Page 87 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

“What?” Sofi yelled.

“I told him we shouldn’t do that,” Abuela Fina tried.

“I did and still do feel really bad that I left him back there, but I knew I was going to send the two of you to find him.” Papo looked like he really wanted her to understand, but she just couldn’t.

“Oh well, as long as you feel bad about it, then I guess everything is fine,” Sofi said.

“There’s no need for sarcasm,” Leo jumped in. “That’s not going to help the situation.”

Sofi closed her eyes and clenched her fists and her jaw. It was taking everything in her to battle the swarm of hurtful words that were trying to come out of her mouth. Finally, she opened her eyes. “I just found out that for the last two months you’ve been manipulating me with the help of two of the very few people in this world I respect. Do not talk to me about my tone.”

Kamilah stepped forward and put a hand on Abuela Fina’s shoulder. “I think we should step away and let them have this conversation in private,” she told the others in the room.

Papo nodded and started leading the way to the door while Abuela Fina looked away from Sofi guiltily, but not Leo’s mom. She was about to dig in her heels. Sofi could tell by the determined tilt to her chin.

“I’m not leaving,” Valeria said. “My son just got out of the hospital. He can’t even use his arm. He needs someone willing to take care of him.”

While she didn’t come right out and say that Sofi wasn’t qualified to be that person, it was implied.

“Mami, just wait for me at Kamilah’s,” Leo said. “I’ll call you as soon as we’re done and you can come right back.”

“Okay, guapo.” Valeria nodded before continuing in Spanish. “Call me as soon as you need anything and I’ll be here in a second. Your mother will always be here for you.” She turned to go, but not before shooting Sofi a condemning, borderline threatening look.

In seconds she and Leo were alone. Sofi plopped down on the couch and rubbed a hand over her chest to ease the pressure she felt. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. Here Leo had fucked up big-time in every regard, but somehow Sofi was still the villain. She hadn’t lied to the Vega family about her future plans, she hadn’t gone against doctors’ orders and gotten herself hurt, nor had she plotted with two senior citizens to trick someone into dating her. Yet, she was the one who was going to end up cast out in the end. Because when it came down to it, Leo was their flesh and blood while Sofi was not. She needed to remember that the Vegas were not her family. She didn’t have much of one. And one member of her tiny family had betrayed her that very day, so now it was really down to her and her mom. The thought was enough to make her eyes water, but she forced her tears back. She was not going to cry. Not again.

Sofi shook her head, still confused about this whole thing. “I just don’t get how anyone thought manipulating me was a good idea.” It was as if they didn’t know her at all.

“Why do you keep sayingmanipulatelike I’m being sneaky or something?” Shockingly, the offense in his voice was real. It was ridiculous, but still very real.

Sofi looked at him, dumbfounded. There was no way he didn’t see it. “How have you not, Leo?”

“I’ve been very upfront about what I want.”

“And what is that?”

“You. I want you. All of you.”

For a moment Sofi’s heart melted in her chest and she wanted to tell him that she wanted the same thing, but then she remembered that it had all been a lie. A planned-out series of events she’d been nudged into going through like an actress in a play. She got mad all over again. “If that were true then you’d know thatthis shitis not the way to go about it at all. You betrayed me.”

Leo’s eyes widened to near comical size. “Betrayed you? All I’ve ever done has been to try to get you to give me a chance, to give us a chance to have something real instead of hookups, but I should’ve known it wouldn’t work. Of course, you’d spin this in the worst possible way. That’s what you do.”

“Excuse me?” Sofi frowned.

“You expect the worst out of everyone, Sofi. You sit there just waiting for them to let you down and the minute they make a mistake you use it to justify your distrust.”

“You literally just lied and schemed against me to manipulate my emotions and somehow that’s my fault because I won’t give you blind trust? Are you fucking serious right now?”

“I’m not saying this is your fault. I’m just trying to explain why I agreed to let the viejos help when they approached me with their plan. You use every single thing I do as a reason to push me away. Every time we start to get too close, you find something negative and fixate on it until it becomes a huge issue that you can use to kick me to the curb.”

“This is a huge issue, Leo. You betrayed my trust and now you’re trying to make it seem like I’m being too sensitive. You just did to me exactly what my father has done to me for thirty years.”

“Stop comparing me to your deadbeat dad!”

“Then stop acting like him! Stop being a selfish, manipulative, gaslighting liar like him!”

Leo froze. “Is that what you think about me? You think I’m a selfish liar?”

“You tell me, Leo. Think about what you did to me and tell me that you weren’t lying to me for your own gain. Tell me that you didn’t spend the last however long lying to your family for your own purposes.”

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