“I don’t think so.”
They couldn’t get outside soon enough now. As soon as they were outside and far enough away from anyone, she stopped and turned to him. But before she could ask, he began.
“Your text. The one about Eva. Where did that come from?”
Allison thought about it for a second then lifted a brow. She’d wondered if he’d care once it inevitably got back to him about the coincidence. But why now? Why hadn’t he asked then?
“I don’t know. It just seemed the first logical thing that made any sense. I just had to ask to rule it out.”
He seemed to ponder that for a moment. “What about Carson?”
“What about him?” she asked, feeling flushed that he’d even remember him; though he’d just heard her get off the phone with him.
“You seeing him now?”
That instantly had the flush heating even further. Stop it! Stop blushing and don’t you dare clear your damn throat.
Lifting her chin a bit, she looked him straight in the eyes. “Something like that.”
“Were you seeing him then?” he asked without a flinch. “When you and I were . . .?”
Allison lifted a brow again when he didn’t finish, trying to ignore her pounding heart. Could he possibly be saying he, too, thought there was more to them and now he was questioning whether she was seeing someone else at the same time? Is that why she’d been given the sudden cold shoulder and been shut out for weeks? Then he had a hissy fit when she mentioned the attack had something to do with a boyfriend. Was that what this was about?
“When we were what?”
“Still hanging out.”
Hanging out? Really? So what? Her seeing someone else while they’d hung out really constituted an explanation? “Does it matter?”
“Yeah, it matters.”
“Why?” She raised her voice because the fucking balls of steel on this guy!
“Because if you were seeing him, why would you think that Eva chick was referring to me? Or was he questioned too?”
Allison shook her head, thoroughly confused now. “Questioned? What are you talking about? Why would I question him?”
“Why wouldn’t you? If you were seeing him back then, then maybe she was referring to him not me.” He brought his hand to his head, looking very exasperated. “Look. Unlike the rest of the world, I just watched that video of your sister confronting that Eva chick in its entirety today. It just had me wondering a few things, so I needed to get it straight.”
“Get what straight?” she asked, feeling as exasperated as he sounded.
“Why you’d ask me if she was my girl?”
Again, she shook her head in utter confusion. “We just went over this. Why wouldn’t I?”
“But you wouldn’t question Carson?”
“Oh my God.” She brought her hand over her chest. “Again. Why would I question him?”
“Then why question me?” he asked, just as flustered. Here Allison thought she’d seen all his broody sides. That vein on his forehead was already protruding again the way it had the night he’d questioned her about the attack. “You never threw yourself at me or did anything inappropriate. Trust me. I’d remember that. Why would you automatically assume she was referring to me?”
Like a shot out of the sky, Allison finally saw a little clarity. It wasn’t until today that he’d seen the entire video, a video that had instantly gone viral and she was so sick of. He must not have read all the other articles and seen the endless videos, including the interviews Eva had given since.
“She wasn’t vague about who her man was,” she explained a little more calmly. “She used the name Leo. Naturally, I had to ask. Even as farfetched as it seemed at the time, you’re the only Leo I know, and despite us having stopped . . .” Allison cursed herself for having to pause to clear her throat, but it couldn’t be helped. “Hanging out, of course I had to at least ask.”
“She used my name?”
His expression went so severe it had her shaking her head in response. “Yeah, but it’s over. It was just a crazy coincidence, and you’re the only Leo I know. She’s since confessed to the whole thing.”
“That asshole in the video. Her boyfriend—”
“Scar?”
The flicker in his eyes under even tighter furrowing brows was undeniable. “That’s Scar? The one who made her do it?”
“Yes, they were trying to get a reaction out of my sister. It almost worked, but . . .” Allison smiled proudly. “My sister kept her cool and didn’t lose it. Well . . .” She smirked. “Not totally and immediately anyway.”
Despite her attempt to lighten things up, the vein on his forehead was doing far more than protruding now. Allison could practically see it pulsate. “What’s wrong? This had nothing to do with you,” she reminded him. “It was all an attempt to lure Lila in and then try to sue her for any damage she did. Eva confessed to it all. He won’t admit it, but Eva said she doesn’t even know a Leo. It’s just the name Scar told her to use—”
“Exactly.” He glanced around, his right brow arched so high it almost met with that still protruding vein.
“Do you know Scar?” Allison asked with nervous curiosity.
She’d been so relieved when it seemingly turned out to have nothing to do with Leonardo. But now he was making it sound like it might.
“If it’s the same one, I know of him. Never actually met him.”
Allison followed his gaze as he continued to glance around the parking lot. “What are you looking for?”
He shook his head, and finally his eyes were on Allison again, the alarm—or anger—still in his eyes. “Has anything happened since? Anyone else try to harass you or anything?”
Allison had begun shaking her head until that last part. But she hesitated to say anything.
“What?” he asked because, of course, she’d been too damn obvious.
“Nothing.” She shook her head again.
Like earlier, he looked anything but convinced. “Someone harassing you, Allison?”
