Felix held her arm when she walked up the pavers that lead to the Hernandez’s front door. It looked huge and imposing in twilight. Everyone who had anything to do with Miami high society was going to be there. She’d known that, but it hadn’t sunk in until their car had approached a valet line that reached to the end of the block.
This is what real money looked like. And she was here because Javi wanted her here. As his girlfriend. She was shaking inside and maybe on the outside at the thought of meeting his parents. She was absolutely certain that she wouldn’t hold up to their scrutiny.
They stopped halfway up the walkway to the door because there was actually someone checking invitations at the front door. For the fiftieth time since they’d left Felix’s place, she checked her bag for the invitation that Alana had overnighted to her.
Maya Pascual plus one guest. Javi’s sister had added a personal note saying, Please come. I need to produce you at the party so that Cole will pay up.
Maya had been so horrified when Javi had asked her to come that he’d told her to bring her brother. Like he somehow sensed that she wasn’t sure enough of their relationship to come on her own. She needed support.
She’d spent hours picking out a dress. She’d blown her whole budget on a black cocktail dress that had a little bit of sparkle. Black probably wasn’t the color to wear for an engagement party, but she felt powerful in a neutral. And white would have been even more gauche.
If anything, black would allow her to fade into the background. Her brother, on the other hand, wore a bright pink sports jacket, a printed shirt with palm trees and flamingos, and white pants. She could fade into the background, and he would shine.
“Thanks for dressing out loud tonight. Everyone will be so busy talking about your outfit that they won’t notice that the family scion’s girlfriend is from the ‘hood.”
“Bitch, please. I am not dressing like this for you. And no one is going to notice that we’re from the barrio because we are not in the ‘hood anymore. Both of us are out. For real. Permanently.”
“When did you start believing that? That you wouldn’t wake up one morning in Mami’s apartment, bracing for the yelling?”
Felix kissed the side of her head, where he wouldn’t smudge her carefully applied make-up. “When I got far away? I don’t know. Maybe one morning walking on the beach after a night out? But the farther I am from New York, the less I feel like our father could come crawling out of the walls.”
“It’s a lot easier now that Mami is gone. I hate to say it, but now that she isn’t around, that she can’t bring him back into our lives or pull us into her drama, I feel safer.” A ghost of the claw in her gut that used to visit her when her father came around hit her.
There was only one couple in line ahead of them. She still felt nauseous, but noticed that the woman was also wearing black. At the very least, she wasn’t the only one trying to make that mistake.
“We shouldn’t be thinking about that tonight.” Felix straightened his lapels. “We should be thinking about how you’re going to wow homeboy’s parents. I’m like your hype man for that, aren’t I?”
“Pretty much. Although, I’m pretty sure that we blew that with the dress.”
Felix took her wrap and handed it to a coat check—this place had a coat check at a party—and looked down the deep V-neck of her dress.
“You didn’t specify that you didn’t want to give his dad a boner. And you can’t help looking like you do. Both of us were destined to cause boners everywhere we went.”
She laughed so loud that several people looked at them. She smiled and pulled Felix towards the back of the house, where the din of the party was. Maybe no one would notice that her brother was a completely inappropriate human if they were someplace noisier.
“We can’t talk about boners here, Felix.”
“Christ, I have to talk to Cubans, and I can’t discuss boners? This party is already lame.” He grabbed a pieced of bacon-wrapped shrimp from a bow-tied waiter and ate it in one bite. “Mine’s better. They use the cheap seafood guy.”
“You also can’t trash talk Cubans.”
“You are no fun.”
It didn’t miss her that they would normally be working a party like this. She wouldn’t be as nervous if she was. Sure, that wouldn’t be the ideal way to meet her boyfriend’s parents, but she wouldn’t have had to worry about what she was wearing. She wouldn’t feel like she was on display. But, right now, being invisible probably wouldn’t be so bad.
“Come on, I want to try the rest of the food and find it lacking.”
