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

Chapter 3

3

Sofi sat on her balcony enjoying her view of the Eiffel Tower with a glass of truly incredible wine. It had been a few weeks and she still couldn’t believe this was her life. She was finally in Paris, living in a cute apartment and exploring all the places she’d dreamed of since she was a kid. The best part was that she was going to be here for months—plenty of time to soak in the city.

On the table her open laptop began to ring. She knew who it was without even having to look. Her mother called her at this time every single day. Sofi set down her wine and grabbed her laptop. She placed it on her lap and hit Accept. “Bonjour, Mami,” she said as soon as her mother’s face popped up on her screen.

“Negrita.” Her mom sighed her nickname in relief as if she wasn’t sure Sofi would answer.

Sofi always answered. Her mother was her other half. She was the kinder, more forgiving, and selfless Ying to Sofi’s Yang. She missed her mom like crazy, so she answered every single call, text, and email. Shit. Sofi would send carrier pigeons if she could only figure out how to train one of the few hundred she saw on a daily basis.

“Are you busy?” her mom asked. Behind her tired but beautiful face, Sofi could see the bright sun reflecting off the windows of the hospital. Her mom liked to eat lunch outside when the weather permitted.

“I’m supposed to be memorizing my presentation for tomorrow, but I got distracted by the view and my wine.” Sofi reached over and picked up her glass to show her mom. “Do you want to see what I’m seeing?” She didn’t wait for her mom to answer, she turned the laptop so she could also enjoy the sight of the lit-up Eiffel Tower peeking out from above the neighboring buildings.

Her mom’s voice came from the speakers. “It’s so beautiful.”

Sofi turned the laptop around so she could see her mom’s face. “I can’t wait for you to come visit. You’re going to love it.”

Her mom smiled again. Her mother was a beautiful woman with light brown skin, high and naturally pink cheekbones, dark brown eyes with long lashes, and dimples so deep she didn’t even have to smile for them to be seen. But Sofi loved it when she did smile. It reminded Sofi of the pictures she had of when her mom was young and smiled all the time. These days she was constantly stressed, exhausted, and barely smiled. Sofi was determined to change that.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I just got my passport in the mail and the hospital approved my days off.”

“They had better,” Sofi said around the glass before taking another sip of wine. “You never use your vacation days and you’re always picking up extra shifts.”

She wouldn’t call her mom a workaholic, but she was definitely a hard worker. When Sofi was a kid, she’d held multiple jobs while also going to nursing school. Due to many setbacks, it had taken her mom years to finally finish her degree, but, once she had, she’d never slowed down. She always said that single moms didn’t really have any other choice unless they were going to live off the state and she wasn’t going to do that.

“I just picked up another one,” her mom said.

Sofi shook her head. “Why? I know you get attached to your patients and want to be there for them, but you’re burning yourself out. You need to take care of yourself, Mom.”

Her mom looked away, her expression troubled and unsure.

Sofi’s stomach flipped. She put down her wine. “What?” she asked.

Her mom looked back at her. “Huh?”

Sofi shook her head. “Don’t even try that. Something is wrong. Tell me what it is. Are you okay? Is it Abuela Fina?”

“No. No. We’re fine. It’s nothing like that.”

“What is it, then?”

Her mom sighed. “I don’t know if I should tell you.”

Sofi sat up straight. “You can’t say that and not tell me. What is it?” she demanded.

“Leo Vega is here.”

That wasn’t totally unheard of. He’d gotten hurt a few times in his line of work, but it was never that serious. “Did he get hurt at work again?”

She shook her head. “He was shot last night. He got out of surgery a few hours ago, but, Sofi, he coded on the table.”

Suddenly Sofi felt like the wine she’d drunk had gone straight to her head. Everything spun and she felt like she was falling. She could hear her mom talking, trying to explain what happened, but Sofi couldn’t really focus on any of that.

She stood with the laptop and stumbled into her apartment, oblivious to the light herringbone floors, original detailed crown molding, and antique marble fireplace she usually admired. She bypassed it all to go right into her bedroom. She dropped the computer on her bed and rushed to her closet.

