Sleeping with the Frenemy (Vega Family Love Stories #3)

Chapter 2

2

It was the one-year anniversary of the day Leo died. Okay, technically his heart had only stopped for a minute or so, but he considered it dying even if the doctors didn’t. It had been a long road to what they called recovery, but Leo didn’t consider himself recovered. There were still too many things he struggled to do because of the nerve damage he’d sustained after being shot while saving his family from neighborhood thugs. For example, he couldn’t lift anything over a hundred and ten pounds now without pain or tingling when he used to lift triple that. Still, Leo wasn’t going to stop until he felt like himself again.

A hand tapped his leg, bringing his focus back to the present and making him realize that his leg had been bouncing. Leo forced his leg to still and gave his attention to the woman in front of him, Amanda McGuire—or Mandy, as she demanded they call her—Liam’s business mentor and partner.

Liam and Mandy had met when Kane Distillery had been a contestant in a national craft distillery contest and she’d been so impressed that she’d offered to guide Liam as he expanded the business into something that would grow beyond Division Street. It had taken Killian, Liam’s late grandfather, a bit to come around to the idea of having anyone else involved in the family business, but he’d eventually given his blessing before he passed. Since then Mandy had stepped fully into the role of mentor, helping Liam see beyond the day-to-day aspects of whiskey distilling. She got him to realize that if he diversified his business a bit, he’d eventually have more profit to put into expanding. All of which had led to the moment they were at now, on the cusp of opening a new part of the business.

“Everything looks good so far,” Mandy said to Leo and Liam. “The new lighting is in, the glass walls are up, and the old catwalk has been extended and reinforced to allow for seating.”

Leo looked at everything Mandy pointed out. Kane Distillery had definitely undergone a transformation, almost as radical as the one at El Coquí, which was in the same building. Where there used to just be an open space with a bunch of machines, there were now glass walls that allowed the machines to be viewed without any rando having access to them. The main wall still displayed the original Kane Distillery logo that Liam had painted all those years ago, but it now also housed a brand-new bar with built-in shelves. In Leo’s mind he could see the finished product, a trendy, new, low-key hangout where people could just come and chill while drinking artisanal drinks made with one hundred percent local products including spirits made from other local craft distilleries. Mandy had originally tried to get Liam to branch out and make gin, vodka, or even brandy, but that was a step too far for him. Liam was a whiskey distiller. Point-blank period. There was still a lot of work to do to get everything ready for the grand opening in a few weeks, but Leo was willing to put it in.

Unlike Mandy, Leo’s involvement had happened accidentally. It all started because Liam needed some help and Leo had been on medical leave from the Chicago Fire Department recovering. Suddenly, Leo found himself spending more and more time at the distillery with Liam, the only person who didn’t treat him like he was made of crystal. Then Leo had made an offhand comment to Mandy and Liam about how creating a bar on the distillery side would bring in more people and not just for tours. From there things just sort of happened and now Leo, who had tended bar at El Coquí part-time for years and even managed the place when his parents and sister were gone, was the head mixologist and manager at Kane Distillery’s Tasting Room. It was probably what he deserved after failing, yet again, to keep his damn mouth shut, but Leo didn’t always have the ability to filter his words before they came out of his mouth. He just said shit and then wondered how he’d gotten himself in trouble. Not that working with Mandy and Liam on expanding the distillery was trouble. If anything, it was one of the few things holding Leo together at the moment.

Mandy turned to Leo. “We need to finalize the drink menu soon. I want to have them printed with plenty of time to get anything fixed because there will inevitably be an error.”

Leo fought a grimace. “I’m fine-tuning it.” If someone had told Leo a year ago that he’d be carefully curating a drink menu for the new Kane Distillery bar, he would’ve laughed his ass off and then gone to tell his buddies at the fire station. Life was crazy like that.

Liam turned to look at him and raised one brow. “Fine-tuning, hmm?”

So Leo was lying. The truth was he’d barely begun and Liam knew it. “Shut up,” Leo told him. “I work best under pressure anyway.”

Mandy cleared her throat. “Look, I’m here to help with whatever you need. I’m not a mixologist, but I do know plenty.” She’d already proved that by basically holding Leo’s hand throughout the entire process. She was like his personal tutor when it came to learning how to actually manage a bar.

