Chapter 31 #2
Kieran recovers quickly, though. He runs past me with a grin. “Isabel!” he calls out. “Come play!” The ball rolls past his feet, and he mumbles another quick, “Shit!” before he’s off chasing after it.
In the corner of my eye, I see Natalia staring at me. I decide, to keep Kieran and I’s secret safe, to sit next to her instead. It’s a pleasant surprise to see her wearing the lace skirt Mama made for her. It fits her perfectly; I can tell Natalia’s happy with it.
“I like your skirt,” I say, grinning.
She smiles at me. Really smiles at me. “Thanks. Some girl’s mom made it.”
Was that a joke? Was she joking around with me?
I drop my tote bag on the sand and pick out Mere Christianity from it. I’ve been feeling guilty about how long it’s taken me to get through it. I put it before all the other books on my Tbr to keep me anchored to God throughout the summer, Marx and Bourdieu be damned.
But the goal of reading isn’t to finish a book, right? The reward is the reading, not having read.
Maybe I should join Luz for yoga. Slow down a little. I’m lucky enough to have free time in a country where reading is a luxury many can’t afford; I have no excuse not to make time for the things I’m privileged enough to do.
“What’re you reading?” Luz asks.
I reach over Natalia to hand her the book. No way in hell I’m sharing my daddy kink romance with her—or at least not in front of Natalia.
Luz inspects it. “How do you like it?” she asks.
Natalia groans and drops her head back against her chair, pulling her beach hat over her face. “Ugh, Luz. Don’t tell me you’re in your dork phase again.”
Luz’s cheeks flush. I sense her discomfort and ignore Natalia’s comment, hoping it’ll make Luz feel better.
“It has its moments,” I say, “but you know, it’s also of its time.”
“Yeah?” Luz flips the book over to read the copy on the back.
“Yeah.”
“Should I read it?”
Another groan from Natalia. This time she pulls her hat off and snatches the book from Luz. “This is religious dribble.” She tosses it back to Luz. “I can answer your question right now: No.”
“Well,” I cut in. “I think it’s worth it, in that it’s giving me a better sense of my own faith—if that’s something you’re interested in.
What I believe and don’t believe, you know?
” I eye Natalia, who is miming my words after me in mockery.
If it wasn’t for this book and its discussion on what loving thy neighbor means, I probably would’ve wanted to smack her in the mouth.
I press on.
“I don’t think you have to agree with the entirety of any one book or belief in order for it to be worthwhile. I think everything you disagree with calibrates your compass to better point you toward the things you do agree with.”
A small smile spreads on Luz’s cheeks. She flips open the cover and scans the page. Spurred by this response, I carry on speaking.
“I think there’s this belief that, you know, you don’t need God to be a good person. I agree with that. But I think any way that helps someone be a better person isn’t anything to look down on. Some people are guided by a philosophy or a moral compass. Others have God.”
“Blah, blah, blah,” Natalia says, snapping her hand open and closed. “Oh my God, do you hear yourself? You sound like a crazy evangelical. Save it for someone who cares.”
“Natalia,” Luz snaps.
“What? I’m here to enjoy myself, not get preached at by a bible-thumper.” Natalia looks at me. “Look, it’s nice you’ve found God and all, but can you keep that shit to yourself? Stop trying to convert my friends.”
Luz hands me back the book, not meeting my eyes. I slump back in my seat, trying to keep my anger and frustration in check. I say a prayer to God—not for Natalia, but for myself. Lord knows I need divine patience and restraint not to slap her silly at this point.
“I’m going into the water!” Chiara exclaims, stepping out of her cutoff denim shorts and jogging to the water. Cisco chases after her, picking her up and spinning her around before crashing them both down into the waves. Her squeals fill the air. It makes me laugh.
“Do you want to join?” I ask Natalia and Luz, already wriggling out of my overclothes.
“Not yet,” Natalia says.
“I’ll go,” Luz utters at the same time.
Natalia furrows her brows at her. There’s a moment of silence before she rolls her eyes and waves us off. “Ravina,” she calls out, “can you come take my picture?”
I wait for Luz and follow her into the water. It’s a lot colder than I’d expected and I shiver, making her laugh. She crouches down to splash me, and when we sit, we get tossed back and forth by the waves.
