Loving a Bad Boy by Erosa Knowles Page B

“He did not send me. I had planned to surprise
you Monday so that we could…could have a memorial together.”
    Julio’s brow drew together. “Memorial?” He
had no idea what she was talking about.
    She exhaled as her eyes watered. “Daddy. He
died twenty years ago this past Monday.”
    Julio stared at her unsure what to say.
Francisco often told stories of Benito Cardenas’ exploits making
sure Julio knew more about his deceased grandfather than he wanted
to know. But he failed to mention anything about this. This was
new. He glanced up as Tex left the room.
    “ I’m sorry.” That sounded
so lame, but he didn’t know what else to say in the face of her
pain.
    She waved him off and then patted his knee,
something she used to do when he was a small boy. “It’s okay.” She
paused for a moment, her hand brushed against his face before
resting on his cheek. “You look like him.”
    Julio had heard a variation of that comment
the bulk of his adult life so he nodded instead of speaking.
    “ Seriously, not just
physically. You act like him too, probably gives Francisco
goose-bumps sometimes.” She laughed.
    The idea that he made the older man nervous
was ridiculous, still the visual was funny. He chuckled. “So what
you’re saying is the former leader of the Cartel was this tall,
skinny dude with a strange sense of humor?” He slid a glance in her
direction relieved to see the fire leap to her eyes. Anything was
better than the earlier pain he’d witnessed.
    He winced when she pinched his shoulder.
“Ow.”
    “ You’re not skinny and you
know it. You have a great sense of humor, everybody says so. You’re
a little distant to people you don’t know, but once you feel
comfortable around someone you relax and have fun.” She paused and
swallowed hard. “Your father was like that.”
    Julio’s heart skipped a beat. She never
talked about his biological father or her birth mother. He wasn’t
sure how he felt being compared to a man who died before he was
born. “Yeah?”
    “ Yeah,” she whispered. “He
had a dry sense of humor, although he had to like you to even talk
around you.”
    Since she was sharing, he took her hands in
his, surprised they were trembling and rubbed them gently. “Tell me
about him.”
    A hissing sound escaped from her lips as her
eyes closed. “I was young. He was much older but I thought he was
so handsome.” A small smile tugged the corners of her lips.
    “ Yeah? Like me?” He
teased, glad her trembling had ceased.
    She opened her eyes and winked at him. “No,
you’re much better looking since you favor my family.”
    “ Got it.” He smiled and
squeezed her hand.
    “ He was Roberto’s friend
from school. Not involved in the business, so you can imagine
daddy’s response when he found out I was pregnant.”
    “ Whoa, you skipped a whole
bunch of stuff. I knew you and Roberto was close but how’d his
school friend get close to you?” From the little he knew of his
grandfather, he kept a tight rein on things.
    “ Yeah, ever since
mama…well since she’d been…” she swallowed hard, her eyes filled as
she looked away.
    His chest tightened at her obvious
discomfort, but he pressed forward. “You never told me about my
grandma. It’s time, right?”
    She nodded. “It’s one of the reasons I kept
you away from all this. I should say one of the reasons daddy
permitted it. No one ever really leaves the Cartel alive, you know
that.” Her eyes locked with his.
    He nodded. “Yeah that’s pretty clear.”
    “ Mama was a distant
relative to the Delgado family.” She waved her hand, pulling it
from his. “There aren’t any more of them that I know of, but they
were crazy, loco people. To hear daddy tell it they never paid her
any attention until she hooked up with him. He was next in line for
Cartel leadership and her people wanted to make sure he knew the
Delgado name.” She snorted. “Daddy said they started making
demands, asking for money, contacts, all