Page 26 of Love Bites
His black curls were pushed back with an elastic band revealing the square shape of his forehead. His black eyes looked wider and even more sarcastic than when they’d first met. His lips quirked in a sneer, and Katheryn wanted nothing more than to smack the look off his face.
“What areyoudoing here?” Katheryn demanded.
Antonio scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m going to the beach with you guys. But you two can keep mentally having sex. I’ll make myself scarce.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said in clipped, embarrassed tones.
He rolled his eyes. “Of course, you don’t.”
Katheryn contemplated jumping out and running back to her hotel, but Ignacio suddenly started the car and drove off. Tension had Katheryn clenching her hands and staring out the window. She hadn’t realized Antonio would join them. It made the ride all the more awkward.
“Why didn’t you bring a date?” she asked, trying to fill the silence. Usually, when Antonio accompanied them, it was a double date. It was strange he’d come with them as a third wheel. “I’m sure you had plenty of girls to choose from, so why come alone?”
“The girls I date aren’t all that exciting.” Antonio shrugged. “Not worth bringing to the beach.”
“Then why do you date them all, if you don’t even like them?”
He shot her a sly grin, and she read between the lines. He laughed then said, “I have to find some way to pass the time.”
“Then take up origami.”
Antonio leaned forward in his seat. Considering his height and the small space in the vehicle, he only had to lean forward a couple inches to invade Katheryn’s personal space.
“You don’t like me, do you?” he asked in an amused tone. “You think I’m a scandalous, womanizing rebel, don’t you?”
Katheryn crossed her arms against her chest. “That’s one way to put what I was thinking, although my mind didn’t quite conjure it up in such a nice manner.”
“Oh? So what did your mind conjure up?”
“Just that you’re a little—”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Ignacio interrupted before Katheryn could finish. He gave her a sideways warning glance before focusing his gaze on the road again.
“I’m offended, Katheryn,” Antonio said, pressing a hand to his chest in feign hurt. “I’m an exemplary young man. Any mother would and should be proud to have me escort their daughter around town.”
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed.
He laughed. “You know you’d be happy to have me as a boyfriend to your daughter.”
“By the time I have a daughter old enough to date, you’ll be an old man and if you dated her, that’d be considered pedophilia, so I’d have to kick your ass before calling the cops.”
“If you say so,” he chuckled before sitting back then lapsed into a long, uncomfortable silence.
After a while, he spoke again. “I’m sorry I had to rain on your parade, you know.”
He sounded so genuinely sorry Katheryn glanced back at him, gauging his expression. His lips formed a thin line and his eyes were distant.
“I wouldn’t have bothered if it weren’t serious, but I really couldn’t stand to be at home anymore.”
Katheryn chewed her bottom lip and wondered if he was being abused by someone. She decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “What’s going on at home?”
Antonio shrugged. “Carlos, my older brother, ran away again. My mother worries herself to a frenzy, which isn’t good for the baby. My father is always lecturing about responsibility, and my brother, Damien, broods and is being more depressing than usual. I had to get out before I suffocated.”
Katheryn shot a look toward Ignacio. He eyed her back and shrugged his shoulders lightly. His eyes were sad, but unapologetic, and she couldn’t blame him. If she had a friend, who was like a younger brother or sister, and they were having trouble at home, she would have taken them along as well. Third wheel or not.
She turned back to Antonio. She decided to fill the silence and make him feel welcome. “How many siblings do you have?”
“Carlos is the oldest by two years. He’s eighteen, so technically, he didn’t really run away. Next, are me and my twin brother, Damien.”
