Page 60 of Red Queen
She’s waiting for me to break, to open up to her, but I’m holding on as long as I can. She deserves so much better than me. I don’t want her to get any more involved with me than she already is.
She needs someone who can give her what she wants, and as much as I’d love to be that person, I can’t be. I’m a fucking mess, and she’s so much better than this.
She’s waiting for me, and I’m waiting for her to give up on me. I’m not made for this. I can’t even properly communicate my feelings; how would I be able to maintain a loving relationship? That’s like the complete opposite.
We haven’t really talked since that night. I’m trying to keep her as far away from me as I can. Once the private investigator is done and tells us that it’s all a misunderstanding with Mona, we can part ways, and she can go on and find a better man, the man she really needs.
We’re on our way to Mallorca to that wedding, sailing through endless water. She’s lying on a towel at the front of the yacht in a bikini, reading another book. I swear she’s not making my job easy. She might even do this on purpose. I’m not calling her a witch for nothing.
I see her pick up her phone that’s been ringing for what feels like eternity. My wild guess is that it’s the bride. She told me all about her, and I only agreed to come with her so that they’ll leave her alone.
Any given chance that payasa insults her, crosses over Rosa’s plans, making her job even more difficult. It’s like she’s waiting for Rosa to mess something up so bad so that she can fire her. Ican’t imagine how anyone would want to spend the rest of their lives with a woman like that.
“What? How did that happen?” Her voice rises, her expressions troubled. She puts the book down, and after a couple of minutes, they hang up. She grabs a pillow and buries her face in it, and I take that as my cue to talk to her.
“Was it the bride?” I stop at the doorstep, keeping my distance.
“Of course it was. The flowers just came. Except instead of roses, they brought daffodils.” She mutters into the pillow, still not letting it go.
“Aren’t we late, though? The wedding’s today, isn’t it?” I asked a little confused.
“Oh, I know. Ask the darling woman why she was shouting at me not to come even a day earlier. It’s like she wants something to go wrong. And you know what? I wouldn’t even care if it did. I should’ve let her go at the first problem.” A bride who doesn’t want her wedding planner to be there with her all the time. What the fuck.
“This woman is the most confusing person ever.” I sigh, walking closer to her, then putting my hands on her shoulder. “Stop worrying about her, okay? She doesn’t deserve you.”
She huffs, then, with a big inhale, she screams into the pillow. She slowly puts it down, then looks at me with a creepy smile. “I’m going to call the flower shop.”
She grabs her phone and heads inside, and I lie down on the other bed. Curiosity takes over me as I look down at the book next to me. It’s the one she was reading a couple of days ago and she didn’t want me to read. Well, maybe now she won’t mind. She doesn’t have to know. Just a little peek.
I flip up the book where the bookmark is and—oh! Right in the middle. The guy is telling the woman to put him out of his misery and tell him how she feels. Hmm. Typical. I’m guessingthey’ll kiss now. Or go even further. I skim through the lines, then I spot where she says, “It feels real.”
How romantic! And now they kiss! Who would’ve thought? But okay, I admit, it’s cute. And they have tension. And I’m getting invested. Damn it.
I skip forward a few lines. I don’t have much time left before Rosa comes back. The guy named Aaron is taking off the woman’s, Catalina’s, shoes. Things are getting heated. Ah! And now he’s pinching her nipples. Fuck. I hate when my eyes do that.
Not that I’m complaining, but still. He’s touching her in all the right ways, first just fingering her, but then he pushes her on the bed, and now?—
Wait a damn minute. I am reading porn. Why the fuck am I doing that? Why am I grinning at it? And a more important question: how can Rosa read this with a straight face next to people?
I skim through the lines once again, because as much as I’d love to hear how horny they are, Rosa could be back any minute. I’m trying to find the line where one of them says the magic three words so that my heart can rest peacefully, but my eyes stop at a line. “I’ll earn the four-letter word.”
They’re talking about Spanish words. First, just dirty ones, but this… It’s painfully obvious which it is.Amor. He’ll earn her love. And that makes me wonder if I’m ever gonna be able to earn Rosa’s love.
It seems a little coincidental that Rosa brought this book with her here. I might be seeing too much into it, but there’s a Spanish woman, they’re fake dating—or they were, they’re also at a wedding in Spain, and not to mention, they’re workplace rivals, at least from what I’ve learned from fans on Reddit.
I shut the book, putting it down where I found it, when I hear footsteps coming.
“What are you doing?” She eyes me skeptically as she steps beside me. I’m fucked.
“Nothing. Just chilling,” I answer, not looking up from behind my sunglasses, staring anywhere but at her.
“Mateo!” She sucks in a breath, her voice shocked. “You read my book!”
“Wha—I—no! How the hell did you know that?” I mutter, sitting up so I can face her.
“You moved the bookmark, chico.” She was meters away when she noticed that, how?
“Okay, okay. I peeked inside. I’m sorry. But no big deal, alright? At least I know where you get your education from,” I joke, the smirk widening on my face. She seems not to like it, but I swear I saw her mouth twitch.
