Page 5 of Tease

“Oh, so you weren’t a fan of your uncle?”

No. To be quite honest, I hated him. He was a terrible father. I don’t blame Zayn for killing him.

I leaned closer to her.

“You’re not supposed to know about that, so I’m going to ask how you found out.”

Her blush deepened and she looked down at her notebook, tapping the pen against the paper.

I overheard Zayn talking about it to Gil at Auntie Noemi’s funeral.

“And you’ve kept it to yourself?”

I would never tell Mamá, Verona, or Sofia!

Reaching out with one hand, I stroked her fidgeting fingers. She let out a breath at the contact.

“You know more than people think you do.”

“I listen,” she whispered.

“And watch?”

“Yes, a-and watch t-too.”

I wanted to stay talking to her for the rest of the afternoon, learning everything there was to know about my shy little bookworm. However, I had shit to do. While I might be here to protect Zayn’s family, I had other things I needed to attend to. Zayn relied on me for a lot of shit he hated dealing with.

“Well, I really need to get my things from the car and get on with my work, I’m afraid. Will you show me where everything is when I get back?”

“Y-y-yeah, okay.”

I gave her a smile before rising from the bench. Making my way out of her room and downstairs left me feeling bereft of her presence. Stupid really, but I couldn’t help it. I’d got to spend time with her alone, something I never thought would happen.

Maybe Zayn is right. Maybe I should make my intentions clear. Make her aware I like her.

The fact she was letting me get to know her gave me hope she was open to a friendship between us. I might want more, but I wouldn’t push it. I’d take it slow to not scare her off. Rina deserved to be cherished. And I wanted to be the one who worshipped the ground she walked on.

Three

Rina

The sound of a knock at my door startled me. I’d been staring at my monitors for hours, so engrossed in my work that I wasn’t paying any attention to my surroundings. My head whipped up as I looked back at my door opening. In stepped Arlo with a raised eyebrow. He was in casual clothes: black jeans, a dark green t-shirt, and a zip-up hoodie that had been left open. My mouth went dry at the sight of him.

I’d tried not to think too hard about the fact this man had been sleeping in the bed above me for the past three days. It had taken everything in me not to climb up the ladder, lay amongst the sheets and breathe in the scent of him. That would be totally inappropriate. I might have a crush on Arlo, but I wasn’t about to engage in any creepy behaviour just because he was staying with us.

I didn’t speak as he came closer and leaned against the ladder.

“It’s lunchtime.”

I looked at one of my monitors. It was past one in the afternoon.

“Martina told me to check on you. Said you forget to eat when she isn’t here.”

My face heated with his words.Mamáwas at work today. And she wasn’t wrong. I became so fixated on what I was doing that I often forgot to take care of myself. She always left me something and encouraged me to set alarms to make sure I ate when she wasn’t there. I forgot to do that too.

“I made you something if you’re hungry. I can bring it up here or you can come downstairs.”

My eyes went back to Arlo.

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