More lies.
The guy was unbelievable and Sarah was done giving him the benefit of the doubt. She wasn’t naïve. She’d known all along there was far more than met the eye when it came to Leonardo, but this? He expected her to believe this? Obviously the guy had no intention of telling her the whole truth. She started to get in her car, knowing that having stood there listening to Leonardo’s bullshit for even this long would have Angel furious.
“Sarah, wait,” Leonardo said.
“Leonardo’s probably not even your real name. How stupid do you think I am?” she asked, pulling on the door to shut it, but he held it open. “Don’t make me scream,” she warned.
“It’s the truth,” he said, holding the door open. “Joseph isn’t your dad, but he is your uncle. He’s your dad’s brother. It’s why you have the same eyes. He’s the spitting image of your dad and why he knew he could pass for him.”
He let go of the door, but Sarah didn’t pull it shut. She sat there feeling her heart beat as if she’d been running for her life, only she knew this had nothing to do with her running.
“He contacted me months before he ever showed up at your friend’s house in Arizona,” he continued quickly, but his voice was a little calmer now that she wasn’t making a run for it. “He didn’t need your friend to tell him where to find you. He already knew, but he said it’d be more believable and you’d be more trusting if he did it that way and had you contact him. He told me to look you up and start doing my homework on you.”
Sarah stared straight ahead, thinking back at how easily she’d allowed herself to give them both the chance to come into her life. She felt even stupider but couldn’t bring herself to close the door and leave. She wanted the whole truth. Had her dad really had anything to do with it like her mother thought?
“Your dad had told him about the jewelry and how much it was worth years ago, but it wasn’t until earlier this year that he mentioned the jewels might still be around—that he’d given them to the woman who’d had his child. Joseph said he needed the money now to pay off some bad debt. He was desperate—said they were going to kill him if he didn’t pay up. He thought someone closer to your age, who you could relate to better, would have a better shot at getting the information from you. At first I refused. I wanted nothing to do with it. I didn’t have time for this. I had my own shit going on. But then one night . . .” He paused and Sarah finally looked up at him. “One night out of curiosity I looked you up. I got caught up looking through all your photos and videos, but I still wasn’t gonna do it. He offered me a portion of what the jewelry was worth if I’d help him get it, and I still refused, but by then I was hooked looking at your photos.” He squatted down so he was closer to her face, next to the car, holding on to the door. “I didn’t lie to you about my brother, and I didn’t lie to you about my first name. My brother Felipe is in the pen, and my name really is Leonardo.”
He explained about Felipe being in the same facility as her dad and how he’d already been beaten almost to death once in jail. Her dad, who’d been in much longer, had connections and influences that could protect his brother in there. Joseph had offered to put in a word to the real Omar to help protect Felipe, but even then Leonardo said he wouldn’t get bullied into anything. Then later he got word on the street that Joseph was looking to recruit someone else who might take on the job of pretending to be her brother—other guys who he knew were ruthless and dangerous. Since Felipe still had such a huge target on him in jail, Leonardo decided to do it. He’d keep Joseph from sending someone else out after Sarah, and it might get his brother some protection in jail.
“Something else I didn’t lie to you about was when I told you I felt a connection with you even before I met you. I really did. I swear some of the videos you have online, especially the ones where you’re cracking up, I must’ve watched like twenty thirty times. There was something about you that just touched me so profoundly.”
“Stop,” she whispered, shaking her head.
“Even the ones with you and Angel I watched over and over.”
“Stop.”
“After months of watching, I felt like I needed to meet you. You did something to me, and—”
“Stop it, Leonardo,” she said, getting out of the car, no longer able to sit.
“I need you to understand why I did it,” he said, following her around to the back of her car.
“I don’t wanna hear it,” she said, shaking her head and bringing her hand to her forehead. “It’s all lies. It’s what you do. You didn’t—”
“Yes, I did!” he said, coming face to face with her. “I fell in love with you.”
He said it with so much conviction Sarah almost believed him, but she couldn’t. She’d been stupid enough already. Who falls in love before meeting someone?
“You’re lying!”
