Authors: Elizabeth Reyes
“Are you still watching football?”
Angel walked out of the family room where the guys were being way too loud and into the kitchen. “Yeah, it’s still on,” he said, opening the fridge.
“Oh, okay, well just give me a call when it’s over.”
He finished taking a swig of milk straight from the jug and put it back in the fridge. “I can come pick you up now if you want.”
“Not if you’re gonna be watching football. You know the only games I ever get into are yours. Besides, we can’t talk with your friends there. Just give me a call whenever they leave. Doesn’t matter if it’s late. I’m home now and probably just gonna work on that paper I have to work on.”
“I can talk now, “Angel said, sensing something was up. He walked out into the backyard. “The Charger game is over. Only reason we’re watching now is ’cause Romero bet on this game and we like watching him lose his ass.”
“You sure?”
He took a seat on one of the patio chairs and sat all the way back. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Well, first,” she said, her words taking a bit of an excited tone as if she had something juicy to share. “Guess what I found out today?’
“What,” Angel asked, glad this didn’t sound serious.
“There was a jewelry heist in the movie we watched, and the thieves made off with millions. Afterwards, when we went to eat, we talked about the movie, and my mom said she never would’ve believed jewelry could be worth so much but that among the things in the bags my dad left behind with the money she found when I was a baby there was some jewelry. She said my dad never even mentioned the jewelry, not to her or my grandmother, who used to deliver his messages. She held onto it for years, but when money started getting tight, she did exactly what I imagined she would and started pawning the jewelry off piece by piece. One day she took in the one she called the big one to get appraised. She thought it was silver, but it turned out to be platinum, and the stone on it was this rare blue diamond.” The phone got a little muffled, and she lowered her voice even more. “It was appraised at more than half a million dollars, but because she couldn’t explain how she’d come to have it and it was very likely stolen, they offered her just under a quarter of a million. Of course she took it. That was the year she told me we’d be staying in Flagstaff for good.”
“That’s crazy,” Angel said, the wheels in his head beginning to turn.
“I know. I mean she did finally get a stable job, but this was ultimately what gave her the courage to stay in one place. She said she felt bad that she’d moved me around so much all those years.”
Secretly, Angel had always wondered how long her mother had been taking funds from her boss. Now it made sense that maybe she hadn’t for too long if she’d made out with this much cash early on. And then it hit him. Is this what her dad was after? But why now? Why would he wait all this time? And was her brother in on this too?
“When’s the last time you talked to your dad?”
“What?” she asked, obviously not expecting this question now. Then she went quiet.
“Sarah, babe, I’m not saying that—”
“No, no,” she said quickly. “The thought did cross my mind. Was this the jewelry he’d been talking about? It could be, I guess, but he said he told my mom he’d hoped she’d hold onto it for me, and she said he never once mentioned any jewelry.”
He wouldn’t say it, but her mother’s words didn’t carry a whole lot of credibility as far as Angel was concerned. Luna had already proven she made bad decisions when desperate, not that he thought selling the jewelry was a bad decision. He agreed with Sarah that she’d done what she had to as a single mom with no other means. But it did make sense that she’d chosen to deny knowing the jewelry had been meant for Sarah.
“You’re not gonna tell your dad or Leo, are you?”
“No.” She was quiet for a moment then said, “What good would it do, right? My mom says the money’s gone.” She went quiet again then spoke again, sounding a little somber. “It’s why she started taking money from her boss. She’d blown through the first twenty thousand she’d found in those bags really fast and was afraid she’d be in that same bind soon. When her co-worker showed her how easy it was to slip a few hundred in her pocket every week and no one was ever the wiser, it just was too tempting, and little by little she started taking more.”
Angel didn’t comment. He knew this was a sore subject for Sarah—knew she felt people still judged her mom—and he didn’t want her to think she was judging now.
“Regardless,” she said with renewed conviction. “If that’s what Omar was after, it’s gone. She made it stretch for a long time, but then when she got into that trouble, a big chunk of what was left went to lawyers’ fees. She managed to hold on to the rest and used it for the down payment on this condo. Besides. . .” She exhaled softly. Angel didn’t miss the fact that she was back to calling her dad Omar, only this time he didn’t encourage her to refer to the asshole as dad. “I still haven’t heard from Omar since the last time we spoke over two weeks ago, and I get the feeling Leonardo is upset with him. I’m not sure why, but he’s been pretty cold and short about it whenever I ask if he’s spoken to him. I don’t know,” she added. “Maybe I
will
ask Leonardo. The last couple of times we’ve spoken our conversations have gotten a little personal.”
Angel sat up a little straighter, tensing up instantly. “Personal?” He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “Yeah? Like how?”
“He asked me about when I’d first moved out here. I’d already told him about how suddenly I’d moved out to California my senior year but never really got into the details of why. So I decided to just tell him. The conversation went on until I got to the part about Coach Rudy. He wanted to know more about it—more about how it affected me emotionally and how long it’d taken for me to get over it.”
“Why?” Angel asked, sitting up slowly.
“He said his stepsister recently went through something similar, only hers was a date rape. Like my situation, it was someone she trusted who she went out with, but then he took advantage of her and she kept it to herself for months. I told him how stupid I’d felt for trusting Coach Rudy and putting myself in that danger even after everyone had warned me, and that made him even more upset. He said I shouldn’t feel stupid because that’s what people like the coach and the guy who raped his sister are so good at—gaining your trust. And people like me and his sister with trusting hearts were susceptible—easy prey.” She paused for a moment. “In other words suckers.”
“He said that?” Angel asked, his tone a little less restrained.
