Next thing I knew, I was waking up in the hotel room with James’s arm across my stomach. I guess we made it back alright. I wiggled from his arm and threw on my robe. When I walked out into the living room, Amber and Justin were asleep on the couch, naked. I don’t know why, she had her own room. Justin woke up instantly. “Good morning” he smiled.
“Good morning.” I smirked. He quickly put on his pants and joined me in the kitchen.
“Coffee?” I asked.
“God, please!” He said quickly. “hey, about Hermie.”
“Oh god, Hermie!” I quickly whispered.
“Hey, it’s okay. He went home with that Latina you sent his way. He was a little disappointed when your boyfriend showed up, though.”
“James is my bodyguard. We have been sleeping together for the past few years, but he is not my boyfriend.” I tried to defend that statement, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed like I was lying to myself. We basically were dating.
My phone rang, it was a blocked number. “Hello?”
“Hm, Ms. Fallon Martin, daughter of Mary and Freddy Martin, is it?” the voice on the under end was deep and raspy and had a Spanish accent.
“Um, yes?” I replied nervously.
“My name is Jesus Hernandez, your family works for me.”
“Oh, yes, hello, Mr. Hernandez.”
“I heard from the grapevine that you have a new party drug in the mix. I want a part of the profits, as your family was started by me. I own you.”
I was shocked.
“Ms. Martin, you are to come down to Calicun to my family’s home and we are going to talk business. I will have my assistant send you the details.”
“And if I refuse?” I asked stupidly.
“This is not a request, Ms. Martin, this is an order. If you refuse, you die. I will see you tomorrow.” And the line went dead.
I ran into my room and woke up James. I told him about the phone call but he seemed unphased.
I got the text from Mr. Hernandez’s assistant. It read: “Hello Ms. Martin. You are to be at the airport in St. Louis at 8am tomorrow morning. You will board the Hernandez’s private plan and arrive in Mexico at 11am. A private car will pick you up in Cancun and drive you the Hernandez Home. You are to pack a bag with anticipation of staying a few nights. Bring samples of your party drug. See you tomorrow afternoon.”
Great. Just fucking great. I should have listened to mom. But how could the Hernandez’s know about my drug? It was still relatively small time. Then it hit me, mom. She must have told him. I was pissed. I called mom.
“Hello, sweety.” She replied sweetly.
“How could you? How could you tell the Hernandez’s about my drug! Now I have to go to Mexico to meet with them about it!” I noticed I was screaming.
“Well honey, that is the price of business and the cartel. I am not going to risk the backlash of your doing. When do you leave for Calicun?”
“Tomorrow morning at 8am.”
“Good, I will go with you.”
“I don’t need your help, mom. This is all your fault.”
“Oh honey, do bring Arnett Cortez with you, he would be a great asset to have with you.”
“Yeah, whatever.” And I hung up on her.
I informed Hermie and James of the plan. Hermie kept giving James a stink eye but agreed to join us as he looked at me with total admiration. We packed and headed back to St. Louis. Amber opted to stay in Chicago with Justin. I hugged her goodbye and gave Justin a pep talk about not hurting my best friend. He giggled and said he would take great care of her.