“No, I’m not!” He took a step closer to her. “I did, Sarah. Only I didn’t know it until I actually started talking to you. This was never supposed to go on as long as it did. When it was obvious you knew nothing about the jewelry, that you weren’t going to be any help, I told Joseph it was over. We were done. That’s as far as it should’ve gone. It was supposed to end right there, and neither of us were ever supposed to meet you. I even threatened him that if he continued to contact you I’d come after him myself, but then I couldn’t stay away. I told myself if I met you just one time I’d get it out of system then I’d walk away, but then I spent time with you in Havasu, so when I tried . . .” He took a deep breath then huffed, shaking his head. “When I said goodbye that first time, it was supposed to be for good, but I just couldn’t do it.”
Sarah stared at him, remembering all the sweet names he’d called her, the way he’d looked at her in Havasu, and even the way he said things to her when the chatted online. If what he was telling her now was true, Angel had been right all along.
Leonardo took another step toward her, and she backed up against her car, her eyes lowering to his arms, those big tatted arms that had fascinated her when she first saw his photo. Then later again she’d been tempted to run her fingers over his scars in Havasu. Glancing up at him, she realized he’d been watching her, and his eyes dropped to the place where her eyes had been fixed on: the double L tattoo that peeked out from just under the sleeve of his shirt. The one he’d changed the subject about so abruptly in Havasu. She lifted the sleeve to take a better look as the reality of just how naïve she’d been began to really sink in.
“They’re your initials, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “Ledesma is my last name. I almost told you in Havasu. I swear I went there with every intention of telling you everything. I figured I’d tell you the truth about my brother first and see how you’d react. But you started freaking out before I told you anything, so by the time I’d let you in about my brother, you were already so rattled I decided I couldn’t. After my first attempt to try and cut things off with you and I couldn’t do it, I decided I’d just tell you the truth.” He shook his head, looking away with a puckered frown then back at her. “I thought worst-case scenario you’d tell me to go to hell and that would be the end of it, but a tiny part of me thought I saw something in your eyes. Maybe, just maybe you’d understand and forgive me. Maybe I could even make you fall in love with me too.
“I kept making excuse after excuse to put off telling you. I didn’t wanna ruin your holidays, and then I didn’t wanna ruin your birthday, but I was really gonna do it after New Year’s. Then you took off, and I didn’t hear from you for days, so I started to go a little nuts. And then I saw the photos of what you’d been doing all those days up in the snow—the days you said your Internet was so spotty you couldn’t call or text me but you’d been able to update your photos online just fine.”
He stared at her for a moment, completely stunned. This was what had been so odd about him all along. He actually believed he could make her fall for him. That’s why he chose to use such profound and strange phrasing when he spoke to her. All those pet names she knew now were not just strange but they were grossly inappropriate, and Angel had had every reason to not like them.
“After seeing the photos and videos of you and Angel, I realized I was in denial. The connection I’d felt with you even before I met you was pure fantasy, a fantasy that even after I decided to walk away still lives on.” His eyes dropped down to her lips. “A fantasy that one day I’d get to kiss you just once.”
Breathlessly caught in the moment, Sarah realized that the way he’d been looking at her that whole time was the same way he’d looked at her the entire time in Havasu, the same way he had when he’d said goodbye to her that last morning she was there. How she ever believed he was looking at her this way because he was just different and deep was beyond her. If anything about what he’d just told her was true, it was one thing. He was in love with her. At least he believed he was. And now he was standing here so close to her, practically telling her he wanted to kiss her—just once. For an instant, that conversation she’d had with Sofia came to her, the one where she’d asked Sarah if she’d ever be tempted to give into a harmless kiss with an attractive guy out of curiosity. Her eyes dropped down to his lips for a moment as he licked them, and only one word screamed in her head. “Never!”
His eyes darted from her lips to her eyes, startled, and that only infuriated her further. Did he really think her that stupid?
“Never in a million years,” she said, the anger searing through her veins now. “That you would even think . . .” She shook her head, disgusted. “That somewhere in that sick twisted head of yours the thought would exist that you could just waltz into my life, a complete stranger, and just make me fall for you and drop everything—Angel.”
“I just thought maybe—”
“What you saw in my eyes Leonardo was hope,” she said, almost through her teeth. “Hope because you’re right. People like me, like your sister, if you even have one, can’t even fathom your kind of warped mentality. I trusted you with the truth about my excitement to have a brother in my life, and you took advantage of that for your own selfish reasons. You sicken me.”
