[Moreno Brothers 01.0] Forever Mine

by Elizabeth Reyes

Angel nodded then turned to Sarah. “Sofie, this is Sarah. Sarah, this is my baby sister, Sofie.”

  His sister rolled her eyes and held her hand out to shake Sarah’s. “Sofia,” she corrected. “And I'm hardly a baby anymore, Angel. Nice to meet you, Sarah.”

  Relieved, Sarah exhaled. She shook Sofia’s hand, smiling. “Nice to meet you too.”

  She was right, Sarah thought. His sister didn’t look like a baby at all. In fact, if she had to guess, she would’ve thought Sofia was at least her age if not older. Sofia was taller than her with a heck of a lot more curves.

  Angel ignored Sofia’s comment and grabbed a menu. He led Sarah into one of the dining rooms. “I’ll put in our order, no need to send anyone over.”

  The room was very big. Sarah took everything in, impressed. Brightly colored Mexican artwork tastefully covered the walls. Clay figurines like the ones they’d seen all over Old Town adorned the many shelves.

  Through one of the arches, Sarah could see the other dining room and realized the music she heard when they walked in was actually a live trio of musicians singing. She stretched her neck to get a better look. There was a short man with an accordion, a taller one playing the cello, and the pudgiest of the three was the singer playing a guitar. They all wore cowboy hats and had thick mustaches. No wonder Angel hadn’t wanted to go to Old Town. Why would he? He had it all here.

  Angel took her to one of the more private booths near the back of the restaurant. “Look it over.” He handed her the menu then kissed her. “I’ll go get us something to drink.”

  Sarah's eyes bounced around from one dish to another on the menu. She was starving and everything sounded so good. She read everything that came with each plate and wondered if she’d get full. She was trying to decide between the green enchiladas and the wet burrito when she heard male voices coming toward her. Her eyes lifted from the menu and saw Angel and what appeared to be a taller, buffer, more mature looking version of Angel coming toward her. Alex. Her heart thudded a little faster.

  “Well, this is a first,” Alex said when he got close enough. He smiled mischievously, glancing at Angel then back at Sarah.

  “Ignore him.” Angel placed the chips and salsa in front of her, spilling a little of the salsa in the process.

  Alex slipped into the seat directly in front of her, frowning down at the spilled salsa. “No wonder they don’t let you wait tables around here.” When his eyes met Sarah’s, his frown dissolved. “Are those for real?”

  Angel chuckled and introduced them. “Alex, this is Sarah. Sarah, this is my brother Alex—and he’s not staying.”

  He placed his hand over hers on the table. “Very nice to meet you, Sarah.”

  Sarah gulped, holding the menu tight with her other hand. “Nice to meet you too.”

  Angel grabbed a napkin and wiped down the table where the salsa had spilled. “Have you decided, or do you need more time?” he asked Sarah.

  Sarah could barely concentrate with Alex’s hand still over hers. “Uh, are the green enchiladas good?”

  Alex squeezed her hand and smiled. “Everything here is delicious.”

  Sarah sat up a bit, feeling her cheeks warm as Angel threw the crumpled napkin at Alex and laughed. “Knock it off. You’re such an idiot.”

  Alex didn’t take his eyes off Sarah, but he let go of her hand.

  “Yeah.” Angel looked back at Sarah. “They’re real good, is that what you want?”

  She nodded and handed him the menu.

  “Okay. Let me go put in the order. I’ll be right back. And don’t worry—he’s outta here as soon as I get back.”

  “I think you’re the one that’s worried,” Alex smirked.

  Angel strolled away. “Whatever,” he said without turning around. “And get your hands off her.”

  Alex put both his hands in the air, smiling. He sat back and crossed his arms, pretending to analyze her.

  Sarah couldn’t get over the resemblance between him and Angel, except Alex was thicker, fuller somehow. But not heavy, just buffer, and his neck was huge. He had those same amazing dimples as Angel. With him smiling like that, looking so perfect, it was hard to believe he had such a short fuse, as she’d heard.

  His silliness made Sarah feel less nervous. “Well, I didn’t know Angel had a girl. Did you know he had brothers?”

