Page 52 of Scarred Souls
The only way to fix this was to get the hell out of Playa de la Palmera.
“I’ll stay to protect Hope until someone else arrives. Just…make it happen, all right?”
“No. We don’t have anyone to send. Even if we did, I’d still tell you to man up and do the job.”
“Your pep talks could use some work.”
“You’re welcome to make a complaint to HR.”
We didn’t have an HR department.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Sometimes I really hate you.”
“No, you don’t.” She hung up.
18
HOPE
Mari cozied up to me at the bar, and with a nudge of her elbow asked, “¿Quién es él?” Who is that?
I didn’t need to turn around to know whom she spoke of. “That’s…” The bane of my existence. “My cousin.”
Despite my insistence that Vaughn didn’t need to escort me to work, he’d driven us to Javi’s and taken up residence at a table in the back corner.
Judging by our mutual silence during the ride in, neither of us was eager to talk about what had happened in the casita. I had so many mixed emotions that I didn’t know where to start.
Mostly, I was confused about why Vaughn had tried to hide his scars from me. Of all people, I understood what it was like to bear them. But then I remembered how hard it’d been giving Vaughn the details of my own injury. His were so much worse. No wonder he’d freaked out. Why would anyone want to talk about being tortured?
Way to go, Hope.
Still, he hadn’t needed to turn into a psycho and shove me out of the casita. His reaction was way out of line.
“You never mentioned him before.” Mari adjusted her apron. “Is he from Colorado?”
Steam billowed from the dishwasher when I opened the door. “He’s on vacation.”
“He seems kind of intense.”
“That’s one way to describe him.” I pulled out the drawer to remove glassware.
Mari folded a napkin and placed it on the pile she’d already stacked. “And does your cousin always stare at you like he wants to eat your pussy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”
“Mari!” I hissed.
“I’m only asking because if my cousin looked at me like that, he’d be castrated and exiled from the family.”
“You’ve got it wrong. We don’t even like each other. I can’t wait until he’s gone.”
At least that was what I told myself. Having Vaughn around certainly made things interesting.
“So”—she licked her lips—“you don’t mind if I spend a little time with him while he’s here?”
“You want to hook up with Vaughn?” I frowned as a strange spike of jealousy heated my blood.
“He’s fresh meat in a small town. If I don’t get my claws into him, that bitch Carmen will. And if you haven’t noticed, your cousin is hot as fuck.”
Unfortunately, I had.