Page 84 of The Kiss of Deception

“Or a broom,” Camila suggests.

“That’s a witch.” Nicholas is alive.

“Works just as well. With those witchy eyes.” That’s Rodri again.

Peace successfully achieved, I shoo them, witchy eyes narrowed. “Get out of here. Get to work.”

“If you insist,” Miles mutters, twisting his car keys on his fingers, stomping his way out.

“I got you, babe.” Camila winks at me over her shoulder.

Nicholas vanishes as quietly as he arrived, leaving me with the troublemaker.

“Castro.” I kick two random boxes in his direction. I have no idea what’s inside, but I’m going to make him work. “You’re on box duty.”

The boxes slide like butter over the tile, stopping in front of him. “Where are your manners, Westwood?”

“You’re here, which means you signed up to be my bitch today. Which means you do as I say. Come on, let’s put those ridiculous muscles to work.” I nod my head in the direction of the boxes. “Take those upstairs.”

One on top of the other, he piles the boxes. With a dramatic groan, he bends to grab them. I roll my eyes, giving him extra space on the stairs in case he tumbles down. He appears stable and not in the slightest distress, but who knows.

The wall that faces the L-shaped stairs is a mess of colors, lines, shapes. I’m far from an art connoisseur, but, for a moment, I think I understand.

Maybe art is a mirror of the mind. A depiction of the chaos of our thoughts. The struggles, the uncertainties, the insecurities that war within the confines of our minds. Maybe it’s choice, a series of decisions that open new paths and lead to new possibilities. One brushstroke after the other—none right, none wrong. Just one more and one more until the last.

Like life. Wasn’t that how I got here? One small step after the other, the destination was this house. A kiss that never happened turned into a fake relationship that soon turned into a new house, picket fence and the entire American dream.

For now.

But why did I take these steps? Why didn’t I stop when the path first veered in this direction? Why couldn’t I?

My love for my Grandpa brought me here. But was it only my love for the old man?

The painting stares at me, silent. No answers, no epiphanies.

“Z?”

I welcome the distraction, going to find Rodrigo upstairs. “Yeah?”

“Where do you want me to—” With his fists on his waist, he raises his inquisitive gaze from the cardboard to me. “Why do you look like you’re sick? Are you sick? Stay away.”

“I’m not sick. What was that all about?” I tip my head in the vague direction of the stairs, referring to the interaction downstairs

“Then why does your face look like that?” Rodrigo ignores my question, retreating backwards as I walk inside the bedroom.

Apparently, I’m not the only master at avoidance around here anymore. Our eyes lock in a war of wills. For the first time in my life, I lose a battle.

“I’m not gonna pry,” I say. “But if you want to talk, I have two functioning ears and plenty of time, since I’ve got myself a slave.” His devilish smirk dissolves into chuckles when I raise an urgent hand to stop the innuendo that’s surely halfway out of his mouth. “Don’t!”

With a sigh that whispers exactly how inconvenient he finds me, he shoves his fists inside the pockets of his shorts. “You win—only because you’re sick. And your eyes are fucking scary.”

All I hear is I won, so zero complaints on my part. I do roll my eyes, but they freeze halfway when he speaks.

“Our dad died in a car accident. Guess I don’t really trust anyone to drive her around. I get… anxious.”

Astoundingly, it isn’t the words that choke the breath out of my lungs. It’s the tone with which he says them. Such deliberate steadiness, as though the slightest tilt of his voice will tip a balance, and the weight he’s carried will collapse on him.

Sympathy and sorry’s mean nothing in the grand scheme of pain, so I keep them. I want to ask about the two-inch scar on the corner of his mouth angling towards his chin and the thumb-sized one on the corner of his eye, both bigger and deeper than mine, and less angry with time, but I keep my curiosity too.

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