  “Yeah, I did. I must say, even though I’ve never seen you, I’ve heard an awful lot about you.”

  “Really?” he said. “Well, don’t believe a word of it. Angel’s just jealous.”

  Sarah laughed. “Actually, Angel hasn’t said a thing about you. It’s my cousin who’s been doing all the talking.” Valerie was going to kill her.

  “Your cousin?”

  “Yeah, I guess you can say she’s one of your biggest fans.” Sarah smiled.

  Alex leaned closer to Sarah. “Okay, I gotta know now. What’s your cousin’s name?”

  “Valerie Zuniga,” she said. “She’s a senior like me at La Jolla.”

  She watched as he concentrated. “Valerie Zuniga? What’s she look like?”

  “Tiny.” Sarah giggled. “She’s really petite. As tall as you are, she might have passed by you a hundred times, and you probably never saw her. Maybe that’s why you don’t remember her.”

  “Maybe. So your tiny cousin Valerie is a fan, huh? Does she have eyes like yours?”

  Sarah felt herself blushing again. “No, actually she’s my step cousin. My aunt married Valerie’s dad. So, she looks nothing like me. She has shorter blond hair and brown eyes.”

  “Hmm. A blonde? Well, if I don’t remember her, what can she possibly have to say about me?”

  Oh no. Sarah hadn’t expected the conversation to get this far. She couldn’t possibly tell him Valerie worshipped him. What if he ever did meet her? She cleared her throat. “Oh, she’s just told me about what a good football player you are and stuff.”

  “You’re backpedaling, Sarah.” He smirked. “You said you’d heard an awful lot. Now spill it.”

  Sarah’s eyes opened wide. “Well, yeah, but it’s girl talk. I can’t tell you that. She’d kill me.”

  He sat up even more interested. “Girl talk, huh? This is getting even better. You have to tell me now.”

  “No way!” She laughed nervously. Where was Angel?

  Alex was playing with her now, and she could tell he loved it—loved seeing her squirm. “Okay, just one thing. You can’t leave me hanging like this. You’re the one that brought it up.”

  This was true, and now she wanted to kick herself for it. She sighed, feeling defeated. “All right, just one thing and then we drop it, okay?” She tried to sound firm.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The corner of his lips went up, making the dimple on his cheek even deeper. How could he not guess what girls said about him?

  “She’s just told me many times about . . . Well, you know . . . how good-looking you are and how popular you were in school. Okay? I’m not going into any details either, so don’t ask.”

  Alex chuckled. “Okay, fair enough, but now you’re gonna have to bring her around some time, so I can get a chance to check her out.”

  “All right. Maybe one of these days.” Somehow, she doubted Valerie would want to now. She changed the subject. “So I thought you were away at school.”

  He shook his head. “I’m in school, just not away. I go to UC San Diego. I wanted to stay close by, so I could still help out with the restaurant. I don’t have school or practice on Sundays.”

  He glanced over her shoulder, and his smile stretched, revealing his deep big dimples again. He picked up her hand and kissed it. Sarah tensed up. “You’re too late,” he said. “We’re getting married.”

  “Get the hell out of here,” she heard Angel say from behind her.

  She turned to see him walking back toward them. Their eyes met, and he puckered his lips at her, making her heart flutter. She’d been with him all weekend, and she still couldn’t get enough of him.

  By the time Ang
el had reached the booth, Alex was already on his feet. “Yeah, you better leave,” Angel said.

  Alex messed Angel’s hair. “You’re lucky I have work to do.” He smiled at Sarah. “It was a pleasure, Sarah.”

  Angel pushed him playfully. “Get to work, you bum.”

  Just as Alex began walking away, Sofia leaned in the dining room. “Your food’s ready, Angel.”

  Alex seemed surprised. “You’re still here, Sof?”

  “Yeah, there were people waiting, and Julio wasn’t here yet.”

  “Who’s taking you home?”

  Sofia shrugged. “I thought you would.”

  “Sweetheart, I can’t leave. I’m doing the payroll for this week.” They both turned to Angel.

