Malo: An Age Gap Romance

CHAPTER 6

MARIA

Ihurry on my way back to the shitty little apartment I’ve been staying in, feeling as though I’m about to be jumped at any moment.

By the cops, probably, for fucking someone in public like that. I’ve never done anything like that before, not in my entire life, and I still can’t believe it actually happened. Fucking behind a bar, right there next to a dumpster? Far from what I’m used to. The few times I have gone home with guys after a date, it’s been in the privacy of their apartment or mine, not out there in the street where anyone could see us, his hands traveling all over my body, groping and grinding against me like he thought I was only good for one thing.

Worst part about it? It had been good. Seriously good. Much as I don’t want to admit it to myself, that orgasm was the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. That guy, whatever his name is, he knows just how to touch me to take me over the edge. I doubt I’m the first girl he’s done that with, not when he was able to make me come so easily. I’m not jealous at the thought of that, exactly, but it’s still a lot to wrap my head around—a lot for me to make sense of.

I need a shower. A long, hot shower, and bed. I’m exhausted after everything that’s happened tonight, not just the physical exertion, but the mental stuff, too. Worrying about what might happen if the two of us were caught, doubting whether or not I was going to be able to get away with it—and, when he was about to leave, having to use my wits to figure out some way I could get him to see me again, some way I could force his hand.

I slipped my hand into his pockets while he was too high to notice, making like I was trying to make a move, but instead, I pulled out a thick wad of cash—some payment for the club, I’d bet. Stuffing it into my purse as quickly as I could, I would need to figure out how I could use that to get him to see me again. I’m not exactly sure yet, but I’m going to figure it out, one way or another.

I’m sure he’s going to freak when he realizes what I took from him, but I’m hoping that hook-up we just had is going to be enough to soften the blow of whatever he might do to me otherwise. He seems cocky, sure of himself, and I can use that to make sure he plays by my rules. He’s not going to want to admit that someone like me got the better of him, I figure, and that’s just fine by me.

The streets are starting to fill up with people heading to bars, stumbling out of clubs. A few guys shoot wolf-whistles in my direction, but I keep my head down and continue walking, fumbling for my keys in my bag. My legs are still a little shaky from the orgasm he gave me, and I have no idea how to feel about that. Does my body crave that kind of touch, that kind of roughness? I thought all of this would just be an act, a game I played to get what I needed, but there’s some part of me that’s not faking it at all.

I can’t let that get to me, I can’t. I need to stay focused. This isn’t about me getting laid, that’s the last thing on my mind right now, this is about doing what’s right for my father. I know he’d be horrified if he knew what I had just done for him, but God willing, he’s not going to find out. I need to keep it to myself. We all have to do things we don’t like for the sake of the people we love, don’t we? This is just… a little more extreme than anything I’ve dealt with before.

I arrive back at the apartment building, and I glance around furtively to make sure nobody has followed me. I doubt I’ve attracted that much attention yet, but I still want to keep my guard up, just in case. I now know how dark this world can be, and I’m not about to let anything happen to me, not after I’ve just taken such a big step in the right direction.

My heels tap up the concrete steps toward my apartment, and I’m about to put my key in the lock of my door when I notice that it’s open a few inches. My stomach drops. Someone’s already here…

I push it open tentatively, not sure what I’m about to see on the other side. I pray it’s not one of the Kings’, having figured out that I stole from one of their men. I’m not sure if I’ve got anything in the way of an excuse ready to go, and the last thing I need is to get busted so soon after I made my first move.

But, when I open the door, I find a familiar face waiting for me on the other side: Rayo. Not exactly good news, but better the devil you know, right?

I wrap my arms around myself protectively.

“What are you doing here?” I demand.

He runs a hand over his shaved head, eyes narrowing on me. “You would do well to watch your tone with me, puta,” he snarls at me. I bristle at the sound of those words coming out of his mouth, but try to still the anger before it gets the better of me. I need to remember that that’s all I am to these people, a whore they can use as they see fit. As long as I play along with it, I’m going to keep my father safe, and that’s all that matters.

I press my lips together, raising my eyebrows at him pointedly. I hate being in front of him dressed like this. I know he likes to see me on display, a reminder of my place in this hierarchy, but I don’t want him to get used to it. As soon as I get the chance, I’m going back to my normal life, leaving behind all of this mess. If it wasn’t for my father being pulled into this dark world, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.

“I thought you could use a little motivation,” he says, his lips curling up into a cruel smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“I’m already doing everything you’re telling me to,” I protest. “I don’t see what else?—”

He pulls his phone out, and unlocks it. My eyes widen when I see what’s on the screen. I clamp a hand over my mouth to keep from crying out in horror.

It’s my father. In some sort of dingy lab, a far cry from the polished, pristine places he’s worked in before. But this isn’t like the work he’s dedicated his life to, no, that was all focused on making the world a better place, helping to develop drugs and treatments that would save the lives of people who needed it most.

But this? What El Serpiente had him doing? It was about filling his own pocket, and nothing more. It’s about using my father’s incredible skills and knowledge to pump out a cheap, addictive drug that El Serpiente can use to hook new addicts onto, and create dozens more people who are reliant on him for their fix. It’s sick, and he knows that my father is the only chemist accomplished enough to do it.

And he never would have, had it not been for the gun held to his head. In the video, a man has a revolver pressed to my father’s temple as he tries to look over the papers on the desk in front of him, hands shaking, face twisted up into an expression of pure terror. I reach out to touch the screen, almost as though I can reach my father through it, though I know that’s impossible. Rayo whips it away from me, and I feel warm tears leaking down my face.

“You remember what’s at stake, don’t you?” he demands, grinning as he tucks his phone back into his pocket. All I can see is that image of my father, playing over and over inside my head. The sight of him with the cold, hard metal of the gun against his head. A warning of what will happen if he makes the wrong move.

Or if I do.

I nod.

He grabs my chin, and forces me to look at him. “Say it,” he orders.

I swallow hard, trying to pull myself together. “I know what’s at stake,” I reply, my voice hollow. I want to scream. I want to lunge at him and grab him and tell him that he can’t do this to me, to my father. That my father will never go along with everything he’s demanding of him, and that he’s sick if he thinks he will.

But it’s not as though either of us have a choice in this. We’re both just as trapped as each other, just as helpless in the face of everything that’s going on. They’re using us, using us both, and as long as my father is at risk, I have no choice but to go along with the hell they’re putting me through. I can’t stand the thought of losing him. I know I would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to my father and I knew there was some way I could have stopped it. He’s my world, and I know the same goes for him, too—it’s been just the two of us for so long, relying on each other, needing each other, and, though we could never have guessed a situation like this would unfold, it’s not going to change our bond.