Chapter 5

“It’s good that you eat something,” he spoke to me. “If you have to talk, I don’t see the reason not to do it here. I promise to close my eyes when you start kissing.”

My cheeks turned pink.

“We’ll talk outside,” I tried to get up again. Colton put up a fight. I squeezed his hand, something I had never done, and begged him to let me go. This time, he relented without protest.

“What was all that?” Mason asked once we made it out to the backyard of the house.

“I have no idea. He is somewhat overprotective.”

“If he touches you like that again, I swear I’ll knock his teeth out.”

“Well, you should be calm. He already has a girlfriend.” But Gabriela was not technically a girlfriend. It was more like... mmm. Better not think about it.

“It’s nice to see you again,” Mason said after having calmed down, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “I hope that whatever happened between us doesn’t happen again. I missed you, Anna.”

His body moved closer to mine. The butterflies made an appearance in my stomach, twisting it to their liking.

“It’s good to see you too, Mason. I didn’t tell you before, but I want to apologize for the way everything ended between us.”

I felt his warm hand on my cheek. I looked up and met those beautiful brown eyes. Why was I even done with him? He was attractive, not like those unattainable Russian underwear models, but attractive as a normal, approachable guy.

“You don’t need to apologize,” he whispered close to my mouth. “I respect that you needed your space. Now, I want to get you back.”

He put one of his hands on my waist. We were so close that if he wanted to kiss me, he just had to pucker his lips a little.

“Mason, I... it’s complicated right now.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between you and that guy over there, but I’m not going to give up that easily.”

I needed to make it clear to him that nothing was happening with Colton, but I knew that I would be fooling him and myself if I did that. Instead, I let Mason pull me closer to his body. I didn’t have time to react when he lowered his head and locked his lips with mine. It was a slow kiss that reignited old sparks of fire that had been put out.

This time, he wasn’t salivating in my mouth. It was like he had been practicing to get to this moment. I took my hands to his neck, and immediately his lips sought mine eagerly.

Before I could delve into things, a loud noise made me pull away from Mason. Someone had slammed hard on the door. Following the source of that noise was Colton, with a stoic expression on his face.

“Oops. I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said without showing a single drop of remorse.

I was still gasping for air from the kiss. I shot Colton a dirty look.

“Didn’t you have to go?” he spat at Mason. “It’s late already. It’s dangerous to walk alone and without protection.”

What the hell was he doing?

“Colton, don’t...”

“Don’t worry, Anna,” Mason stopped me. “In any case, I already had to leave. I’ll see you on Saturday.”

He said goodbye, giving me a kiss on the forehead. As he walked towards the exit, he bumped into Colton’s shoulder.

“What happened?” I screamed when Mason was completely gone. “Why did you do that?”

“I don’t like him,” Colton replied.

I snorted. “Well, I don’t care what you think of Mason. It’s me who has to like him, not you.”

I started to walk away from him but couldn’t even take a step because he quickly grabbed my arm, turning me towards him.

“It is convenient for you more than anyone else to know what I think of that guy,” he said. “Isn’t he supposed to be your ex-boyfriend? Then you should remember why you left him.”

“That, Colton, is none of your business.”

I tried to pry my arm free, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Tell me why you left him,” he demanded. “Do you still like him?”

I refused to answer him, avoiding eye contact.

“Anna, look at me,” he said, his long fingers pressing into my arm.

I lowered my head further. Why was I so nervous?

“Anna...” His grip on my arm stopped, and instead, he grabbed my chin. Finally, my eyes met his.

“I don’t want you to go out with him.”

“Jealous?” I joked.

I saw him open his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything, his cell phone started playing the Britney Spears song Toxic.

Baby, can’t you see 

I’m calling 

A guy like you should wear a warning 

It’s dangerous 

I’m falling

We both froze where we were. Gabriela had given him that song as an identifier for when she called him. That meant Gabriela was calling him right now. Magnificent.

I saw the internal struggle Colton had over whether or not he should respond. I made that decision easier for him by pulling away from his grasp.

“Answer her. You know how angry she gets when you ignore her,” I said before running toward the house.

I heard him speak minutes later. He arranged to meet Gabriela that same night.

I can only say that I have two things clear from now on:

The elixir of love that Mom prepared was not working. I looked into Colton’s eyes for more than ten minutes, and obviously, he didn’t fall in love with me.

