Page 17 of High

Manny

Fidgeting where I leaned myself against the plush chair, I barely noticed the room I was in, except to register there was a desk nearby. All I could see was Thio, shoulders jerking with his breath as he turned and locked the door behind us. My heart jumped into the back of my throat and I cut a glance toward the glass door that seemed to lead to a small balcony outside. There was a white metal table with two chairs around it out there, like it was waiting for us. My heart slowed as it registered that I wasn’t trapped, but I nearly vibrated with the urge to run.

“I can’t believe what I just fucking saw,” I ground out.

He whipped around to face me, and when he started toward me, I stood up and put the chair between us. He let out a frustrated noise and scrubbed his hands over his cheeks.

Upset bubbled in my gut and ate away there. “Since when do you fucking murder people, Thio? You never did this before.”

“Yes, Manny, I did,” he burst out, jamming a finger my way. “You were just too fucking young to know about it yet, just like you were too young for everything else you wanted.” His harsh words were like a slap in the face and I recoiled. “Now, just like then, I’m protecting you. All you have to do is allow me to be the man you need.”

“Did I ever know you?” I shoved the chair in his direction and it hit his knee. He grunted and I felt better. He shoved it back into place, but in true Thio fashion, wasn’t petty enough to knock it against my leg. He leaned his hands on the arms of the chair to glare at me.

“I have to take care of the family. My papá may have started this, but there’s no stopping that ball from rolling. We’re committed, every one of us. Arlo isn’t able to run the business on his own. There’s no way. It’s me or no one.”

He begged for understanding with his eyes, but I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me, and at the mention of his brother I winced. I’d always liked Arlo—he was a good friend, always tried to make me laugh—but Thio was right about his assessment of him. Arlo had always been very self-centered and… stuck in his own head. He wasn’t anything like Thio or Tío Luis. He couldn’t surf to save his life, either; that’s how inattentive he was. The waves always slammed him to the bottom ten minutes in, and he’d go running for shore with his board dragging along behind him like a sad log, even on the beginner beaches.

“Yes, you have to be in charge of things, fine. How does that mean you’re shooting people?” I shook my hands in his direction. “What the hell?” I glanced at the balcony doors again, and the sunlight glittered on the waves in the distance. A longing took root in me, but the more I looked outside, dread curled in my stomach alongside the horror already bubbling. The waves seemed larger than I remembered, and the ocean didn’t end. Anything could be out there. I stilled. The thought of the hidden wonders under the water had never scared me before, the exact opposite, but now it seemed more likely there would be monsters.

“Please, Manny. Let me show you the beach,” Thio said, turning to see what I was looking at. “Think what you want about me, but I bought this house for you.” The cool desperation that crawled into his tone had me whipping my attention back to him. That was new, the way he seemed a little scared about what I might decide about him, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. I never wanted him to worry about how I felt, even though I had no idea what was going on with me.

Thio leaned in and rested a knee on the seat of the chair. Both of his hands went to my cheeks, and I swallowed hard as he dipped his focus to my mouth. My gut jerked when he bent forward, and I froze in shock as he lightly pressed his lips to mine.

So warm. Soft. He lightly swept his tongue into my mouth, and I fluttered the tip of mine against his.

Thio’s hands turned rough as he tilted my head where he wanted it and pressed harder against my lips, but his tongue continued to dance lightly over mine. Electricity flashed fast into my gut and I whimpered. He broke off a few seconds later, far too soon, and I followed him. He didn’t break his gaze away from me as I brushed my lips against his again. Frantic electricity scrabbled around in my gut and sank lower, and I would have gone in for a third kiss, but he chuckled and leaned back. The intense need in his gaze stole my breath.

We stared at each other for a long while.

“Let me show you your beach,” he repeated.

Reality chipped away at the wonderful, flushed heat that simmered in my body and lit up every inch of my skin. I cleared my throat and forced myself to think. If I just went along with all this now, listened to Thio and went back to not questioning anything, simply living my life, I might end up right back where I’d started. A scaredy-cat part of me wanted to run away and never see anyone in my family, or Thio’s, ever again, but the biggest part of me just wanted to listen to him and be the boy who’d followed him around. I wanted to belong to him, and that was terrifying because I’d spent years trapped. I knew in my heart he would never do what Papá did, but fear still swirled in me, along with all the other things I was feeling.

“How many people died for this house?”

He leaned back and stood, crossing his arms over the thick muscles of his chest.

“If you’re such a fucking big man now, protecting the family, why did you wait? Rosa said that your father has been dead for months. That was one of the first things she let me know, when he died, so that I could go say prayers for him if I wanted.” I stepped around the chair and shoved him hard on the shoulder that wasn’t wound up with bandages, but he still winced.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He barked out a laugh. “Takes more than that to hurt me.”

“Bastard.”

His eyebrows flew high and he shook his head at me. “Your language has certainly changed. Not sure I like it.”

“I had no one around to impress,” I grumbled, narrowing my eyes on him.

Thio groaned and tossed up his hands before he settled them onto my shoulders. I tried to shove him off but didn’t want to hurt him again. He swiftly used my hesitation to his advantage and gripped my shoulders tighter, while I scowled.

“I get it, okay? I know it’s—”

“Fucking scary. You had this look on your face outside when you fired that gun….”

Thio leaned closer and slid his hands down along my shoulders to my back, carefully inching nearer until there was barely any space between us. I had to tip my head back to look into his face.

“You never have to be afraid,” he said, like that was the end of the discussion.