“Sofi! Sofi! Mama, what are you doing?” her mom yelled from the screen.

“I’m packing,” Sofi responded, dragging her maleta behind her. She tossed it on the bed next to the computer. “I’m coming home. Right now.”

“Sofi, calm down,” Mami begged.

“I can’t calm down. You just told me that Leo was shot and that he coded during surgery. How the hell do you expect me to calm down?” Sofi went to her dresser and scooped out a bunch of stuff. She didn’t even know what it was, but she dropped it in the suitcase.

“Sofia Maria Rosario Santana, cálmate o te calmo,” her mother barked in her no-nonsense voice. It was the voice Sofi heard moments before she got an ass whooping.

Sofi froze.

“Now breathe,” Mami commanded. “Deep breaths.”

Sofi breathed.

“Now listen to me.”

Sofi listened.

“He is going to be okay,” her mom said. “There is some significant nerve damage in his shoulder, but he’s alive and he’s pretty much out of the woods.”

“I need to be there,” Sofi said. Sofi could feel the emotion clogging her throat. “I need to see him.”

“Ay, mi nena.” Mami let out on a breath. The sympathy in her voice was what made Sofi crack.

Tears clouded her vision and streamed down her face. “I... I...” She couldn’t talk.

“It’s okay. I know,” her mom said. She did know. Her mother was the only one who knew about Sofi and Leo’s relationship and Sofi’s feelings for him. She was the only one Sofi trusted with that information. She stayed on the video call with Sofi, murmuring comforting words to her while Sofi cried.

She was so scared. What if something else happened to him and she wasn’t there. What if he died? What if she never got to see him again?

Sofi had no idea how long she sat there blubbering on her bedroom floor half a world away, but eventually she calmed down enough to pick herself up off the floor. “I’m going to get on the next flight,” she told her mom. “I’ll send you my arrival information when I have it.”

“Sofi.” Her mom’s voice was soft. “What about your presentation tomorrow?”

“Fuck that presentation,” Sofi exclaimed.

“No. Not fuck it.” Her mom’s voice was stronger. “You’ve worked your ass off for this opportunity. You’re finally living your dream. I’m not going to let you sabotage that.”

“But, Mami.”

“‘But, Mami’ nothing. I know how you feel about him, but you told me yourself that you were done with him, with that whole family, and you were going to leave to find yourself. This is your time, Sofia. Do not throw that away for him.”

“He was shot. He’s in the hospital.”

“And he’s okay. He’s alive, surrounded by his family, and he will get better every day. I will personally make sure of that. I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure he recovers, but you will NOT come back. You will stay there. You will give that presentation tomorrow despite how nervous I know you’ll be. You will blow them all away. And then you will continue to kick ass while living your best life because you are MY daughter and my daughter is not going to throw her future away for a man. Do you understand me?”

“Mom,” Sofi began.

“I said, ‘Do you understand me?’”

There was nothing she could say to that besides, “Yes, ma’am.” She was right. Sofi had worked too hard and sacrificed too much to leave now. Not when she was finally where she wanted to be. This was her chance to prove to herself that she actually liked her chosen career in marketing. That she hadn’t made a terrible mistake by accepting her father’s deal all those years ago. Because if she still felt empty while living her dream life, well, then, she didn’t know what she’d do.

Plus, Sofi knew her mom. If her mom said that she was going to make sure Leo recovered, she would. As long as Leo was safe, Sofi could rest easy. Or at least that’s what she told herself as she told her mom she was right and that she’d stay put. She hung up with her mom. Then she looked at her phone. She knew that she wasn’t leaving Paris, but she had to reach out to him. She had to hear his voice for herself.

She reached for her phone and then stopped. Fuck. She’d gotten a new phone and number before she left and she’d purposefully told her carrier not to transfer over her contacts. The only numbers in her new phone beyond her immediate family were those of her new coworkers. She didn’t know Leo’s phone number by heart or any of the Vegas’. She didn’t even know her mom’s.

