Page 101 of A Foster Fling

I tried again. “What are you doing here,hermano?”

“What am I doing here?” His eyes flared with anger. He balled the letter up and tossed it in my face.

I smacked it to the floor. “Wait, what?” I feigned confusion. “What is that?”

I knew exactly what had him so riled up, I just didn’t want to face the consequences of my actions. Why did I think I wouldn’t get caught? Didn’t my brother know everything?

“Playing games, are we? What do you say then? What do you call me? As the only man about to scold you like the brat you’re trying to portray?” Raul’s tone was patronizing at best.

“Sir?” If I hadn’t gone to a posh school, I doubt I would’ve been able to answer his question correctly.

“All together now.” His presence sucked the air from the room and I stumbled over the words.

“W-what are you doing in here, sir?” I’d never felt so small before, but at the same time, heat raced through my body, leaving me more confused.

“That’s better. Good girl,princesa.”

My belly clenched at the phrase. What the fuck was going on with me?

“Now, I came in here to find out what the fuck this college acceptance letter from France is about?”

“I don’t know.” I looked down at the letter in question on the floor. Fuck. I’d been accepted. I smiled then remembered now was not the time to celebrate.

“You don’t know?” he echoed menacingly.

He knew I was lying.

I gulped, peeking up at Raul, trying to maintain a cool facade. I tried again. “I was just trying all avenues of education.” I shrugged. “Sir. I applied to many colleges just to see–”

“Let me tell you something.” Raul climbed over top of my body, forcing me back onto the bed, his face inches from my own. I could almost taste the mint on his breath. “You are not, nor will you ever be, leaving this house. No one will help you escape. No one will take their eyes off you. I own you. You won’t be able to breathe without me knowing about it. Do you understand me?”

Tears leaked from my eyes. He licked the side of my face, and I trembled.

“Salma. Do. You. Understand?”

“I-I understand,” I hiccuped.

His hand came up lightening fast and grabbed my throat, pressing me into the bed. Heeding his dark warning, I corrected myself.

“I-I understand, sir.”

With one more squeeze, he let me go and left my room. Raul Cortez was many things. Devastatingly handsome. Seductively charming. And most importantly, deadly. I would take more care in my actions from now on. He wouldn’t tell me twice. That was my only warning.

Chapter Four

Raul

I’m followingmiprincesatoday. She doesn’t know I’m here, but I couldn’t allow her to leave the house by herself. Not after the revelation from the previous day. I also now had her bugged.

I had traded out my usual suit for jeans, t-shirt, and a hoodie.

I’d been physically tracking her since she was sixteen years old after an incident that made me realize she could not be trusted on her own. The memory of it still pissed me off. I had been at a local bar downtown, indulging in a quiet drink, when Salma stumbled inside looking like a lost puppy searching for it’s owner, a fake ID in hand. Not that she needed it. The bartender had taken one look at her and offered up an over-poured shot on the house. Salma guzzled it down. The bartender then literally stood there and poured her two more shots, which she drank in rapid succession before I even had a chance to leave my booth. I had made it to her side to stop her from taking a fourth.

Much later, I shot that bartender. He had it coming. It was like he knew she was underage and was gunning for her.

Anyway, after I had dragged her out of the bar, I tried to do what any good brother would do and force Salma home. Instead, her drunk ass flung herself at me and tried to suck on my lips. Literally. I’m not certain why she thought that was how people kissed, but I wasn’t having it. I promptly put her back in her place. She was a child.

There was no room back then for what I felt today, but now that she was eighteen, it was only a matter of time before I claimed her for my own.