I couldn’t have anything with him. Not in my wildest dreams. It was too complicated to get to like a person like that. Besides, it would be painful to fall in love with Colton Harlock. He was already in a complicated relationship, and that relationship was with my cousin.

“I want to see you on Saturday,” I heard him whisper to Gabriela.

I sighed. Oh yeah, Saturday is going to be a great day for a double date. He with Gabriela, and me with Mason. Yippee!

“I think Colton is jealous,” Rita said when I told her about the previous night at my mother’s house.

I frowned at her remark and hurled a handful of potato chips into her face. She responded by throwing some back at me.

“He has no motive or reason to be like this,” I told him.

Rita rolled her eyes. “Ha, in love. Everyone realizes the attraction between the two except them,” she said, exasperated.

“Me, in love with Colton?” I scoffed.

“Please, Anna, it’s so obvious.”

“It’s true,” seconded Dulce, the gothic girl who took the cashier shifts in the afternoon. She wore her dark makeup to the extreme. Her mouth was painted black, her nails had small silver skulls to match her accessories, her skin was painted corpse white, and she had a tattoo on her arm of a hand showing the middle finger that said: “Do I look sweet to you now?” “You don’t talk about anything but him.”

“Honey, I know love when I see it,” Mirna also commented. “I remember when I was married twelve years ago...” She sighed theatrically. “It was a nightmare. That’s why I tell you that you have to take advantage and get the most out of your youth. Sleep with as many men as you can. It’s not going to be long when you discover that you are fifty and that your skin is wrinkled even in the lower areas...”

“Okay, too much information,” I interrupted her.

“Girls, girls. Please stop talking,” Cliff scolded us.

Supposedly, we were in the middle of a work meeting, discussing the new addition to the menu: a chicken burger with extra hot chili, courtesy of high-ranking executives.

“I’m going to pass you some samples for the tasting,” he told us. “Personally, I already ate three of them. You will enjoy them.”

Gustavo, the only guy who worked in the restaurant, passed us the burgers wrapped in brown paper while Cliff took a seat and began to devour another.

“I heard that you and your ex-boyfriend are going out this Saturday,” Gustavo mentioned when he stopped next to me. He was around fifteen years old, with cinnamon skin and small spots beginning to appear on his face, worthy of puberty.

“News here flies fast,” I muttered.

“So, is it true?” he asked.

“Not at all,” someone said behind me. “She’s going out with me.”

I didn’t even turn to look, knowing it was Colton. How the hell did he get into the restaurant if it was supposed to be closed? Gustavo’s eyes widened enormously, and then he scuttled away like a cowardly rat.

Colton pulled up a chair next to me and grabbed some fries off my plate. Instantly, I felt more than four pairs of feet crashing against mine under the table as if to say: See?

“Hey, I haven’t finished eating them yet,” I protested, ignoring the stares from my coworkers.

Colton blinked at me and continued eating as if I hadn’t said anything. He brought each potato to his seductive mouth with a flick of his wrist that... It was just mesmerizing to watch.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, remembering that people shouldn’t be stared at indiscreetly as if they were some kind of dessert to be devoured. “This is a work meeting, and you don’t work here...”

Colton momentarily rose from his seat, looking around for someone. His eyes stopped at Cliff.

“Who do I have to talk to to get hired?” he yelled.

Cliff looked up from his burger and frowned at Colton. “We are not hiring anyone...”

“I will do it for free.”

“Hired!” Cliff smiled, raising his chubby cheeks.

“Okay, now I work here,” he announced triumphantly, grabbing more of my chips. “You can’t kick me out.”

I gaped at him. Was he crazy?

“Don’t you have a real job? I don’t even know what you do for a living.”

“I make a living cleaning car windshields at stoplights,” he paused to smear ketchup on a potato, “and I’m here because I feel like it. Oh, I almost forgot. I’m here because I came to see you.”

“Came to see me?” I looked sideways at Rita, who pretended she wasn’t listening like the rest of those sitting at the table.

“So, what’s the deal?” I asked.

“What’s the deal with what?”

“Like, what’s the purpose? What’s the reason?”

“What’s the purpose, what’s the reason, what’s the purpose?”

