04
Romina is waiting for me on the other side of the door, and with that, the air I didn’t know I was holding leaves my lips in a sigh of relief.
“Hello.” I move my lips into a smile that she tries to copy.
“Hi, can we talk?”
“Sure, come in,” I say.
We walk into a small room with some paintings by my mother’s favorite artists, a few armchairs, and a small fireplace with framed photos of me and my family.
We then rest upon a lengthy sofa. I wait for her to speak, a cushion between my legs.
She fiddles with her fingers, looking nervous about something.
Her eyes then settle on the fireplace, and mine follow the movement, noticing that a particular frame has no photo in it.
“I know you have nothing to do with any of this,” she begins, capturing my attention from the empty frame. “But I am really desperate. I do not know who else to talk to. Do you remember this guy I was dating? Matt?” I shake my head slowly, trying to remember.
She pulls out her cell phone and shows me a photo of her with a guy.
Looking closer, I realize that the guy’s face looks familiar, but I cannot remember seeing him with Romina.
I recognize him as I scrape together some memories from the night before.
Feeling my jaw go slack, I zoom in on the screen. They are identical.
“Yes. I think I recognize him.” I say as his blue eyes fade from my mind.
“I haven’t heard from him in days. I’ve called him a thousand times, and he doesn’t answer. I’ve been to the police station, the hospital, even his parent’s house, and nobody knows anything. I am desperate.”
Not knowing quite what to do in such an awkward moment, I put my arms around her and stroke her dyed hair, hoping to comfort her a little.
I feel guilty and selfish for keeping information that isn’t mine to keep, but I can’t just blurt it out like that either.
Besides, I do not want to cause problems for my family by spreading forbidden information.
Snitching in our world is a death sentence, and I am not ready to die.
“When was the last time you saw him?” I ask.
“He was at a bar, the establishment near the warehouses.”
“Those places around there are dangerous.”
“I know, it’s no secret that he was up to no good,” she says with a bitter smile. “We weren’t in the best place in our relationship either, but I don’t think he’s ghosting me, do you?”
“No, but I’ll help you find him. Meanwhile, try to distract yourself. Worrying too much will hurt you.”
“Maybe he left with someone else.” She’s talking more to herself than to me.
I think not. “Why do you say that?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” I purse my lips in a grimace. I didn’t know she had such a terrible relationship with the guy, nor do I understand her desire to continue the relationship.
If I were in her shoes, I’d have sent him to hunt orcs ages ago. But since it’s not my relationship, I’ll keep quiet and smile, offering what little support I can.
“Well, I will leave now. I do not want to be a nuisance.”
“You don’t have to leave so soon. You can stay for lunch,” I say.
“It’s okay. I have a few things to do anyway.”
“As you wish.”
Before she disappears from view, I assure her we’ll keep in touch.
Damn right we will, because my teenage crush had brutally beaten up her almost-dead boyfriend, and obviously he’ll have him kidnapped too.
If he hasn’t killed him yet. Feeling my appetite vanish, I leave my plate and go up to my bedroom.
The whole situation overwhelms and terrifies me at the same time.
I know that smile wasn’t a figment of my imagination.
They saw me. And that doesn’t bode well.
But I will not be the first to make a move.
For now, I will let him come to me, and I’ll pretend I saw nothing. What you do not know will not hurt you.
A few months ago, I would have been looking forward to seeing him face to face, and I would have been smiling like an idiot. But after witnessing that image, thinking about him makes my stomach churn with cramps that I don’t know whether to consider pleasant or uncomfortable.
Bloody hell. What am I going to tell Romina?
I can’t tell her what really happened. I’ll have to make something up, and right now my creativity is at zero.
When someone knocks, I settle onto the couch near my window.
Then, exhaling to calm myself, I let whoever is behind the door in. It’s my brother.
“You have eaten nothing.”
“I wasn’t hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” he scoffs, raising his eyebrows.
“Not this time.” Jason comes over and sits down next to me.
“Len, tell me what’s wrong. You’ve been acting strange since we came back from that party. Did some jerk do something to you? Who do I have to beat up?” I shake my head. He forces me to rest my head on his shoulder, then he puts his arm around me and rests his head on mine.
“I just saw something unpleasant, that’s all.”
“And that’s why you’re like this?” he asks.
I am sensitive to those things. He doesn’t seem to believe me, but for the moment he asks no more questions.
“Do you want to do something today? We could go to the spa or shopping. All that crap you like.”
