Fabián
“T his is a bad idea ,” César said, looking at the gates of the school. There was a smile on his face that was almost mischievous. I ignored him, rolling my eyes. If there was anyone who liked trouble and was the king of bad ideas, it was him.
Of my brothers, he was always the one who was getting in trouble the most. He was always the first to talk us into a crazy idea. And always the first to get fucked over for it.
This time I was the one with a bad idea. As far as bad ideas went, nothing had ever felt more right than with Ofelia in my arms the night before.Everything about her was sweet and soft. She was everything I wasn’t, and I was attracted to that. I craved it like an addict craved a drug. That was why, only hours after we’d already seen each other, I was here at the entrance of her school waiting for her to get out. Because I wanted to hold her, kiss her, to touch her once more.
My family didn’t understand that I had to. It was like that fucking poem we were talking about last night. Like if I didn’t have her now... then there might be a future in which I never could.
Fucking Nevermore .
Fucking metaphors.
All I knew was that there was the equivalent to a raven we were named after screeching at me to have her, and it was a call I couldn’t ignore.
“Since when has a bad idea stopped you?” I leaned forward on the toes of my boots, gaze lazily going up the entrance, though anyone who truly knew me knew it was an eager and hungry little thing.
César sighed. “You know it wouldn’t, but... this is different.”
Santiago nodded his agreement, though otherwise remained silent as he leaned against the black chrome of the car. The same car I’d fucked my girl in.
The memory made me hard.
“No, it’s not.” My teeth ground together, and I tried to shake off their words.
“It is and you know it. She’s not just some girl. She’s–”
“Wey,” I interrupted. “Por favor, don’t.” I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to make it real.
César leaned close. “Just because you ignore it doesn’t mean the truth will go away, hermanito. Just–”
“ Hermanos Cuervo ! Look who I found!” Ofelia’s friend called out, loudly, from where she stood with Ofelia at the top of the academy steps.
César pulled away. “Just be careful.” He gave his final warning before dropping the topic completely. That frown disappeared, replaced by that charming smile that I’d seen many women tripping over themselves for.
Even though the subject had changed as he walked up to greet the girls, his words echoed through the chambers of my mind.
Like that annoying fucking bird squawking and crying.
I knew, I knew that my brother was right. This was a bad idea, but I couldn’t stay away. And I wouldn’t. I promised her after she looked at me with such vulnerability, thinking I was going to leave her, like I was the tragedy she’d awaited her whole life. I wasn’t going to be her tragedy. I’d be her one joy, her greatest adventure, and maybe we’d be a complete and utter catastrophe, but I would never break her heart.
I’d give her anything she asked of me, and if it was something out of my power to give, then I would find a way.
Suddenly all my thoughts were burned away as Ofelia descended and made her way to me.
We’d parked right in front of tall iron gates. The bars twisted to form the Academy’s logo in the center. They creaked as the wind blew.
I smiled at Ofelia. Today she was wearing a dark green sweat suit with the logo on the breast. Her hair was tied in a knot, not a single strand out of place just like yesterday. I smiled as I made out the flush on her cheeks as she approached me and suddenly, I was pushing myself off of the car and holding my arms open wide.
It was like I’d given her permission to let go of that shyness. The bag she carried slid from her shoulder and dropped to the ground right before she rushed towards me.
When her body collided against mine, it was like a puzzle piece asserting its place against its most perfect partner.
My arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her off the ground. She was so thin, she weighed almost nothing, and she easily lifted her legs and wrapped them around my waist as I twirled her.
Her giggle was muffled against the crook of my neck, her lips warm against my skin. The touch sent pure electricity through me, and I swallowed my own groan of desire against her neck. Licking a stripe up her rapid pulse, and then smiling when her body nearly went languid in my arms.
Snickers sounded all around us, but I didn’t give a fuck who was watching. My fingers tangled into the nape of her neck, tearing apart the top knot seconds before I yanked her to me and devoured her lips with my own.
I savored her taste on my tongue, taking sips like I was dying of thirst. Our lips locked together for a long while and the world seemed to fade away.
A throat cleared and I pulled away to admire the rising flush from her neck, over the mark I’d left on her skin the night before, and up to her cheeks.
“You told me you'd call me,” she whispered for my ears only.
“I couldn’t wait. I wanted to see you in person.”
