Page 2 of Fixed Up Ever After
Lola was a sucker for a man with tattoos. It was one of her weaknesses. Which made her relationship with Archie so odd. He was as vanilla as they came, and yet she had bent over backward for him, lost in her weird, out-of-character obsession.
A boisterous laugh from the table brought her attention back toward her family. Her father’s pale cheeks were a bright tomato red from laughing at something Archie said. Marisol laughed politely, still hanging on his shoulder. Next to her father stood her mother, fussing over Marisol’s hair. Lola tried not to make eye contact, but Luciana was a damn lioness, sensing prey from miles away. Their eyes met briefly and then Luciana bent over to whisper something in her father’s ear before making a beeline for Lola.
Before her mom got too close, Lola sent off a quick message to the stranger on the app. She cut straight to the point, not wanting to waste their time, and mentioned she was only here for one night. Once the message went through, she clicked her screen off.
“Dolores, what are you doing all the way over here? You should be with your family, congratulating your sister. This is a very important day for her.” Her mother’s posh voice grated on her nerves.
Luckily, Lola had a wonderful poker face. She plastered on the same fake smile she wore in most of her staged family photos. She did a decent job at convincing people she was happy because no one ever questioned her. “They're getting quite enough attention without me, Mom.”
“Oh, please, don’t be like that,” her mother chided. “Don’t start a scene or ruin this night for your sister. If not for her, do it for me.”
Now she really had to hold her tongue. Did no one remember that Archie had been Lola’s boyfriend first? How they were together for almost two years before he cut her out of his life like an expired coupon, only to immediately get into a relationship with her perfect sister not even a month later?
But of course,shewas the one causing a scene. Typical. Fortunately, she was used to being the black sheep of the family.
Lola opened her mouth to say something that would only dig her into a deeper hole when her phone chimed. She looked down and read the notification that popped up. A smile crept over her features.
You don’t have to ask me twice. I’ll be there in an hour.
“Dolores, are you listening to me?” Her mother’s patience ran thin, but for once she didn’t care.
“No, sorry. I have to go. A friend is waiting for me.”
“A friend?” Her shrill voice suggested she didn’t believe Lola was capable of making friends. Which, ouch. “This is your sister’s engagement dinner! What friend could be more important than this?”
“A new friend. Goodbye, Mom. Give Marisol my best.”
Luciana sputtered incoherent nonsense as she left the overly priced private dining room. Not once did she look back.
She had a hookup to meet.
CHAPTER2
Javi
There were times in Javi’s life where he had done questionable things, like the time he set a dumpster on fire to see if it truly did smell as bad as his friends said it did. Spoiler alert, it smelled worse.
Teenage Javi was a terror and had no reason to be so feral. But since becoming a father who worked full time to provide for his six-year-old daughter—who was only getting more expensive as she aged—he thought he had become a more mature, well-rounded person.
Certainly not the type of person that downloaded hookup apps, dropped his daughter off at his sister’s house, and drove forty-five minutes to a fancy hotel in the rich part of town to get some action.
Except that was exactly what he was doing.
How the hell had he become so desperate? Well, he knew the answer to that, though he hated to think about his time with Estella. He had fallen so head over heels in love with her, he planned on making Estella his wife.
That was five years ago, but the grief never fully left him. In many ways, Javi felt responsible for Estella’s death, no matter how many times his sister or father told him there wasn’t anything he could have done. He didn’t believe their lies, but appreciated the comfort they attempted to give him.
Since Estella, he hadn’t pursued another relationship. He had many excuses as to why, most notably his lack of free time. He juggled being the best father he could be to Camilia and the rest of the time was spent at his job.
As if working hard, long days would allow him to escape any emotions still lingering after Estella’s death. The minuscule amount of free time he had was spent with Camilia, who was growing so fast. Javi didn’t want to be an absent father like his own father had been. He wanted Camilia to have memories of him at all her important life events and never doubt how much he loved her.
Going out tonight was a big fucking deal. He wrestled between guilt and acceptance. He deserved a night of fun without feeling like he was a bad dad for leaving his daughter behind. He wanted—no,needed—physical touch from a woman who desired him on a simply superficial level.
So all of that to say, he might have been feeling lonely. He hadn’t been celibate since Estella’s passing—he was no monk—but the last time he took a woman to bed had been over a year ago. The urge for sex had been easy to ignore, but suddenly it was getting harder to block out those urges. Seeing how happy his sister was with her husband and their new son made him miss the touch and comfort of another person.
That was the only reason he pulled into the labyrinthine parking garage. He shoveled out an exuberant amount of money just to leave his car behind so he could meet a woman named Dolores.
Actually, he was going to do a hell of a lot more than meet with her, and that unnerved him.
