AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The jiggling wheezing started up again. “After it all blew wide open, you thought maybe she was into him and got plastered at Moe’s place.” Manny could barely say the words now, he was laughing so much. “Then you started wailing out heartbroken love songs.”
Angel stared at him for a moment as he thought about that. “He’s not the same—” He stopped when he noticed just how irritated Romero looked now. “Is he?” Romero shrugged, glancing away. “He is? And you knew?”
“Dude.” Romero turned back to face Angel as they all hung on his every word now. “It’s been almost twenty years now. I figured it was pointless to remind you. You’re both happily married now. This idiot.” He pointed at Manny. “You just had to bring it up?”
“I thought he knew,” Manny retorted.
Romero looked ready to lunge at Manny. “Webothtold you he didn’t remember.”
“Oh, yeah.” Manny nodded. They were all eyeing Beast now including Manny.
Romero hissed at all of them, looking ready to backhand Manny. “Well, don’t you all stare that way. He probably hasn’t even made the connection.”
“Oh, I bet he has,” Angel said, glancing around, then turned to Romero. “Did Sarah?” Before Romero could answer, Angel turned to Lex’s cousin, Jr. “Where’s your mom?”
“Sitting with grandma and all the aunts.” He motioned in their direction, and Angel walked away.
“You had to be an idiot about it,” Romero growled at Manny in a hushed voice as soon as Angel was far enough.
Up on the gossip now, Lex was instantly distracted when he noticed the guy with Xochitl looked a little too pleased to be chatting with her still, even though he looked a lot older than her. Only consolation was that if she’d made her disinterest in Lex clear enough, based on her strained body language now as the guy leaned over and pulled a strand of hair away from her face, she was anything but interested in him either. The annoyance had only begun to simmer when Lex was nudged by his dad. “Let’s go. More pictures.” He shook his head. “Your mom wants a family shot by the cake before they cut it.”
When he got a moment alone with his mom, and because Xochitl’s time was still being hogged up by that old fuck, Lex took advantage to ask her about Beast and Aunt Sarah. Because there were so many ears around and obviously it was something no one wanted to bring up now here of all places, his mom gave him the quick and dirty hushed scoop, and boy was it a doozy. He was barely just taking it all in when he noticed Xochitl was finally sitting alone. He knew her time alone was very possibly temporary, so he decided to make his move. “I’ll be back,” he said to no one in particular. Just like at the wedding shower when he’d plopped his ass down next to her, he rushed over to her now before anyone else got to her first. “You look amazing.” Lex took the seat next to Xochitl, startling her just as he had at the shower. But before she could even respond to the compliment, he added to it, “I meant to tell you more than once today, but Nena beat me to it when you arrived. Then after that when it wasn’t one thing I got caught up in, it was another. But you really do look . . .” He shook his head, taking her in from top to bottom as his eyes locked with hers. “Fuckingstunning.”
