Page 15 of Heart of a Villain

“I’m not joking.”

“Like I don’t know that, either.”

Joel released his grip and then smiled as if nothing violent had transpired. “Okay. You’re free to go. I’d never shoot a man in his back, anyway. There’s little enjoyment in not watching him watch me kill him.”

Adrían rolled his shoulder as he headed for the door. “You all sound like a mafia family.”

“Your point?”

“No point. I’m just acknowledging that if I do stay, I’ll fit right in.”

CHAPTER

FOUR

Evening fell.

The festivities moved to the back patio, where the younger kids had gathered around Gage, who was setting up a projection screen.

Josiah was still on the iPad.

As Adrían watched him, he recognized the smile on Josiah’s face. He remembered being twelve and the odd realization that he was starting to notice things about his “friends” that he hadn’t before—their hair color, hair length, eye color, smiles, and laughs.

“Siah,” Joel called. “Time to close up shop. Give the girl a break.”

“Oh, I don’t need a break, Mr. Lattimore,” the girl on the other side of the screen insisted. “I’m wide awake. I like talking to Josiah, um, a lot.”

Josiah’s face turned beet red. “I like talking to you, um, a lot, too.”

They both shared a shy laugh.

Another voice sounded through the speaker: “Malia, you’re still on that iPad? Do you know what time it is? And what time is it over there? No, no. Shut it off. You two can crush on each other during the hours of the living.”

“Really, Dad? We’re not…we don’t…we’re just friends, okay?”

Josiah didn’t comment.

Both kids logged off at the same time.

A sullen Josiah retreated to a corner of the sectional lounger as if he would catch the same zombie virus Joel had mentioned if he sat any closer to the rest of his family. Adrían thought about walking over to talk to him—he sort of understood what the kid was going through—but someone tapped him on the back of his arm.

“Got a minute?” Wren asked.

He felt when Larke looked up.

Their eyes met, and he flashed her a smile, but she looked away. At least they were making progress; she no longer looked like she was castrating him in her imagination.

“For you, Wren, I have plenty,” he said. “Do you have a minute to give me, is the better question.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your boyfriend, gatinha.”

She sucked her teeth. “Come on.”

With a tight grip on his wrist, she dragged him through the side patio door that led to the backyard. Then she positioned them so that no one from the house could see them, and he half expected her to strip him where he stood. Giorgio’s brother’s feelings for her were clearer than the view through an open window, but it was hard to tell where Wren stood.

“Don’t tell Larke anything I’m about to say to you,” she began.

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