Leo was about to thank her when the sound of someone yelling Liam’s name interrupted their meeting. Leo titled his head. That sounded like...no it couldn’t be. But of course it was, because she always showed up when he least expected.

Sofia Santana came barreling around the entryway. “Liam,” she panted.

“Sofi?” Leo was so shocked to see her that it took him a moment to realize how panicked she was.

“Something’s wrong with Kamilah,” she said before spinning on her sky-high heels and running back into El Coquí.

The three of them took off after her, booking it through the dining space and into the kitchen. They pushed through the office door in tandem, like a bunch of kids trying to be the first in the classroom, and found Kamilah sitting on the floor sobbing so hard she looked like she couldn’t breathe.

Liam literally jumped over the desk to get to her and pulled her into his arms. Kamilah continued to shake and cry as he did his best to comfort her.

Leo hadn’t seen Kamilah this worked up since the night she’d fought with everyone in her life and they had walked out on her, including the best friend who was now back looking like she’d just stepped off a cruise to the Bahamas. “What the fuck did you do to my sister?” Leo asked Sofi.

Sofi’s eyes rounded for a moment, hurt flaring, before narrowing at him in disdain. “I didn’t do anything.” She turned to Liam, who was also glaring at her while he held and rocked Kamilah in his lap. “She got a call from someone about the wedding and then she just collapsed and started crying,” Sofi explained. “She was trying to talk to me, but I don’t understand her like this. All I got were the words ‘ruined’ and ‘Liam,’ so I figured it best to come get you.”

“What happened, Coquí?” Liam muttered to Kamilah.

Kamilah held up a finger.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Kamilah calmed down enough to speak. She wiped at her face with her hands. “Our reception hall flooded,” she told Liam in a waterlogged voice. “Our wedding is ruined.”

“What?” Liam exclaimed. “What happened?”

Kamilah shook her head. “I don’t know. Something about the plumbing from the upper floor having work done on Friday and someone not tightening a piece all the way. Sometime in the night it disconnected and no one found out because this was the one weekend they didn’t have an event.”

“Oh my God, Kamilah,” Sofi said. “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.”

More tears welled up in his sister’s eyes and trickled down her cheeks. “We’re getting married in less than three months, we booked this place a year ago, and now we don’t have a place to hold the reception.”

“They can’t fix it by then?” Leo asked.

Liam shook his head. “Think about how long it took us to get permits from the city to do any kind of work in the distillery—and we aren’t even considered a historical building.”

Shit. They’d been forced to wait weeks just to get an engineer to come check out the space and look over their plans. That didn’t include the almost two months it had taken to be seen by a city inspector. Leo couldn’t imagine how much more a pain it would be to have to work with the Historic Preservation Division of the city’s planning and development department. It was going to take the venue forever to get repaired unless they greased some palms and pulled off a miracle.

As if reading Leo’s mind, Liam said, “I’d be surprised if they get everything done by the end of the year.” He rubbed a hand up and down Kamilah’s back in comfort.

Kamilah wiped at her face with the collar of her tank top. “Even worse, they were taking care of everything, the food, flowers, centerpieces, everything. I mean I was picking it, obviously, but they had the vendors.” She looked up at them, her eyes red and heartbroken. “What am I going to do? Our wedding is ruined and I promised—” she paused, choking on her emotions “—I promised Killian—” She cut herself off before covering her face and beginning to cry again.

Leo hated seeing his sister like this. He and Kamilah were the closest in age with a little over a year between them. It was probably one of the reasons they fought constantly growing up, but in the last year it had also been something the two of them relied upon. It took him over thirty years, but Leo finally considered his sister his friend instead of his adversary. He was willing to do whatever it took to help her. “Just hold the reception in the distillery,” Leo blurted.

Her head snapped up, surprise causing her to stop crying. “What?”

Leo cleared his throat. “Well, this building is pretty much the whole reason you two ended up together, so it makes sense to have your wedding reception here.”

“We already had the engagement party here...both of them,” she said.

That was before Mandy had come into the picture with her big plans. “Everything is different now though,” he said. He looked at Mandy for help.

“I’ve told Liam that renting out the distillery for events would be a great way to bring in additional profits,” Mandy said. “Hosting your reception would be a great way to work out any potential kinks.”

Kamilah grimaced.

Sofi snorted. “Using her wedding reception as a dry run for a business venture is hardly the way to convince her this is a good idea.”