“That doesn’t sound bad.” I try to hide a small smile. “We can go to the beach. I seem to be losing my natural tan.”
“You’re paler than Edward from Twilight. I don’t know what tan you’re talking about,” he scoffs. “I’ll be waiting for you downstairs.”
I rest my head on my forearm. My sunglasses block the sun’s rays that will soon redden my skin. The sand under the blanket molds to my body, making me feel like I’m on a soft mattress. Although a little hard. Soon I hear my brother’s voice over the music from my headphones.
“Did you put on sunscreen?” I make a noise of negation.
I always forget, despite the number of times I’ve come home with a sunburned back and moving like an elderly woman with osteoarthritis.
“As always. Your lack of memory is starting to be a concern.”
I sit down on the blanket and start spreading sunscreen on the areas I can reach, suppressing a smile at his dirty joke. I feel eyes on the back of my neck, but with so many people, I can’t tell who it is, so I dismiss the thought. After all, I am used to getting curious looks from time to time.
“Can you help me?” I pull my hair away and untie the top of my bikini so Jason can access it and rub the white liquid on me.
The tingling sensation on the back of my neck from having someone watching me becomes more intense than before. When I’m done, I put the bottle in my bag, and Jason heads back into the water.
I was about to lie down on the blanket again when a volleyball ball hits me in the head and knocks a headphone off.
Luckily, the ball, made of soft plastic, delivered a blow that wasn’t too hard.
I grimace as I look at the ball and search for its owner.
I spot a group of people in the distance.
They stand out because of the loud music they’ve turned on and the noise they’re making, but despite the long faces of some, nobody dares to say anything to them.
I wait for one of them to notice the ball, but they don’t seem to pay any attention.
“I’m sorry about the ball.” A girl appears in front of me, holding the ball from earlier with her cheeks mad red.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing,” I say with a smile. I turn my attention back to the group of boys. Some of their faces look familiar, but I can’t remember where I’ve seen them before. I hate feeling this way.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” I say to Jason as soon as he’s in the blanket, putting his headphones in their case and storing them in his waterproof bag.
I let out a sigh of relief when I’m done, as if it had been the best orgasm I’ve had in a long time.
Then I wash my hands with strange sounds in the background.
I frown, distinguishing the mixture of moans and guttural gasps that grow louder and louder until they pause.
Before experiencing an awkward moment, I decide to dry my hands.
But just then, the door of a cubicle opens, and when I see him come out, my cheeks burn as I guess what he has been doing in there.
When he takes a step forward, it’s as if I’m brought back to reality.
With a quick movement, I turn off the tap and focus on drying my hands, trying to pretend I haven’t seen or heard anything.
I see him put his hand inside his pants out of the corner of my eye, adjusting what he had been holding a moment ago with no shame.
My cheeks burn even more, if that’s possible.
I can’t believe I’m feeling this envious over just a hand.
His eyes linger on me, scanning every bit of exposed skin with the same coldness he always brings.
“Will you move?” he asks beside me.
“All yours,” I say, ignoring his lack of manners and kindness. All I want now is to get out of there as quickly as possible.
I hurry to the blanket where my brother and I are sitting. I gather our things so we can go somewhere else, using the excuse that I’m hungry. A pretty believable one, actually.
“And where do you want to go?” my brother asks, slinging one of my bags over his shoulder.
“Wherever you want, I don’t know.” He looks at me with furrowed brows.
“You’ve been really weird lately. Are you pregnant?” I turn my neck slowly and meet his gaze.
“Who am I supposed to be pregnant by?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you had a wild night and don’t remember.”
“Sure,” I say, letting out a sarcastic snort and walking across the sand.
“Before lunch, let’s go to a pharmacy and buy a test. Just to be sure,” he says behind me.
An ambulance stops on the road in front of the beach where we are, drawing my attention.
Then a couple of paramedics get out urgently, holding a kind of stretcher between them.
I follow them with my eyes, ignoring Jason’s calls, until I find the girl from earlier.
The one who apologized for the ball. She is now unconscious in the arms of a tanned boy.
I have to stand on tiptoe to keep seeing her through all the people who are surrounding her. It’s not until someone gets in the way and blocks my view that I turn around. Maybe it was just heatstroke.
“Hey. Are you coming or what? I’m melting here.” Jason complains, holding the driver’s door with a sulky face.
While I wait for the truck in front, carrying Lance and another bodyguard, to move and let us pass, I take another look at the beach. The last thing I see before we move is a boy running toward the paramedics with a volleyball stained with something red.