I woke up in Maximo’s arms. This was different. Better. I felt loved. Maximo may have done some messed up things to me, but maybe that was over with. I wiggled out of his grip and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower before leaving for St. Louis.
I finished up, threw on some light makeup, yoga pants, a light tee-shirt, hoodie, and tennis shoes. Maximo was still sleeping. I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Julio had made coffee. “Oh thank god.” I said pouring a cup and breathing in the smell.
Julio gave me a small smile, not making eye contact. “Going somewhere?” He said dryly.
“Back to St. Louis.”
“Well, you should go ahead and pack. We leave for Mexico today.”
“What are you talking about, Julio?”
“Maximo gave the order last night, your week is up, we leave for Mexico today.” He drank his coffee slowly. I could tell something was bothering him.
“What’s wrong, Julio?” He ignored me. He got up and walked outside and lit a cigarette. I followed him out. The air was chilly. It was November in Missouri, you never knew the weather you would get, but the mornings and evenings were cold. “Julio. Why won’t you talk to me?”
“Because I’m not supposed to.” I had no idea what he was talking about. “After last night, we are not to spend time alone together. It is an order.” He looked away from me, continuing to smoke.
“What is that supposed to mean? We can’t be around each other? Why?”
“Because you’re special to him, Fallon. You’re not like the other women. You are different.” He was rambling. I was starting to feel like he wasn’t just talking about Maximo’s feelings.
“Do you think I’m special, Julio?” I walked up and stood in front of him.
“I think you’re different than any other woman I have ever met. I think you’re smart, beautiful, and evil all at the same time. I think you have a power over men that you use to your advantage to get your way. I think you are the one woman who would take over the cartel and everyone would praise the ground you walked on.” He finished his cigarette, throwing it over the fence. I was shocked by his words, my jaw dropped, and I stood there dumbly with my mouth open. “I would follow you without second guessing it, Fallon, and Maximo knows that. My allegiance is with him, so no, we cannot be around each other anymore.” He turned around to walk inside. What even happened, I thought to myself, replaying last night in my head.
I walked back inside to my bedroom. Maximo was still sleeping. I pulled the blanket off him. “You ordered Julio to stay away from me?” He gave me a wicked smile.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he has a thing for you and I don’t like it, so you two shouldn’t be alone together.” He was standing now. He walked over to me and pushed the hair out of my face. “Is that going to be a problem, Fallon?” He didn’t look like he was joking, so I shook my head and looked away from his glance. He pulled my face back to his. “Look at me.” I looked him in the eyes. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No.” I said sternly. He kissed me.
“Good. We leave for Mexico today. You will pack your bags when we get back in St. Louis.” He walked into the bathroom and closed the door. I sat on the bed. Why would I ever think this was love. He controlled everything. Me. Everything around me. I grabbed my phone and keys and walked back downstairs to James’s room. I walked in without knocking. He was in bed with Claire. I shook his arm.
“James, get up.”
“Go away, Fallon, it’s too early.”
“Get up, now. We have to go.” He could hear the panic in my voice. He sat straight up.
“What’s wrong, what happened?”
“Maximo.” I said before walking out to Miles’s room. I woke him and told him to pack. He was already awake and looked like he had worked out already. They were all ready within 10 minutes. Julio was outside smoking again. He didn’t see us sneak into the garage and leave.
We had been driving for 20 minutes before Maximo called me. “Fallon, where the fuck did you go?” I hung up without answering him. He called me right back so I silenced my phone and leaned my head back. Miles and James were up front while Claire and I were in the back.
“So, you and James?” I said looking over to Claire. She started to blush.
“I’m sorry, Fallon, I know you two had a thing. He’s really sweet and…” I stopped listening. She was blabbering about how her and James had something great, and I couldn’t bring myself to listen to it anymore.
I cut her off, “Claire, it’s fine. I know he’s a great guy.” And I turned to look out the window. I watched the surrounding cars and the people in them. Their lives seemed so normal and uncomplicated. I wished I were them. James had answered his phone.
“Fallon.” He said passing his phone back to me.
“Hello?”
“Fallon, where did you go?” It was Julio.
“I don’t know why’d you care, Julio, you made that quite clear this morning.” I knew he cared, I knew he wanted me to be safe but I couldn’t help but to act like a spoiled brat.
“Fallon, you know I care. You know the situation. It is going to be bad for you if you do not tell me where you are. He is going crazy.” I noticed he had called me 20+ times. Jesus.
“I’m going home, Julio. I’m not ready to come back to Mexico. I have business to handle in LA this week.”
“He cut your week short, you are going back to Mexico with him.”
“I’m not. I fly out for LA today.” He let out a deep breath.
“He is not going to like this, Fallon.”
“And I really don’t care, Julio. He will be just fine without me for another few days.” On that note, I hung up on him. I was so tired of explaining myself to everyone. “James, to the airport.” He sped up and kept looking in the rear-view mirror at me and the cars behind me to make sure we weren’t being followed. Everyone was on edge except me. I was feeling adventurous.
I had called Dan, Maximo’s pilot, who agreed to fly me to LA. We pulled up to the airport and parked the car, gathered our bags, and got on the plane. Dan gave me a big smile and closed the hatch. He didn’t even question the change of flight plans, and just like that, we were off to LA.