Leo turned his attention to Sofi and truly saw her for the first time. Leo forced his expression to remain neutral before tracking everything from Sofi’s riotous natural curls to her French-tipped toes peeking through her strappy sandals. She looked fucking amazing and Leo was pissed at her for it. How dare she look like a walking wet dream when he looked like the tired and overworked mess he now was?

“Chiquita Banana over here has a point,” Leo said.

Sofi glared at him and it felt like coming home.

“The last thing we want is to stress you out more,” Leo told Kamilah.

Sofi let out a mock gasp and then clutched her hands over her chest like all of her prayers had been answered. “Look at this. Peter Pan appears to have grown up a little bit.”

“Tell me something, Carmen Miranda, did that outfit come with a hat made of fruit that you forgot to put on?” he shot back.

She ignored him to talk to Kamilah. “Give me the number for the venue and then leave it to me,” Sofi told her.

Kamilah lifted her head from Liam’s chest and looked at Sofi. “What?”

Sofi put her hand on Kamilah’s shoulder. “I’ve thrown tons of events for my job. I can plan an event for hundreds of people in a few weeks.”

Kamilah immediately shook her head. “Sofi, I can’t ask you to do that.” She stood and Liam followed.

“You aren’t asking. I’m telling you that I’m doing it.”

Kamilah let out a sigh. It was mostly annoyance because everyone knew better than to argue with a determined Sofi, but Leo could hear the relief underlying the annoyance. Leo wasn’t surprised his sister felt that weight lifted. If Sofi said she was going to do something, you’d better believe it would be done and to the best of her abilities. It was one of the things he liked best about Sofi. She was a shark in the body of a mermaid.

“I’ll accept under one condition,” Kamilah said before a brief pause. “Well, two conditions.”

Sofi looked a bit taken aback that his sister was negotiating with her instead of simply giving in like she used to. “What?”

“You will not pay for anything. I mean nothing. Not a deposit. Not a sample, not a single flower.”

Sofi let out an epic eye roll, but Leo understood where his sister was coming from. The minute Sofi had started making money she’d also begun throwing it around like a rapper at a strip club. She probably didn’t even realize she did it, but she had the tendency to throw money at problems hoping that would make them go away.

“I’m serious, Sofi. You will not try to foot any of the bills.”

“Fine. What’s your second condition?”

“That you’ll be my maid of honor.”

Sofi froze, her eyes large, dark, and shining. She looked equal parts shocked and excited. “I figured that Lucy would—” She paused to swallow. “I don’t d—” She stopped again, clearly at a loss.

Leo watched her wrestle her emotions into submission. It took every ounce of his strength to not reach out and drag her into his arms. Stop it , he scolded himself. She walked away from you. You’re still pissed at her. His hands flexed at his sides, trying their best to rebel against his brain. That wasn’t new. His brain and body were hardly ever in agreement, especially where Sofi was concerned.

“You are the sister of my heart,” she finally said to Kamilah. “Of course, I’ll be your maid of honor.”

They hugged and Kamilah cried again, but this time her tears were happy ones.

Leo wanted to be happy for Kamilah. He knew how much Sofi’s absence had hurt. He’d seen it firsthand. In the weeks following the shit show that was her first engagement party to Liam, Kamilah had worked her ass off to mend fences with everyone she’d hurt. She’d owned up to her wrongs, apologized for her lies, but also stuck up for herself in a way she never had before. That was when Leo had first begun to see her in a new light and respect her as a grown woman, not just his annoying little sister. She’d eventually made things right with everyone but Sofi. Not because she hadn’t tried, but because Sofi hadn’t given her the chance. For the months that followed he saw Kamilah bury herself in work and Liam, but every so often she’d look around with a light in her eyes. A light that would die when she realized the person she was looking for wasn’t there. Leo was probably one of the only people who noticed and recognized it for what it was, because he felt the exact same way and did the same thing.

That was why he couldn’t be completely happy about Sofi’s return. He’d been doing his best to get over her and now here she was back in his life. He had too many things going on to add her into the mix. All of his best-laid plans and good intentions went right out the window the minute Sofi was around. It had always been that way. From the moment she’d shown up in this very office and blew his fifteen-year-old mind.

“Yo no sé qué te pasa, Leo.” His father shook the history test in his face.

