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I gently smack his shoulder. “That wasn’t funny.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you for meeting my family.”
“They’re my family now, I suppose.”
I haven’t thought about it like this until Rory mentions it, but he is right. They are his family now too—poor thing.
“Even Felipe,” I say.
“Yeah, that dude gives off a bad vibe.”
“You are like a puppy,” I say.
“What do you mean?”
“Dogs can sense evil without having to know a person.”
“You’re saying he is evil?”
“In his own way. I don’t want to talk about sad things right now, though.”
I catchRory watching me sleep the next morning, as if we’re taking turns with this ritual. He smiles at me, and I can’t help but feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be. His smile even feels like home.
“That’s kind of creepy,” I tease.
“You watch me sleep all the time.”
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“I’m not always asleep.”
I narrow my eyes at him, and he laughs.
“Can I ask you something?” He asks, his arm tightening around me.
“Yeah.”
“Tell me about Chema and Nico.”
I suck in a breath. “Are you upset I let you think we were together?”
“No. I know why you did it.”
I squeeze his arm, thankful he’s not mad about the second biggest lie I ever told him—the first being that I didn’t love him back. But we don’t dwell on those bitter moments anymore, so instead I tell him about Chema and Nico.
When I met Chema and Nico, they’d had the gym open for barely a year. Chema was coming down from the height of his fighting career after an injury, and has made his gym very successful since.
And because Rory will very soon be part of our inner circle, I need him and Chema to be friends. I need both of them in my life. So I also overshare on Chema’s life; on how he and Nico were high school sweethearts in secret because their families didn’t approve. They were both on their school’s soccer team and were caught kissing by one of their teammates. The following day, three of their teammates cornered Nico alone and beat the shit out of him. Once he healed, Chema vowed he’d never let anyone hurt him again. They both took self-defense classes, and Chema fell in love with the sport. The fact that he could pummel anyone who dared look at Nico the wrong way was an added bonus of his profession.
When I’m done telling Rory the story of Nico and Chema, Rory’s smiling at me. “Chema’s really amazing isn’t he?” he asks.
I nod. “Hopefully you’ll learn to love him like I do.”
“I already do. He took care of my precious girl when I couldn’t be there.”
“Precious girl?” I tease.
