Chapter 20 #2
Tito gestures for me to walk with him. The second we are out of earshot, he unleashes on me.
“You’re a sicopata. You know that? You jumped off that fucking cliff again.
You know my mom would kill me if something happened to you.
How the fuck do I tell Maeven you got hurt when you’re supposed to have four concerts next week?
And what if something happened to Luna? How would you have lived with yourself? ”
All the things I was telling myself. But I know I’ll give her whatever she wants. No matter what.
“Relax. Everything’s okay. Luna wanted to do it, and nothing bad happened.”
“Sel was crying,” he says.
I smile at him. “I’m sure you consoled her. She looks just fine now.”
His gaze shifts to the ladies, who are now holding more than yaniqueques. “Rio, you got something good going with Luna. I like seeing you happy again, but you can’t take risks like that anymore.”
I blow out a breath. “I won’t. I don’t think there are any other cliffs we both want to jump off.” I look at the women and back at him. His eyes stay peeled on Sel. “What’s going on there?”
He snorts. “She’s crazy, controlling, and bossy. I don’t think I like her.”
“Don’t like her pero tu ta aficiao.”
His face snaps my way, his nose flaring like the warning of a wild horse. Then it deflates just as quick. “Yeah, but I hate when people tell me what to do.”
“It’s clear you don’t hate it that much.”
“She’s wild,” he says like he can’t believe her. “She obviously doesn’t trust men and already told me she can’t be with me because I have to go on tour with you, and she knows you pull too many hoes around. Doesn’t trust me or you. She’s apparently waiting for you to fuck up so she can lay out.”
“Cono, she said all that?”
He sighs. “Oh, and it’s on sight the next time she sees Adina.”
I laugh. I have to, and it comes out louder than I expected, because both of them turn to look at us. Luna holds up an LP and points at me.
“She’s bringing you one. Shit, that’s real love,” Tito says like someone who’s convinced he won’t get that.
“So you asked her to be with you?”
He shoots me a disgusted look. “Who said I did?”
“You told me she said she won’t get with you.”
He snorts. “She only said that because she thinks I’m catching feelings for her.”
I open my mouth to tell him she’s wrong because he already caught all the feelings, but he stops me with a look.
“I know you’re my boss and favorite cousin, but I’m going to knock you out if you say anything, Rio.”
I laugh again. “I like her for you.”
He snorts. “You wouldn’t if you knew the plans she has for you if you fuck up.”
I don’t get to ask, because they reach us.
Luna hands me an LP, and it’s still hot and crunchy.
“Let’s go for a walk,” I say, guiding her in the direction of the river.
“Thank you for my yaniqueque.”
She laughs. “You paid for it. So, thank you.”
It makes me smile. “Mami, yo te doy lo que tu quiera. I’m happy to give you whatever you want…” I sound so corny, so I add, “And Sel, of course.”
Her eyes twinkle. “And Tito. She got him one. We also ordered for the security team.”
I throw my arm around her shoulder. “That’s sweet.”
We fall silent for a bit.
“That’s the Cano Frio.” I point to the clear water reflecting the sky and the mangrove trees alongside it. “It comes from underground springs. The water is really cold, but it flows over there into Playa Rincon. It’s warmer there.
“I love it here. A river and a beach in the same place.”
“It’s a special place for me. This is where my parents met. My dad came on vacation from Puerto Rico, and my mom was here with her friends. Nine months later—don’t get hung up on the dates—baby Riomar came into the world.”
Her gaze snaps from the water to me. “Wait, this is how you got your name?”
I nod. “My mom was walking down, and they ran into each other where the rio meets el mar.”
“Now that is so sweet.”
“They both thought so too.”
“You don’t talk much about your dad, other than the awesome history lessons,” she says.
“I spent the school year with my mom, but my summers with him until he died. That man was a scholar and, at heart, a campesino too. He swore Atabey was with him and my mom when they met.” I pause and smile. “He was such a great storyteller, had a cuento for every occasion. I was ten when he died.”
“He and your mom were not together anymore?”
“He loved her, but he was a man of his time with a big flaw: Mujeriego. They lived separate lives, but I don’t think they ever really got over each other.
Then, he died suddenly of a heart attack.
We moved to New York when I was fourteen, but she would still send me over to Puerto Rico to visit with the family.
” I squeeze her shoulder. “What about you? I haven’t heard about your dad. ”
“Long story. He moved to New York because he knew how to use the street drill machine. I was seven when Mami and I came to join him. He died the year after.” Her words are soft.
“How?”
“He got robbed on the way home. He didn’t want to give the guy his wallet. It was payday, and he wanted to come home to us.”
“Shit, Luna. I’m sorry.” I bring her closer.
Then her fingers flex as they rest on my back. “You know, some days I don’t think about him at all, and then something happens that brings him back. When I got drugged, I was dreaming about my grandma, and I heard him calling me. It’s like he was behind me, but she wouldn’t let me turn.”
