13. Rita

13

RITA

I tapped on the keyboard of my computer, outlining a ridiculously boring email. I wasn't sure why I even bothered. It wasn't like Amorette wasn't going to go over it and legalese it anyway.

There was a knock at the door. Instead of yelling for the person to come in, I rolled my chair out and stood up. Smoothing my dress down, I walked to the door.

It was a cop out for more time. It didn't matter who it was, I just needed more time.

The last few days had been exhausting and I was running out of fucks to give. Why did I even want to be President of the Dirty Dogs? It had never crossed my mind before Papá died. Yet, as soon as he was gone, I knew I had to take his place.

My brain and heart were in agreement. They demanded it.

"Yes?" I placed my hand on the doorknob and waited. I didn't always lock it, but I did today.

Carnage Industries was as secure as they came. Amorette's men made sure of it. Add in the school next door, and Jesus himself couldn't break through the gates uninvited.

But a girl needed her privacy, and I needed time to process my mess of a life.

"It's me," Amorette said.

I twisted the knob to open the door. She wasn't someone I wanted to see either. Mainly because I didn't want to see the judgment on her face after what I told her on the phone. Amorette was the master of judgment, even though she said she didn't judge.

She absolutely did.

With the door open a handful of inches, I sucked in a breath. There was Amorette all right. And Esteban stood behind her, raising one taunting eyebrow at me.

"Seems this man was loitering," Amorette remarked drily. Then she excused herself, giving me a slight smile to let me know she wasn't irritated that he was here or that I was avoiding her.

"Hey," I said as I stepped back and opened the door.

He started to come in, but I held up a finger. "You know what, hold on."

I grabbed my keys and phone from the desk and joined him in the hall. He watched me silently as I shut and locked the door. Call me paranoid, but I'd seen Matías here this morning and I didn't want him to ambush me in my office.

When I faced Esteban, we had a moment of mutual appreciation. My body buzzed under his appreciative gaze as it swept my body.

Like always, he was dressed in ripped jeans, a white Tee and his Dirty Dogs vest.

"Shouldn't you be at the shop?" The chop business was still fairly young and Esteban was heading it up due to his love of all things bikes. Cars were his second love .

"Due is handling it. While we're waiting for Matthews to make a move, the VPs and officers thought it would be best you have someone protecting you." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"And naturally that person is you?"

"Naturally," he repeated, smiling. Damn it, his dimples popped out. I was a sucker for dimples.

I didn't have any smart comebacks. I wanted to blame it on life and stress, and how I couldn't think around him. Different from how Matías made me feel, and that was the most intoxicating of all.

"Are you kicking me out?" His gaze flicked to my shut door. "Is that why you shut and locked your office door? Afraid of what will happen if we're alone?" He pressed his lips together to suppress his smile.

Those dimples were still there.

Damn.

"I slept in your room without any issues controlling myself." I sniffed as I started walking down the hallway. He'd catch up.

He chuckled under his breath, giving me a full-blown show me all the beautiful white teeth smile. "That was because I respected your space. I wasn't trying to fuck you."

"Hm," I hummed, suddenly flustered.

"Where are we going?" He easily fell in step beside me.

"You've never been here before. I thought I'd give you a tour."

His eyes softened and he nodded. "I'd like that."

I took in the hallway, trying to see what he'd see. I'd gotten used to it now, but I remember the first time I walked the halls. The understated opulence took me off guard. I imagined it was similar to what Amorette was used to in her high-profile law firm .

The Dirty Dogs owned some nice clubs, but they were nothing like this. Even our best club still had a level of grittiness to it that was both thrilling and sexy. Everything a nightclub should be.

"The hall back that way is where the rest of the offices are for Amorette and her guys."

A hint of anger slid through his eyes even though his smile didn't dim. "I know. Amorette walked me past them."

"You saw him, didn't you?" It was weird to ask, but that had to be what flipped his emotions.

"Yeah," he grunted. "I saw him on his way out."

Okay, this wasn't going to turn into a complaint fest about Matías. He was still here, and I'd been dodging his calls left and right. The one line he hadn't crossed was showing up at my house.

Yet, I wouldn't put it past him.

"The school is in the next building. Where we keep all our little badasses." I grinned. Those girls were going to be something when they grew up.

He studied me as we rode the elevator down. "You're not concerned with them getting killed on jobs?"

I shook my head. "That's always a possibility. But women get hurt everyday by men. This way, they'll be trained not only on how to defend themselves, but to go on the offensive, how to quickly leave a situation, and cover their tracks if they need to."

The elevator dinged and I led the way to the school.

"That's actually pretty smart."

"We thought so." Going through the gate, we could already hear sounds of Olga putting the girls through hell. Papá should have had Olga training the Dirty Dogs. She was hell on the ego.

The middle group of girls were with her today .

Several called out to me, and I waved. I wanted to check on Molly and this walk with Esteban was a perfect opportunity.

We moved inside the school, heading for the gymnasium. While a lot of their training was held outside, classes and exercises were run in the gym.

"The classrooms are on either side of the hallway. We cover regular courses, such as math, English, science. Then we also have guest teachers on poisons, repairs, electrical wiring. Anything that we think might be useful to get them out of a tight situation." I shrugged. "Or finish the job."

He whistled under his breath as he passed the lab used for poisons. He eyed the hazard signs with appreciation. "I'm impressed. How many classes have you sat in on?"

"All of them," I snorted. "I like to have a full and secret arsenal too."

