Page 34 of The Slayer
Chuito was fucking miserable, so with his back still to her, he said, “I dreamed I was back in my old house.”
“Does your mother still live there?”
“No, we moved after the drive-by.” He winced as he said it, and Alaine must have noticed, because she reached out and touched his shoulder so gently he found himself admitting, “That’s how he died. My brother. We lost my aunt too. We lived with her since I was born. It was like losing a mother. We didn’t want to live there afterward.”
“That’s very sad, Chu.” She rubbed his back in a way no one had since Tía Camila had died, because his own mother had never believed in coddling them. “I’m truly sorry.”
He could hear the sympathy in her voice, but he didn’t want it. He reached behind him and grabbed her hand, stopping the caress. “Don’t.”
She pulled her hand back, sounding abashed. “That was inappropriate.”
He felt bad for making her uncomfortable, so he went on. “It was more memory than dream. I was in the garage, working out with a cousin. We were fourteen. My cousin—”
“The one in prison?”
“Yeah, it was his mother who died. We grew up in the same house.” Chuito didn’t know why he was talking about this shit. Maybe a part of him was hoping she would drag out a real confession from him, and it would scare her enough to stop looking at him like he was the greatest thing to ever walk into this backward town. “He was asking me to double-date with him. He used to do that a lot.”
“Why?”
Chuito smiled into the darkness. “To keep his date’s friend busy. My cousin’s sorta a player.”
“A player?”
“He gets lots of women,” he clarified with a laugh.
“And you don’t?”
“I didn’t used to.”
“But now?”
“Why do you want to know, mami?” Against his better judgment, he turned back to her, seeing the barest hint of a blush staining her pale cheeks in the darkness. “Shopping for a muchacho to help you with that virginity problem?”
“No,” she said quickly and narrowed her eyes at him. “Now who’s being inappropriate?”
“I never told you I was appropriate,” he said with a smile. “Anyway, I’m not your kinda man.”
“How do you know?” she surprised him by asking.
“’Cause I don’t do innocent virgins. I didn’t do them when I was fourteen, and I don’t do them now.” He winced at just the thought of it. “You’d have to get a lot older and a lot more experienced to get in bed with me.”
“You only date older women?” She sounded shocked.
“That’s right, mami,” he said in a taunting voice. “I got fucked for the first time when I was fifteen, and she wasstillolder than you are now. Get the picture?”
“A twenty-year-old woman slept with you when you were fifteen?” she gasped. “That’s illegal.”
“Why?” He wagged his eyebrows at her. “I wasn’t complaining.”
“That’s terrible. You were assaulted.”
Okay, this chica was too much. He rolled over and laughed. A hard, sincere laugh, and it was nice because he couldn’t remember the last time he was so genuinely amused by something.
“I was loaded too,” he added, because shocking her was way too easy and so very much fun.
“Oh my God. I’m horrified, Chu,” she said as he laughed harder. “Really. That’s appalling. She got you stoned and took advantage of you.”
“She did,” he agreed as his entire frame shook with mirth. “And it wastan bueno.”
