[Moreno Brothers 01.0] Forever Mine

by Elizabeth Reyes

  Angel, who was closest, shoved him.

  They finished getting things ready and people started arriving. Angel hung out with Romero in the front room, his thoughts, as usual, miles away. Romero kept nudging him to get his attention. After a few annoying conversations with what Alex referred to as refined college girls, Angel had had enough. He headed back to the kitchen for food.

  He stopped dead when he walked in the kitchen. Sofia was wearing jeans and heels that made her look way taller, not to mention older, but it was the blouse he couldn’t take his eyes off. It was the same backless one Sarah had worn at that very first party he had talked to her.

  Alex walked in after Angel. “Sofia, what are you wearing?”

  Sofia looked down at her blouse. “What? Sarah lent it to me a while back. What’s wrong with it?”

  “You look . . .” Alex struggled to find the word.

  “Hot?” she teased.

  Alex’s jaw worked. “You need to change.”

  “Why?”

  Eric walked in the back door and froze when he saw Sofia.

  Alex saw the way he looked at her. “Go change now, Sofia, before anyone else gets here.”

  Sofia stomped out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Angel felt bad. He didn’t mind the way she looked, but he was glad the blouse would be gone. Just seeing it had brought back memories of holding and kissing Sarah for the first time. It was all too painful, and as much as he missed her, he was glad he wouldn’t have to see her again.

  The time went by quickly, and before long, they were counting down. Angel was outside with Sal, Alex, and a couple of the girls. Sofia had gone inside with Eric and Romero to watch the countdown on the big television.

  When they were done with the hugs and Happy New Years, Alex took off to bring some more beer from inside. Angel followed, his mind still on Sarah and what she might be doing right at that moment. She was officially eighteen now.

  Alex walked in the kitchen. “What the fuck?”

  Angel couldn’t see, but Alex was livid. He caught up in time to see Alex charge Eric. “You’re kissing my little sister?”

  “It was a New Year’s kiss,” Sofia said, stepping in front of Eric.

  “I don’t give a shit! You don’t kiss my sister like that. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “Like how?” Angel tried holding Alex back. What the hell had he seen? By then other people were sticking their heads in the kitchen, and Sal rushed in from the backyard.

  “It was just for New Year’s, Alex. Relax,” Eric said.

  Alex reached over Sofia and grabbed Eric by the shirt. “I know what I saw, fucker. Sofia, move!”

  But between Angel, Sal, and Sofia, they held him off. Eric began for the door.

  “What the hell, Alex?” Angel asked. “Wait, Eric.”

  “No, I want him out,” Alex barked. “I ever see you around my sister again, I swear to God I’ll fuck you up!”

  Sal winced. “Enough, Alex.”

  Alex hadn’t seemed drunk earlier, but now Angel could only assume that he was. Eric left in a hurry. Angel turned to Sofia. She looked ready to cry. People had given them their privacy and left the kitchen, except for Romero, who stood at the doorway.

  Angel didn’t even want to ask. It was too bizarre. But he had to. “How was he kissing you?”

  “Your friend had his tongue down her throat!” Alex shouted.

  Before Angel could wrap his brain around what he just heard, Sofia spoke up. “Maybe I had my tongue down his throat, ever think about that?” The tears streamed down her cheeks. She stunned them all momentarily. “I’m not a baby anymore, Alex. I’m tired of being treated like one!”

  “You’re sixteen, Sof,” Alex’s tone was much softer now, and Angel knew he wasn’t drunk.

  “I’ll see him if I want to. You can’t stop me!” Sofia rushed out, pushing Romero as she made her way out of the kitchen.

  “Like hell you will,” Alex said, soft at first and then again louder. “You hear me, Sof? Like hell you will!”

  Alex turned and glared at Angel. “I don’t want that asshole around her again.”

  ***

  Sarah was tired and her feet ached. The party showed no signs of dying down. Valerie tried to pull her into the circle of girls where she was dancing, but Sarah motioned that she was going to the restroom.

