Manipulate (Deliver 6)

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Ricky whispered. “To be held. To be needed.”

“Yeah.” Martin rested his mouth against her head.

“I’ve always needed you.”

“I know.”

The silence that followed churned with their wants, their fears, and everything in between.

They had to earn her trust, navigate Martin’s demons, steal Hector’s secrets, and try not to get raped or killed in the process.

But right now, they had this. Skin, heartbeats, and breaths aligned in an unbroken moment. A moment to fight for.The next week dragged Ricky through the nine circles of hell. Between bone-bruising fights with inmates, lusting after the two people in his bed, and his guilt over hiding secrets from Tula, he felt as though he were running backward in a race against time.

Adding to that was the festering misery of prison life. The despair, the restlessness, the destruction of bodies that the inmates never seemed to grow sick of—there was an abundance of self-hatred in Jaulaso.

But for all the violence, guilt, and torment in limbo, there were glimpses of heaven. They dwelled in the slide of soft lips and hungry tongues.

Christ, the kissing. He’d never devoted so much time and attention to another person’s mouth, but holy fuck, that was where it was at.

All those years of dating, countless lovers, Van’s sexual training… How had he not discovered the sinful pleasure in a kiss?

He was addicted to it now. Good thing, because after a week of sharing a bed with Tula and Martin, kissing was all they’d done.

Martin had intimacy issues. Tula was hellbent on them joining La Rocha Cartel, and Ricky was left with a crumbling plan, two blue balls, and a black eye.

His busted face was a gift from a four-hundred-pound inmate in the common area two days ago. Martin had managed to escape that particular fight unscathed. The other times, however, he hadn’t been so lucky.

Since they only ventured out among the prisoners while Tula was in meetings, she hadn’t watched them get their asses kicked over and over. But she was always there to clean them up afterward.

“She’s been gone too long.” Martin bent over the sink in their cell, scraping a razor against the stubble on his jaw.

She met with Hector a lot. Sometimes it was a meeting with his advisers. Other times, she slipped away, saying she needed to check in with him.

She swore up and down he never touched her, never hurt her in any way. Didn’t stop Ricky from chewing a hole in his cheek. He fucking hated every second she wasn’t within eyeshot.

The reclusive cartel boss rarely left his private quarters. In the ten days they’d been here, they’d only spotted the old man twice. When they passed him in the hall, he was surrounded by guards and didn’t spare them a single glance.

But he knew they were there. Tula didn’t spend all that time with him without talking about the men she shared a bed with every night.

Was she talking about them right now?

Ricky lowered onto the mattress. “With any luck, we planted a seed of doubt in her head, enough to make her question every interaction she has with him.”

“She’s smart. If she’s suspicious of him, she’ll dig, ask questions, and find her way to the truth.”

“That could work against us, too. If Hector doesn’t trust us—”

“That’s a given.” Martin set the razor aside and rinsed his face.

“Then he’s putting the doubts about us in her head.”

If she discovered their loyalty to Restrepo, she would feel betrayed. Not just because they worked for a sworn enemy, but because they’d kept it from her.

The sooner they got her on their side, the better.

“You need to seal the deal.” Martin inspected his face in the mirror, searching for stubble he’d missed.

“Meaning?”

“Fuck her, Ricky.” He turned and folded his arms across his chest. “A woman like that doesn’t have sex with a man she doesn’t trust. If you open her legs, you’ll open her heart.”

“That sounds like a great plan. Love her then leave her in three months.”

“If we succeed here, we’ll be saving thousands of women and children. She’ll understand that.”

“Maybe.” He studied Martin’s expression, resenting the secrets lurking behind those eyes.

“Whatever’s on your mind, just spit it out.”

“You want me to fuck her, but she wants both of us. How can I convince her to trust me enough to sleep with me, when I can’t even convince my bisexual best friend to do that?”

“It’s two completely different things.”

“It’s the same fucking thing.” Frustration burned through his veins as he rose from the bed. “It took all three of us to start this relationship, and we can’t move forward unless all three of us are committed to it. I know you see that. You’re just…” He pulled in a breath. “You’re too fucking scared.”

“Yeah?” A dark shadow passed across Martin’s expression.

Then he attacked. Both hands hit Ricky hard enough in the chest to send him flying backward and crashing onto the bed.