“Alright. Let’s go.” She led him through the house, hoping to find Javi there. And maybe some alcohol. She wasn’t going to drink too much because she didn’t want her tongue to run away with her tonight.
On the way, she noticed that the house was impressive, but lived in. It totally wasn’t her taste, but they did have some interesting art on the walls. A few pieces she recognized from her required art history electives. So, they definitely had some serious money. The walls weren’t going to let her forget it.
She also needed to see Javi; she knew that her anxiety wouldn’t give up its hold on her until she saw him and knew for sure that he wanted her there. She held Felix’s hand so tight that he would start complaining soon. He couldn’t protect her from any of the bad things she was sure would happen, but holding on to him was the only thing keeping her from running out the front door.
They made it out to the backyard. It was huge, much bigger than one would think from seeing the front of the house. There was a pool in the middle, lit from the inside, with a waterfall over a mosaic. A high, white stucco wall surrounded the spacious lawn, which was getting more and more packed.
Dainty lights hanging from inconspicuous temporary features gave the whole setting a fairy tale-like quality. Felix let out a low whistle when he’d looked around. “Look, they have a permanent outdoor bar. You need a drink.” He went to leave her standing near the back entrance of the house, but she held him tighter. “Okay, so I’m your security blanket. That’s fine, but blankie needs a drinkie.”
“Don’t have too many drinkies and blow someone in the bushes.”
“I haven’t blown anyone in a hedge in years. I do that inside now.”
She looked around to make sure that no one had noticed them talking about public blowies. Everyone seemed to be absorbed in their own conversations, though she noticed a few guys checking for Felix. Sort of like always. Wherever Felix went, men—and a few dense women—salivated. “Just don’t blow anyone here, okay?”
Felix winked. “Bae’s out of the zip code, which means I can do whatever I want.”
They made it through the clusters of guests and Felix grabbed them both a mojito. Sure enough, there was a permanent bar built in the yard. Not even attached to a patio. Anyone who had that was probably a decent person. Knowing that Javi’s parents obviously knew how to throw a party made her feel marginally better about meeting them.
She slurped down her drink, which was thankfully generous with the rum, and searched for Javi. She spotted him standing next to Carla and the nondescript-looking white dude from the other night—the fiancé—next to the pool. The harsh light threw his profile into relief, and he looked so starkly handsome that her breath caught.
She was so into him. If she had never met him before tonight, she would be struck dumb by him. He was wearing white pants; her fingers itched to touch what would undoubtedly be fine linen and a dark jacket over a white button-down. She looked down at her flashy cocktail dress and felt like she’d overdone it.
And then he smiled at something his sister said. She imagined she could hear him laughing and her nervousness eased.
“Do you want to meet him?”
“I didn’t think you hauled me to rich people central so that I wouldn’t meet him. I can try more of the competition’s food later.”
* * * *
As soon as Javi saw her, he stopped listening to whatever his sister had to say. She’d probably punch him on the arm, but he couldn’t hear anything but the blood rushing from his head to his cock because of Maya in that dress.
He should have told her that, after the debacle of Carla’s engagement party, Alana and Cole had decided they wanted something more low key. Because she wouldn’t have been out of place on a red carpet. He could scarcely believe that she was here for him, so dazzling that he couldn’t think of why he hadn’t thought she could hang in his world.
The iridescent sparkle of her dress highlighted every gorgeous curve on her body. As she made her way towards him, clinging to a guy who had to be her brother, he noticed several guys, and a few girls, doing double takes. It made him want to growl and snap like a caged dog—or grab a microphone and announce that she belonged to him.
He couldn’t help the goofy grin he was sure he had on his face, and he didn’t even look away when Carla pinched him in the side. “She is like bananas hot, Javi. Like, I know you’ve been with half a swimsuit issue of models, but she is totally hotter.”
“I know.”
Carla continued, more for her fiancé Geoff’s benefit than his own. “And I love her. Alana loves her. Mommy is going to love her once she gets over the tattoos.” She jabbed Javi in the side again. “Don’t muck it up with Daddy. You make sure he loves her, too.”