  Valerie’s friends lived in a gated community. They had a recreation center where the party was being held. It was about the size of a small banquet room with a pool just outside.

  Sarah passed the restroom and went outside. It was chilly but felt good. She sat down on one of the picnic tables by the pool and searched her small clutch for her compact. Her cell phone was lit. She’d just missed a text. Sydney had already called her to wish her a happy birthday.

  When she flipped it over, she noticed she also had two missed calls. They were both from Sofia. Sarah smiled. Since the break-up, Sofia had called her a couple of times: once to tell her how sorry she was about them splitting up, and another just after Christmas to tell her she missed her and wished she was still in California. Both times Sarah had choked up.

  She didn’t remember if she’d even mentioned her birthday being on New Year’s to Sofia. She clicked the envelope and read the text.

  I hate my brothers. I’m so mad I’m crying.

  Call me please. I need to talk to you.

  Sarah thought of the cavemen and couldn’t help frowning. What had they done now? She called Sofia, and she picked up right away. She was hysterical. Sarah could barely make the words out. The only thing she could make out was that Alex had ruined her life.

  “Sofia, slow down. Take a deep breath.” Sarah did her best to speak in a soothing voice. She remembered her mom doing that to her when she was little and she was crying. “I can’t understand you.”

  Sofia breathed heavily, but Sarah could tell she was trying to calm herself. She sounded like a little girl, and Sarah wished she could be there to hug her.

  “Alex told Eric to stay away from me.”

  Sarah dreaded asking why, but she did anyway. She listened quietly while Sofia told her the whole story, at times breaking down and crying again. After she’d calmed though, she sounded more determined and angry than anything.

  “It’s not fair, Sarah. Eric’s been nothing but a gentleman with me. It was all me, and I told them.”

  “You did?”

  “Yes.” She sounded pleased. “I told them it was my tongue down his throat.”

  Sarah let out a gasping laugh. “No, you didn’t?”

  Finally, Sofia didn’t sound so sad. Sarah even thought she heard her laugh. “It’s the truth. Eric always holds back. He’s so gentle with me.” She sighed. “It drives me crazy, so then I become the aggressor.”

  Sarah still couldn’t believe Sofia would say such a thing. In some ways, she wished she’d been there, but good God, of all the brothers to catch them, it had to be Alex? Knowing she would’ve felt terribly uncomfortable, she was relieved she hadn’t been there. “What did Alex say when you said that?”

  Sofia told her about how they’d all been speechless, even described the stunned look on Angel’s face. For a moment, it seemed Sofia had escaped her dejected mood. But when she got to the end, she started sniffling again.

  “Eric texted me, but only to see if I was okay. He said he didn’t want to chance my brothers checking my phone. I told him I wanna try to talk to Angel about this. He didn’t think it was a good idea and made me promise I’d tell him before I did.”

  Sarah tried to concentrate, but just hearing his name had rattled her. Angel wasn’t the most reasonable person she knew. But under the circumstances, she didn’t see how it would hurt.

  “What would you say? You can’t tell him you guys have been keeping it from him all this time. He’ll be furious. Trust me.”

  Sarah had already begun to worry about how Angel might be feeling right now. She knew he felt completely betrayed by her, and now this? Eric was one of his
closest friends. Her heart ached for him.

  Sofia said she would think about it and run it past her before she did to see what she thought. They talked for a little while longer, and Sarah fought the incredible temptation to ask about Angel and if Dana had been at the party. But she decided not to torture herself. The fact that he hadn’t bothered to even send a generic happy birthday text said it all. He was done with her.

  Chapter 25

  As usual, Angel hadn’t gotten much sleep. He was up early and walked over to Sofia’s room, careful that he didn’t wake Alex. He needed to get to the bottom of this whole Eric thing, and he didn’t want Alex there riling Sofia up to the point where she’d say something absurd like she had last night.

  He’d known Eric too long and trusted him completely. There had to be more to the story. This wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to. He wouldn’t even know where to start, but he had to do it fast before Alex was up.

