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Honestly, he was kind of right. Per usual. Not that Javi was an idiot, although he sort of was. But he was more than that. Just because he wore things like navy blue trousers and listened to popular music instead of emo anthems from 2008 like we did, didn’t mean he was a bad person.
I’d been dating Javi for about a month and a half, since around the same time I left the old bar I used to work at and started working at the current one. He was my manager, so we got to see each other every night. I liked talking business with him, and he gave me opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. It was a comfortable setup if anything, and it ensured I had a routine and a lifestyle to latch onto. Sure, things weren’t as perfect as they were when we first got together, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t great. He was just stressed out. But we were good.
“So, do you like him?” Jonah asked. I still hadn’t provided an answer to his previous statement. Shit. What the fuck was wrong with me? Lots going on tonight, what with all the people and the surprise. My mind wasn’t quite keeping up.
“Yeah, I think I do, actually.” Jonah shook his head with an exaggerated eye roll, which I ignored. “You’ll meet him tonight if we go out to the bars. The girls and I planned to have drinks. His name is Javi.”
“Javi,” Jonah said.
“Javi.”
He blinked a couple of times, staring at me with a soft curiosity. His voice was hardly audible as he asked, “What’s he like?”
“Good. He’s good.”
I didn’t want to talk about him. No reason, really. I shared everything with Jonah, except the things I felt he’d disapprove of.
Chapter 6
Jonah
Kai, Oli, June, Ana, Rachel, and I rode up the escalator out of the metro station. We were on our way to meet this Javi character. I would’ve preferred to watch a movie in the hotel room, but Kai had plans to go out with her friends, and I wasn’t about to take that from her just because we’d shown up from another country. Besides, Oli and June hardly helped my case as they were eager to see what a party in Madrid looked like. So, here I was.
The best-looking man I think I’d ever seen in my life stood at the exit of the station boasting a crisp white button-down, dark trousers, and white sneakers as clean as his shirt. He was tall. So tall. Taller than me. Almost taller than Oli. His complexion had the same glow as Kai’s in late August, and it was only April. The two brown eyes in his head were coated in thick black lashes which matched his thick black hair. And his cheekbones. God, his cheekbones. Just looking at them made me want to hide my own face in shame. He was obviously a few years older. More mature than me. Probably successful. Probably driven.
I crossed my arms and hoped the supermodel standing in front of us wasn’t Javi.
He was.
“That is a good-looking dude,” Oli mumbled quietly.
I grunted. “What did you expect? It’s Kai.”
Javi looked like he should’ve been telling me that four out of five dentists prefer Colgate. His smile was so enormously big and so obnoxiously bright, I could hardly see. Truly. The man was the human equivalent of a car with its high beams blaring in the middle of a busy street, and not just in reference to his teeth. He was impossible to ignore, tall, tan, and much better looking than I would likely ever be.
Not that I cared what I looked like.
He dropped his arm around Kai’s shoulders and dragged her around with him as he kissed all five of us on both of our cheeks. My dislike for that gesture was something I simply couldn’t explain. My angry head was going to propel off my neck like a backyard bottle rocket if another set of lips besides Kai’s came anywhere near my fucking face.
Oli was used to those kinds of greetings. His whole family was really quite affectionate, save his asshole of a dad. But the fact that he went along with Javi’s advances only made me angrier. He was supposed to be my friend.
The greetings ceased and we stood in a small circle in the cobblestone plaza, light beaming from the signs and city around us as people scuttled in all directions.
“Want to go to Mario’s place?” Kai asked, looking up at her rangy counterpart. “I want them to see it. They’d love it.”
“No, mi cielo.” Javi denied her preference in a tone of voice I didn’t care for. The pet name did nothing to cover up the fact that this guy was a total asshat. “Nico’s is better.”
She groaned. “I’m off this week. I don’t want to go to my workplace on my week off.”
“You shouldn’t be off. You need the hours and you know that, amor.” Charming. One of his arms remained over her shoulder as his line of vision trailed to the phone in his hand. “Besides, I have to talk to Nico.”
Kai made a stink face at him (though he wasn’t looking her way) and complied as she signaled to us to follow her. Javi didn’t release her or the device as we all began walking.
We trudged up an uneven street, and Kai explained that we were on our way to the bar where she now worked. I knew she was at this new place six nights a week, dancing and bartending as she did at the previous spot, though this bar—this manager—was more time-consuming and much more popular, so she said. Somehow, despite sleepless nights and ceaseless days, she still glowed. I honestly don’t know how she did it all.
“Don’t you get tired, Kai?” June asked, reading my mind. “You must not sleep much.”
“Yeah. But the bills aren’t going to pay themselves.” Kai laughed falsely, which broke my withered heart in two. “And I’m paying the price. Do you see this complexion? My body hates me.” She pointed to her face, implying there was something wrong with it. Blasphemy. She looked exquisite. “But that’s okay. It keeps me busy.”