A car’s loud horn in such close proximity made them both flinch, and they turned to see Romero in his car pull up behind her car. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized just how close Leonardo’s face had been to hers. Romero brought a camera out and snapped a photo then smirked, lifting an eyebrow.
“This is state of the art stuff,” he said, looking Leonardo up and down in that same suspicious way he had the first day he’d met him on the marina. Then he looked back at Sarah. “I’m testing it out before I decide if I’m really gonna spend this kind of money on it or return it.” He snapped another photo of them before adding. “This is top-of-the-line shit here. It can zoom in from miles away, Sarah.” The car behind him honked, and he waved his arm out for the car to go around then turned back to Sarah. “So where’s Angel?”
“School,” she said, her heart still hammering away but glad Romero didn’t know anything about the reality of Leonardo and her so-called dad.
At least Angel hadn’t mentioned telling him yet. She knew if Romero did know he’d already be out of the car in Leonardo’s face, not just sitting there eyeing them suspiciously.
“You don’t have school today?”
Shaking her head, she moved away from Leonardo, knowing full well now Romero wasn’t there to show off his camera. “My class was cancelled, so I came out for a run.”
Eyeing Leonardo one more time, Romero put down the camera, nodding. “All right. I gotta get back to work,” he said, seemingly indifferent. “Tell Angel to call me.”
He drove away, and Sarah knew she needed to get out of there—needed to get to Angel before Romero did—because that last comment about telling Angel to call him was pure B.S., as if Romero couldn’t just text Angel himself and say, “Text me. I have some photos I wanna show you.” If Sarah didn’t know any better, Romero had probably already tried to call Angel and likely hadn’t been able to get a hold of him.
It can zoom in from miles away, Sarah.
Sarah’s heart rate picked up again. Romero was nothing if not obvious.
“I gotta go,” she said, moving past Leonardo.
“Sarah, wait,” he said, holding her arm.
“Get your hands off me!” Sarah jerked her hand away and pushed past him.
The haze of fury that had begun to stew just before Romero drove up suddenly erupted inside her, and she spun around and pushed him with both hands. Then she did something she’d never done to anyone in her life and slapped him—hard. “I trusted you,” she said loudly. “I wanted to believe you were my brother so badly, and you knew this and used it against me, you bastard! I hate you!”
Leo stood his ground without moving but didn’t so much as lift a hand to block anything else she might swing at him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I really am. I just—”
“Go to hell!” she said, walking away again.
She needed to get out of there before she wasted even another ounce of energy on him. He didn’t deserve it. Never had.
“I truly am sorry about everything,” Leo insisted, raising his voice but didn’t follow her. “I never meant for it to turn into this. I swear to you. But there is something else I think you should know. It’s why I’m even here.”
Sarah didn’t bother to even look back at him. She didn’t want to know about how this sicko thought he was in love with her anymore. Why he thought that was a good enough reason to come and turn her life upside down, play with her emotions, and then just walk away and leave her hanging when he realized his demented plan wasn’t going to work, she had no idea. She was done listening to him and sniveling inwardly about the other family she’d fantasized about having out there. For years it’d been just her and mother, and she’d been fine with it. Why in the world she’d suddenly thought she needed more was just selfish. So many others had less.
“It’s about your father, Sarah,” he said, making her stop at the door of her car, but she refused to look at him. “Your real father.”
~*~
Angel
Rushing out into the school parking lot, Angel read the text Sarah had sent him earlier. Her afternoon class had been cancelled, and she’d gone for a run at the marina. He had three other texts all from Romero. He could see the last one had attachments. No matter how many times he’d told Romero he couldn’t text him back when he in school, the guy still texted him back to back often while he was sitting in class. Usually the second or third ones sounded annoyed because he hadn’t responded to the first one. Angel frowned, reading the first one of Romero’s texts.
Call me as soon as you can. I need to ask you something.
Angel scrolled down to read the second one before checking out whatever stupid photos he might’ve sent in the third.