“No, no,” she assured him. “That’s just what I was thinking. I’m just wondering now, given what happened to his sister and what happened to me in the past, if maybe Omar was only interested in finding out about that ring. Leonardo says he hasn’t heard from him either. Maybe Omar mentioned to Leonardo that his only interest was the ring, and that’s why Leonardo’s irritated with Omar. When all this first started, Leonardo seemed as excited about having Omar in his life as he was meeting me. Now anytime I happen to bring up Omar he changes the subject pretty quickly, not at all interested in finding out what’s going on with him and why we haven’t heard from him.”
If that were the case, if Leo were even a fraction as pissed as Angel was beginning to feel about her dad, then the guy may’ve just earned some points with him. “So are you gonna ask him?”
“Who? Omar?”
“No,” Angel said a little too strongly. “I wouldn’t even call that fu—” He caught himself and cleared his throat. “I’d wait for him to call or email you first. Even then it’s up to you. I personally wouldn’t say anything to him about it. I was talking about Leo. Are you gonna ask him if Omar mentioned the ring?”
She was quiet for a little too long, which had Angel clenching his teeth in annoyance with himself that he nearly snapped.
“I don’t know. I’ll just wait for now,” she said. “If the time comes for me to meet Leonardo and I still haven’t heard from Omar, I’ll ask him then.”
“About that,” Angel said, standing up. “Any mention of when
he
might wanna come down and meet with you?”
His interest in meeting Leo had just spiked tenfold. From the moment Sarah first told her about this whole thing, he’d been suspicious. Regardless of what exactly Omar intended to do if he’d found the jewelry, Angel was certain of one thing now. It was the sole reason behind his sudden interest in meeting her. Maybe once he figured he wouldn’t be getting anything out of her, he let it go—let
her
go. He’d gone back to same disinterest he’d had for Sarah her entire life.
Fuck
him.
But Leo was still talking to Sarah daily, and Angel wasn’t sold on him yet. He needed to make sure the guy—brother or not—wasn’t in cahoots with her dad in any way.
He sat back, feeling a bit aggravated, and thought about how his worries about Sydney seemed so insignificant now. At least with Sydney he knew the guy would never do anything to hurt her. As much as it irked him to think any other guy could care for Sarah as much as Angel did, he had to admit Syd genuinely did. Ironically, at that moment, he felt more comfortable with Sarah around Syd, the guy she loved like a brother, than with Leo, the guy who may in fact be her actual brother.
Maybe Leo was a good guy. Maybe he didn’t know what his dad had been up to in the beginning, and when he got wind that Omar was interested in meeting his sister for his own selfish reasons, he dropped the asshole like he deserved to be dropped. If this were all true, it might be a good thing. Angel couldn’t always be around to protect her, so knowing she had a defensive brother who didn’t take kindly to anyone messing with his sister was a damn good thing. But until he knew for sure, Angel would be keeping his guard up. He trusted no one.
Sarah
It had only been three weeks—three games since the season started—and Alex had been out of commission for two of them. Angel had told Sarah about how increasingly bitter his brother was about it with every practice he wasn’t allowed to participate in. Luckily, it was Alex’s first ankle injury ever. He hadn’t broken it, just fractured it pretty badly, but the docs were giving him the green light to join practices and play in this week’s game against Hawaii.
As bad as Valerie felt for Alex, Sarah knew she would’ve loved for him to be out at least one more week. Now he’d be making the trip to Hawaii, and there was no telling how he’d be celebrating out there now that he was back in shape to play.
Sarah and Angel had only talked about Dana one other time since the day Sarah mentioned the stuff Dana had been blogging about and the countdown. Sarah didn’t want to worry about Dana because she was such a nonissue, but Sarah couldn’t help wonder not if but
how
stupid Dana would be about this.
With less than an hour left of her shift at the restaurant, Sarah shook any thoughts of Dana away and began to mentally prepare for that night’s first meeting with Leonardo. Angel was picking her up there at the restaurant after his practice, and they’d head to the marina where they’d meet Leonardo. There was a seafood fest going on at the marina, and they’d all agreed it would be a nice casual place to meet and walk around. Leonardo had a friend who lived in San Diego. He’d be staying with him for the night then heading back to Phoenix in the morning.
Sarah was a little nervous but glad now that she’d waited. The many chats they’d had so far made her feel as though she’d already met him. She’d since decided that his calling her beautiful often was just his way. He often referred to his stepsister and his mom in similar sweet ways—even calling his mom his queen. Just as Angel and all his brothers often called Sofie sweetheart, some guys were just like that. She wouldn’t admit it to Angel, but she liked it. Too often she’d felt a little jealous of Sofie and some of her other friends who had siblings they were so close to. Not that she expected to ever be that close to Leonardo, but this was a nice start.
The day they decided to meet, Sarah brought up the possibility of Omar being there as well. Leonardo admitted to having put in a call and a few texts to Omar, all of which had gone unanswered. Then he said something so reminiscent of what Angel would say. “Fuck him. If this is how he’s gonna be, then we don’t need his ass.” He went on to say he wasn’t waiting on him, and they planned their meeting—just the two of them. And Angel of course.
“No!” Sarah turned at the sound of a man’s loud voice a few tables over from the one she was waiting on. “I asked for hot tea, not iced.”
Cindy, the newer waitress waiting on his table, apologized, taking the glass of iced tea he was shoving at her.
“Is the service here always this bad?” he asked loudly as his embarrassed date or wife hid behind her menu. “Read back my order,” he demanded. “I wanna make sure you got it right.”
Cindy started to, and he immediately interrupted her rudely. “On the side!” he said. “How hard is that to get? I said I want the
pico
on the side, but the guacamole and sour cream I want
on
the taquitos.”
Writing it down and apologizing again, poor Cindy finally finished taking their order and rushed away.