“Tell him about your boyfriend,” Benny said.
Lola shot a look at him. She didn’t want to talk about Saint. Not after what had just happened between them. She still couldn’t believe that he’d thought to tell her she shouldn’t visit her brother. If she’d listened to him then she wouldn’t have had this time with Iván. The thought was enough to make her mad all over again. The audacity of the man thinking that she was going to just do what he wanted because it would make him more comfortable.
Iván’s eyebrows raised. “You’ve only been back for a few months and you already have a boyfriend?”
“More like she has the same one from before she left.”
Lola’s mouth dropped. She stared at her abuelo wide-eyed. “You knew about us?”
Benny rolled his eyes. “Of course I knew about you and the Vega boy. We lived in a tiny two-bedroom apartment and neither one of you were good about sneaking around.” He shook his head. “I was old, but not that old.”
“You’re dating one of the Vega guys? I’m shocked.”
“Why shocked?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. They’re just so...soft.”
Lola took umbrage at that. “Saint served in the military for twelve years and did multiple tours in Afghanistan. He received a medal for saving two of his fellow soldiers and two civilians.”
Iván lifted both hands palms out. “Okay. My bad. Your man is a hero.”
She felt her face heat. “I didn’t say all that. I’m just saying, he’s not soft.” Although he had the ability to be soft and sweet, like when he was interacting with Rosie or when he was holding Lola in his arms. Those were the times that she liked him the most. She didn’t need or want some chest thumping “alpha male” who was so emotionally stunted that he saw everything but utter dominance as a weakness that needed to be extinguished. That kind of man was too much like her father.
Lola scolded herself mentally. She’d promised not to think of her dad who was currently somewhere in the same building as her. But the curiosity proved too hard to resist. “How is he?” she asked Iván.
He didn’t even have to ask who. He shrugged. “I don’t see him a lot because he’s on a different block, but he’s as good as someone can be in here.”
She looked at Benny, who had visited with him briefly while she’d been on her outfit journey. Her father had steadfastly refused to put her on his list of approved contacts, not that she’d asked or even wanted him to. However, she still couldn’t deny that the rejection had stung.
Benny gave a shrug very similar to Iván’s. “He is how he is, Lola. Being here has only made him angrier. It didn’t change him for the better.”
“Being here doesn’t change anyone for the better,” Iván said. The bleakness in his tone made it clear just how much of an effort he’d been putting forth to sound normal. The fact that he did it all for her benefit made her heart squeeze.
“I’m back now,” she said. “I will be here to see you as much as they let me.”
Iván’s expression warmed. He opened his mouth to say something and then froze. “Drop your heads,” he hissed suddenly, doing exactly what he’d demanded.
“What?”
“Drop your fucking heads.”
Shocked at the vehemence in his voice, Lola did as he said, but too late.
“If it isn’t Little Lola León,” a voice said.
Since there was no longer a point to hiding her face, Lola looked up.
The older man standing by their table looked vaguely familiar, but she didn’t have to recognize him to know what was going on. Because of who she was talking to and who she was sitting with, she’d just been recognized by one of Iván or her father’s enemies. Most likely a member of The Emperors.
She waited for one of the overzealous guards to bark at him to keep it moving with the same energy they’d had for anyone touching their loved ones for more than a second. No reprimand came.
“It’s good to see that you’ve finally come home. Very good,” he continued, a threat suggested in his words.
Years ago she would’ve been scared. Now she refused to cower in front of anyone. She stared at him, silently letting him see how unbothered she was by his presence.
He smirked. “It’s good to see that at least one of you inherited your father’s fire.”
Her eyes narrowed at the slight to her brother.
