Page 81 of The Fallacy of True Love
“The mais con yelo.”
He chuckled. “Told you it was good.”
“It’s not breakfast food.”
“Sometimes you have to branch out,” he said. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but that’s a single bed. We won’t fit unless we’re on top of each other, and I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
His words brought me back to when we had been plastered against each other. My body grew even more on edge, my thighs pressing together as I remembered how good he’d felt against me.
I cleared my throat. “Just don’t try anything, and we’ll be fine.”
“I can’t make any promises for what my body does while I’m asleep.” He spoke in a low voice that had my mind conjuring up scenarios involving his body parts mingling with mine.
I opened my eyes wide, as though the exposure to light would clear my head. It had been too long since I last had sex.
“Seriously, I’m good with the chair. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping tonight anyway.”
“Do you have an exam tomorrow?” I asked, welcoming the distraction.
“No, but there’s always a chance we’ll be called for recitation. Our profs love to catch us unprepared.”
Lifting my head off the pillow, I looked at him. “And you willingly signed up for that?”
“Trust me, if there was a way to skip law school and go straight to being a lawyer, I would have done it.”
“So it isn’t what it’s cracked up to be?”
“Oh, it is.” He huffed. ”I’ve never felt more stupid in my life.”
“A genius like you?”
“I’m far from a genius, Maya.”
“You are compared to me.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I think there are different kinds of smarts. Grading well in school doesn’t mean you’ll be successful in the real world. And being book smart isn’t any more important than being street smart or people smart.”
“Not arguing with that.” Nikki hadn’t gotten past high school, and she managed a thriving business on her own. That was proof right there.
His gaze turned inward. “Sometimes, I wish I’d chosen a different career path. Something that didn’t require more years of studying.”
“You don’t like school?”
“I used to, but I’ve been studying for too long. I want to actually do the damn work. Earn my own money. Don’t get me wrong—I’m thankful that my family supports me. It’s just…” He stared at the ceiling. “I feel like a leech. And next to my sisters, I haven’t lived much at all. Both of them are out doing their own thing. Meanwhile, I’m still stuck here, waiting for my turn.”
I chewed on his words. I’d never been good at talking things out. If you needed to hear the cold hard truth straight out, I was your girl. But reassuring someone? That was way beyond my skill set. If only I could dial Nikki or Eric to give me tips like they had for my interview.
“Anyway, enough of that,” Alonzo said. “I know it’s a shallow thing to get worked up about.”
“No. I mean, it’s something I can’t relate to, but that doesn’t make your feelings any less valid. Do your parents want you to be a lawyer?”
He snorted. “Hell, yes—especially my dad.”
“That’s good,” I murmured. “I used to wonder what my parents would have wanted me to be.”
His expression softened. “What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“They left me at a church in Bataan when I was a baby. There was an older couple that let me live with them until I finished high school, and then they told me they had done their part. So I went to Manila on my own.”
