Page 24 of Kissing Games
His mouth opened, but no sounds came out.
‘That was kind of you,’ she continued.
‘What did you do in Colombia when you were here?’ asked the lady on the left. ‘Were you—’ she lifted a big pad of paper and flicked through it ‘—a management consultant? In an office? With paper?’
They had a file on him? A fuckingfile? And how good was Valentina’s memory? He cringed at his words being flung back in his face by a little old lady on the other side of the world.
He cleared his throat. ‘No, I was part of an army task force. We were seconded to the Colombian government to help fight the cartels.’
They nodded slowly.
Charlie forced a smile. ‘Okay, so I should probably hang up now. Valentina will be back in a minute and she can call you herself,’ he said, keen for the Colombian inquisition to be over as quickly as possible.
‘No!’ the ladies cried.
‘We wanted to meet you,’ said the white-haired lady. ‘But mamita said no.’
‘Si, we will be nice now,’ said the dark-haired lady. ‘I am Isabella and this is Ana, but you can call us Abuela y Abuelita.’
Ten minutes later,the door opened and Valentina rushed in, out of breath. Charlie was sitting back in the chair, his feet up on the desk, the tablet on his lap, laughing at something Abuela had said.
‘No! No, no, no, no, no!’ Valentina gasped, snatching the tablet. ‘What are you doing?’
‘¡Mi muñeca, no hay problema!’ cried Abuelita.
‘Te llamaré luego,’ replied Valentina, ending the call. She looked at Charlie, her chest heaving and fire in her eyes. ‘You cannot do that. You broke my privacy.’
He held up his hands. ‘They rang when I was sorting out the Wi-Fi and I accidentally answered. I told them you would be back, but they wanted to speak to me.’
Valentina hesitated. He saw her uncertainty. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. ‘Please leave.’
He walked to the door. ‘Is there anything you didn’t tell them about me?’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Valentina bluffed, tossing her hair.
‘Management consultant, dragon tattoo, syphilis…’
She blushed and opened the door, pointing out into the corridor.
He paused in the doorway. ‘Who is Alejandro?’
The colour drained from her face.
‘Out,’ she said, pushing him into the corridor. ‘Get out!’ she yelled, slamming the door behind him.
9
Charlie wasn’t ready to process what had just happened, so he went to the gym. Pushing his body to its limits was familiar and therefore comfortable, despite the pain. After an hour, when his muscles were screaming for mercy, he ran up into the hills. Rory had texted him earlier to say he had Bandit, so Charlie was alone.
A few miles out, as the mountains rose out of the heather and the ground grew steep and rocky, he stopped. His breath puffed into the cold air and the sweat on his arms condensed into little wisps.
He thought about how he had parted from Valentina. Who was Alejandro? A brother? A boyfriend? Whoever he was, she was still using his rucksack, and the mention of his name was enough to trigger deep emotion. And she’d told her grandmothers all she knew about him. Did she do this with everyone she met? Was he different?
He passed his hand over his face. He still hadn’t explained himself from earlier when she’d caught him shaking his head in disgust at her costume.Fuck!Words were never his strong point, so he’d have to use honesty and hope she recognised it.
A breeze chilled his body and he looked at the sky. A rolling band of clouds was coming in from the east, promising wind and rain. Time to get back.
Despite the extra exercise,by the time evening came, Charlie was fidgety and hyped. He took Bandit and patrolled the castle, checking the router and boosters were in place. In the attic corridor, he stopped outside Vlad’s room and knocked. No answer. He knocked again. Still nothing.
