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“I’m not achild,” I snapped back and hated myself for it. She was being wonderful; she didn’t deserve to bear the brunt of my foul mood. “I don’t need you to coddle me, all right?”
Lyse blinked. “I’ll treat you however I like,pendejo,” she hissed, drawing herself up to her full height…which was still woefully short compared to me. “Helena and I were having a good time. If you have a problem with that, find your way out of the kitchen. If you’re not feeling good, go take a nap. But don’t come in here and snipe at us because you’re in need of attention or whatever.”
It was unfair how hot Lyse was when she was standing up for herself. It shouldn’t be possible to be pissed offandturned on at the same time by the same person, but I both wanted to shake her for her impertinence and carry her off to the bedroom for it.
I needed tobreaksomething. That always helped when I was in a mood like this. Whether that meant going to the gun range and obliterating targets or finding a woman who didn’t mind if I got rough with her, it didn’t really matter.
I ran my hands through my hair. “My apologies,” I said through my teeth. For Lyse, I wanted to be better. I wanted to be more than just the guy who needed to destroy things. So, in the interest of not being that guy, I left them standing in the kitchen, wearing identical expressions of bewilderment.
As much as I didn’t want to go back to my office, it was the only place that no one would bother me…except for Lili, who had called my phone no less than a dozen times. “Puta madre,” I muttered and returned her call. While it was never a good idea to keep Angel waiting, it was even worse with Lili. If she demanded that you call her back, you did it, or faced the consequences…and my sister could beverycreative.
“Where. Are. You?” Lili answered the phone screaming, and I winced.
“On the island,” I said, as if she didn’t know. “I’ll be home soon.”
“Tonight,” Lili said. “It has to be tonight.”
My hand curled into a fist. If I put it through the wall, would that make me feel better or worse? “Why does it have to be tonight,Mija?”
“Angel is being released from the hospital. You have to be here when he gets home.”
It should be a joyous thing that, after being in a coma for two weeks, Angel was able to come home to finish up his recovery. Itwasa good thing…and yet, a pit opened in my stomach. “I’ll be home as soon as I can,” I said.
Lili was quiet for a moment. “That wasn’t you promising to be here,idiota. I know the difference.”
Damn her. “I’ll be home as soon as I can,” I repeated.
“If Angel kills you, that’s not on me.” She meant it to be a joke, but it fell flat against my ear. Until this point, I never thought of my brother as someone I would have to seriously worry about…but if I brought Lyse to the compound, there was a good chance that that would change.
I was quickly coming to a fork in the metaphorical road — one that I never saw myself coming to. My family had always been the most important thing in the world to me…but the idea of losing Lyse made me want to smash things apart with my bare hands.
“—mar? Omar!Idiota, what the hell are you doing?”
I startled out of my thoughts. “I’m here,” I assured her. “I didn’t hang up.”
She sighed. “What is going on with you? I know that everything went bad for a little while there, but the police have backed off, and Angel is going to be okay! Why are you being weird?”
Because I killed my father and then went on a murderous rampage and kidnapped the woman who might be the love of my life. But there was no way to say all that without sounding absolutely crazy. I was the Castillos’ enforcer. Death and violence came with the territory, and I was nothing if not loyal. One woman should not be testing me this way. “Do you ever get tired of it all?” I asked.
“What are you saying?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Maybe having Efrain set me up a range to practice at wouldn’t be the worst idea. “Nothing,” I said. “I think that concussion has scrambled my brain a little. I’ll make preparations to come home, okay? Stop worrying about it. I haven’t run away.”
Except that you did, my brain whispered to me. “Okay.” Lili didn’t sound entirely convinced…but I guess I couldn’t fault her for that. “We’ll see you soon, then.”
“Soon,” I promised.
I had to stop myself from throwing the phone at the wall after I hung up. It would have been satisfying to see it smash into tiny pieces, but it wouldn’t make a dent in the dark feeling that was eating me up from the inside out.
That red, hazyragewas building again, but this time, it had no target. I was furious withmyself, and I’d never really been the type for self-destruction. Instead, I would take it out on someone who needed punishment, or on furniture, or on the range.
When my office door swung open, it was the verylastthing that I needed. “The cachitos are finished!” Lyse announced, coming to the office holding a plate of the ham and cheese stuffed pastries up for me to see. “I wanted to—”
I looked at her, and the world around me faded. “You’re not allowed in here.” The words came out deadly calm, and Lyse jerked at the tone. “I’ve told you that countless times. Not in my office.”
Her mouth twisted into a frown. “You told me not to be in your bedroom either, but that’s where I slept last night.”
“I’m not fucking you in here. Get out.”