Double fuck , she said to herself as a thought occurred to her. There was one number she had memorized. It was the number she’d called at least once a day from ages twelve to sixteen—when Kamilah’s parents had finally gotten her a cell phone for her birthday. Taking a deep breath, Sofi typed the number into her phone and hit the call button. As it rang she told herself to calm down. There was a good chance that someone she didn’t know would answer, because there was no chance that the entire Vega family was not at the hospital with Leo.

The call connected. “El Coquí restaurant, home of the mayor’s favorite jibarito sandwich. How can I help you?”

Sofi froze. Despite the waterlogged roughness that told her that the speaker had been crying recently, she recognized the voice. It was the voice she heard in her head commenting on the new sights and sounds Sofi experienced as she toured Paris. It was the voice of the person who was supposed to have been at Sofi’s side making those same comments. The best friend who would’ve been there if she hadn’t lied to Sofi and ruined both of their futures. Sofi hit the end button.

She flopped back onto her bed trying to figure out what to do now. She balled her fist and went to pound it on the mattress but instead hit something hard. She turned her head and saw her closed laptop next to her. Suddenly, she had another idea. She sat up, pulled her laptop onto her crossed legs, and immediately opened her email app. As soon as she typed an L , the address she was looking for popped up. She rolled her eyes like she always did when she clicked on [email protected]. She knew that he barely used the account anymore, but she hoped he’d still have it attached to his phone.

Their email history popped up on her screen, hundreds of emails between the two of them, some normal, some silly, some serious, and some sexy. Sofi ignored the final one from Leo that had been sent about two months ago. She didn’t need to read it to know what it said. It was only one word. Coward.

She shushed the little voice in her head that said he was right. Instead she hit the button to compose a new email. She sat there wondering what to say. She wanted to tell him how terrified she felt and how much she wished she were there, but she knew that was the worst thing she could do. That would just start everything all over again. After starting and deleting multiple messages that revealed too much, she huffed and typed, I’m glad you’re okay. Get better soon... And please take care of yourself . She almost added “for me” but decided that was too much. Before she could second-guess herself again, she hit the send button and grimaced. That was not the best, but it was the only thing she could allow herself to say. To prevent herself from the temptation of writing again, she deleted their entire history, emptied her trash to make sure it was permanent, and blocked his email address. Then after reminding herself of her mission, Sofi went to her balcony to finish off her bottle of wine while the gorgeous sight, that only a few minutes ago had given her peace, blurred due to the tears streaming down her face.

Back in the present, Sofi stared at her computer screen, but she wasn’t processing anything she was looking at. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she’d mentally checked out, but she did know that this was happening more and more lately. She’d thought taking a year abroad to escape her drama and doing all the traveling she’d felt deprived of would cure her of this feeling, but if anything, things seemed worse. She told herself every morning that this would be the day she finally did it—quit her job. Just that morning, the day after Memorial Day, she tried to amp herself. Then she’d look at her sad bank account and remember that she needed to figure out her next step before she quit. Plus, her relationship with her dad was shaky enough. She didn’t even want to imagine how bad it would be once she told him she wanted to leave the company—his company, her grandfather’s company. It would blow everything up as if things weren’t bad enough.

Everything seemed a little bit worse now. Even Leo’s initial reaction to seeing her. Usually he couldn’t hide how pleased he was to see her even when he claimed otherwise. This time it was as if he’d run into a vaguely familiar stranger. No it had been worse than that. The look of utter disregard on his face had made it seem like she was not only a stranger, but one he had no interest in getting to know.

Fucking Leo Vega, the eternal jackass and fuckboy extraordinaire.

He’d been a thorn in her side since the day they’d met and Sofi was often shocked that she’d never even attempted to junk-punch him. There had been plenty of times he’d deserved it. Like when they’d seen each other and he’d curled his lip as if disgusted to be in her presence. That had hurt. Badly. But not as badly as when he’d demanded to know what she’d done to his sister. As if Sofi would purposely hurt Kamilah like that. Even though she kind of had.