  He knocked softly on Sofia’s half-opened door before peeking in. To his surprise, she was already up and on her computer. She minimized the screen she was on when he walked in.

  To his relief, he didn’t have to think of something to say. She spoke first. “Are you mad at me?”

  Angel lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know.”

  She stood up and closed the door behind Angel. The expression on her face reminded him of when they were kids. Sofie had always been handled with care. It’s what they were taught for as long as he could remember. And it stuck real well. No one messed with Sweet Sofie. Not then—not now. Angel sat on her bed, and she took a seat back at her desk.

  “Look. What happened last night was my fault. I take complete responsibility.” She spoke in a hushed voice, and her eyes seemed to plead. “Angel, he gave me a New Year’s hug, and I kissed him.”

  Angel stared at her. “Why?”

  She looked at him then away. “I like him. I always have.”

  This was not what Angel had wanted to hear. He shook his head. Eric was like family and Sofia was . . . well, his baby sister, damn it. He stood up, not sure what to say.

  “No.”

  “No, what?” Sofia stood up in front of him.

  “You can’t.”

  “Why not? Jesus, you guys act like I’m a baby. I’ll be seventeen this year—Sarah’s age when she started dating you.”

  Angel’s jaw locked. “That’s different.”

  “How?”

  “It just is, Sof.”

  Angel tried to walk around Sofia to leave. This conversation was over. Alex was right. Eric would just have to stay away. But Sofia didn’t let him by her. She put her hand on his chest and looked him straight in the eye.

  “You and Alex are going to have to face it sooner or later. I’m not a little girl anymore.”

  Angel wasn’t used to her being so dauntless, and he didn’t like it. “Dad won’t have it either.”

  “I’ll handle Daddy, Angel. Just promise me you won’t be mad at Eric. It really wasn’t his fault.”

  Angel nodded and she let him by. That hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but he was relieved he wouldn’t have to be mad at Eric. Alex was a different story. The image of Eric kissing his baby sister would be branded into his hard head for a while. But he’d have to get over it eventually. Unless he wanted Sofie reminding him over and over that she was the one who initiated the kiss. Angel shuddered just thinking about it.

  He didn’t want too much time to go by and make things weird when he finally talked to Eric. Not only that, the conversation he had with Sofia had left him uneasy. He needed to get a few things straight with Eric. He planned on calling him later that day, but Eric beat him to it. His phone rang just as he walked into the restaurant.

  “Hey, Eric, what’s up?”

  There was silence for a brief moment, and Angel smiled. He knew his cheery hello would throw Eric.

  “Hey . . . how’s everything?”

  “You mean with Alex?” Angel chuckled. “That’s gonna be the same for a while. But Sofia told me what happened. And it’s cool. I’m sorry Alex went off on you like that, man.”

  Eric cleared his throat. “Nah, it’s all good. I know it could’ve been a lot worse.”

  Angel laughed. “Yeah, you got out of there in one piece.”

  “No shit. I had to change my pants when I got home though.”

  “Ha! Romero said you would.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that ass had a lot to say.”

  It was actually a surprise Romero didn’t say too much that night. The party was pretty much a wash after that whole mess. Alex was too wound up to relax, so they just started cleaning up, and everyone took off.

  Angel lowered his voice when he walked by Alex, who was sitting in one of the booths, looking over the restaurant mail from the week before. He was in charge of it while his parents were gone, and, of course, he was just now getting to it.

  “Listen. I guess it’s not unheard of for a little sister to have a crush on her older brother’s friend, right?” He paused, but Eric didn’t say a word. Angel wasn’t sure how to get the rest out without sounding awkward. He never imagined having to have this discussion, but here he was. Awkward or not, he was getting it out. “You can’t let anything like that happen again, all right?” That was a little lame, but he’d gotten to the point, and he felt satisfied.

  “Angel, she’s almost seventeen.”

  Angel stopped in his tracks and actually looked at his phone. “Are you shitting me?”

  “I hear what you’re saying,” Eric added quickly. “And yeah, you got it, man. But c’mon, how long do you think you can keep her from dating anyone?”