Leo could see the bright red F scrawled at the top all too clearly. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“Sorry isn’t enough. You’re always sorry, but you keep doing it. We took you to the doctor’s. We got you medicine for your ADHD. We help you with your homework, but we can’t take tests for you too.”

“I know,” Leo told his father. He stared at the table in front of him. His shoulders tried to push against the guilt weighing him down, but the guilt was stronger and heavier. “I tried my best,” Leo said and it was the honest truth.

“Leo, you’re a smart kid. You really are. There’s no reason for you to be bringing home grades like this.”

“I know,” he said again, but this time it was a lie. Everyone tried to tell him that he was smart, but if his grades didn’t reflect that then they were obviously wrong. Leo couldn’t be smart when he struggled so much to focus in school and couldn’t remember the things he did learn.

“I don’t know what to do for you. I don’t know how else to help you, but we can’t go through this again this year. You’re in high school now. These grades are too important. You need to qualify for scholarships and with these grades you can’t play on any teams. They won’t even let you stay in band or choir.”

The hopeless frustration in his father’s voice was the worst. Leo only heard that particular tone when Papi spoke to him. None of his other siblings caused it to make an appearance, only him. He hated disappointing his parents. He’d prayed so many times that he could be as smart as Eddie, as confident as Cristian, as capable as Junior, or that his sweet and innocent personality made everyone overlook his failures like with Kamilah. But no. He was just Leo, the stupid Vega sibling who drove everyone crazy with his endless energy and was always getting in trouble for something or other.

But that was going to change now. Leo was going to change. He was going to do whatever it took to make his dad proud of him and not ashamed. Leo opened his mouth to tell him so.

Suddenly, a wave of girly giggles poured into the back office where he sat in front of Papi’s desk.

Leo raised his head as his sister stepped into the office. He couldn’t see her since he had his back to the open doorway, but he heard her steps.

“I’m home, Papi,” his sister announced unnecessarily.

His dad’s face changed immediately from a frown to a smile. “Hola, mi vida. How was school?”

“Good, I made a new friend in French class.”

“So I see.”

“This is Sofia. Her family is from Puerto Rico too, but she just moved here from Florida because her uncle was traded to the Cubs.”

At that Leo’s curiosity was peaked. Sports were the one thing he excelled at, besides music, and baseball was his favorite, especially the Cubs. He turned in his seat to see this niece of a professional baseball player.

The first thing he noticed was her height. The girl stood a few inches taller than his sister and, at thirteen, Kamilah was already about half a head taller than their five-two mother.

The second thing he noticed were her eyes. They were so dark they appeared black. He couldn’t tell the iris from the pupil, but somehow they shined and sparkled. Until that moment he’d thought the term bright-eyed meant someone with light eyes, but she proved differently. Just looking at her, he could tell that her brain was working a mile a minute, just like his. He would’ve bet a hundred dollars that the simple quantity of thoughts in her brain could overwhelm her just like his did.

Finally , his brain said. Someone who gets us.

“What are you looking at, pretty boy?”

He felt such an immediate connection to her that it took him a minute to realize she was talking to him. “What?” Leo asked trying to catch up, like always.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that? Have you never seen a Black girl before?”

The question was so off-putting that he struggled to answer. Of course she wasn’t the first Black girl he’d ever seen. There were plenty of Black Americans and Afro-Latinos in his neighborhood not to mention in his own family. Why would she even ask him that? Leo’s brow furrowed.

“I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to fix your face before I fix it for you,” she said.

“Leo, stop being a jerk to my friend,” Kamilah demanded.

Leo opened his mouth to defend himself, but his dad cut him off before he could.

“Leo, go clean the walk-in.”

Leo’s jaw dropped. “But—”

“But nothing. If you have enough time to sit here being a clown in front of your sister’s new friend, then you aren’t busy enough.”

Leo stood. “What about the test?”

His dad sighed again. “I’ll sign it.” He scribbled his name across the top and held it out. “But, Leo, you’re grounded. A ver si así se te acaban las payasadas.”

Leo knew better than to argue about the injustice. All because this new girl had to open her mouth and act like he was being rude to her when she was the one with an attitude problem.

He stomped out of his dad’s office not bothering to check his pace. When his shoulder slammed into Sofia and almost sent her flying, he swallowed the urge to apologize. She’d just made an enemy of the wrong guy, bright eyes or not.

