Snow Blind - Lori G. Armstrong [88]
“Okay. But won’t Jackal notice if she’s missing?”
“I hope so.”
“So if Jackal or one of his guys is following her to see if anyone is tailing her, and he sees me, chances are good he’ll take after me.”
“Then he’s out in the open, which is easier, and we nail the cocksucker either way.”
Made sense. But I could see why we were keeping this from Tony; he’d be livid. “You aren’t gonna kill Nyla, are you?”
“No. But we need to get the ball rolling on this. Martinez needs to get out of here and be seen tonight.”
“What’s the plan for explaining his injury?”
“Skiing—”
The bedroom door banged open. Tony hobbled
out. “Don’t let me interrupt whatever required you to shut the fucking door.”
Busted. I pointed at Big Mike. “Blame him.”
Big Mike glared at me. “If you weren’t so goddamn loud and freaking out about—”
“Freaking out about what?” Martinez demanded.
“The stupid excuses he’s come up with to explain 313
why you’re on crutches.” From the corner of my eye I saw Big Mike relax slightly.
“What’d he come up with?”
“Skiing!” I threw my hands up. “Nobody in their right mind would believe you injured yourself snow skiing.”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t ski, Martinez.”
He lifted a brow. “Yes, I do.”
My jaw hitting my knees wasn’t a dramatic touch. Big Mike said, “Told ya.”
“But . . . you ski?”
“Of course I ski. I grew up in Colorado.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I never hear you talk about hitting the slopes or any of that ‘gnarly powder, dude’ kind of shit.”
“I don’t ski around here. Why do you think I’ve gone to Colorado more often this winter?”
I gaped at him. Why hadn’t he told me if it wasn’t a secret?
“What?”
“I can’t believe I didn’t know that about you.”
What else was he hiding, the man I’d told I loved not an hour ago?
“So now you do. What was your explanation for my injury?”
Should’ve known he wouldn’t let it drop.
“When Julie argued about the skiing idea, I suggested we tell everyone she accidentally shot you with 314
her bow when you guys were out target shooting,” Big Mike said.
“That’s fucking lame. I am a goddamn good shot and it pisses me off you even suggested it.”
“Enough.” Martinez settled in the corner of the couch and propped his leg on the coffee table. “Now I see why you shut the goddamn door.” He looked at me, gifted me with his lethal grin, and patted the open spot on his left side.
I bounded over; if I had a tail, it’d be waggin’. Even if Martinez’s secrets drove me bat shit, color me deliriously happy my man was on the road to recovery. Big Mike sighed. “Don’t get too cozy. I came up here to take Julie downstairs.”
“Why?”
“You need to put in an appearance at Fat Bob’s tonight.”
Without her was implied.
“It’s okay. I haven’t been home in three days. Probably all sorts of shit waiting for me to deal with.”
“Give us a couple of minutes,” Martinez said, and Big Mike headed for the bathroom.
I murmured, “Are you really feeling up to doing this? Because there’s no shame in taking another day to heal.”
“Would you stick around and be my wet nurse?”
“Sounds perverted, but yes.” Then I remembered why Big Mike needed to separate us. I couldn’t tail Nyla if Martinez and I were playing grab ass. “But 315
Big Mike wouldn’t be pushing for you to go out and be seen if it wasn’t necessary.”
“True.” He angled my head where he wanted it and kissed me thoroughly. “Promise you’ll charge up that cell the second you get home, blondie.”
“Promise.”
Martinez twined my hair around his finger and muttered against my throat. “Te quiero mucho.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Debes aprender a hablar español.”
“Funny. You aren’t going to tell me, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Swearing at me? You must be feeling better.” I gave him a big, wet, smacking kiss right on his smirking mouth. “Later?”
“Most definitely.”
I followed Big Mike downstairs. Felt good to be out in the fresh air even if it was frigid.
He handed me one of those disposable cell phones while we were sitting in my truck waiting for it to warm up. “I won’t call you on this unless something’s going down. The number