Page 4 of Something So Strong

“Shut up.” Without looking, I raise my fist to give Romeo a lackluster punch in the ribs. “All I’m saying is why couldn’t he have just shut his mouth and gotten us off on the right foot?”

“That is a question that will baffle the ages. But he wouldn’t be Saxon if he went and did something totally level-headed like that.”

“Some days I’m surprised he can get his trousers on with balls as big as his.” Both our shoulders raise in a vapid attempt at laughing.

“Speaking of enormous balls and perplexing quandaries, I’m surprised you didn’t introduce Kai’s nose to your fist.”

Kai. The name clangs against the base of my skull and I scratch at the back of my neck, but it won’t budge. “And why would I do that?”

“I dunno, maybe the way he eye-fucked Mavis from the second he saw her.”

“She’s a big girl.” I shrug, turning to the side and allowing my shoulder to take the weight of my body. “And like I said at the airport. She’s not my girl. I’m needy, but that’s a light-speed relationship.”

“Come on, Jess.” Romeo’s voice pries for a reaction as he turns to face me with a look that says, but not too fast to stick your dick in her. “I’ve known you for sixteen years, and ever since we had Miss Green in year four, you’ve had an impossible obsession with a certain body type. Shit, I can still remember your face when she wore those leggings to our athletic carnival.”

The corners of my mouth turn up as I recall one of my fondest memories. My malleable little ten-year-old brain had been forever changed that day, for she was the epitome of womanhood.

“You’re getting lost in her ass right now, aren’t ya, boy?” Romeo teases, tapping me on the cheek. “Perky tits, that tiny waist… those hips.”

“You made your point.” I slap his hand away.

“So then, why no reaction? I would have assumed you’d put Mavis on lock ASAP.”

I shrug again and turn back to the wall. I don’t want to get into it, now, or ever, because, plain and simple, Mavis is perfect. The right amount of sass and innocence with a body men have fought wars over. But she’s newly single, totally damaged by her ex, and I was just a random rebound she hooked up with in the first-class bathroom of our last flight. No matter how majestic she may be, I’m not selfish enough to disrupt her awakening.

“Have it your way,” Romeo concedes, sliding down the wall to take up residence on the gray carpet tiles and resigning himself to the fact our discussion has now become a soliloquy. “I felt like punching that cocksure face of his myself. I mean, who does he think he is? Wasn’t he meant to be helping us not trying to pick up before even leaving the airport? She could have been your girlfriend for all he knew…”

It’s unusual to see Romeo so affected by someone on first contact, which begs me to question whether they are his true feelings or he’s voicing them on my behalf. Either way, his summary of Kai isn’t unfounded. I should have hated him right off the bat. If first impressions indeed count, he left little to be desired, especially as the chosen representative to welcome us to the Vistas family. Yet, there he stood; leaning apathetically against a pylon just outside of customs—our names on a clipboard carelessly hanging from his right hand.

His jeans were worn, and not the kind of designer aging you pay for. These were holes that had once been tiny rips before taking on a life of their own. With scuffed shoes and a hoodie so many sizes too big, it was almost swallowing him whole. I watched his eyes rake down Mavis’s body and then up mine as we approached.

Not ten minutes ago, he’d brought the resort van to a screeching halt outside the staff housing block and dumped our suitcases in the snow. It was the perfect power move and I couldn’t fault him for it. Yet, as Romeo and Saxon scrambled to rescue their designer luggage from the elements, I found my eyes meeting his again as he grinned back at me from the open van window. Enigmatic to say the least, even in the pitch black Canadian night, the building’s dim light still illuminated his face just enough to perfectly accentuate the large bags his eyes held beneath them as though he’d not slept in days either. The old dark-blue dye job on his bleached hair was more blond than indigo, and still, in defiance of the less-than-glowing description, he was far from unattractive.

“...and did you hear him tell us to toughen up?” Romeo huffs, my eyes widening at the realization that he’s been speaking the entire time my mind was wandering.

“Yeah, what a prick,” I contribute. An answer-all and what I assume is the kind of response Romeo is seeking.

“Bruv. You really do need some sleep.” I can hear the eyes rolling in his head, but I keep my mouth shut. Kai and Mavis and me, and whatever the fuck I’m feeling is something I need him to let go of.

The door to Saxon’s room closes and Alma’s accented muttering fills the emptiness.

She’s hot, older, and everything that adds up to the perfect kind of woman to pull Romeo’s attention every time. With a brief consoling chuckle, she glides her nails across my back.

“Feel free to stay here, Mr. Jesse, while I show your much more pleasant friend to his room.”

I grunt at the sweet relief of solitude and collapse fully against the wall—my left cheek and chest flush against it. Watching as Romeo and Alma walk towards his room, I note how their bodies move closer together with each passing step. At his door, Alma unlocks it and steps aside, leaving Romeo to push it open and gesture for her to enter first. I shouldn’t say women are predictable, but when it comes to the ways of Romeo Estrada, none of them ever stand a chance whether they like it or not.

Once inside, I can only make out murmurs, but enough is present in the tone of their voices to bring a grin to my face. I’ll give him until the end of the week. She may succumb, it may just be to twist the knife further into Saxon’s chest. But she’ll succumb. They always do.

Sighing deeply, I turn my head away from their direction and wait.

Losing the fight with my free will, my eyes shut on their own. Relaxation is almost instant, and my body goes weightless as my head floats in a cozy cloudiness. Then, out of fucking nowhere, the backside of my lids are consumed with the brash simper of Kai as he leans against that fucking pylon, staring at me as if I were Mavis and he’s undressing me in his mind.

“What the hell?” I say aloud, my eyes shooting open as I jolt upright.

Why the fuck is he what my delirious brain chooses to conjure?

I need to get to bed, and fast, before my hallucinations become any more unsettling.

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