Page 27 of Heat Haze
He hugs me tighter than ever before, letting out a heavy sigh into my shoulder. I swear I hear him sniffle before he pulls away, reaching over me to pull open his bedside drawer and rummage through it for a moment. He pulls something out, but I can’t tell what it is until he turns the lamp on.
There’s a faded photo between his fingers, and he holds it out to me. At first I don’t really know what I’m looking at since it’s just a photo of Mrs. Tavera and baby Toro. It’s cute, for sure, and I like the little smile he has on.He flips it over, revealing some hastily scribbled writing on the back.
My beloved Isadora and baby Isandro.
I don’t know what to make of it at first, brows pinching together while I glance back up at him. We blink at each other, before the realization settles in. It’s his name. His actual name. He’s notjustToro. He’s Isandro.
“You… Isandro,” his name feels so strange coming out of my mouth. I never even considered for a second that Toro—bull—wasn’t his actual name. “H-Hi, Isandro. I’m Nico.”
He rolls his wet eyes at how cheesy that was, before setting the photo back in the drawer and pressing me down against the bed. One hand keeps my wrists above my head, the other rubbing against my cheek.
“Nico.” He bellows, leaning in to kiss my neck. “Nico…”
I only squirm a little bit, giggling softly when his tongue lolls out of his mouth to lick a stripe right up my jugular. His breath is hot as it wafts against the damp skin, his gaze transfixed on me. “Toro, er—Isandro, stop!” I pause for a second. “Which… Which one do you want me to call you?”
Toro freezes, head darting up with an inquisitive look on his face. “...Toro.” He sounds unsure, eyes shifting down to my chest.
“You’re sure?”
An affirmative grunt.
“Then why’d you share it with me?” I can’t stop myself from asking. I don’t understand it, but I want to. I want to understand everything about him. It’s just hard when he doesn’t really talk.
He pauses, just looking up at me with the smallest expression. Did I upset him? Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed about his mother so soon. I got too curious too fast. My mind races with all these horrible thoughts that I don’t even notice him pushing himself up until his lips are on mine again.
“...Love,” he whispers before kissing me again. It does the trick at shutting me up, because I’m way too focused on his tongue sliding right past my lips like it owns the damn place.
I pant when we’re done, Toro returning to his initial spot of resting on my chest like he didn’t just try and suffocate me with his mouth. But my heart flutters at what he said. Love. Hesaidlove. “I love you too, Toro.”
Toro looks at me through thick eyelashes, smiling ear to ear. He doesn’t have to say anything. He doesn’t have to do anything, either. We’re both more than content to stay like this, my hand moving up to stroke the back of his head as he settles in to fall asleep on my chest again. With a yawn I let my head fall back, staring up at the ceiling.
No matter what happens, I think things will be okay. Everything happens for a reason. I’ve always believed in that, I just never thought anything would happen tomefor a reason. But coming here and meeting Toro… There has to be a reason for that.
Maybe we need each other. He needed someone to love him and I needed somebody to love. It’s simple, but it might just be the truth. Because being together like this just feels right, like nothing could tear us away from each other. At least that’s what I think, until a loud pounding on the window jolts us both awake. I peer over, just in time to see something—someone—I never thought I’d see again.
Nadine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
When we finally meet each other's gaze she looks stunned. She probably expected me to be dead. Dead like everyone else. I begin pushing Toro off of me, maybe a little harder than I want but seeing Nadine has set off all these imaginary alarms in my head.
“Off, Toro, off!” I whisper-shout, ignoring his whimpers as I pry myself away from him and pull the window open again. Nadine hesitates, looking at Toro with pure fear in her eyes.
It’s like she’s seen a ghost, mouth hanging open as time comes to a temporary standstill. We stare at each other for a few seconds, wordlessly processing the fact that we’re still here.
Nadine isn’t wearing the same thing she worethatnight. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and even if the clothes she has on aren’t her style they’re still new. Did someone give them to her? Did she make it back to town? Why would she come back?
She finally climbs inside the room, hands stuck at her sides like she doesn’t know what to do with them at first. Nadine doesn’t pay Toro any attention, staring at me in shock.
“Nico…” Her voice breaks before she pulls me into a tight hug. Her grip is almost as tight as Toro’s, a sniffle following shortly after. “You’re alive. Oh my god. You’re—I can’t… You’re alive…”
Immediately she steps in front of me, squaring up with Toro as if that’s a fight she could win. “What the fuck are you doing to him, huh!? What did you do!?”
“N-Nadine!” I shout, my own voice trembling. I almost can’t believe it. Why would she risk her own life just to come back here? “What are you… Why are you here?”
She doesn’t look at me. “You were here. I knew you were still here! I… I told the police. They didn’t believe me. Said I was just trying to cause problems. They said there was no fucking proof!”
Her hands ball into fists, head shaking. “That fucking sheriff. That no good sheriff… I saw it. The look on his face. Heknew. The motherfuckerknew.”