“No.” She shook her head adamantly, feeling silly. “I’m sure it’s just me being paranoid. Before the attack, I’d begun to feel like I was being followed. I told you I was nervous Scar might’ve thought I had something to do with his being busted, so knowing he was out of jail had me on edge.”
She explained quickly about how she and Jen had been nervous when Scar had been busted. Like Marcelo, they wondered if Scar thought they’d had something to do with him getting arrested.
“So, when I started seeing him eye me strangely, it gave me the creeps. It started feeling like I needed to be looking over my shoulder all the time.” She lifted and dropped a shoulder just as quickly. “I know he’s in jail now and all, and because of the unrelenting paparazzi, the security at our place is over-the-top, so I’m never paranoid there. But I can’t help continuing to look over my shoulder when I’m at school or even here sometimes.”
“Like someone’s watching you even here?”
“Yes, but remember the paparazzi are everywhere now. Ever since that video went viral, it’s been crazy. It could be them I’ve felt following me. But not a thing has happened since.”
“Listen,” he said as two thuggish-looking guys passing by eyed them on their way into the gym.
Leonardo literally stopped talking and stared them down with a purpose. “Do you know them?” Allison asked nervously because he looked ready to say something to them.
The guys continued walking. If they picked up on Leo’s glare, they wisely didn’t do or say anything about it.
“No,” was his only response to her question as he turned back to her. “This Eva chick. Is she in jail too?”
“No.” Allison shook her head.
“Why not?”
Allison explained how Eva had been given immunity for testifying against Scar, not just about his doing drugs and drinking while he was on probation, but a whole bunch of other things: the conspiracy to extort money from Lila and
his affiliations and interactions with the bigger dealers.
“But even if they hadn’t given it to her, I’d already agreed to drop the charges.”
“What? Why?”
He was even more annoyed this time. Already, he seemed disgusted that Eva hadn’t had to do any time. “She’s a victim too. He made her do it—”
“So, she’s out? Any idea where she’s staying?”
Shaking her head, Allison tried to make sense of his interest in all this. She understood that, from an outside perspective, it seemed unfair that Eva got off. Their using his name was a little too coincidental, but it was still possible. The fact that he’d care so much touched Allison, but she didn’t quite get why he was so convinced it couldn’t just be that—a crazy coincidence.
“She’s gone,” Allison explained. “Her testimony incriminated lots of people. It even helped reopen a murder case gone cold from a few years ago that Scar may’ve had some involvement in. If they can find their main suspect, they’ll need her to testify in that case as well. So, she’ll be in the witness-protection program until then. Maybe even after.”
“No one knows where she’s at?”
Allison peered at him, still not quite sure why this was such a big deal to him. But clearly it was. For over a month, he’d all but severed any association with her, and now here he was because of this?
He opened his mouth as if to say or ask something else then seemed to change his mind and shook his head. “Promise me that you’ll text me or even call me if anything suspicious happens.” Allison started to shake her head in protest because she was sure he was overreacting. “It might be nothing,” he added quickly as his expression softened a bit, but it wasn’t quite a smile. “Like you said, it could just be one incredible coincidence. Just promise me if anything even the slightest bit questionable happens you’ll let me know ASAP.”
Now he smiled big, and Jesus, with a nod, she instantly conceded. She should have been embarrassed. Did he know she’d be this easy? That all it’d take was one of those breathtaking smiles to get her to agree to anything?
“I don’t think I’ll have to.” Allison did her best not to look up at him too wistfully. “But if anything comes up, you’ll hear from me. I promise,” she added with a smile of her own, and there it was.
She’d begun to wonder if it’d still happen. Would the unexplained emotion still be there, or like the connection they’d begun to have, was it gone too? But like all the other times in the past, she was lost in his eyes again, and there was no denying that he was lost too.
After what felt like their longest moment yet, he shook his head and glanced away, muttering something she couldn’t quite make out under his breath.
“What was that?’ she asked, even as her heart rate spiked because she knew it had everything to do with their moment.
“Nothing.” He glanced back at her with that annoyed expression again. “I’m just running late. But I’m glad I got a chance to talk to you. I gotta go.” He started backing up toward the gym’s entrance again. “Remember you promised.” The smile wasn’t quite as big as his earlier one, but it still held the power to leave her breathless. “Anything your gut tells you might not be right, you call or text me.”
“I will.” She smiled back.
He turned and walked back into the gym without another word. “Really?” she whispered to herself as she started to her car. “That’s all it took?”
One quick encounter with the man she insisted she was long over—someone whom there was nothing to get over about—and her heart was already hammering away. Just like that, her insides were complete mush, and she was once again convinced there was more to the way he looked at her. Only next time she wouldn’t give him such an easy out.
Right then and there she decided. The very next time they fell into one of their moments, she was calling him on it.