Her answering smile was shy. After a brief moment of staring at one another, she dropped her legs, aware suddenly that we were in a public space and surrounded by an audience. I reluctantly let her down, though I kept my hands placed along the delicate expanse of her waist.
Her eyes strayed over my shoulder towards where my brother and my cousin stood. “Hola,” she greeted, cheeks flushed. “Buenas tardes, chicos.”
They returned her greeting, but their gazes struck her friends like cracks of lightning. My own eyes did the same. They were the two from last night. My posture straightened, hands pulling away from Ofelia and my glare settled over the dude behind Paola.
He was glaring back at me, his long light brown hair hiding the vitriol in his eyes.
But I clocked that shit. I made a mental note of it.
This hijo de puta wanted Ofelia.
I’d clocked it last night when he’d made his pathetic fucking attempt to threaten me. In the daylight it was even easier to catch.
He stared at me with unbridled anger like I wasn’t the type of crazy motherfucker who would gouge his eyes out with the feathered blade that hung from my throat.
I smirked and looked away.
“These are my friends, Paola and Daniel.” Ofelia remembered those perfect little manners I was sure she grew up with and made her introductions.
I wanted to chuckle.
Me and mine didn’t give a single fuck about her friends.
“So, what are you doing here?” She pulled away from me, stepping back to grab her bag from the ground. As soon as she lifted it, I took it from her and slung it over my own shoulder.
“Well... we’ve got some weed and an itch for adventure. We wanted to see if you’d tag along.”
Preferably just her, but the invitation seemed open enough that her friend threw her arm around Ofelia’s shoulders. “That sounds like a good time.” She cast a flirtatious smile in César’s direction, one I knew he returned without having to look.
That bastard fucked anything with a pulse, unlike Sebastián who was all but a monk.
I was somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.
“Trust me,” my brother purred. “It is.”
“I'm down,” the skinny little ferret said. “It's been a long day.”
Ofelia turned to meet his gaze. I didn’t particularly like the way they seemed to be having a conversation with their gazes alone.
My fingers slid along the edge of the feather. Sharp and pointed... if I shoved it into his eye juuuust right...
Pop .
I closed my fist around the feather, digging my palm into the silver until I felt the skin split.
My nostrils flared and I took a deep breath. I had to calm the fuck down. I couldn’t stab or punch or murder her friends.
No matter how badly I wanted to.
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that her ilk turned their noses up at me.
We came from different worlds. In her world, her people stepped on the backs of mine to get ahead.
People thought that just because we lived in Mexico, that racism wasn’t a thing. The truth was, the Spanish brought that shit over when they conquered us, when they killed and raped my ancestors.
Society put such a value on lighter skinned individuals that there had to be laws in place to protect the Indigenous people of our country.
How many times had I watched my family suffer discrimination and face slurs from rich pricks like him? How many times had I witnessed contempt towards my AfroMexican friends?
It was a fucking infection.
As if we all weren’t born on the same lands, as if we all didn’t have the rivers flowing through our blood or the cries of eagles beating against our hearts. As if the roots of our motherland weren’t tied to our very fucking feet, or threaded into our fucking souls.
They wanted so badly to be superior, but we were all the same.
His family and peers were just as corrupt as I could be, if not more. The difference was, I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty. To make deals in the light of day.
They made deals in the dark, wearing their shrouds of shame like nuns wearing a habit, and they bottled up their sins like they’d never been committed at all.
And that’s what burned that little weasel. That Ofelia was openly affectionate with me. Someone he saw as lesser when he wished it could be him.
Too fucking bad.
Ofelia turned away from him and glided over to me, gifting me with that blinding and beautiful smile that chased away the dark pieces from my soul. When she was close enough, I leaned into her, pressing an open kiss to my mark on her neck, though my eyes stayed firmly planted on Daniel. One of my brows stayed raised, the corners of my mouth twisting into a smile.
I stared long enough that the pretty boy’s face flushed. That he shifted uncomfortably. And for now, that was enough to sate my anger.
“Come on, princesita.” I said it loud enough for everyone to hear. “Come have some fun with me.”
She smiled, and it was a tender expression.
I wanted to own that soft part of her, keep it for myself, wrap it up in a blanket of my darkness. I wanted to own the rhythm that every beat her heart took.
And I wanted her to own every piece of me as well.
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