The door to her office swung open. She didn’t need to look away from her screen to know who it was. There was only one person who entered her office without knocking.

“Why didn’t you come see me as soon as you got back? I wanted an update on the Brimburg account right after your meeting.”

Sofi randomly clicked on her mouse to make it seem like she had been hard at work. Then she lifted her gaze to her father as he strolled into the room.

Felix Rosario hardly looked his sixty-four years of age. With his smooth dark brown skin and close-cut but full, pitch-black 4C hair, there were hardly any clues that indicated his true age. Add in the fact that he made it a point to take care of himself physically and he was frequently mistaken for someone two decades younger. Her father was a well-dressed and well-built man who still turned plenty of heads and he knew it. That was possibly one of the worst things about him. Third to his frequent delusions (number two) and his selfishness (number one).

He plopped down into the seat in front of her desk. “Dígame, mi reina. What happened? Are they signing with us?”

She tried her best not to cringe at his pet name for her. She hated when he called her that. She knew he wasn’t purposefully being mocking, but it felt like it to her.

No one outside of her close family knew this, but Sofi had a speech impediment when she was little. It was so bad that even her mom struggled to understand her. When she started day care, the other kids made fun of her. Her mom immediately asked for help. Shortly after, Sofi began speech therapy, but she was still embarrassed by the way she spoke. Abuela Fina thought that beauty pageants would be a great way for Sofi to gain confidence and Mami agreed, so she entered her first one at age five. Sofi hated everything about it, but she was good. When she won her first pageant and told her dad about it. He was so proud of her and had started calling her “mi reina,” because she was his little beauty queen. Sofi continued competing to make her parents proud, but her fear of making a mistake when speaking only grew. To this day, her past as a beauty queen only reminded her of her failures and never her accomplishments. Of course, her dad didn’t know that, but he would’ve if he just took the time to get to know her at all.

Sofi shook herself mentally before she could go down that unproductive rabbit hole. No good would come of her enumerating all of the ways her father failed her. Instead she focused on the only thing they had in common: work. “They want more time before they make a decision.”

That obviously wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He gave her a sharp look. Then he seemed to notice what she was wearing for the first time. He took in her hot pink blazer and white blouse before his eyes traveled down to her matching ankle trousers and nude heels through the glass top of her mostly empty desk. Then he looked back up at her natural 4A hair that she had left down and extra voluminous. “Is that a new suit?” he asked. She knew exactly what he wasn’t saying. If she’d looked more conservative and professional, the clients would’ve signed with them.

“It is. I just figured that it’s such a beautiful sunny day outside, why not celebrate the brightness.”

He nodded as if in agreement, but she knew he wasn’t. “You’ve been wearing a lot of new clothes lately.”

Translation: What’s with the new look?

“Yeah.”

“You must’ve done a lot of shopping while you were overseas.”

“I did.”

“Esos europeos y su ‘high fashion’ tienen al medio mundo pareciendo payasos de circo.” He shook his head.

“Are you telling me that I look like a circus clown?” she asked.

His eyes rounded and he put a hand on his chest. “Claro que no, mi reina. I just mean that a simple well-fitted suit in a neutral color is a classic for a reason. It looks good to everyone. The same thing with straight hair.”

“Right,” Sofi said. “Well, next time I’ll look like a Men in Black agent with a sleek bun and hopefully that will distract them from the fact that we’re trying to charge them fifteen percent more than our competitors.”

He looked hurt. “There’s no need for the attitude and we charge them more because we get better results.”

She got better results, because she busted her ass to make it so and was on her team to do the same. She didn’t tell him that though, because all that would do was start him in on how he was the reason she knew how to do a good job. As if it was solely his “mentorship” that had taught her how to do her job and not her own ambition. There was nothing her dad loved more than pretending like he had more to do with her life than he actually had. He’d frequently bring up the few visits they’d had when she was a kid, but make it seem like they were constant. Sofi didn’t know if he really believed they spent more time together than they had or was just a very good actor. It hardly mattered, because as far as he was concerned the fact that he’d moved to Chicago and offered her a job at the company made up for everything he’d failed to do when she was a kid.

