8. Santiago
SANTIAGO
Gabriel
I know you’ll probably say no, but what about Cubanos for lunch? We can go to that food truck you like.
Fucker.
In the three months since I got out, he was radio silent, and all of a sudden, he was so eager to meet.
What the fuck was wrong with him? What did we even have to meet for?
We were broken up even before I went to prison—long before that.
Sure, we might have fucked a few times while we were on a break, but that was just sex.
Good sex, but nothing mind-blowing that was worth going back for another round. Right?
I slumped back in my chair, the same chair I’d sat in for the last eight or so hours, guarding the damn parking lot, then glanced back at my phone. Should I meet him just to get laid? Nah, that sounded stupid even to me, but then again, he did look good yesterday—
“Morning, Santi.”
Looking up from the screen, I saw Imani walking toward me. She probably had the morning shift.
“Hey,” I said, putting down my phone.
“You had the night shift?” She stopped next to me.
“Yeah. Got a call at the last minute asking if I could come.” Getting up, I stretched. “Someone got sick or something.”
She tilted her head, dark eyes checking me out. “Really? Who?”
Not having an answer, I shrugged.
She snorted. “Why am I not surprised you don’t know? Oh, by the way.” She slapped my chest. “Some friends from my drama club are having a party Saturday, lots of booze, wanna come?”
“Nah, I try to avoid shit like that.”
She gave me one raised brow. “How come?”
“To start with, I can’t drink. Still on probation.”
“That sucks, boo.”
I snorted. “Tell me about it.”
“Well.” She checked the time on her phone. “I gotta go clock in. If you change your mind, let me know, ’kay?”
She then planted a kiss on my cheek and moved on. And while a party sounded nice, I knew better. No more distractions for me, at least not until I could afford them. Not to mention, I had to meet my parole officer next week, which was just another reason to decline Imani’s invite.
My phone rang, snapping me back, and to no surprise, it was Gabriel.
Not planning on answering, I sent him to voicemail and switched my phone to silent.
I had fifteen minutes left before I could go home and finally sleep, and I planned on passing them doing absolutely nothing.
But just as I was ready to go back to my chair and start doing that, someone pounced on my back.
“What the fuck—”
“Santi!” My brother latched onto me, out of breath.
“Nacio?”
“Fucking shit.” He panted. “I was shittin’ my pants you wouldn’t be here, bro.”
He was speaking fast, too fast, and it was freaking me out.
“What’s going on?” I grabbed his face, trying to see if he was hurt somewhere.
“They’re dead,” he said, eyes full of dread. “Ace. Ricky. They’re both dead. Shot in the fuckin’ head.”
My eyes widened with shock, and I stared at him, unable to form a thought.
“You didn’t do it, did you?” my brother asked, and the fear in his voice snapped me out of it.
“Are you crazy? Of course I didn’t.”
“But—”
I pulled him aside before he could finish his sentence. Once we were out of the main path, he went on.
“Last night, you said you’d kill him.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t fucking do it.”
Shaking his head, he bit on the tip of his nail. “Shit. People heard you say that. What if someone rats on you? You’d be locked up again, and I’ll—”
“You’ll nothing.” I cupped his neck. “I didn’t do shit, Nacio. I was here all night, and you have the CCTV to confirm it.”
He leaned closer. “You sure?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, giving him a slight squeeze. “This whole place is watched 24/7. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Closing his eyes, he sighed.
“Thank God.”
Noticing the sweat drenching his shirt and covering his red face, I asked, “You came here on foot?”
“Fuck yeah.” He took a deep breath. “After Tess told me the news, I thought it was better not to call you… you know, in case you did it, and I just ran here.”
“Like I said, I didn’t do shit, but that was a good call.” I ruffled his hair. “So what happened?”
Before Nacio could dive into the details, the guy replacing me showed up, and we quickly changed shifts.
“Come,” I told my brother once I was free to go. “I’ll clock out, then we can head home.”
He still looked shaken, but I got why. If he’d spent the last hour thinking I shot two guys dead, no wonder he was chewing his nails off. I’d be doing the fucking same and a hell of a lot worse if things were reversed.
“So you said they were shot?” I asked as we walked inside the hotel.
“Yeah. Tess says the rumor going around is that it was a drug deal—”
I paused him when two other employees passed us.
“What d’ya say?” I asked after they were gone.
“They’re sayin’ it’s a deal gone bad. But who knows? Those two fuckers were in deep shit; everyone knows it. They had a feud with a few gangs—it’s a known fact.”
Nodding to myself, I rubbed my jaw. It was a good thing people believed that story, because even though I had nothing to do with their deaths, I didn’t need people pointing fingers at me.
“Did Tess say anything about me?”
“No,” he was quick to say. “Your name hasn’t come up so far, but I was still scared—”
“I know, don’t worry.” I squeezed his nape just as we reached the lobby.
“Fuck, this place’s huge.” He whistled while looking around. “How much does a night here cost?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hey!” Nacio shouted at the receptionist, causing the whole room to look at us. “How much is a night here—”
Covering his mouth with my hand, I apologized to Taylor, the receptionist, then turned to scowl at my idiotic brother, who seemed to have recovered quickly.
“Keep your fucking voice down, Nacio.”
He pouted. “What? It was only a question.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just stay here. I’ll go clock out, then we go, okay?”
He nodded.
“And don’t talk to anyone.”
“Just go. I wanna eat breakfast,” he whined.
I rolled my eyes, then quickly went to the employees’ room.
After clocking out, I checked my phone for Gabriel’s number.
Maybe I’d give him a call to see if he had any more information?
With my thumb hovering over his contact info, I lingered for a few moments before deciding not to and pocketed my phone.
