Page 120 of Heart of a Villain

“Little Josiah,” Giorgio called. “What is question behind question?”

Josiah braced himself with a deep, audible breath. “My real question is…how do I ask her out? Dad, how did you get Ma, and how did you guys get my aunts to go out with you?”

Their comments wrapped around the room:

Gage: “Nearly die, then move yourself into her house…like a serial killer.”

Giorgio: “Track. Find. If there is other, eliminate.”

Thanasis looked as if he was taking mental notes.

Dez: “Hide from her for two years and then sit outside her friend’s place. Then, her place. Make sure she never mentions where either she or that friend lives before you show up.”

Mike: “Follow her to a party that you told her you weren’t going to, and then KO the guy she thinks she likes at that party. Don’t forget to send mixed signals. Like a bucket of mixed signals.”

Julien: “Lie to her about who you are and then disappear for a while. Women love when you lie and then go missing.”

Adrían: “Does she have a sister?”

Joel snorted. “‘Siah, ignore them. Here’s how you do it. You’re already friends with Malia, so you have that part down. Now, wait until she has, like, two kids, right? And then?—”

Josiah, wheezing with laughter, waved his hands in front of him. “Maybe…maybe I should just ask Ma because I don’t know how any of you guys got anybody to go out with you.”

“We don’t either,” they all replied.

That night, Sayeda came to him.

The moment she showed up in the doorway, he knew she hadn’t come to make love, but the fact that she was there was like recovering a lost memory of a childhood Christmas morning.

She waved. “Hey.”

Adrían sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “Olà, minha amada. You couldn’t sleep?”

“No, not really.”

“You are thinking about what I bought you and why you don’t have it yet?”

“Maybe. That’s one of the reasons I came. Another reason…I want to apologize.”

“Okay. Come to me.”

She joined him on the bed. He wanted her to sit on his lap, wrapped around him and straddling him, but she claimed the space beside him.

“I didn’t mean what I said about us and our relationship not having a future,” she said. “I was upset.”

“You were upset for weeks?”

“Go easy on me.”

“I will decide as we go.”

“Adrían,” she exhaled, “I’m sorry.”

“And very beautiful,” he added. “You’re sorry and very beautiful.”

She quietly laughed. “At least you’re still you.”

“I have no one else to be, querida.”

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