Trouble, with a capital T. - Nestor Oceteva

26th June 2019

"Come on Libby, wake up or we will miss our flight." She shot up from the bed and rushed around the room getting ready. "Did you check you have everything? I don't know if we will be back again Libz." I made my way around her bare room, looking under the bed and in every drawer.

We had arrived back in Istanbul last week. The time had come to pack up the rest of our belongings and move our lives to California. Miguel had gifted us a slice of land from his expansive property and our family home had started being built already. I would have preferred to be a bit farther removed from the cartel compound but Nestor needed to be close to Miguel. I understood and agreed, I just didn't like it.

As I locked the door, I wondered again if this was the right thing to do. No matter how much I loved Nestor, I couldn't shake the queasy feeling that came with being near the Cartel. I just had to have faith that between my husband and I, we could protect Libby. I passed the large metal container that held all of our belongings. The driver had me sign the release and customs forms then they drove away to the shipping ports while we headed to the airport.

Changing my watch as we landed in LAX, I saw the date and told Libby the surprise. We entered the arrivals lounge and my eyes were drawn to him. There were probably two hundred other people but I spotted him in a second. My heart skipped at the sight of him and I realised just how much I missed him this last week. Libby sprinted past me and jumped into his arms as a grin spread wide on his face. "Happy birthday papi!" She squealed as he spun her around before kissing her on the head. "Gracias, mi preciosa hija."

My legs finally worked again and I skipped into his side and pulled his lips to mine. For once Libby kept her mouth shut and let us have the moment. This was all I ever wanted, us together, out in the open and no more hiding. "I missed you." "Missed you too querida."

I remembered one of his birthday's, the first year of my deployment. My team had two days off and so we had been drinking all day on land in Samoa. The water was crystal clear and I could see the ocean floor even from up on the ship's deck. Daytona was egging me on the jump from the rails. "You're too chicken shit to do it Lopez." The assholes then started making chicken noises. Never one to back down, I started to take off my clothes so I was just in my bikini.

The chicken noises stopped and wolf whistles replaced it. Pulling the fingers back at them, I climbed the metal rails and stood on the wider wooden top rail. Turning around to face them, I held my arms out wide. "Suck my dick, asshat." I spotted Nestor exiting his office and he made his way over. I knew he would try stop me so I looked to the blue sky and fell backwards. I moved my arms forward to a point and tucked my head down just before I hit the water.

Staying beneath the surface, it was serene. A silence I hadn't felt in a long time. No sexist taunts, no shooting, no yelling. I watched a colourful fish swim by as I felt the burn start in my lungs. Before I could float to the surface another body landed in the water a few yards from me. When the bubbles cleared I saw a shirtless Nestor. He looked worried and grabbed my arm before swimming to the surface.

When we hit air, I inhaled a big breath and laughed as the adrenaline rushed through my body. "I'm feeling a little faint Officer, I think I need some mouth to mouth." I was rewarded to a sexy smirk before he splashed water in my face. I had taken a breath at the wrong time and his splash went right in my mouth and I started coughing. The salt burnt my throat as I tried to cough it up. His smirk disappeared and he pulled me against him as he swum is both to the side of the ship.

"Fuck, Nadia, I'm sorry. Shit, I got you, I got you." I had cleared most of it and turned beetroot red with embarrassment. "I'm fine, Nestor." We were treading water and he still held me up against him. My hand moved on its own and ran along the tattoos that covered his arms. "Thank fuck for that. That could have really ruined my birthday." I hadn't known it was his birthday and I hadn't heard anyone else say anything to him today. "Let's get up there before it's rains anymore seaman." Just before we got to the top of the ladder, I looked down at Nestor and caught him looking up. "I'll see you tonight, birthday boy." I leapt over the rail and grabbed my clothes and Nestor's top before disappearing to my room.

I felt a gun pressed to the back of my head as I closed his door. I froze, it was pitch black in here and I hadn't seen or heard him move. "What are you doing here Nadia?" I turned and pushed the gun down to his side. "I told you I would see you, birthday boy." The room lit up softly from his lamp and his eyes ran along my body, turning dark with lust. "You could get us in a lot of trouble looking like that." I looked down, I was wearing his shirt I stole and nothing else. It came half way down my thighs and the top buttons were open. "Only if I get caught...and I never get caught." I winked before I brought my hands out from behind me and held a small cake with an unlit candle.

