Page 125 of That Last Summer

He grasps my nape and kisses me gently. We breathe each other, still laughing. When we pull apart, I feel eyes on us; I turn, and see them: The Braves. They’re both looking at me, and not in a friendly way—far from it—but I’m not going to let them ruin this moment with Alex. I ignore them and go back to enjoying the game, but after two more rounds, the redheads approach us—or rather, Alex.

I wonder how Adrián is doing with little Brave... Hmm, not so little. She’s at least a head taller than me. Probably he’s doing fine. It’s been two weeks since my brother and I have really spoken. We’ve just exchanged essential words: “pass me the bread” here, “pass me the salt” there, “good morning,” “good night.” We’ve never been in a situation like this, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it every single day, but the pain I still harbor from what these two women did to me is so huge that I find myself unable to accept that girl as my brother’s girlfriend. And it’s Adrián and me who are suffering the consequences of it all. It’s our relationship that’s changed. Sometimes I think Pris, please, it’s Adrián, come on! Go and sort it out once and for all! But my words get stuck in my throat. And so do his. For the first time in our lives, we don’t know how to fix it. How to be us again.

“Alex, you should know that Priscila has been cheating since you started playing,” the older redhead says in an accusatory tone, barely looking at me.

I’m about to retort, but Alex cuts in. “Nah, she’s not cheating,” he says without flinching. “It’s how this game works: she can do whatever she wants to win. It’s much more interesting that way.” Then he winks at me and throws his dart.

“If you say so. I just wanted to warn you, just in case. Since I know you hate tricks...”

The two sisters from the Underworld return to their table. And I am in a super happy place. Alex defending me is a rush but also, doing so in front of her? It’s like having twenty orgasms like the ones I had this morning. Simultaneously. Because I didn’t expect it and, to be honest, I don’t quite understand why he did it. Probably he doesn’t want us to fight. Alex has never been keen on dramas and public spectacles.

But I am who I am and I’m incapable of shutting up, even if I do it every day with Alex lately. Not today, not this time.

“Why did you defend me?”

“Because I don’t like snitches, and I like even less when people try to mess with my—”

“With your what?”

“With my darts partner.”

“You weren’t going to say that.” I know he wasn’t. It came out too spontaneously; he stopped himself.

“You don’t know what I was about to say.”

My mind has a fair idea, but I don’t know if it’s just what my head wants to think, or if Alex really was going to say it. And I don’t have time to let my imagination run wild because at that precise moment, the door opens and Marcos blows into the pub. He sweeps the place with his eyes and spots me immediately. Alex’s back is turned, he can’t see my brother, so I wave my hand to tell Marcos to keep quiet. He gets it—he goes into silent mode, GEO mode, and when he’s just one step away from Alex, he scares the hell out of him, making him miss his shot.

“Fuck, Marc!”

“Sorry,” my brother says, holding back a laugh. “I came for a quick coffee before work; I have to go to Madrid for a couple days. But I can see you’re busy. What are you playing?”

“501.”

“Oh, and you say that so solemnly. There’s a wager on it, right?”

“Right.”

“What?”

“You don’t want to know, trust me.”

Definitely.

“Nope, now I don’t. What about that coffee?” Marcos insists.

“I can’t right now,” Alex says. “I have to win this, I can’t lose my concentration. Have coffee with your sister.”

“Hey!” I complain. “What about my concentration?”

Alex looks away from the dartboard just long enough to glance sideways at me, eyebrow arched.

“It should be a pretty easy win for you,” Marcos tells Alex matter-of-factly.

“It should, right? But she’s pretty lucky.”

“Now they call it luck?” I defend myself.

“Okay, I’ll go get that coffee and then you guys can tell me what you’ve been up to.”