Page 16 of Reckless Woman
“You’re not an addict, Anna.”
“Are youserious?”
She fixes me with those deadly nightshade eyes. I think it’s finally hitting home that I’m not exactly overjoyed to see her.
“I figured you might be lonely in here all by yourself.”
“Well, I’m not.”
She catches sight of my hand and wrenches it up for closer inspection. “Hijueputa.”Son of a bitch.she curses in Spanish. “Thatisa wedding band. You never said you’d actually gone through with it.”
I bristle at the disapproval in her voice. “We haven’t.”
Her dark eyes gleam.
“Not yet, anyway,” I add crossly. “But it’s going to happen.”
“There’s still time to change your mind.”
“Why the hell would I do that?” I snatch my hand back and fold my arms across my chest. “I take it you’re not going to congratulate me?”
“Where the fuck are all the diamonds,parcera?” She lunges for my hand again. “This is, like, the most boring engagement ring in existence…”
“No, it’s not. It’s perfect. I’d rather have the man than a stone.”
Or a man made of stone.
“El Asesinoshould stick to doing what he does best, or maybe put the bottle down once in a while.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Joseph’s not an alcoholic.”
“Andyou’renot a cokehead.” She folds her arms in a mirror vision of my stance and cocks her eyebrows.
I’ve had enough of this.
“Go screw yourself, Vi,” I mutter, walking toward the door.
“Parcera,” she wails after me. “I was only joking.” I hear the clip clop of her cowboy boots behind me as she jogs to catch-up. “When did you get so moody, all of a sudden?” She takes my arm and spins me around, trapping me with a brooding dark gaze that roots me to the spot. She’s clever like that. People’s hardline decisions always seem to do a one-eighty whenever she’s around.
Her lips twitch and her head drops to one side. “Aren’t you just alittlepleased to see me?”
“No,” I lie. “How did you get in here anyway?”
“I have an unhealthy addiction to cocaine.” She flicks me that wicked grin again.
“You mean the money it makes you. Half the people in this center are probably here because of the Santiago Cartel.”
“Collateral.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m not stupid, like they are. I don’t snort what I sell.”
Was she always this insensitive?
“Well, I do,” I grit out, feeling the heat blooming in my cheeks. “I guess that makes me doubly stupid.”
“Did,” she argues. “And I stand by what I said: you arenotan addict.”
“Well, I’m not here for the goddamn food, if that’s what you’re inferring.”
“I’m not ghosting what happened to you, Anna, but you don’t need this place to help you heal. You’re the coolest, strongest woman I know. I saw your face when you fired those bullets at Fernandez—”