We reached the end of the hallway, where there were two doors. The one on the right led to the theater, and the one on the left the gymnasium.

"That way is where the girls take dance classes–"

"That's a deadly skill?" he snarked.

I smirked at him. "Grace is a skill. I've been taking those classes too. The girls love when Amorette and I join in." Amorette hadn't been able to do many of the classes while she was pregnant or right after, but now that Cossette was getting bigger, she attended one with me a couple weeks earlier.

She was perfectly poised and petite, like a tiny elfin fairy. Until she couldn't get her feet right, then she was an angry-faced pixie.

"Shit, you got me." He raised his brows, glancing at the theater door.

"But we're going here today." The girls should be in the practice segment of their class. A perfect time for me to pop in. Esteban would enjoy this too.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside. The gym was warmer than the rest of the building but still severely cooler than outside. Those poor girls with Olga were sweating to death.

The youngest group of girls were in here. I spotted Molly right away, where she stood off to the corner. Her group seemed to be ignoring her and her dagger stares.

I sighed as I approached the teacher.

This class was run by Jewel, a world-class motocross racer. She specialized in both dirt bikes and off-road motorcycles.

"This is the class I should be in." Esteban rubbed his hands together as we walked between the groups of girls working on learning the anatomy of their bikes. Once they knew the parts, their functions and why they were important, then they'd start taking lessons.

This class was held twice a month and it was quickly becoming a favorite.

"I knew you'd like it." I turned to Jewel and smiled. "How are the girls doing?"

She grinned. As a spunky American, she had so much bubbliness, the girls instantly took to her.

"Great. They're catching on really fast. Almost faster than the mid-level girls." She glanced out over the groups, an obvious look of pride on her face.

Esteban joined one of the groups, asking them questions. An eruption of little girl giggles pierced my ears and he shot me a lopsided grin.

Stepping closer, I lowered my voice. "What's going on with Molly?"

Some of the exuberance leaked out of Jewel. "I'm not sure. She's not in trouble today. But there's something going on with the girls. They've pretty much just been snubbing her. It's making her angry."

I glanced over and Molly was still shooting all her ire at the backs of two girls in particular.

"Can you keep an eye on it? Let me know if you hear anything?"

"Absolutely." She nodded.

Walking over to Molly, I waved my fingers to catch her attention. This girl was absorbed in her hate stare. She flicked her gaze my way and her face lit up.

"Ms. Aguilar!" She hugged my waist. Some of the other girls peered over curiously, but no one made an attempt to come over.

There were only a few who felt comfortable enough to show me affection like this.

Esteban noticed where I was and excused himself from his now substantial crowd of tween admirers. He jogged over and stopped a few feet away.

"Who is this badass?"

Molly pulled her shoulders back. She definitely liked his attention too. Or being called a badass. If I was right, it was a combination of both.

"This is Molly. One of our newest girls."

He must have seen how she was separate from her group because he crouched closer to us. "What's the deal? Those girls messing with your vibe or something?"

I laughed. It was weird to hear Esteban speak so...teen girl.

She shrugged, shooting me a look. Molly opened her mouth as the door opened again.

This time it was Parker and Matías.

Matías instantly zeroed in on me and I narrowed my eyes. That motherfucker. He found me so quick, I'd bet that was the whole reason he was here.

Parker wore a shit eating grin as he strolled through the girls. Now he was a favorite. Most of the girls left their assigned bike to jump around him.

Matías got caught up in the circle but the girls didn't seem to even know he was there. That would at least hold him for a few minutes.

"That asswipe," Esteban muttered under his breath. "You want to leave?"

"Absolutely not." He wanted to chase me? Fine. I was still checking in on my girl.

Esteban didn't say anything. He turned to Molly and touched her shoulder. "Now that your group’s bike is free, I'll show you a couple secrets I bet the teacher hasn't gone over." He winked and Molly swooned. I’d never tell her. She’d hate it.

He walked her over to the bike and crouched down. "You like bikes?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're not bad." She bent over, placing her hands on her knees.

"Not bad!" He slapped a hand over his chest. "You wound me." Shaking his head, he pointed to a screw like plug. "Rita tells me you all need to know how to get away fast. You see this? It's the spark plug." He twisted it and popped it off. "It's what starts the engine. You unhook it, which should be easy to do, then they won't be able to follow you. But if it's too hard to twist off..." Esteban trailed his fingers over a line. "This is the fuel line. Cut it, and they'll have a really fucking hard time coming after you too."

Molly stared in wide-eyed shock at Esteban.

I laughed. He'd just ignited a crush and I doubted he realized it .

He shot me a sly smile and I rolled my eyes. Oh, he knew. The man knew exactly how girls responded to him. There was just something so magnetic about his personality.

Not able to help it, I glanced over.

Matías had just separated himself from the girls surrounding Parker. None of them paid him any attention at all. He could have been a ghost as he wove between them with his unblinking gaze locked only on me.

I started backing up before I even realized what I was doing.

"Rita?" Esteban stood up.

Fuck this. I wasn't ready to talk to Matías yet. As much as I loved him, and it bit my ass to admit I couldn't turn the feelings off just like that, I also didn't want to look at him. Not after what I'd let happen at Papá's funeral.

It had been one of my lowest points and I walked away from him with so much hurt, I just couldn't do it.

Not right then.

"Sorry, Esteban. I'm not going to talk to him today."

Then I did what I said I’d never do. I ran.

And it wasn't fucking badass at all.