Sarah’s brother
It was all Angel got to read of the second one because the screen lit up with an incoming call from none other than Romero. Angel rolled his eyes, knowing Romero’s impatient ass would likely be all irritated that it’d been over forty minutes since he’d sent the first text and Angel still hadn’t responded. So he answered, ready to hear Romero’s mouth.
“What?”
“Hey, man,” Romero started right off. “I don’t care what you say about Sarah’s brother. The guy’s shady. I didn’t like the looks of him from day one, and I’m not talking about his tats and shit. I’m talking about the way he was all up in her face until you came and sat back down with them.”
Angel had meant to follow up and ask Romero what he’d meant that day when he said they were getting cozy, but he’d forgotten all about it. Now he hated to have to say to Romero the two words he so rarely ever did but had no choice. “You’re right,” he said, getting in his car and throwing his books on the passenger side. “He was shady.”
“What do you mean was?”
“I mean it turned out he wasn’t her brother after all. It was all bullshit, but he’s gone now.”
“Gone where?”
“Out of her life. She cut him off.” Angel started up his car. “She doesn’t talk to him anymore.”
“I knew it! So what was up today?”
“What do you mean?” Angel asked confused.
“Did you not see the pictures I sent you? They were together at the marina.” Angel froze for a moment just as he was getting ready to put the car in reverse. “And not to piss you off or anything, but they looked pretty fucking cozy again. Say I exaggerate all you want, but pictures don’t lie, and I have more if you need to see more. You know I thought that fucker looked too—”
Angel pulled the phone away from his ear and scrolled through his texts then clicked on the photos Romero sent him. The sliver of hope he’d had that maybe Romero had been mistaken about whoever it was she’d been talking to being Leo was crushed the moment he saw the first photo. It was of Sarah, standing by her car, talking to Leo.
With his first thought being that maybe she was in some kind of danger, he spoke in to the speaker. “Is she still there with him?”
He heard Romero say she’d left, so he scrolled to the next photo. Leo was squatting down next to her car door, talking to her, and it appeared Sarah was trying to close her door. The relief inundated him, drowning out the anger he’d began to feel about seeing her engaging with the guy, but it was fleeting. In the next two photos she was out of the car, leaning against the rear of it, and Leo was standing too damn close to her. Scrolling through them faster now, his eyes were fixed on Sarah’s expressions. First, she was looking at his arm, and then the next one nearly sucked the air out of his lungs. She was touching his arm, lifting his shirt, and gazing at one of his tattoos, and Leo was close enough to kiss her.
“Did he kiss her?” Angel asked, wanting a warning before he scrolled to the next photo.
He brought the phone to his ear because his heart needed a breather. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to take any more photos if they got worse.
“No, but it sure as hell looked like he was going to, didn’t it?” Romero asked. “That’s why I sent you all those because I knew you’d say I was exaggerating. You know if I had known about him being full of shit I would’ve said something. I was right there! And I don’t give a shit how big he is. You know me. I would’ve clubbed his ass over the head with a fucking wrench if I had to. I just didn’t . . .”
Angel lowered the phone, about to scroll through the pictures again while Romero continued to rant, when the second incoming call indicator blinked.
“I’ll call you back,” he said to Romero. “It’s Sarah on the other line.”
“I have more pictures. You want me to send more?”
“Send them all,” he said as he yanked his keys out of the ignition.
He stepped out of his car and took in a much needed lung full of air, trying desperately to erase the visual of Sarah touching the guy’s arm. No matter how much effort he made in the short time he had, he couldn’t, and it only infuriated him further. He knew that was going to affect the way he handled this.
For a second, he considered letting it go to voice mail until he calmed down because already he felt like he was going to lose his shit. But going against his better judgment, he answered anyway.
“Sarah, what’s going on?” he asked, pacing and taking deep breaths.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“At school still. What happened?”
Just the fact that she didn’t mention Leo first thing already had him hot.
He should’ve never answered.
“With what? I was just—”
“What do you mean with what?” he snapped. “With Leo, Sarah. You were with him at the marina. You wanna tell me about that?”
“Yes, I was going to. You want to come pick me up?”
“No. Tell me now,” he said as the fucking visual assaulted him again and again. “I wanna know now.”
“He was there when I finished my run. He wanted to explain everything. Why he lied.”
