“I know I don’t, but I want to. If you don’t tell me, then I’ll just order you a PBR.”
She gasps loudly before glaring at him. “You would not! You’re a lot of things, Raf, but cruel isn’t one of them. I’ll take a Dos Equis with an extra lime.”
“Thanks, mate,” I tell him with a nod. “I’ll have whatever you’re having, as long as it’s not tequila.”
Layla bursts into a fit of giggles that has me regretting my words. Raf just raises a brow and looks between the two of us.
“Ah hell,” I groan. “Let’s just say tequila and I are not friends, yeah?”
Raf nods knowingly and saunters off toward the bar where a young, male Hispanic bartender is mixing drinks. He looks up as Raf approaches and a shy smile breaks across his face. Raf rubs a hand on the back of his neck while resting the opposite arm on the bar as he says something. The bartender starts blushing, and I catch Rafael running a single finger along the back of the man’s hand.
Oh.
I start to ask Layla about it but remind myself that it’s none of my damn business and doesn’t change a fecking thing. As curious as I am, if he wants to discuss his love life with me, he will.
“Where’d Marcos run off to?” Layla asks suddenly, her head turning from one direction to another as her neck cranes, searching for him.
I follow her lead and begin to scan the crowd. After a moment, I spot him.
“There he is,” I tell her, lifting a hand and pointing toward the stairs leading to the VIP level. He’s following a young, brunette woman in a red dress, and although I can’t hear him, it’s evident he’s pleading with her. They reach the top of the stairs and he grabs her hand, spinning her so their faces are inches apart. Even from this distance, I can sense the building tension. It looks like he’s about to kiss her when a blonde walks through a VIP area straight to him. It’s dim enough up there that I can’t see her face, but something tickles my brain when she presses her body against his side and runs a hand down his arm. She says something that makes the brunette stiffen and Marcos whips his head toward the blonde, seething. She jerks back in alarm and literally spits in his face before stomping back to the room she came out of. Marcos wipes a hand over his face and hangs his head in defeat.
“Damn, that was brutal,” I say with a wince.
Layla nods her head absently before turning to me. “Part of me feels bad for him but the other part of me says it serves him right for having a revolving door of women for so long. It’s no wonder she doesn’t trust him to continue a relationship after he moves. He can’t even go to a bar withoutsome past hookup or wannabe approaching him.”
Rafael appears at our sides, holding a whiskey tumbler and two bottles of beer with lime wedges jutting out of the top. We thank him while keeping our eyes on the VIP area.
“What did I miss?” He asks, looking from us to where Marcos is descending the stairs.
I take a long pull from my beer before responding, “There was a confrontation with a couple of lasses that didn’t end well.”
“Yeah,” Layla agrees. “Be prepared for a grumpy Marcos.”
Raf groans, tossing back the rest of his drink. “I’ll go get a bottle of Tito’s.”
Layla
“So that’s the girl that’s changed your life, huh? What’s her name?”
I hadn’t planned on asking Marcos about it, but as his little sister, it’s my job to annoy him. He also deserves my nosiness after all the shit he’s been giving Teagan and me. He’s been sitting across from me, nursing a bottle of Tito’s and pouting like a child.
“Layla,” Raf mutters a warning under his breath.
“What? Everyone here saw that debacle take place. Acting like it didn’t happen is stupid. And how else are we supposed to help our beloved brother if we don’t get the details?”
Marcos groans as he leans forward and buries his face in his hands. I made him go to the bathroom and wash it with soap and water before he could have his liquor—germs are germs.
“Her name is Camila. I met her last year at a post-win after-party. She was friends with my date, but her boyfriend at the time knew the hosts. You could tell she was miserable, but she wasn’t my problem, so I went about my night like thependejoI am. After a couple of hours, I went outside to catch some air and she was sitting in a lounge chair by the pool, crying andholding her wrist with the opposite hand. Looking around, I didn’t see anyone else, so I made my way over. Come to find out, her boyfriend was drunk off his ass and tried to get handsy with her. She kept telling him no, so he got mad, grabbed her wrist, and tried to lead her off somewhere. His grip was hard enough to leave bruises. I guess he caused a big enough scene that some party-goers intervened and hauled him off.”
My heart hurts for this girl, and it reminds me of Norah’s assault. I’m incredibly lucky to have never had anyone try to force me into sex, so I can’t fully relate, but I can imagine how terrifying it would be.
“Anyway, I stayed out there with her, just talking about nothing, until she calmed down enough. I hadn’t been drinking, so I offered to take her home. My date was too busy drinking and dancing to notice my absence, and I didn’t care enough about her to stay. I ended up spending the night at her place—on her couch, Layla. Don’t give me that look. She didn’t feel safe, so I offered to stay just in case her asshole of a boyfriend showed up. There are a lot of other details to the story, but the shorter version is that we became friends, even though I was completely gone for Camila. It took months to get her to agree to go out with me, but eventually, she said yes and that’s all I needed. We were happy, she felt safe, and I had my forever-date. Then CFC happened and you know the rest.”
I’m momentarily swooning at the fact that my womanizing brother referred to a girl as his “forever-date”. It’s so unlike him that I’m forced to believe he really does love her.
“Okay, so who was the blonde?” Raf asks.
“Ugh,” Marcos groans. “That’s Ashley. We hooked up a few times over a year ago when she was in San Antonio for an internship. I was there for a conference and we met at the hotel bar we were both staying at. I thought it was done and over, but then she ended up moving down here this last summer thinking we were together.”