“Did you find out what happened with the company apartment I was supposed to get?”

She waited for him to admit that he’d forgotten to delegate the task to his secretary after their discussion (something she’d already investigated and confirmed), which led to her apartment going to a new out-of-state transfer, but was unsurprised when he didn’t. Her father barely ever acknowledged his mistakes.

“Yo no sé qué paso.” He shrugged. “But you’ll find something. Don’t worry.”

Translation: Fix this by yourself.

The whole point of her using a company apartment was that she wouldn’t have had to pay rent. Sofi was trying to save money. She’d been a bit excessive with her spending in Europe and her savings were abysmal. She needed to refill the coffers as it were. Everything she’d looked at in the last week was way too expensive, too far away, or too busted. She needed to find something soon because her body hurt from sleeping on her mom’s old-ass love seat. The joys of being almost five-ten.

“Is there anything else you needed?” she asked. “I have to get going. I’m late to visit my abuela and traffic is going to be a pain.”

“You see her a lot. Almost every day.”

Sofi nodded. “My mom has a lot of late shifts this month, so I try to stop over in the evenings when I know Abuela Fina will want company.”

“It’s a shame you weren’t able to visit the viejos like that. They would’ve loved to see you more.”

Sofi wanted to remind him that his parents had spent most of their adult lives in NYC before moving back to the DR a few years before they passed. Both of which meant that it had been impossible for her to visit them the way she did Abuela Fina. Still, her mother had made a point to send Sofi to visit them for a week or so every summer because it had been important to her that Sofi have a relationship with his family even if she didn’t have one with him.

Her dad probably wouldn’t listen anyway. He had a way of making her feel guilty for the distance between his side of the family and herself even though he was the one who’d walked away from her and her mother in Puerto Rico in order to continue feeding his ambition. Instead she just said, “That would’ve been nice.” It was true. She’d loved her grandparents dearly and they’d loved her. She hopped up from her chair. “But I really need to get going now. My abuela Fina is waiting for me for dinner.”

“Sí, sí claro. We’ll have a more in-depth conversation about the account tomorrow.”

“Of course.” Sofi grabbed her purse out of her coat closet and rushed toward the door. “See you tomorrow.”

“Oh wait,” he shouted after her. “I need you to take over my meeting with the Billings Corporation tomorrow morning. I’ll send everything you need to know to your email so you can look it over tonight.”

Sofi grit her teeth, but just nodded. She used to ask him why he’d throw these types of things on her at the last second, but when every answer she got was vague bullshit he used to cover up his desire to just not be there she stopped asking. She just accepted the sleepless nights and moved on.

As she made her way to her car and then to her mom’s place, she couldn’t help but think how different that whole conversation would’ve gone down if she’d been talking to her tío Manny. Her uncle Manuel was her mother’s younger brother. He’d been a baseball prodigy on the island and had barely been eighteen before he’d gotten picked up by the NBL. That had caused the whole family to make the move to Florida, where they’d stayed until he’d gotten traded to the Cubs. He’d excelled there too until a stupid drunk driver had taken him and her abuelo Juan Manuel away from them. But he’d been so much more than a talented baseball player lost from the game at his peak. He’d been her father figure and her best friend. Sure, her biological father popped in and out of her life at his convenience to throw money and material goods at her, but Tío Manny had been the one to teach her how to ride a bike, check under her bed for monsters, and show her how to throw a punch after some boys at school called her an ugly monkey. He’d understood her like no one else in her life had.

If he were still around, her life would’ve been so different. That conversation with her dad never would’ve happened, because she never would’ve worked there. Tío Manny would’ve made sure of that. He’d always jokingly called her his mini manager and claimed that when she got older she was going to take over the world and he’d help her. God, she missed him.

She pulled up to her mom’s building and found Abuela Fina already on the stoop waiting for her. She practically hopped down the stairs like a little kid. Sofi had to smile. She rolled down the passenger-side window. “You’re supposed to wait for me to park and come get you,” she called.

