Page 33 of Embriagado

“Taylor, have you seen my brother?” I asked her.

She pointed to her left. “Think he went that way.”

With a grunt, I walked in that direction. How far could that idiot have gotten in five fucking minutes? I swore to God, I’d give him a beating when I found him. After checking the bar, I decided to check the restaurant, assuming my spoiled brother had gone after the smell of food. Walking down the patio, I glanced outside through the floor-to-ceiling window, my heart just about stopping when I spotted Nacio speaking to none other than Ariyan. Choking on my own spit, I quickly ran to get to them, nearly bumping into the glass door on my way out.

If he gets me fired, he’s fucking dead.

“Ignacio!” I shouted, causing him and Ariyan to both turn and look at me. A bit out of breath, I finally reached them. “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed at him in Spanish.

“I was just looking around, and this dude showed up.”

Even though he spoke back in Spanish, the moron still pointed at Ariyan, and so I grabbed his hand and pulled it down. “Are you crazy⁠—”

“Good morning, Mr. Rivas,” Ariyan finally cut in, greeting me with his warm smile.

Fuck, he’s gorgeous.

“H-hey,” I blurted. “Sorry about my brother.” I wrapped an arm around Nacio to keep him close after he tried moving away. “He came to visit me.”

“Oh, please don’t worry about it. All he did was ask how much a night costs in our hotel.”

“And it’s fucking theft,” Nacio muttered when I covered his mouth with my hand.

Thankfully, Ariyan laughed in response, and the sound of his voice made me swoon.

“I’m sorry if he bothered you. He’s just a kid,” I said, unable to look away from his beautiful face.

“Please, stop apologizing so much. It’s really okay.”

He looks especially pretty in the sunlight.

“What happened to your face?” Nacio asked while looking at Ariyan, and my jaw basically dropped.

Horrified, I glared at my brother.

“Are you an idiot?” I snarled, switching back to Spanish.

“What? He’s got a big-ass scar there. It made me curious.”

I smacked the back of his head. “Apologize to him right now.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re rude.”

“Am not.”

“I’ll fucking kill you⁠—”

“Oh my.” Ariyan let out a soft chuckle. “Hearing the two of you arguing in Spanish is like a comedy show, although it’s a shame I can’t understand.” He placed his hand on his right cheek. “I got this scar as a child in an unfortunate accident. Most days, I forget it’s even there.”

Now I felt like shit for reminding him of it.

“In any case, I don’t mind your brother asking about it, as I understand people get curious. It’s our nature, after all. Isn’t it?”

Saying this, with his eyes pinned on me, felt like he was onto me. But then, his stare moved on to Nacio. “Speaking of appearances, I can see the family resemblance. You two are the spitting image of each other.”

I cleared my throat, then straightened up. “Yeah?”