Chapter 9 #2
It’s not even three minutes before he’s handing me a tray stacked with food over the counter. I have to focus on my footsteps as I make my way to the booth, careful not to lose anything over the side.
“Leonardo Romano!” Marisol’s eyes go wide as I set it down on the table. “I know you’ve bulked up lately, but you’ve got to be eating better than this.”
I slide into the booth and throw a fry into my mouth as I fight a grin. “Oh, so you think I’m fit?”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course that’s what you choose to take away from that sentence.”
“You said it.” I shrug. “Not me.”
“Well, technically, I said you’ve bulked up.” I smirk across the table at her, and she shakes her head. “I’m gonna stop talking now.”
“Uh-huh.” I raise my eyebrows before grabbing another fry.
“Seriously, though”—she throws her hand in the direction of the loaded tray in between us—“how are you going to eat all of this?”
“Mmm.” I roll my lips together as I look over it. I really did order a lot. “I might need some help.”
When I look up, her face has dropped. “Leo.”
“What?” I ignore her stare as I open the cardboard box keeping my chicken burger warm.
“I know what you’re doing,” she says.
“Oh, right.” I nod, still not meeting her gaze. “What is it that you think I’m doing?”
“You’re—well, you’re…” I finally look up.
I’ve known Marisol for years, and I know that if I put this tray in front of her a few years ago, she wouldn’t have hesitated.
In fact, she would’ve fought me for the last fry.
But now, she looks at the tray as if she’s looking over a valley below with only a rope tied to her feet, and someone is telling her to jump.
I’ve seen it when she comes home to visit, the way she picks at her food. The look of shame in her eyes when someone takes her unfinished plate. I see it in the sharp set of her collarbones.
“I don’t need you to order food for me,” she says. Heat rises in her cheeks, and I know the mere thought of my suspicions will leave her feeling humiliated, so I don’t push it.
“You think I got any of this for you?” I say before taking a gigantic bite of my burger. “I told you, I was hungry.”
Her face contorts as she reaches across the table to close my jaw. “You’re disgusting,” she says, a hint of a smile gracing her lips as she shakes her head. I take it as a win.
“So,” I say once I’ve swallowed. “Do you think tonight was a success?”
Her ears lift as she smiles. “I mean, I think so. No one could keep their eyes off of you, so we definitely garnered some attention.”
“What are you talking about?” I say before taking another bite. The only thing I saw was everybody looking at her.
She scoffs. “Everyone in that gallery either wanted to be you or be with you. At one point, I thought I might have to bark at Cindy Ballerini to stop her staring at you, good god.”
I can’t help but grin at the way she’s getting worked up just talking about it. I shake my head slowly. “God, I wish you had.”
She meets my gaze before she breaks out into a giggle. “That really would’ve got us in the papers.”
“Former model goes feral at art show,” I say in a news reporter voice. Marisol snorts before laughing some more. Then she picks up a fry and throws it in her mouth before she frowns.
“What?” I ask.
Her eyes slide sideways. “These are lacking so much salt.” Her face contorts. “God, how are you eating these?” I shrug, and then she’s up at the counter asking the guy for more salt.
I’m shaking my head when my phone buzzes with an incoming call from Emilio. “Hey,” I say as I quickly answer it. “What have you got?”
“We got footage of that night, but the dude evaded the cameras. We can’t get a clear shot of his face. Not from the club’s cameras anyway.”
My jaw clenches on instinct. I fought myself for days about doing this, about looking into what happened that night without Marisol’s permission. And I hate myself for giving in, but the more I thought about it, the more aching the need became to figure out exactly what happened.
“Did…” I hesitate, watching Marisol laugh as she speaks to the man behind the counter. “Did anything happen in that alley?”
“He kissed her. Looks like he might’ve tried more, but a group came out of the club and obviously recognized him. He left with them, left her there.”
I bite down hard on my bottom lip as I imagine it, anger filling my lungs. “Work it up the line,” I say. “Get as much footage from surrounding businesses of that night as you can and see if you can—”
“Piece it together,” Emilio finishes my sentence. “Already on it.”
A funny feeling turns in my stomach. Emilio doesn’t need me to tell him what to do. He’s been running the firm without me for over a year now.
My phone buzzes against my ear, like I’m getting an influx of notifications. “Keep me posted.”
“You got it,” Emilio says before hanging up.
I look down at my phone as Marisol heads back to the table, seeing multiple text threads on my screen.
Miles: I’d suggest you don’t answer any phone calls from Rafael in the next 24 hours.
Miles: Maybe even 48
Miles: Just to be safe
The girlies group chat
May: LEONARDO EXCUSE ME?!
Me: That’s not my name and you know it.
Isla: Looks like we’ve missed a few chapters, hello???
Marina: More than a few.
May: Where are you? Can we FaceTime?
Me: No. I’m out.
Isla: With Marisol?????
I shake my head and put the phone down as Marisol comes back with a handful of little salt packets.
I feel like a giddy school kid, as if there is actually something going on here, as if we are actually on a date, but we’re not. I remind my heart of that as Marisol slides into the booth.
Her phone buzzes where she left it on the table, and when Rafael’s name appears on the screen, she goes to pick it up.
“Don’t answer it!”
Her eyes go wide as my hand flies across the table to stop her. “Why?”
I sink back into the leather cushions. “Because Miles just told me to give him forty-eight hours to cool down.”
“He knows?” she asks.
“They all do.”
She lets out a breath before ripping open one of the packets and pouring it over the fries. “Do we tell them?” she asks, her focus on salting the fries perfectly.
“That it’s fake?” I ask, stealing one from her.
“Yeah,” she says even as she shrugs.
I suck on the straw that sends cheap cola to my mouth. I think about how excited the girls are, and I can imagine their faces when we tell them it’s all for show.
I can see Marina’s face now, can feel her looking into my soul for how I really feel. I’ve not exactly made it a secret how I feel about Marisol all these years, even if a lot of it has been through jokes.
“It’s your choice,” I say. Even though I want to say no, don’t tell them. I want to keep a little bit of my dignity. But we are working on her terms, her rules.
“No,” she says, delicately popping a now salty fry in her mouth. “If we are doing this, everyone needs to believe it. Including my brother.”
“Okay,” is all I can bring myself to say with a small nod.
“But we can’t avoid him forever,” she says. There goes another fry.
I raise my brows. “I won’t be able to avoid him at all once he knows I’m back in town.”
“When do you go?”
“Tomorrow.” I wanted to finalize the sale of Romano Security before I left, but Emilio told me the potential buyers aren’t playing ball, and I don’t want to spend any more nights in that apartment than necessary, even if that means leaving the sale of the business to him.
It’s not as if he isn’t taking care of everything else already.
Part of me feels embarrassed by that, humiliated that I’ve given up, in a way, and left my business to someone else to look after.
But I couldn’t go back, not even to run the day-to-day.
How could I sit there and organize for my men to go into dangerous situations every day?
How could I put them at risk to potentially go through what I did?
I mean, that’s the job, but I don’t want to do it anymore.
“Leo?”
I snap out of my daze. “Sorry, what?”
Marisol’s gaze is uncertain, her nostrils flaring as she rolls her lips together. “I asked if I could come with you?”
I blink, and my brows knit together. “To Ruby Cove?”
“If we are going to face Rafael, we may as well do it together.” I don’t tell her how much I like the sound of that, because Rafael can yell at me all he likes, but having Marisol at my side will make it feel all that much better.