Stolen By The Queen: A Narcos Romance

Chapter 14

The inside of Ryan's car crackled with unspoken tension. Camila fingered the soft yellow silk of the dress they purchased earlier that day. Outside the sun began to set, the sky streaked with glowing colors turning to dusk.

Camila fixed her gaze ahead, determined to break the silence. "You get the meeting confirmed?"

"Almost."

"Almost?"

Ryan took one hand off the wheel to drag it roughly across his mouth. "Got a burner."

"That's a good sign."

The curt nod of Ryan's head was his only response.

After a few tense, heavy moments, Ryan spoke.

"You work there?" He didn't look at her as she asked it.

"Yes." Camila swiveled her head to stare at his masculine profile, not missing the way the muscle in his jaw leaped. She considered not elaborating, enjoying the feel of getting under his thick, callused skin, but she found herself continuing.

"As a waitress. Only for the last few months, that's how I met Selena."

"A waitress?" Ryan laughed sardonically, his voice hoarse.

"Yes, a waitress. Why do you care anyway?" That was the question she'd really wanted to ask ever since he's recognized her on his lap.

Ryan's gaze turned so steely and impenetrable Camila figured she was going to answer.

When Ryan spoke his voice was so guarded and low, a tone Camila never heard before. "Used to know a woman from that world and it killed her."

The way he said "know" made it clear it was more than that but Camila didn't pry. She dragged her fingers along the soft silk in her lap.

"It was a means to an end. That's it." Camila raised her stare out the window, her voice growing distant. "Desperation drives you to do some crazy things."

Ryan grunted in agreement, so much more laced there than any words could convey.

Ryan slowed the car, pulling up in front of Camila's hotel. The car idled heavily, Camila turning to grip the door handle when a flash of movement caught her eye.

Her hand froze, a warning fluttering at her pulse point before she even realized what she was looking at.

"What?" She felt Ryan's hard stare on her profile, watching her with keen eyes.

Camila licked her lips, her knuckles turning white on the door handle, the cross tattoo on the back of the shaved man's head filling her vision even though he'd already turned around the back of the building.

"Camila." Her name was a command on his tongue. "Talk to me."

She felt a steel cage wrap painfully around her ribs, her vision nearly blurring.

Think Camila, think.

But her brain simply swam in thick, tar-like panic. Unable to get any words or explanations to the surface.

"Jesus." Ryan bit out as he noticed two men circling from the back of the building, both dressed in heavy leather jackets despite the warm temperatures. Heads shaved, covered in tattoos, he started to pull away from the curb before Camila could even offer an explanation. "Benitez Cartel."

Camila couldn't keep the blanch from her face at hearing that name from Ryan's lips. She shifted in her seat, forcing herself to speak with every ounce of will left in her. "Is that who they are?" Her voice trembled slightly, but she just hoped he'd interpret it as fear. "They often came by the club, would be rough with the girls."

Ryan squinted his eyes at her but didn't say anything further as he drove toward his apartment. When he put the car in park, he leaned back in his seat, resting his head on the headrest before rolling it in Camila's direction, his hands gripping his thighs.

"Any one of them ever hurt you?" Ryan's voice was lethally calm which only made Camila shiver more than if he had yelled.

She shook her head 'no' dragging her fingers through her hair. "But I saw them, with the girls working the floor."

"I'll go back tonight and get your things." Ryan hopped out of the car before she respond, striding toward the door.

Was he expecting her to stay with him? The idea sent a frisson through her chest but so did the idea of going back to that motel. Sure, there was a chance they were there for a drug deal and nothing to do with her. But this wasn't their normal region. Her father was a cruel bastard but he knew how to stay in his lane.

And how to use her to expand it.

She tumbled out of the car after his broad, retreating back, her palms clammy as she worked to even out her breathing, forcing the panic down into that deep, black place within herself that she created since she was a child.

She followed after Ryan, the place appearing different now that she was potentially going to be staying her with him. One bed, a sitting chair. No couch.

"I'm sure I can probably return tonight." Camila laid the dress out on the bed, not wanting to wrinkle the delicate fabric between her nervous hands.

"You nearly passed out at the sight of them." Ryan drawled, pulling his gun from his waistband and setting it on the dresser with a thud. "I still need you alive for a few weeks yet."

Camila laughed bitterly at that. No flowers and candles from this man.

A small galley kitchen lined one of the walls, the entire space an open-air studio. Camila sat on the edge of the bed as Ryan dialed a number into his phone, his brow pensive despite the casual laziness of his stance, leaning up against the wall with the phone crooked between his ear and shoulder. 

"Jacob? Yeah. Had a sighting." 

Camila tried to act like she wasn't paying too close attention, her heartbeat pounding up her throat.

"Benitez Cartel. Yeah, two of 'em." Ryan stared at Camila but she refused to meet his eyes, suddenly preoccupied with her nails. "Got it, yeah, will do." Ryan hung up the call, tossing his phone on the bed, a silence stretching between them. 

"You hungry?" Ryan continued to study her and Camila wished she knew what the man had told him on the other end of the phone. She wouldn't put it past this American lethal killer to know exactly show she really was right now--in this very moment--and not let on a wink.  

"No." Camila ran her hands down her arms, her stomach swirling turbulently.

"Well I am." Ryan started to head toward the door, his hand gripping the handle before he turned back around. "Assuming I can trust you not to run off while I'm gone?" 

"Of course. Where would I go?" 

Ryan laughed, the sound deep and gravelly from his chest as he glanced over his shoulder, his blue gaze searing into her. "That's the question, isn't it?" 

Then he closed the door with a quiet click, Camila's heart jumping as if he'd slammed it in her face.