Page 43 of Fixed Up Ever After
“Daddy met me downstairs and handed me a key.” She showed the plastic key, holding it up in front of her like a shield that would protect her from her sister’s wrath. Marisol continued to look annoyed, but no more than normal.
That had to be a good sign.
“Are you alone?” her mother asked, peering around Lola, no doubt searching for Javi to round the corner at any minute.
“Yeah, Javi’s back in the room. I wanted to come down and apologize for how things were left last night. It wasn’t my intention to cause a scene at your dinner, Marisol.” Did she feel like she did anything wrong? Not particularly. But this was her sister’s engagement week and despite everything, she didn’t want to taint these memories for her. Emotions ran high last night, but she hoped it wouldn’t happen again.
Marisol offered her a smile. Not one that met her eyes, she doubted her sister was capable of a full range of emotions, but a smile nonetheless. “Yes, all is forgiven. Daddy wasn’t happy about the incident.”
No, she suspected he wouldn’t be, though she didn’t think his anger extended to her and Javi.
“I still don’t understand why you allowed that man to speak to us like that. If you had a problem with our words, you should have come to us. You know we love you and only want what’s best for you,” her mother cut in.
The thing was, she truly did believe her sister and mother loved her. Or perhaps that was the hopes of a naive girl talking who desperately wanted a loving mother and sister. Their love came with conditions and Lola often found herself coming up short of their expectations for her. She stopped trying to please them long ago, but she would be lying if the thought of giving in to their demands didn’t cross her mind every once in a while.
“Javi felt like you were attacking me—”
“Attacking?” Her mother gasped, shaking her head like that was the most outlandish idea to have ever crossed her mind. “Oh, dear, you know that isn’t it at all. He needs to better understand our family before he puts his nose into places it doesn’t belong. I would hate for that to end badly for him.”
“Jesus, Mother. Must you always be so dramatic?” Marisol muttered under her breath, displaying a rare case of sibling support.
Of course, her mother was never one to reflect on her behavior. “That man ruined your entire dinner. I don’t think I’m being dramatic when I say Lola needs to pick better men.”
A very unladylike snort left her lips. She couldn’t escape the irony, could she? “Are you kidding me?” She scoffed, her face grew hot with pent-up anger. “Need I remind you that my last boyfriend is about to marry my sister? So he was only a bad pick for me, but not Marisol?”
“Lola, please. Let’s not do this now. This week is not about you, and it’s unfair to your sister to bring it up. I thought we were all over it?”
“How can we be over something we never discussed?” Her voice rose with each word. “But it’s not even about that. It’s about how you two constantly treat me. I’m sick of it and I’ve been living with it my whole life. Javi was only at dinner for less than an hour before the way you treated me pissed him off. He cares for me, Mother. Openly. Something you could stand to learn from him.”
This wasn’t why she came into this room, though she knew seeing them would bring along the possibility of another argument. She was sick of being in survival mode all the time. Sick of caring and not being able to let go, even now she had the strong urge to push everything under the rug and survive until the end of the week.
“I said what I needed to and I don’t want to discuss this anymore. If you need me, you know where to find me. I’m going back to the kindhearted man who appreciates me and doesn’t point out all of my flaws.” With that, she spun on her heels and left the room. No one tried to run after her, not that she thought they would. Her goal had been to mend the tear in the relationship, but she only made it worse.
No, not her.Them.They made it worse.
How hard was it to be a decent fucking human? Her mom would piss and moan about her attitude and make some offhand comments, then they would go about the same cycle they always fell into. It was toxic, but it was comfortable. All that either one of them knew.
Just once she wished her sister would stand up for her, more than expressing annoyance in their mother. She couldn’t quite blame Marisol. Her sister was just trying to survive too.
Lola stormed back to their floor, slamming her key against the reader until the green light shined. When she pushed the door open, she heard water coming from the shower, but that didn’t stop her from calling out, “Javi!”
She was on edge and needed to come back down. Needed to experience something other than this negativity coursing through her veins and there was only one man who could help her. A special man she was beyond tired of denying and one who made her feel things she was sick of shying away from.
The water suddenly cut off and she heard him scramble inside the bathroom until the door slid open, exposing a very wet and half-naked Javi, a tiny towel the only thing covering his lower half. His eyes were blown wide with concern as he looked around the room, stopping once he reached her. “What is it? What happened?”
Seeing him, his chest rising and falling rapidly because he rushed to check on her, was the last bit of evidence she needed to know that this man would do anything for her. It was a scary, but exhilarating thought.
“Fuck the business deal.”
“What?” Naturally, he was confused by her choice of words, and probably worried. After all, she just stormed into the room and demanded his attention.
“I said fuck this business deal. I don’t want to think. I don’t want to be around people who can’t accept all of me because I’m too much. I fucking want you. This has nothing to do with you being my fake date. I wantyou,Javi. I want you to help me forget. Just like you did six months ago.”
Silence met her plea. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she wondered if she had just overstepped. They had been good yesterday, so maybe Javi didn’t actually want to be with her. Maybe she had completely read the room wrong and she was making a fool of herself.
But a few seconds later, a low, seductive laugh left Javi’s mouth. She watched as his eyes took her in, every inch of her body. She felt herself grow hot from his gaze alone.
Just when she thought the tension was going to be the death of her, Javi stepped closer. “You want to forget, preciosa? I can manage that.” In the next instant, he was on her.