I could always talk to him if things went south, but for now, it was better to keep my distance.
Ready to beat it, I went back to find Nacio in the lobby, but of course, the idiot wasn’t where I’d left him.
“Taylor, have you seen my brother?” I asked her.
She pointed to her left. “Think he went that way.”
With a grunt, I walked in that direction.
How far could that idiot have gotten in five fucking minutes?
I swore to God, I’d give him a beating when I found him.
After checking the bar, I decided to check the restaurant, assuming my spoiled brother had gone after the smell of food.
Walking down the patio, I glanced outside through the floor-to-ceiling window, my heart just about stopping when I spotted Nacio speaking to none other than Ariyan.
Choking on my own spit, I quickly ran to get to them, nearly bumping into the glass door on my way out.
If he gets me fired, he’s fucking dead.
“Ignacio!” I shouted, causing him and Ariyan to both turn and look at me. A bit out of breath, I finally reached them. “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed at him in Spanish.
“I was just looking around, and this dude showed up.”
Even though he spoke back in Spanish, the moron still pointed at Ariyan, and so I grabbed his hand and pulled it down. “Are you crazy—”
“Good morning, Mr. Rivas,” Ariyan finally cut in, greeting me with his warm smile.
Fuck, he’s gorgeous.
“H-hey,” I blurted. “Sorry about my brother.” I wrapped an arm around Nacio to keep him close after he tried moving away. “He came to visit me.”
“Oh, please don’t worry about it. All he did was ask how much a night costs in our hotel.”
“And it’s fucking theft,” Nacio muttered when I covered his mouth with my hand.
Thankfully, Ariyan laughed in response, and the sound of his voice made me swoon.
“I’m sorry if he bothered you. He’s just a kid,” I said, unable to look away from his beautiful face.
“Please, stop apologizing so much. It’s really okay.”
He looks especially pretty in the sunlight.
“What happened to your face?” Nacio asked while looking at Ariyan, and my jaw basically dropped.
Horrified, I glared at my brother.
“Are you an idiot?” I snarled, switching back to Spanish.
“What? He’s got a big-ass scar there. It made me curious.”
I smacked the back of his head. “Apologize to him right now.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re rude.”
“Am not.”
“I’ll fucking kill you—”
“Oh my.” Ariyan let out a soft chuckle. “Hearing the two of you arguing in Spanish is like a comedy show, although it’s a shame I can’t understand.” He placed his hand on his right cheek. “I got this scar as a child in an unfortunate accident. Most days, I forget it’s even there.”
Now I felt like shit for reminding him of it.
“In any case, I don’t mind your brother asking about it, as I understand people get curious. It’s our nature, after all. Isn’t it?”
Saying this, with his eyes pinned on me, felt like he was onto me. But then, his stare moved on to Nacio. “Speaking of appearances, I can see the family resemblance. You two are the spitting image of each other.”
I cleared my throat, then straightened up. “Yeah?”
“Of course. You both share the same eyes.”
My cheeks heated up because… did it mean he’d noticed my eyes?
“Now I see why you love this place,” Nacio muttered from beside me, a shit-eating grin on his face.
“You—”
“Mr. Rivas,” Ariyan cut in. “If you don’t mind, could I talk to you for a minute?”
Forgetting all about my brother’s comment, I quickly nodded. “Sure.” I swallowed hard, then followed him aside. “What’s up?”
Ariyan glanced at my brother, who now stood by the edge of the pool, before looking at me.
“I thought about you last night,” he said, and my heart nearly burst out of my chest.
“You did?”
“I did.” He hugged his arms as a soft smile pulled on his lips. “I was very worried after leaving you in that place… but I’m glad to see you’re fine.”
Even though I hoped he’d thought about me in a more sexy way, let’s say, like I thought of him, this was even better.
“Didn’t they tell you I worked the night shift?”
His brows rose. “Oh, I had no idea.” He covered his mouth and looked aside. “How embarrassing. There I was, worrying sick while you were here?”
Heat rushed to my face, and feeling my neck burning, I quickly rubbed it. “I mean, I’d tell you myself if I knew you cared?”
“Of course I care.”
My eyes shot to his, and I swear to God, my heart was going a hundred.
“I care about all my employees.”
Ugh.
He took one step closer. “But perhaps about you a bit more?”
Once again, my stomach filled with this unknown anticipation. Eager to get closer to him, I also took a step forward.
“Ariyan—”
“I hate asking this, especially after telling you I believe in second chances, but… are you involved with illegal activity?”
His question cut off my excitement, and I stepped back.
“No, I’m not.”
“Are you sure?” His eyes searched mine for an answer.
“Yeah.”
He pressed his lips together and nodded. “Good.”
Shoving my hands in my pockets, I looked down between us. “You regret hiring me or something?”
“Quite the opposite, Mr. Rivas.”
Warmth flushed through my body at his words, and I bit my lip, trying to hold back the cocky smile. Daring to peek up, I found him looking at me. I’m so lost for him—
“Are you done? I’m fucking starving!” Nacio yelled from near the pool, ruining my moment.
Fucker.
“You can eat in the hotel, if you want,” Ariyan offered.
“Trust me, you don’t want us here.”
“Are you sure?”
“He’s like an endless pit when it comes to food. He’ll finish up your buffet.”
Ariyan’s face lit up as he chuckled, making me so damn hot for him.
“Anyway, we’ll get out of your way now,” I said, fearing I’d pounce on him if I kept this close.
I was ready to go back to Nacio when Ariyan placed his hand on my arm, stopping me.
“Mr. Rivas… Is there any way you’re free tomorrow?”