  Angel was walking again but could feel the agitation set in. He got that his sister was almost seventeen, but you couldn’t measure maturity with a number. Sofie was different. “Don’t worry about that. Just promise me you won’t give into any of her silliness, will you?”

  He heard Eric exhale loudly. “Yeah, yeah, you have my word.”

  “Thank you.” Was that too much to ask for? But Angel couldn’t help thinking this was another conversation that hadn’t exactly gone his way. This year already sucked, and it had just gotten started.

  ***

  When Sarah had gotten back from Arizona, she made Valerie promise not to mention to Alex that she was back. So when he called Valerie New Year’s Eve to invite her over for his party, Sarah felt bad that Valerie turned him down.

  She’d offered to stay home. She wasn’t feeling up to partying anyway, but Valerie was actually kind of pissed about Alex asking her at the last minute. She said he insisted he planned it at the last minute, but she told him she wasn’t canceling the plans she’d already made.

  “No one plans a New Year’s party last minute,” she fumed. “He must think I’m pretty stupid.”

  Sarah knew her stay in California was only for a short while. Her mother had called her on her birthday and told her she’d spoken to her lawyer and things were looking even better.

  Things between her and Angel were completely hopeless. Sydney had called her on the day after her birthday and confessed he’d driven out to see Angel just before Christmas. He hadn’t told her sooner because he didn’t want to make the holidays any harder for her than they already were. But he told her of Angel’s refusal to even try to hear her side of it.

  At first, she was hurt, but since then, anger had set in. She was sure Dana had something, if not everything, to do with Angel’s unwavering frame of mind.

  She’d see Sofia soon enough when she showed up for track after school, but in the meantime, she only needed to take three classes. She made sure they were all scheduled at the end of the day. Her plan was simple: move quickly from class to class, and keep her head low. The last thing she wanted was to run into Angel and Dana.

  It was only a matter of time before she’d see him. She knew this, but she wanted to postpone it as much as possible.

  The second she walked into her Physics class, she realized her planning wa
s all for nothing. Angel was sitting in the back of the class, and their eyes locked. For a moment, she was frozen. She gathered her thoughts enough to know, if she sat in the front, she wouldn’t have to look at him. Not surprisingly, most of the front seats were empty and she sat down in the closest one to her.

  She’d barely sat down when Kim, a girl she knew from the track team, leaned over.

  “Oh my God, I thought you moved back to Arizona.”

  Sarah turned to see a face full of braces smiling big at her. She realized then she hadn’t noticed who else was in the class. The only one she’d seen was Angel. Everyone else was a complete blur. Her breathing was going back to normal, and she forced a smile.

  “Change of plans. I’ll be here a little longer.”

  The class started, and she tried to concentrate on what the teacher was lecturing. She hardly heard a word. All she kept thinking of was Angel’s expression when he saw her. She was trying to put a finger on it. He wasn’t angry, but he certainly wasn’t pleased.

  When class was over, as much as she told herself not to look back, she couldn’t resist. She glanced back to where he’d been sitting, but he was gone. He apparently wasn’t planning on even speaking to her. She bit her lip. Though she felt it coming, she forced the anguish away. She was done crying for Angel Moreno.

  The rest of the day was fairly painless. When she showed up to track practice, Coach Rudy was overjoyed to hear she was trying out for the team. He said it was a mere formality. She was already in.

  No one was happier to see her than Sofia. Sarah had gotten a little choked up when she’d hugged her so hard she thought she’d never let go. Sarah explained briefly that she would be around for a little longer but told her she had every intention of going back to Arizona as soon as her circumstances changed.

  The next couple of days were even worse. Angel didn’t show up to her Physics class, and by the end of the third day, his name wasn’t being called during roll call. He’d obviously changed his schedule. It was a slap in the face, but she sucked it up. At least she didn’t have to deal with seeing him in class every day.

  Sydney was getting increasingly annoyed with Angel’s continued inflexibility. That weekend, she told Sydney about Angel changing his schedule, and to her surprise, she broke down and sobbed. Sydney was livid.