit him, but he asked me to stop coming.”

From the way he said the last, I had the impression he didn’t mean to say so much.

“Why doesn’t he want to see you anymore? I mean, you're his brother.”

Tomás’ heart beat was strong beneath my hand. I also felt a tension in him. He was uncomfortable with my questions, but I couldn’t stop asking them. Even if he didn’t answer.

“I blame Preston for her death, and every time I visit, I can never seem to let him forget it. I don’t show up with the intention of making him feel guilty, but it always comes out. He makes a snide remark, I make one back, and the next thing you know, we’re arguing. My feelings volley between anger and guilt, and I can’t stop either one.”

I shifted so my chin rested on his chest and looked up at him. “I can understand the anger, but why the guilt?”

Tomás refused to meet my eyes, only stared up at the ceiling. I continued to wait and was soon rewarded for my patience.

He spoke so low I had difficulty hearing him. “Because I’ve done the exact things that ruined my brother’s life and killed my mother. I’m no better than he is. I’m a fucking hypocrite and the guilt eats away at me.”

My heart broke at the desolation in his words. I wanted to assuage his guilt, but there was nothing I could do. Until he let it go, it would continue to fester inside him like a sickness. I could only love him. My breath hitched at the thought.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.