Page 16 of Under His Sheets
His friendly banter ended as he pulled his wallet out and jammed his ID under the scanner, then called to Pere in Catalan and spoke to him in a gruff manner until Pere reached him in the hallway. Pere looked back once and waved before his father yanked him forward.
I turned and cursed, walking toward Alonso.
“Are you going to go? To his house?”
“Are we speaking now?”
He met my gaze as we stood two feet away from each other, close enough to remember what it was like to be even closer.
“Randall—”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
I exhaled. “Are you really going to make me ask all the whys?”
He put his hands on his hips, peeked around me, then held up a finger. He trotted over to the door, looked into the hallway, then closed the door. He walked back my way…and took my fucking breath away. My whole body was vibrating, wanting…something intense from this exchange but was also hopping mad that I still felt this way even though he’d ignored me for weeks.
He stood closer to me and he reached for my forearm. “Randall, you need to stay away from Paolo Ferrer.”
I narrowed my eyes and pulled my arm away from him, causing him to take a step back. “Why are you so interested in the Ferrers?”
He sighed and his hands planted back on his hips, which even in his shapeless coveralls turned me into one of Pavlov’s dogs.
“I can’t tell you,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper. “But I want you to be safe.”
His words chilled me. “Is Pere safe? God, I knew I should have talked to Lara. I’m worried about him?—”
“She knows.”
“Okay.”
We were quiet, standing before each other, and inside I was screaming.Why? Why? Why? All the why. Why avoid me? Why pretend you don’t speak English? Why?—
“I want to answer your whys. I can’t. Not now. But I will.”
“You will? You mean you’ll talk to me?”
He looked at his feet and shook his head.“Randall…it is hard.”
I couldn’t help it. I snorted.
“What?”
“I hope so.”
It was the absolute wrong thing to say, but then that slight curve of his lips returned. “Youknowso.”
I couldn’t breathe.“What now?”
He stepped back. “You go to Bar Elena with the others.” He continued backing toward the door.
“Are you coming?”
“No.”
And I deflated. I started to speak and he held up a hand as he reached the door.