If you told me six months ago I would be playing at the beach with one of my high school bullies, I would have never believed you. But here I am, having the time of my life, our shrill laughter blending with everyone else’s.
Luz and I are hardly able to speak to each other from how much the waves are pulling and pushing us back and forth. I dig my feet into the sand in hopes it’ll keep me in place, but it’s no use.
“This is so stupid,” she says, but she makes no move to leave. Instead, when another wave washes over us, she shrieks and grips my hand.
* * *
“God, I love your skirt,” Ravina says to Natalia as Luz and I trudge back to join the others by the chairs, soaked with seawater. “I wish I asked for the same one.”
Natalia smiles as she swipes through her photos on her phone.
Kieran is sitting where I was, right next to Natalia. He glances up at me when I approach, and because it was my chair first, I drop down right next to him. His breaths are shallow; I wonder if it’s because I’m wearing the red bikini he chose for me.
“What time is dinner?” Jaime asks, ruffling his wet hair and spraying us all.
“Ugh, Jaime!” Ravina, still dry, cringes away from him.
“It’s at seven, like always,” Natalia answers without even looking up.
Kieran stands. “I’m gonna go take a nap.”
“Already?” Jaime scoffs.
Kieran, to his credit, doesn’t take the bait. “I’m tired. You had me running for my life out there.”
That seems to do the trick. Jaime, now smug, tells him to have sweet dreams. Kieran laughs and blows him a kiss, already starting to walk away.
When he nears the bushes delineating the villas from the beach, he glances back at me.
The look on his face is hard to decipher, but I know it’s drenched in meaning.
It unsettles me. I know he was trying to communicate something, but what?
I make it ten minutes before I’m excusing myself, citing a mumbled reason even I couldn’t understand and no one else seems to care about.
Now, which one is Villa Augusto?
I peer into every room in every villa, heart pounding, but Kieran is nowhere to be found. Defeated and confused, I go back to my room. I set my bag aside and sigh, kicking the door shut behind me.
“Boo!”
I scream, turning just in time to see Kieran pounce on me, grinning like a maniac before he peppers my face in kisses.
“You said you were napping!” I whisper-yell. “Stop! We’re going to get caught!”
He tips me back, kissing my neck now. I laugh.
“They won’t be back for another hour,” he murmurs, “I promise you. Bo was rolling a joint.”
He locks the door shut behind him and backs me onto the bed. When he kisses my lips, I kiss back.
“I share this bed with Chiara,” I murmur.
“You want the floor, then?” he teases. Nevertheless, he redirects us to the pair of chairs in the corner of the room and sets me down on one. He kneels between my legs and trails kisses down my chest.
“Kieran—”
He draws my bikini top to either side of my chest like double doors and engulfs one breast in his mouth, taking my other nipple between the fingers of his free hand. My eyes clench shut and I moan, all protests dying in my throat.
His fingers find my core. He rubs slow circles over my panties as he moves his head back up to kiss me.
“I missed you,” he murmurs. “Drives me crazy seeing you in that bikini.”
“Let me put it on properly, then,” I tease. He slips his tongue into my mouth to shut me up.
Pushing my panties aside, Kieran sinks a finger into me, then two. I pant heavily, then prod him back by the shoulders.
“Wait, wait—”
“What’s wrong?”
I shake my head, standing and sitting him down instead. “You first.”
Believe me when I say I’ve never felt so nervous as when I kneel before him and peel his shorts down to his ankles to expose his erect cock. His eyes widen.
“Baby, you don’t ha—oh, fuck.”
I take him into my mouth, tentatively at first, slowly. I bob my head, following my instincts. His hand combs through my hair and scratches lightly at my scalp.
“Just like that, baby. Just like that,” he coos.
I sink deeper onto him, eyes watering as they clench shut. Someone slams a fist on the door. I scramble away from Kieran.
“It’s locked,” a muffled voice says. More banging. “Isabel!”
“Um—uh—just a second! I’m changing!” I draw the blinds and push the windows open, shooing Kieran out of it.
He pulls his shorts up and climbs out as I rush to my suitcase and pull on the first dress I can find so I can layer it over my now-properly worn bikini.
Glancing back to make sure Kieran’s gone, I unlock the door to find Chiara standing there.
“I need to use the restroom,” she says, pushing past me. She glances at the window, then back to me. “We should probably keep those windows shut. Bugs are gonna get in.”