"Where did that pretty little head go to mi amor?" I snapped back to reality and smiled. "Samoa." He let go of Libby and pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around my waist and his face buried in my neck. "Still pissed off that I turned you down? Even though you looked sexy as fuck in my shirt." I groaned and my face turned red. "Shut up, you ass. Not my fault I find you irresistible, birthday boy." He chuckled at my answer as he dropped our embrace to take the heaviest suitcase from me.

We walked to the priority parking zone and climbed in the new Mercedes SUV. "Jesus, these are ugly things. Did you have to get rid of the Escalade?" Nestor rolled his eyes at me. "Miguel made some deal with Mercedes, all of us have to drive them now. You can take the Maybach if you want." That perked me up.

I needed to stop at the grocery store so I could make dinner. I'm pretty sure Miguel and Nestor had been living on fancy takeout while I was gone. There was one parking spot at the front but Nestor drove past it to where there were more spaces. I paused and looked at Nestor seriously. "You still don't know how to parallel park, do you!" He frowned and his grip on the wheel tightened making me laugh. "What, of course I can." I smirked at him and shrugged. "I'm pretty tired from the flight. Could you park out front for me? So I don't have to walk so far." He turned the engine off. "Get out smart ass." Grinning wide I jumped out of the SUV and got the groceries.

When we got to Miguel's he was waiting on the front porch. He looked a lot better than he had the last few weeks. He was taking better care of himself and focusing on business instead of his whore of a wife. "Miguel, you look good, guapo." "Feeling better too, mostly thanks to your gin therapy. You cooking tonight?" He gestured to the grocery bags and I nodded. "Good, we missed your home cooked meals. Glad to have you home." I kissed his cheek as I went past to the kitchen.

Libby had run off to find Cristobal as soon as we got inside. Miguel was somewhere in the house and Nestor was being a hinderance more than a helper. "Either help cut those or sit at the island." I smacked his butt to get him out of the way but his hands soon snaked around my waist again. "I missed you. And, you look so sexy dancing around the kitchen all barefoot and shit."

I shot him a dirty look and shook my head. "Uh uh, no. Ain't happening yet." He feigned innocence but I could see the glimmer in his eye. "What? Libby is amazing and you've seen how she is with Cris. Imagine another little one running around the place." He rubbed my flat stomach as he pressed himself to my back. "It's my birthday remember." That was a low blow but I wasn't getting pregnant as a birthday present.

"Speaking of babies. Any update on the one in the basement?" Nestor dropped his hands and turned serious again. "It's a girl. There's a doctor on payroll that's looking after them both. They could do the paternity test earlier but it puts the baby at risk so Miguel chose to wait. Relations with the MC are rocky at best. They knew the risks of doing business with us but still ain't happy with EZ's death." I nodded and wondered if Coco would talk to me, try to salvage something of a relationship.

Poor Miguel, it's such a fucked up situation. "How are they gonna do a paternity test with a dead person?" I pictured them finding the shallow grave in the desert and taking a finger to the lab. Obviously I knew they couldn't do that but it would sort of be funny. "They'll test Angel as his sibling. Whoever is closest sort of thing." Hmm I hope she wasn't sleeping with anyone else.

"La cena está lista!" [dinner is ready!] I heard Libby and Cristobal's feet padding along the hallway and Miguel's heavier steps come up the stairs. Nestor helped carried the trays as everyone took their seats and started to help themselves. I sat back as the men joked with each other and Libby put some food on Cristobal's plate for him. I couldn't help but smile at the odd bunch. This was my family, my crazy weird family.

In a moment of quiet, my husband pulled his chair closer to mine. "Peso for your thoughts?" I put my head on his shoulder, everything about this moment felt perfect. "Still want a boatload?" His eyebrows shot up in surprise before a wide grin changed his whole face. "With you querida, of course."