Javi’s good mood faltered at that. When he’d told his father he was bringing someone to the engagement party, someone he was serious about, he’d gotten a stern look. His dad had gone so far as to ask for her name and basic information so he could run a background check. Javi had flat-out refused, but he wouldn’t put it past his old man to ask Maya to her face.
She’d probably throw a drink in his face, which would definitely preclude his father loving her as much as his sisters did.
It felt like an eternity before she got to him. And, he knew it would make her uncomfortable, but he wanted to really kiss her. He burned with the need to do more than the simple cheek kiss. Even that lifted something in his chest.
He pulled back and extended his hand to the brother. “Javier Hernandez. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Felix’s face was flat, impassive, as if he’d already passed judgment, but didn’t want to say the wrong thing. He looked like a male version of Maya, except stockier and warier—as if that were even possible.
Maya’s smile was brittle, and it faltered as Javi and her brother stared each other down.
“Don’t hurt my sister again. Okay, Cubano? Then we can get to names.” Felix took his hand and squeezed it. “You might be tempted to underestimate the ass-kicking I’ll give you if you hurt my sister because I like to suck dick, but I’m from the barrio, and I’m not scared of you.”
Javi was a little scared of him, and wasn’t planning on hurting Maya. But he liked that she had someone in her corner. Now that he knew that her father was a bad dude, it made him feel better that she had someone in her life—besides him—who would throw down for her.
“I won’t hurt her. I have sisters, and I feel the same way about them.”
Felix gave him a half-grin and his stony eyes softened. Maya stopped trying to cut off the oxygen to his fingers, and she leaned into him. He felt as though he’d passed a test.
Carla piped up then. “Now that you’re done beating your chests, maybe we can make some toasts and eat some snacks?” His sister looked at Maya. “So it’s not just our older brother that’s like that?”
Felix laughed at Carla’s lame joke, and he had never been more grateful for his baby sister’s off-the-wall sense of humor.
“Yes, all older brothers.” Felix winked. “At least when we’re nuts about our baby sisters.”
Maya said, “Javi would sort of deserve it if you punched him in the face. He kicked Cole’s ass when he found out about him and Alana.”
“As in, one half of the happy couple we’re here to celebrate tonight? The former Navy SEAL? Shit, man. That sounds like a fuck up.” Felix wasn’t done busting his balls even though the tension had abated. He’d fit in the extended family just fine.
Javi took a sip of his beer. He wasn’t drinking nearly as much of the hard stuff these days. He didn’t want to forget a minute of his time with Maya. When he saw Cole and Alana approaching, he said, “There was precedent. I had to drop Andy Padilla out of a window when she was five, and she kept bringing pendejos home. Right up through this motherfucker.”
Alana stood next to him and cuffed him on the back of the head. He pretended she’d hurt him. Cole grabbed Maya in a big hug, and said, “You lost me some money. I didn’t think you’d forgive this idiot.”
Maya winked at Javi. “Oh, he’s still groveling. I can’t decide when I’ll be satisfied with his show of remorse.”
Cole let her go and laughed. He went immediately to Alana, and kissed her so thoroughly that Maya had to look away. While Carla scolded them for being gross in public, and the attention was off of him and Maya, Javi leaned close to her ear.
“I’m happy to pay penance any way you make me pay it, mi cielo.” He grazed the back of her neck with his fingers, glad she’d pulled her hair up and out of the way. “You’re trying to punish me by wearing that dress, aren’t you? It’s working because my cock hurts so bad. You’re going to have me hobbled by the end of the night.”
“That was the plan. You’ll never act like an idiot again.” There was a whisper of a laugh in Maya’s voice and it warmed him over.
“That’s a plan bound to fail. I’m sure to be an idiot again, just so I can make it up to you,” he said.
He kissed her cheek again, still wishing it was her lush mouth. He promised himself that he’d drag her to his childhood bedroom before the end of the night.
There was no way they’d make it to his house before he her fucked senseless.