“Fair enough. But we’re less than a third of the way up the trail, and—” Although her words crashed to a halt, her movements didn’t seem to have considered hitching for even a second, and she slid her fingers over his forearm, gripping tight. “There,” she whispered. “That’s got to be him.”
Kellan’s eyes lasered in on a man standing to the side of the path about twenty paces in front of them. The guy—who seriously couldn’t have weighed more than a buck twenty even if he’d showered in his clothes—stood beneath a street lamp, his back to the pole and his cell phone glued to his ear as he yak-yakked away. An overabundance of dark corkscrew curls sprang out from his head in every direction, and yeah, the guy fit Carmen’s description right down to the hey-baby murmurs he was throwing into his cell phone in Spanish.
“Copy that.” Kellan checked the immediate area for bystanders and covert exit paths, his pulse tapping out a rhythm of fuck yeah at the small stroke of luck that gave Marcus neither. Still… “You sure you want to stick to the plan?”
“Walker.” The word was all warning, and damn it, he really had no choice.
“I’m falling back. You’re a go to move in.”
Moreno didn’t so much as blink. Ruffling a hand through her hair, she tugged the hem of her T-shirt down low enough to reveal the swell of her cleavage along with—Jesus, she was going to end him right here in the middle of the park—a good two inches of the black lacy bra beneath it. Slipping a provocative smile over her face, she sauntered over to the guy, and even though it screamed against every last instinct in his gut, Kellan hung back on the periphery, sliding into the shadows just outside the reach of the scant overhead light.
“Hi. You’re Danny Marcus, right?” Moreno pressed her hands into the pockets of her jeans to give her breasts maximum lift, and bingo. She had the guy’s attention, hook, line, and I-think-with-my-dick sinker.
He murmured something quick into his cell phone, stowing it in his jacket pocket a second later. “And who might you be?”
“My name is Isabella.” She leaned on her accent just enough to seal the deal of Marcus’s full attention, his eyes taking a slow, filthy trip over her body that made Kellan want to kick the ever-loving shit out of the guy. “I’m looking to score a little fun,” she said. “Thought you could maybe help me out.”
“You came to the right place, honey. Danny Marcus does know how to have a good time. How come I’ve never seen a pretty girl like you out here before?”
Kellan took a slow breath, holding it tight in his lungs. For as slimy as the guy was, he wasn’t entirely stupid. He was fishing for something to trust.
And Moreno gave it to him, along with a smile that would inspire a hard-on for any straight man on the fucking planet. “I just moved here from Charlotte. I used to hang with Antonio Torres and some of his friends. One of his regular girls said I should come looking for you if I wanted a good time.”
Recognition took a turn over Marcus’s expression, and Kellan had to admit, she was working him like a pro. “Yeah, I know ’Tonio. He’s alright.” He paused. “What kind of pick-me-up do you need, sweetheart?”
“Mmm. What’ve you got?” Moreno asked, the question making Kellan’s heartbeat work a little faster in his chest. This was the part of the plan they needed, the part they’d been unable to control or predict with certainty.
Leverage.
Marcus bit. “Molly, oxy, or smack. Pick your pleasure, Isabella.”
“You’ve got heroin?” Moreno paused, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. “How much?”
Marcus pulled a baggie from his jacket pocket, and damn, he and Moreno couldn’t have gotten a better set of circumstances if they’d ordered them gift-wrapped. “I think we can work out a trade. Why don’t you bring those pretty tits over here so I can get a better look? Danny Marcus will get you all set, baby.”
Kellan’s pulse jumped in his veins like a living, breathing, very pissed off thing. Although a primal part of him wanted to say screw it and plant his fist in Marcus’s face, he forced himself to inhale, albeit barely. Matching Moreno’s steps toward Marcus with noiseless forward movement of his own, he positioned himself off the path about six feet from the two of them.
Focus. Two paces to the path. Five paces to Moreno. Breathe.
“Damn, girl,” Marcus said, his voice dropping in greedy approval. “You’re going to look so good on your knees, earning your high.”
“You want me to blow you in order to get my fix?”
Marcus laughed, the sound rubbing Kellan’s nerves raw. “Unless you’re up for a fuck. Danny Marcus can make it good for you, baby.” He reached down to rest his hand over the fly of his overly baggy jeans. “I promise my cock is worth the smack.”