Sinner's Son (Savage Sons Motorcyle Club) by Jayna King

horror. "I have a customer inside. Let's step out."
    "No, no," he said, looking up and down the hallway, clearly afraid of being seen. "I'm not supposed to be up here, but I have to talk to you."
    I turned back to Moses, knowing that if Luis happened to see Nando, that he'd be out of a job instantly. "Do you mind if he comes in for just a moment. I promise it won't take long."
    "Of course," Moses said, standing up. "Bring him in."
    Nando came inside and I closed the door behind him. "What is going on. What's wrong?"
    "It's your neighbor, Gabriela. She's downstairs."
    I felt the blood drain from my face as fear washed over me. "Nadia," I whispered, barely able to form the words.
    "She's sick, and Gabriela thinks you should go to her."
    I turned to face Moses, knowing that the next minute could determine my fate. Luis would never let me leave a customer who still wanted my services. I had to choose between my job and my daughter, and I knew Nadia would be my choice, whatever the consequences.
    "Who is Nadia?" he asked, seeing that I couldn't string any words together to explain.
    "She is my daughter," I answered.
    "You must go, then, if she's sick."
    "But Luis will not be pleased if I leave you. He is not a kind man when he's angry."
    Moses reached out and took hold of my arms. "Encantada, you must go to your daughter if she needs you. Luis doesn't have to know."
    "But he will have to find you another woman."
    "No, he won't," Moses said, walking over to his bag and pulling out clean socks. He sat down on the bed, put the socks on and laced up his boots, before he stood up and walked over to me and Nando. "I'll go with you. These streets can't be safe for a beautiful woman alone at night."
    "No, no," I protested, panic flooding me. "You can't go with me. Luis will kill me, Moses. He will kill me."
    "Not if he doesn't know," he said with a smile that made it look almost like he was enjoying himself. "It's Nando, right?" he asked the cook, who nodded his assent. "There a back stairway?"
    Nando nodded again. "Si, señor. That is the way I came up."
    "Did anyone see you come upstairs?" Moses asked.
    "No, señor. I was very careful."
    "Then let's go. I'll go with you, and we'll make sure your daughter is okay. Ready Encantada?" He held out his hand to me, and I couldn't do anything other than take it.
    ***
    I sat at the edge of my bed and smoothed Nadia's sweat-dampened hair from her forehead before folding a wet cloth and draping it across her damp skin.
    "Looks like her fever's pretty high," Moses said from the other side of the bed.
    He was so tall that he looked enormous in my little bedroom. I realized that I'd never -- not in the ten years that Nadia and I had lived in the apartment -- never once had a man in my bedroom. I'd certainly serviced many men, but had never had a lover, not since before Nadia was born.
    "It is," I agreed.
    "Does she need a doctor?" he asked, looking a little restless.
    "I think she will be fine until the morning. If her fever hasn't broken by then, I'll take her to a clinic."
    "Are you sure?" he asked, starting to pace the floor of the small room.
    "No, but I think she will be okay. Sometimes, you have to go with your instincts, and I think that her fever will pass."
    "How can you just sit there?" he asked. "Don't you want to do something?"
    His nervous energy was starting to make me uncomfortable. "Moses, just go back to Lupita's. This is no way for you to spend your visit to Mexico. Luis will find you another woman to entertain you."
    He stopped pacing. "I'm not bored, Encantada. I just hate that there's not anything I can do to make her better." He studied me for a moment, as if he'd seen something unexpected in my reaction. "Encantada isn't your real name, is it?" he asked.
    I looked away, uncomfortable meeting his gaze, and unsettled by hearing my whore's name in my own bedroom. I fiddled with the covers over Nadia's chest, and I refolded them so that they were straight and even. When I'd settled