  Angel’s shoulders dropped, and he looked up at the ceiling. “I can take her,” he conceded, “but I’m eating first.”

  He leaned over and kissed Sarah, before leaving again to get their food. They ate their dinner, and, as usual, Angel was incapable of keeping his hands and lips off her. After they finished, they sat there stuffed.

  “God, that was good.” Sarah stared at her empty plate.

  Angel had eaten the biggest burrito on the menu. It looked big enough to feed at least two. He leaned his head on Sarah. “I think I ate too much.”

  “You think?” His plate appeared to be licked clean. She started giggling. “There’s no way I could’ve finished even half of that.”

  Angel groaned. “It’s not funny.”

  Sarah turned around and scanned the restaurant. “We better go,” she said. “Your poor sister has been waiting all this time.”

  Angel stood up and started piling the plates up, but a busboy rushed over. “I got it, Angel.”

  “I can get this, Ernie,” Angel said.

  “No, no, I got it,” Ernie insisted and quickly piled everything on top of Angel’s plate.

  “Thanks, man.” Angel took Sarah by the hand. They walked by the door to the back office, and Angel yelled in, “We’re outta here, Alex.”

  “All right,” Alex yelled back. “You got Sofie, right?”

  “Yeah, I’ll drop her off.”

  “All right then,” Alex said. “Byyye, Sarah.”

  “Byyye, Alex.” She giggled. They heard Alex laugh.

  Angel shook his head. “Don’t encourage him.”

  Chapter 7

  On the ride home from the restaurant, the two girls hit it off right away. They both loved running. Sofia was on the track team, and Sarah had been in track since the ninth grade. Sarah hoped Sofia wouldn’t ask about her moving out here. She didn’t. She was more interested in why she hadn’t gone out for track at La Jolla.

  “It’s not too late, you know,” Sofia said. “The meets aren’t until next semester anyway. Have you done relays? ’Cause the girl that ran the relay with us last year was really good, but she graduated. So now we’re trying to find someone to replace her, but no one so far has come even close to her speed.”

  Sarah knew she had the speed. She’d been the fourth place runner in both the 400m and 1600m relays back home and won plenty of times—a few times coming from behind. Her heart ached to think she wasn’t there training with all of her old teammates. She hadn’t even said goodbye to any of them, not wanting to answer any of the inevitable questions. Instead, she’d asked Sydney to keep it simple and just tell them she’d moved out of state over the summer. She’d figure out what to say when she got back. “I ran a few relays back home on the team.”

  “Oh, my God.” Sofia sat up at the edge of her seat. “Are you fast?”

  Angel turned to her. He’d been holding her hand the entire way. “Yeah, I’m pretty fast.”

  “Come out and meet the team, Sarah. See what you think. And, oh”—Sofia glanced at Angel and then back at Sarah—“Coach Rudy is fine.”

  She mouthed the word fine again in case Sarah hadn’t caught what she meant.

  “He’s a perv,” Angel huffed.

  “He is not! Those are just rumors.”

  That sparked Sarah’s curiosity. “What rumors?”

  “He’s young and hot. Last year was his first year teaching ever.” Sofia made a face. “So, a lot of the stupid girls are always flirting with him. Anyway, people started saying that maybe he’d dated some of the older ones outside school. Even if he did, he can’t be more than twenty-three. That’s not old.”

  Sarah’s eyebrows shot up, and Angel gave Sofia a disgusted look. “I warned you about him.”

  “Yes, yes, Angel, I know.” Sofia turned back to Sarah and rolled her eyes. “I’m not allowed to be alone with him, can you believe it? Anyway, you should come out and run with us, Sarah. Coach Rudy will be so excited.”

  “But I’m not gonna be here next semester.” Angel squeezed Sarah’s hand, and their eyes met.

  He turned his attention back on the road. She could see his jaw tense and his expression turn hard. He turned into a long circular driveway.

  The house was impressive, a lot bigger than her aunt’s, and she’d always thought her aunt’s house was big. Well, compared to the one-bedroom apartment she and her mom had lived in, anything was big. But this was huge. She looked out the window as he reached the front entrance and stopped. It had an elegant double-door entry.