“Colton!”

“Anna?”

“Yeah, both of you!” Dulce interrupted us. “You’re going to make the vein on my forehead come to life and mutate into a zombie.”

Of all the things I could do, I laughed. Colton did his best not to imitate me but gave in instantly. The corners of his mouth turned up, and in a second, we were both laughing like little children. Dulce shot us looks that would make an ice cube melt.

“Infants,” she scolded us.

“Let them be,” Mirna joked. “If I were their age, I would have already thrown the boy on the table and slowly undressed him.”

“Eww!” I screeched. “Mirna, that’s disgusting.”

Although somehow, it wasn’t difficult for me to imagine Colton with fewer clothes than he was wearing... I really wanted to see what tattoo he had on his back. Lost in my thoughts for a moment, I didn’t realize when Colton stared at me with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” I asked. Oh no, was

I

drooling? Or could he now read minds and see the dirty thoughts spinning in my head?

“You were picturing me naked, right?” he said with an air of smugness.

I frowned.

“You wish…” Oh my God, how did he know?

“Well, I

don’t like to leave

anything to the imagination.”

He suddenly stood up on the chair he was sitting on; immediately, everyone in the room stared at him. Cliff’s hand froze midair just as he was about to take a bite of his burger.

“What are you doing?” I asked nervously, looking at the reactions of my coworkers, who were all gawking.

“Can someone put on some music?” he said. Gustavo instantly ran towards Cliff’s office, and seconds later, a popular and well-known song by Maroon 5 filled the room.

“Moves like Jagger, how fitting,” Colton mused.

Why did it feel like I was the only one who didn’t know what was going on here?

Finally, I understood his motives when I saw him climb onto the table where we were eating. Mirna hurried to clear all the dishes and any possible obstacles from his path.

No! He was going to... He was going to...

Colton began moving his hips to the beat of the music. He was playful and teasing, but once his eyes locked with mine, I realized he was taking this more seriously.

Soon, he started unbuttoning his shirt, button by button, as he continued to dance.

No...

Finally, he took off his shirt completely.

All the girls present (plus Gustavo) stared at him, hypnotized.

He had incredibly smooth skin. On his left shoulder was a tattoo of narrow geometric patterns, along with intricate thin lines. They looked like roots, lost and connected to another tattoo on his back.

My jaw dropped at the sight of his muscles.

He had another tattoo on his chest, a phrase in cursive letters that was difficult to read.

Then, he turned, spinning on his axis, revealing more tattoos on his back, all in black without any color.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Mirna yelled. She began unbuttoning her apron, and once outside, she waved it in the air like a cowgirl twirling a lasso. “We need some action around here. C’mon, darling. I want to see more skin!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cliff standing up, his face red and the corners of his lips smeared with mustard.

“Hey, this is not a nightclub!” he yelled.

“How much do you want it to be?” Colton retorted without stopping his dancing.

Cliff’s eyes widened, and he licked his lips.

“I want nothing.”

Colton tossed him a small roll of bills that he took from his pants wallet. Cliff fell silent and continued eating as if nothing had happened.

How much money did Colton have? Now, more than ever, I wanted to know what he did for a living. I had known him for five months, and it seemed like I didn’t really know anything about his life.

He returned to unbuttoning his pants. Mirna and Gloria, another one of the girls who fried the potatoes, slipped bills into Colton’s pockets.

I snorted.

My face burned hot when he looked at me and threw his scented shirt in my face.

“Only for you, baby,” he said, winking at me.

That was enough to make me weak in the knees.

“Oh, this is going to be good,” Rita smiled as she looked between Colton and me.

“I swear, if I had picked something by Slipknot, I would have jumped on him already,” Dulce mumbled.

I was shocked.

Colton waved for me to join him across the table, but in my place, it was Mirna who joined him. She started doing the horse dance, causing the table to creak a little with every jump and movement of her recently operated hip.

“Anna, get your ass up here!” Colton yelled, trying to be heard over the screams of the girls dancing around.

I shook my head.

He stopped dancing and looked at me with his typical expression when something didn’t go the way he wanted it to.

He quickly jumped down from the table and grabbed me around the waist.

“Get up there, or I’ll make you,” he threatened.

“What...? You can’t command me.”

“Fine. We’ll do it the hard way.”