“If I wait for you to find parking around here—” she opened the car door and slipped in “—we’d never get to leave.”

Wasn’t that the truth.

Sofi leaned over and kissed her abuela on the cheek. Sofi couldn’t help but notice the fresh coat of red lipstick on her abuela’s artificially filled lips. If she wasn’t mistaken, Abuela had also curled her short silver hair. “You look cute today,” she said, leaning back to take in her striped blouse and wide-leg linen pants. “Although I don’t think you need the heels. We’re just going to El Coquí.”

Abuela Fina shot her a look. “I always look cute and of course I need my heels. That would be like leaving the house without my jewelry.”

Lord knew that leaving the house without jewelry on was basically like walking out naked.

She leaned over to take in Sofi’s outfit. “You have heels on,” she pointed out.

“Well, I’m coming from work and I’m not the one who fell and almost broke my hip not too long ago.”

“?Y eso que? That means I’m not supposed to dress up anymore?” She snorted. “Antes muerta que sencilla.”

She was definitely Abuela Fina’s granddaughter, because Sofi felt that in her soul. She too would rather be dead than basic. She was extra just like her grandmother. The curse of being former beauty queens she guessed.

“I’m excited to meet your friends,” Abuela said.

Sofi frowned. “You’ve met Kamilah before. We visited you in Puerto Rico over spring break that one time.”

“That was years ago and it’s not the same.”

“Why not?”

“Because you two were on your best behavior around me as if I didn’t know what you were both up to at night.”

Sofi cleared her throat. “I don’t know what you mean.” It was a lie obviously. She and Kamilah had snuck out almost every night to party with cute guys in the neighborhood.

Abuela Fina barked out a laugh. “Por favor. Yo soy vieja, no tonta.”

“Well, either way, we are mature adults in our thirties now, so it’s not like we are going to rage or anything. We’re going to discuss her wedding to the most boring guy ever.”

“And what about your guy? Will I finally get to meet the infamous Leo Vega?”

Sofi jerked, almost hitting the gas and shooting them into the intersection right as the light turned yellow. Luckily she was able to course correct and hit the brake instead. The stop wasn’t the smoothest she’d ever done, but they didn’t get whiplash, so that was good. She turned to her grandma. “What did you just say?”

“I said do I finally get to meet this boy toy of yours, Leo Vega? That’s his name right?”

Sofi blinked at her in confusion before it clicked. “Mami,” she growled. Of course, her mother had told Abuela Fina about her relationship with Leo. Mami told Abuela Fina everything just like Sofi told Mami everything. She sighed. “Number one, I don’t know if he’ll be there. Two, he’s not my anything. He hasn’t been for a long time now. Three, and this is the most important, no one over there knows anything about our history so keep anything you know to yourself.”

Abuela huffed in offense. “I’m great at keeping secrets. I never told anyone that Juana, my friend growing up, had a sexual relationship with her own cousin while she was dating someone else and then had to get married quickly because she got pregnant but never really knew which one was the father.”

Sofi rolled her eyes. “You told literally everyone, Abuela. You pretty much use it as an on-dit at parties.”

Abuela Fina waved her off, unconcerned at betraying her once friend. “Well, she never should have told people that I got my boobs done after I had your tío Manny.” She threw her hands up in outrage. “I mean what was I supposed to do, let them keep sagging to my belly button? I looked like I had two deflated balloons on my chest. I couldn’t keep your abuelo interested in me with those things.”

Sofi grimaced. “Abuela! TMI!”

“?Que es eso?”

“Too much information. I don’t need to know that you got a boob job to keep my grandpa interested in you.”

Abuela Fina sucked her teeth. “Ay no seas tan puritana. We are both adults now and sex is just a part of life.”

“Okay, but there are still boundaries we need to maintain.”

Abuela grumbled, but didn’t argue.

They pulled into a parking spot in the lot next to the garage doors of Kane Distillery and Sofi had an epiphany for the wedding reception. She couldn’t wait to get in there and tell Kamilah.