“And why did he?”
“It’s a long story—”
“Is it really?” he asked, his insides boiling now. “So you were there for a while with him?”
“Not very long.”
It took everything in him not to cuss. “So what’d he say? Why did he lie? Give me the short version. You can tell me the rest later. I wanna know what his bullshit excuse was.”
“He said . . .”
He heard her exhale but his patience was shot. “He said what, Sarah?”
“He said he fell in love with me.” She paused for a moment, but for the first time since he’d answered, Angel was speechless. “What he told me before about feeling a connection with me before we’d ever met? He said that was all true, only it was a more intimate connection than he first admitted. Then after we started chatting, his feelings for me only grew further. And it was about the jewelry.”
Angel listened to her silently as she told him the rest. How she hadn’t wanted to even listen to him at first.
But then did.
She explained why Joseph looked so much like her and her dad and how Leo originally wanted no part in the scam but then made it sound as if he’d done it for her sake, to protect her from another potentially dangerous lying sack of shit Joseph might’ve hired instead.
The whole time Angel couldn’t get past the thought that she might’ve actually bought Leo’s bullshit: That the only reason Leo had gone along with any of it was because of his feelings for her, feelings he felt before he’d even met her. How he’d feared for her safety and how he’d threatened Joseph about not contacting her after they’d figured out she had no such jewelry. But the worst part was still screaming in his head, and for as much as he tried to calm it—stay quiet without interrupting her—it only got louder with every word she said that sounded like justification for Leo’s actions.
“So let me get this straight, Sarah. This asshole, who lied to you for months about something pretty fucking big like his identity, shows up today, and you want nothing to do with him until he explains he’s in love with you?”
“No,” she said quickly. “That’s not what—”
“And then,” Angel said, fully aware he was raising his voice to the point where he might start yelling but he didn’t give a shit anymore because he was livid. “And then after he explains all this, you decide to stick around and let him close enough to kiss you?”
“What? Who said—?”
“I saw pictures!” he boomed. “Of you and him against your car. His face is close enough to touch yours, and you touched him. Admit it, Sarah. You’re attracted to the guy, and the fact that he says he did this because he’s in love with you makes it all better!”
“No! Of course not! I—”
“What? Are you two gonna be friends now?”
“Angel, calm down, pl—”
“Are you, Sarah? Are you collecting best friends who are in love with you now?”
She didn’t say anything, and he knew he was being an asshole now, but he couldn’t help it. The jealousy was eating him alive. She’d stuck around and allowed this guy, who didn’t deserve even a minute of her time, to stand that close to her. A guy who admitted to being in love with her. She stood there and admired his arms and tattoos and then fucking touched them!
“I gotta go,” he said, clicking the end button on his phone before he crushed the damn thing in his hand.
He stood there, heaving in and out in a desperate attempt to calm himself, but he couldn’t. The phone rang in his hand, and he silenced it then chucked into his open car window. This time he knew better than to answer it. Running both hands through his hair, he leaned against his car and closed his eyes.
“Tough day?”
Angel opened his eyes to see a familiar smiling face. Bruxa, a girl from the cheer squad, stood behind her car parked in the stall next to his and opened the trunk. She threw her book bag in her trunk and closed it then pouted playfully at him.
“You look like you could use a drink.”
“I could actually,” he said.
Her brows shot up in surprise, probably because she was one of the several older girls on the cheer squad who’d come on pretty strong in the beginning of his freshman year despite knowing full well he was in a relationship. She’d been pretty blatant about flirting with him even when she knew Sarah was nearby or in the stands watching. At one point, she’d made it clear she’d be up for just fun no strings attached and she didn’t even mind that she’d be the girl on the side, but Angel had turned her down flat. Sarah had said her name went with the evil bitch because it sounded like the Spanish word for witch, bruja.
“Well, let’s go,” she smiled wickedly. “I’ll buy the first round.”
Angel eyed her from top to bottom. She was what Romero often referred to as “definitely bangable.” He wondered if this was how Alex dealt with sharing Valerie. Did being with someone else, even if it was only temporary and meaningless, really help numb the pain? The very pain he was feeling now from knowing that his Sarah might actually be feeling something for Leo?