Page 53 of The Spring in My Heart

She nods and hooks her delicate hand on my elbow.

“Wait a minute. Is this the fucking guy?” Mateo asks, his face scrunching up with his gaze peeled on me.

The adrenaline unleashes through my body, because I know exactly what he’s referring to. Noche Buena. He must have heard my voice after he heard us. He stayed for the whole show, like it was one of my grandma’s radio novelas.

Lux ignores him, and I do the same. We set out to walk, but then she tugs at my side. I stop and look at her and realize he has a hand on her.

My body tenses. He needs to take his hand off her.

“Luxxy, I’m asking you a question.”

“One, stop calling me that. You know I fucking hate it. Two, I told you Ollie is a friend. Three, it’s none of your fucking business. We are not together.”

He tugs one more time. “It is my business. You’re my girlfriend, and you cheated on me with this fucking guy. I forgave you. You still have the ring I gave you, right? We are not done for good.”

“Let go of my arm, and are you fucking kidding? We are done for good. I donated the stupid thing. You gave it to me while you were screwing half of New York. And I never cheated on you. We were broken up. Wait, you know what? I don’t owe you an explanation.”

She tries to free herself from his hold, and I’ve had enough at this point.

“Let her go.”

Luciana freezes, and so does Mateo, enough to let her go. I step in front of her.

“Bro, consider yourself lucky I don’t fuck you up for what you did. Back off. This is none of your problem.”

I don’t move. “It is, because she told you to let her go, and you’re still holding on. She’s telling you it’s over, but it’s like you don’t hear her. She asked you to leave, but you are still here, arguing.”

“She doesn’t really want me gone, pariguayo. She’s just scorned, but we have something. Dejame decirtelo en español para que lo entiendas bien. Because your English is not so good.” He points at Lux. “Ella es mia. Nadie la conoce como yo. That’s why she always comes back to me. I’m only explaining so you can stop meddling and avoid some trouble for yourself.”

Lux moves closer to me. “I’m not yours. Get the fuck out of here.”

“Luxxy,” he says, moving in on her.

I step forward to block him from getting closer. “She said get out. If I have to tell you again, you’re not going to like it.”

His chest puffs out. “You wanna go, tough guy?”

It revs my blood, and I nod. “If you’re ready to risk your season.”

“Te voy a matar, degraciao.” He leans in.

Luciana tries to step between us. “Stop?—”

I stop her with my hand. I don’t want her getting hurt. But I lean in. “If that’s how you want to do this.”

“What the fuck is happening here?” Chase asks from behind.

He’s next to us in one second, his gaze bouncing from Lux to Mateo and back to my hand on her in front of her chest.

“Chase.” Mateo smiles. “Congratulations.”

The smile is not reciprocated. Instead, Chase turns to his sister. “I didn’t know you brought a date.”

“I didn’t.”

Chase nods and looks at me. “You good, Coach?”

I look at Mateo. “Yeah.”

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