“Those dreams are fucked up. It’s great to hear their voices, but it’s the worst waking up to a reality where they’re not here.”
She looks into my eyes. “Exactly. I missed him like crazy, but my mom is a warrior. She had a kid to feed, so one of my aunts got her a job as the housekeeper for the Belmonts. She didn’t clean for long.
She became their house manager, and Bethany liked me playing with Adina, so she asked my mom to bring me over often. ”
Her tone is wistful, like she didn’t just go through hell because of that family.
“You cared for them.”
“I did. I feel like I’ve known them all my life and thought it was a genuine friendship, but my mom says I was more like their employee. That hurts like hell but makes it so much easier to accept. You know?”
I nod. “Because it’s easier to think of it as losing a job…”
“Than losing someone I thought of as a sister,” she finishes.
We are at the edge of the Cano Frio, and she puts half her yaniqueque in the bag and ties it. “For later. Come on. Show me where the river meets the sea.”
We lay our clothes aside, and I get in the water. She puts one foot in and jumps.
“It’s freezing.”
“Ven, yo te caliento.” I hold out my hand, and she pauses but takes it.
“God, it’s cold,” she gasps, wrapping herself around me.
I cup her ass and press her against me. “I think it’s hot.”
“Ni tu te lo crees.” She goes still with her eyes on mine. “This is almost as cold as the beaches in New York.”
I curl my lip. “That doesn’t even sound right. A beach in New York.”
She chuckles. “Listen, they’re the only ones we always have available.”
“Well, now you have a place with a beach where you can come anytime.”
She smiles at me. “How is this going to work, though? You are always traveling for work. And your tour starts in a couple of days.”
“You can come with me,” I say, half-jokingly but realizing I mean it.
“I have work too. Now that Morena & Miel is taking off, I want to stay close to it. Plus, I have a job interview coming up with Elevate PR,” she says. “But I would travel to meet you.”
“You better. I don’t want to be apart from you for long.” Then, I think of something I wanted to ask her. “Do you really want to go work for someone? I think M&M is a great business.”
She shrugs. “Eventually, I want to do that full-time, but I’m young. I want to use my degree and make money. I want to buy my mom a place and for her to quit her building manager job and do something else.”
I smile. It’s the dream. “It will be the best feeling in the world when you do it. It was the first thing I bought for Mami when I signed my first contract. I got it built as a surprise and when she saw it for the first time, her eyes lit up with such intensity. She burst into tears. I’ll never forget that…
But you know, you don’t have to get a new job to do that. You’re with me now.”
She shakes her head. “Oh no, Mr. Castillo. I want my things, and publicity was my first dream. M&M is a side hustle to use what I learned at home. Plus, el mundo da muchas vuelta. Life changes quickly, and we have to be prepared for whatever comes…”
“In case this doesn’t work?” I ask, feeling the weight of the words she doesn’t say.
“We have to be realistic. I’ve never been in love like this, but a lot of people who love each other can’t be together.”
I think back at all the times I’ve been in love before. The noviecitas and then Perla who turned on me when I was already broken. I didn’t predict the end until I was almost there.
“You’re so proud and smart.”
“Let’s see what you say a year from now.” She brushes her lips against mine. “Come on, take me to the beach side. This is getting colder.”
I walk down the river with her until the water becomes shallow. Then I put her down, and we hold hands until we get to the peninsula. The afternoon is fading into evening, and the sun is setting, making its way to the horizon.
“It’s so warm.” Her smile is brighter than the sun at its highest point.
The guards are following us, and I motion for my phone. Then I take a few selfies of us with my arm around her and then us kissing with the sea as our backdrop.
I point at the moon peeking out, almost blending into the sky.
“That reminds me of the night we first met, when you talked about seeing the two Lunas.”
I chuckle and angle us for another photo. “And now I got my photo with the two of you.”
Her smile is at odds with her downcast eyes. “I wish I had not fallen for her lies. I’m sorry.”
I fling the phone at the guard, and we walk deeper into the water. “Now you’re here, and I’m not letting you go anywhere.”
We hold each other as the afternoon waves crash against us.
No, I’m never letting anything get between us.
* * *
See me
Take me
Make me feel you care
I’m bare
Naked
Exposed to the glare.
The wounds are fresh again—by my choice
Because I put myself out there…again
The pain flares—automatically
The agony is so intense
As I bleed under your stare.
Touch me with your healing hands
Mi Santa
Announce me whole
Mi Angel
Reflect the light so it can reach the dark corners of my heart
Mi Espejo del sol.
Reina de la noche
I bow before you
Perla nocturna
Mi joya mas preciosa
Novia del Cielo
I can’t wait for the death of light to call on you.
Faro en la oscuridad
Guide me as I sail this treacherous sea of feelings.
Artemisa de mi corazon
Coyolauhqui de mi espiritu
Ix Chel de mi alma
Mami, eres la leyenda
La mitologia hecha mujer
Still waters run deep
But you shine a light so I can see the way
Never leave me in the darkness, mi Diosa
Es Rio.