That was the day their heated back and forth had begun. Now, all these years later, they were still at it. Although things between them had gotten a lot more steamy than they’d been back then. It was hard to believe that they’d been playing this make up/break up, fight/fuck game since high school and it was still a secret to almost everyone they knew. Honestly, he was sick of it. He’d gone along with it for so long because that was what Sofi wanted. But the game had gotten old a long time ago. He was in his thirties. And if there was one thing getting shot, dying for a minute, and then almost losing his arm had taught him it was that he was too old to be playing games. He had spent the last year getting his shit together. He couldn’t wait around for Sofi to open her eyes and see what he was offering her. It didn’t matter what he felt for her, enough was enough.

Of course, that was a lot easier said than done, especially when he was standing in front of her and she was looking like his fantasy come to life.

“Don’t worry, Kamilah,” Mandy was saying as she patted his sister on the back. “Leo will be around to help make sure everything with the reception goes off without a hitch.”

A record scratch sounded in Leo’s head.

“What?”

It took him a second to realize the word hadn’t come out of his mouth, but Sofi’s.

Mandy smiled like a proud mom. “Leo is the manager of the new bar, so he’ll obviously be helping you organize everything here.”

Sofi simply blinked. Her face didn’t show it, but she was not happy about that fun fact. It was all the reason Leo needed to keep his mouth shut instead of arguing that he didn’t want to do it either.

“Oh, that would be so great,” Kamilah said with a hand on her chest. She turned to Sofi. “It would make me feel much better if I knew you weren’t tackling this all alone.” She then gave Leo a serious look. “And Leo will be on his very best behavior. Isn’t that right, Leo?”

Leo rolled his eyes. “I’m a grown-ass man, Kamilah. I can do my job even if it means working with a bad-tempered Iris Chacón.”

“Leo,” Liam intoned—a warning to take it easy.

Fine. He’d play nice. For now. “Look, not only am I the manager, which means it’s my responsibility to make sure this goes off perfectly, but I’m hardly going to ruin my little sister’s wedding to be petty. I’m not an asshole.”

Sofi raised a brow, but Kamilah and Liam looked chastened for even doubting him. They knew better than most how much Leo had changed.

“Come on, dear,” Mandy said to Kamilah. “Let’s get you cleaned up and put a drink in your hand. Meanwhile, Leo can tell Sofi about everything the Tasting Room now offers.” She led his sister out with a hand on her back while Liam followed closely, pulled by the invisible rope that prevented him from going too far from Kamilah’s side.

Leo continued to stare at Sofi.

“What?” she asked him with enough attitude to put him immediately on defense.

“What, what?” he asked.

“You obviously want to say something to me, so just do it already.”

He had a moment alone with Sofi after over a year of silence. He wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. “What does this mean?” he asked.

“What does what mean?” she asked back.

“El gran regreso de Sofia Maria Rosario Santana,” he said while lifting his hand and moving across his face like he was reading a title off a marquee. “You’re here in your finest armor. You’re hugging all over my sister and not only agreeing to be her maid of honor but volunteering to plan her new wedding reception even if it means working with me. That seems odd for someone who was completely done with all of the Vegas.”

She crossed her arms and lifted her pointy chin. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“Are you sure about that?” Leo asked, ignoring the way he wanted to bite that proud chin. “Because I feel like our history would warrant at least an explanation.”

She drew herself up. “Our history is just that. History. I came back because I missed my best friend.”

He stepped up close to her. “And what about her brother? Did you miss him too?”

“Leo,” she breathed. She leaned forward as if about to step into his body. Like she was a magnet and he was the fridge.

He stepped back, breaking the connection. “Because it seems like you didn’t. It seems like you went off and had yourself a grand adventure. So much so that when I was shot, you didn’t even come see me in the hospital. You didn’t pick up the phone to call me. Shit, you didn’t even send me a text. All I got from you was one fucking email wishing me a speedy recovery like I’m some random-ass coworker you share small talk with during your break.” He didn’t even mention that she’d promptly blocked him afterward, because every message he tried to send kept getting shot back and labeled as undeliverable. He shook his head. “Well, don’t worry. I get it. It took my stupid ass fifteen years, but I get it. I’m nothing to you. I’m just your venue contact for the reception. That’s fine with me.” He walked past her, careful to make sure no part of them touched, and he walked out the door with his head held high, his shoulder throbbing, and his heart twisting itself into a knot.