Sixteen
BEAST
As a felon and still technically on work release, not just probation, Leo had to get special permission to visit his brother Felipe in jail. He was only grateful now that his brother was doing time in LA county; otherwise, with his travel restrictions, he never would’ve been able to do this. But he couldn’t just call and make an appointment, twenty-four hours in advance, like all the other inmate’s visitors. So, it’d been over a week since he’d found out about Scar telling his girl to use Leo’s name when she confronted Allison.
Of course, he’d be the first Allison would think of.
Of course, Scar expected her to ask Leo about it.
The asshole was counting on it. Only thing he hadn’t counted on was that while he may’ve thought Allison was Leo’s girl, she wasn’t. Obviously, Leo’s attempts to keep her at arm’s length—make sure no one mistook her as someone he cared for—had been all for naught. Even in the short time he’d stupidly allowed himself to indulge in the danger of being around her, he’d been too damn obvious. She wasn’t someone he was involved with and cared about. But apparently, it wasn’t the vibe he’d given out. It was why he’d forced himself to stay away.
Then talking to her again was proof of what he’d feared for good reason. Being that close to her again was a reminder of how much he did feel for her. Not cared about her, damn it. Those were too completely different things. He hardly knew her.
At least Allison had kept her promise. Just like few people knew Felipe was his brother to begin with, even fewer knew the power his brother possessed behind bars. He was in for murdering someone with his own hands, but the conviction was reckless manslaughter. The guy he’d killed had been in the underground ring willingly. Felipe liked it this way.
He still held the power in the cartel, but most assumed that like Leo, who disappeared from that life years ago, Felipe had too. He was in jail for something totally unrelated and was thought by many to have cut his ties with the cartel. Yet a couple of orders from him could start a war nobody wanted. It was why Leo was here today to see Felipe.
Leo glanced down at the text he’d gotten just days after he’d spoken to Ali at the gym. He read the short exchange because he’d needed to talk to her and stopped texting to call her. Still, the first text was the most significant.
You said if my gut questioned anything to share. So I’m sharing. Two guys lurking outside the gates of Sonny’s property were arrested earlier. You might’ve heard about it already. It’s not unheard of for overzealous fans to hang out outside or lurk in their cars, trying to get a photo. and it’s what these guys claimed they were doing. Except they both had warrants and it’s why they were arrested. But no harm no foul. They’re behind bars now and all is well. Just thought I’d mention it because I figured you might hear about it anyway.
Leo shook his head. He had no doubt this had everything to do with him or his brother. Someone had sent them, trying to bait Leo. Just like Scar using his name wasn’t sheer coincidence. He read his only response and then hers to his before he’d called her that night.
Do you have names? Descriptions? Warrants for what?
He remembered feeling like she’d taken forever to respond, and then she finally did and he had to call her.
No names but I could probably get them. Young Hispanics in their early twenties, I think. And I have no idea what the warrants were for. But don’t worry. It’s over. =)
This wasn’t over by a long shot, and Leo’s gut told him this would only get worse before it got better. He hadn’t talked to his brother in too long, and now he needed to ASAP. He needed confirmation of what his gut was telling him. Most importantly, he needed to know how to make it stop.
After calling her that night and then talking to her a few more times during the week, Leo had done enough homework on this. What he knew now was even more alarming than he’d thought. He put his phone away and locked it up in the storage compartment of his bike. They’d opened the gate for the eight o’clock visits.
Ten minutes later he was past the metal detectors and the guard who had to double check his special
clearance. He sat there in the small room of windows with phones for his brother to be brought out. His brother would not be happy about Leo coming here. For years and for Leo’s own protection, Felipe had denied any relation to La Fiera. So for just as long, Leo had respected Felipe’s wish that Leo not visit him or tie himself in any way to Felipe. But this couldn’t wait.
The familiar sound of the heavy gate opening and closing from his own days behind bars had Leo shaking his knee impatiently and craning his neck for a glimpse of his brother. Felipe walked into view, and Leo immediately saw the wrap around his hand. He waited with the phone at his ear as his brother followed prompts on his side, punching in numbers on the keypad. When they were finally given the go-ahead, Leo spoke first. “What happened to your hand?”
“Why the fuck are you here? I told you—”
“I have to talk to you. It’s important.”
Felipe’s brows furrowed. “What’s going on? You in trouble again?”
“No, are you?” Leo motioned to his brother’s bandaged hand.
Felipe smirked, shaking his head. “You’ve got perfect timing. I just got out of max a few days ago.”
“Why? What happened?”
Felipe gave him a look reminding him he couldn’t possibly give him all the details over these monitored phones. “Scuffle. No biggie.” He lifted his bandaged hand to show Leo. “May have gotten a tad carried away. The guy’s still in the infirmary, but he’ll live.”
“So, did they add more time to your—?”
“Self-defense,” his brother said, shaking his head before Leo could finish. “You know how that works. He either drops any charges or we both get more time. He dropped them in a heartbeat. So why you here?”
If they had more time, Leo would’ve pressed for more about the scuffle, but he knew they only had so much time before they were cut off, and he needed answers. “Any beef going on between you and Chente?”
Felipe tilted his head. “Why? What have you heard?”