She doesn’t know it yet, but I’ll pay her for that. She may not like that, because she hates handouts, but no one asked her to do work for Toni for no pay, and if she actually solves this mystery… it won’t be a handout.
“Alright, then,” I tell her. “I forgive you. Then you forgive me for, on occasion, acting wealthy and privileged.”
She grins. “But I love it when you do that. Don’t listen to what I said just now. Maybe you should spank me for it or something.” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.
“I will never understand women.”
“You don’t have to. You just have to understand this one, and I’ll do my best to be understandable.”
I frame her face with my hands. “You’re too fucking adorable and maddening at the same time. Woman, I want you so badly right now I can taste it. I want your legs wrapped around my body while I pound into you so hard and so fast it makes you lose your mind. I want to fuck you into next Sunday, but I’ll stay on top of myself and not give in to weakness.”
She smiles that slow, seductive grin that makes my heart stutter.
“Good. Perfect. Let’s do it. Now get your ass back in gear and follow the car that just left. She’s on the move again.”
I yank her hair for bossing me around, which only makes her moan (of course).
I practically throw her off my lap onto the passenger seat, and barely stifle the need to rev the engine. I don’t want to draw any type of attention or suspicion. I want this search party over with so we can move on to bigger and better things. I may not know much about how this works, but I do know that knowing the location of our missing suspect is probably a damn good thing.
“She’s going down there,” Samantha says. “It’s a dirt road. There are like no other people here, Miguel. She’ll see us. Anyone could. And they’d suspect we were police or something.”
I nod. They would.
“But if we don’t follow her, we lose her. And what if she doesn’t come out again?”
She worries her lip. “It’s a tough call. But in the end, I don’t care what they think. I care about justice for Toni. And if we lose her…” She sighs. “Go after her. Please.”
I turn off my headlights and pull down the road.
“I feel like we need weapons or something.” I shrug and flex my hands, which makes her groan.
“Miguel. You can’t go in there and, like, maim people who threaten us with your bare hands.”
I give her a curious look. Why not?
“You’re literally wondering why you can’t, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Because,” she says. “We’re professionals.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit about being wealthy and privileged again, Sam.”
She winces. “I’m not.”
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, or Toni. You hear me?”
“Of course. Yes, I do.”
“Then stop trying to censor everything I do and trust me.”
She draws in a breath, then nods. I’m concentrating hard on driving. Without the headlights or the benefit of streetlights, it’s damn near impossible.
“I never trusted people before. Well, not until I met Allie and Madison. But we’re like sisters together, the three of us, and they’re the only ones—”
“Shh.” I put my finger to her lips. “Look.”
There’s a brightly lit nightclub up ahead, set far back from the main road. Motorcycles and cars line up on the grass, hordes of people are outside smoking, and I can feel the bass of the dance music even from this far away.
“Whoa. This place is lit,” Sam says. “Let’s… hmm. Okay, so I think we need to mingle like a local.”
She yanks off the string of pearls she’s wearing and shoves them in the glove box. She whips off her shrug, then unbuttons her top three buttons so her tits are hanging out. Pinches her cheeks and grabs this zip-up bag out of her purse.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Looking the part.” I watch as she unzips the little pouch and takes out a tube of lipstick, yanks the passenger mirror down, then glides on bright red lipstick. Next, her eyelashes magically lengthen with some little black things she puts on them—fake eyelashes? Are those a thing? I blink in surprise when she grins at me.
“Jesus. Yeah, okay, so I like that.” I can’t hold back the growl in my voice. “But if anyone looks at you, I won’t be held responsible for what I’ll do.”
“Aw, honey,” she says, patting my arm. “You do say the sweetest things. Now. Time to downgrade your look.” She frowns. “Lose the Rolex. And off with your shirt. You have a T-shirt on, right?”
I yank off my shirt, leaving me in nothing but a white tee.
“Ohh. You’re wearing the wifebeater. That’s so trailer park perfect.”