  “Why?” Sofia almost whined.

  “I’ll have to tell you about it another time,” Sarah said, looking back at her.

  Sofia frowned and opened the back door. “Tell Mom I’ll be back later,” Angel said.

  Sofia got out and came around to Sarah’s window. “Please tell me you weren’t the fourth place runner ’cause that’s what we really need.”

  The guilt was almost too much. “Yeah, I was.”

  “Ugh.” Sofia was deflated. “Maybe you can at least come practice with us one of these days.”

  “Sure, I can do that. I should be training anyway. I plan on getting back on the team at my old school.”

  “Good.” Sofia smiled. “I’ll talk to my coach and let you know when.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Sofia thanked Angel for the ride and went inside. Still smiling, Sarah turned to look at Angel. His expression was so hard her smile disappeared immediately.

  “We need to talk.” He pulled out of the driveway.

  ***

  They drove up to where he’d taken her the night of the party. Angel could feel the onset of a headache, and his stomach felt a little queasy. What the hell was she doing to him?

  Except for when she’d asked him if he was okay and he had simply responded, “nope,” the drive was a silent one. Still, he held her hand firmly in his. He parked facing the cliff where they had a perfect view of the setting sun. But Angel wasn’t interested in that. He didn’t even wait to get out of the car. As soon as he turned off the car, he leaned against his door and looked at her. The worried look on her face made his words softer than he originally intended them to be.

  “I don’t understand why you’re in such a rush to get back to Arizona, Sarah.” Without waiting for her response, he added, “I mean, is it really that bad here? I know you said your friend is waiting for you, but is your mom going to be there for you?”

  He saw the hurt in her face, and his heart dropped. He immediately felt like an idiot. Shit. Who the hell did he think he was prying into her life like that? He had barely known her for a weekend, and her plans were made long before him. “I’m sorry, Sarah.” He kissed her hand.

  He saw the tears in her big eyes, and he felt like kicking his own ass. Her painful expression twisted his insides. Damn it. How could he be so stupid? For all he knew, her mom could be in a hospital somewhere. He leaned over and pulled her gently to him, kissing her head.

  “God, Sarah, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I had no right—”

  She shook her head before he could finish. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s not your fault. There’s no way you could know.”

  Know what? “So, tell me,” he said then quickly added, “or don’t. You
don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  He’d pushed her too much already. He wanted to be there for her, make her pain go away, but he had to stop being so damn pushy.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to,” she said. “It’s just too embarrassing.” Then added in a hushed whisper, “shameful.”

  “What?” He lifted her chin gently. “Sarah, there is nothing you can tell me that would make me feel any different about you.” And he meant it. He had a feeling, whatever it was, it couldn’t be anything Sarah had done. He couldn’t imagine Sarah doing anything shameful.

  He opened the glove compartment and pulled out a napkin, handing it to her. She took it and cleaned herself up. “Can we get out?”

  Angel pulled the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. He walked around the car quickly, meeting her as she got out. He hugged her tightly, wanting her to feel just how sorry he was. “I’m really sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” she said. “You didn’t do anything.”

  “I’m an ass.”

  “No, you’re not.” She laughed.

  She closed the door, and they walked back to the exact spot they’d stood that first night. Sarah held onto the rail, and he stood behind her, his arms around her waist. As they looked out into the ocean, Angel felt her take a deep breath.

  “My mom’s in jail.”

  He stood perfectly still. The last thing he wanted was for Sarah to feel he was judging her. He was determined not to interrupt and let her say what she wanted, and only what she wanted.

  She turned to face him, and he felt his heart sink when he saw the tears in her eyes again.

  “My mom is a good person.”

  “Sweetheart, you don’t have to convince me.” He wiped away a tear that rolled down her cheek.

  She threw her arms around him, and he held her tight. After he held her for a few minutes, she pulled back and looked him straight in the eye.

  “Things weren’t easy for us, Angel,” she said. “It’s always been just the two of us. We had no one else. My grandparents were non-existent, disowning my mom when she got pregnant with me. She was only seventeen when I was born, and I’ve never known my dad.”