Page 2 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

“You don’t get it, Leo. Once Kamilah said she wasn’t accepted, everything changed for me. I had to—” She cut herself off. “Forget it. That’s not the point. The point is that not only did she lie to me, she kept it a secret for twelve years.”

Leo wasn’t exactly as upset about the situation as he could be. The truth was that he’d been keeping a secret from his sister for longer than that. So had Sofi. “I understand how learning all this would upset you, but, Sofi, come on.”

She spun on her heel and gave him a look that said,You’d better not be saying what I think you’re saying, while her mouth said, “Come on, what?”

He gestured between the two of them.

Sofi arched a brow.

“Are you really going to make me say it?”

She crossed her arms and looked him up and down. “I guess you’d better because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He gave her a look. She couldn’t be serious. “Sofi...”

She pursed her lips.

Leo sucked his teeth. “Sofi, we’ve been together on and off for how long now? Since you were like fifteen?”

“First of all, we kissed once when I was fifteen and then nothing happened again until much later. Second of all, we have never beentogether, we have sex when we are both single, bored, and horny, which is not the same thing.”

Leo didn’t let the hurt that statement caused distract him. “Yet, never once did you mention it to Kamilah and you forbid me from telling anyone about it, because you don’t want it to get back to her.”

“I don’t want you telling everyone and their momma about it, because who I sleep with is nobody’s fucking business but mine.”

Leo had to roll his eyes at that. She was so weird about people “knowing her business.” She tended to think that her life was so interesting that it was some sort of gossip fodder. It was ridiculous. She worked at her father’s company, went grocery shopping with her mom every week, and liked to go dancing with her friends on the weekend. Her life was not that different from plenty of women he knew. Shit, their secret relationship (because it was a fucking relationship) was probably the most interesting thing about her life. “You never want her to find out, because you know she’ll be upset about you lying to her. Sort of how you’re mad now.”

“Are you really throwing this in my face right now?”

“All I’m saying is that it’s not easy to tell people stuff you know will hurt them, so maybe you should give her a break.”

Her eyes widened. “Give her a break,” she murmured to herself. When she looked at him, there was anger and shock in her expression. “You really are standing in front of me not only defending her, but trying to guilt me out of feeling my own emotions right now.”

“I just think given the circumstances we both owe her—”

“I. Don’t. Owe. Her. Shit.” She accentuated each word with a clap of her hands then paused, screwed up her face, and shook her head as if disgusted. “I don’t owe you shit either. Why am I even having this conversation with you?”

“Sof—”

“I should’ve known that at the end of the day you were going to pick her side over mine.”

“How do you figure?”

“Because, Leo, that’s how your family operates. Y’all are all open and friendly and welcoming until something happens. Then you close rank like a bunch of elephants circling around the weakest members of the herd. It happens every time Big Sam and your tía Iris break up. It happened when Chase left Kamilah. Y’all still barely talk to your tía Alba’s husband after he said Puerto Rico should become a state.”

“Not true,” Leo argued. “He said that Puerto Ricans on the island wouldn’t be able to run a country without the US, so they needed to be a state which is different than just saying that Puerto Rico should be a state. And we hardly liked his conceited and low-key racist ass before that. Plus, you were just as mad about that as the rest of us were!”

“That’s not the point, Leo!” she yelled at him.

“Then what is your point,” he yelled back. “Because you aren’t making any fucking sense.”

“My point is that I’m done. I have no interest in doing this with you, your sister, or anyone else in your family.”

Leo froze. His body going cold. “What does that mean?”

“That means that I’m not making up with Kamilah. I’m not coming around El Coquí anymore.” She paused and looked him right in the eyes. “I don’t want you coming here anymore either.”

Leo scoffed. “You always say that and then you text to ask me what I’m doing and tell me to come over.”

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