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

Chapter 13

13

The last thing Sofi expected when she came home from work late on Monday evening was to be swiftly corralled into the distillery for an impromptu taste testing. According to Kamilah, the wedding party was getting together to choose a signature drink for the reception which was news to Sofi—the planner of said reception.

Freshly changed into a casual blue romper and some flat sandals, Sofi breezed through the open garage doors of Kane Distillery where the rest of the wedding party was hanging around laughing and listening to ’90s R&B. She was immediately set upon by her baby boy.

Tostón ran over to her, his tail wagging and tongue hanging out of his mouth. He started doing what Sofi had begun calling “tap dancing.” When he got so excited that he’d do this prance-like dance. It reminded her of those videos of the charros making their horses dance. Tostón did it whenever he was really happy about something and it was the cutest thing ever.

“Hola, bebé,” Sofi told him as she crouched down and gave him tons of snuggles and rubs. “Mami missed you too.”

“I’m obsessed with your dog. Don’t be surprised if I just slip him into my car when we leave.”

Sofi looked up to see Ben, Liam’s best friend, standing over her and Tostón. He was a good-looking man with dark eyes and killer cheekbones, but despite his charm he never did it for Sofi. Not that he seemed interested in her that way. He just liked to flirt and Sofi was usually more than happy to accommodate him even if it was only to piss off Leo. “You’d better not try to steal my dog. I’d have to get his dad on you.” She motioned over to Leo, who was standing behind the bar giving her a dirty look. She decided to put him at ease. “You’re going to have to keep a close eye on Tostón,” she said, raising her voice so it carried through the open space. “This guy wants to kidnap him.”

Leo’s expression cleared and he let out a small smile while shaking his head. “He’s going to have to fight with everyone else here.” He gestured to his younger cousin Alex, who was sitting across the bar from him sipping on something that looked a soft pink. “A few minutes ago, Alex was carrying him around on her hip like a baby and dancing with him to Ginuwine.”

“He’s the perfect dance partner,” Alex said, completely unfazed by her cousins’ teasing. “But I agree with Leo, if anyone is going to abscond with that sweetie, it’s going to be me. Except then I’d need to find a new place because my jerk of a landlord has made it very clear that there are no pets allowed in my apartment.” She shot Saint, said landlord, a faux scowl.

Saint winked at Sofi. “You’re welcome.”

“Well, we own our house,” Lucy said. “We can dognap Tostón and keep him with no problems. Right, babe?” She looked at Liza, who nodded.

“And we have plenty of yard for him to enjoy,” Liza added.

“Um, excuse me.” Sofi stood and scooped up her baby, placing him on her own hip. He immediately began licking her ear and cheek. “This here is my son and he will be staying with me . Go find your own furbabies to adopt.” She glared at Leo. “And you! What kind of father just lets people plot to steal his son right in front of him?”

Leo smiled widely. “The kind who knows his baby momma is a lioness who would put anyone who tries in their place.”

Kamilah walked behind him at the bar and smacked him across the head. “Don’t call Sofi your baby momma. That’s weird.”

“Ow,” Leo yelped, rubbing at the back of his head. “Is that any way to treat your brother who, out of the goodness in his heart, decided to use his badass mixologist skills to up the ante at your wedding?”

Kamilah rolled her eyes and twisted her lips, but patted him on the head like he was the dog. “You’re right. I’m sowwy I hurt your wittle feewings,” she said in an overly saccharine baby voice.

Leo pushed her hand away. “See, and here everyone likes to pretend like I’m the one who’s mean to you, but they don’t see what a brat you truly are.”

Kamilah looked at Liam. “You gonna let him call me a brat like that?”

Liam shrugged. “If the shoe fits.” He took a sip from his not pink drink, because of course Liam was going to drink straight whiskey even though the whole point was to come up with a cocktail.

Kamilah gasped in shocked outrage. “Oh, I don’t like this at all.” She gestured between Liam and Leo. “If the two of you working together is going to lead to you ganging up on me, then we’re going to have to reevaluate some things.”

“It’s not ganging up on you if it’s true,” Leo said. He was slicing what looked like fresh strawberries.

“Leave her be,” Saint told him. “You always aggravate her until you get a reaction.”

Leo’s jaw dropped while Kamilah smiled widely, having finally gotten someone to stick up for her. “See,” she said, walking over to Saint and giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “That’s why he’s always been my favorite.”

Saint grinned while Leo huffed in offense. “I don’t see him making any of these drinks or taking on extra band practices in order to perform at your reception for free. ” Leo’s tone was decidedly pouty.

Kamilah giggled and Sofi bit her lip to keep from joining her. It was hilarious how much Kamilah had all four of her brothers wrapped around her finger, especially now that she was getting married. Even Cristian and Eddie had texted Sofi multiple times to ask her if there was anything they could do to help. When Sofi tried to put them off, they sent her a good chunk of money anyway. Kamilah didn’t know it yet, but the twins were the reason she was going to have a glasshouse’s worth of flowers at the ceremony and reception. Usually being around the Vega siblings made Sofi grateful to be an only child, but there were times like these when seeing how much they truly loved each other caused her a pang of loneliness. Luckily, she did have Kamilah and they treated each other like the sister neither of them had. At least, they had before. They’d even planned how to make their feelings a reality.

Sofi fought the urge to bop her best friend on the head with her rattail comb. She’d been trying to make a straight part in Kamilah’s wet hair for the last five minutes and had been unable to because Kamilah wouldn’t stop moving.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed in front of her, Kamilah was still going on and on about the surprise eighteenth birthday party she’d help put together for Liam. “Here, we spent all this time cooking his favorite food, making him a birthday cake, plus getting all those decorations, and he couldn’t even act like he was having a good time,” she complained while throwing her hands around in emphasis. Kamilah was a very animated storyteller, especially when her emotions were high. “He just sat there like a freaking ice statute who is way too cold to actually melt.”

Sofi nodded as she pretended to listen, but the truth was that when it came to her ex–best friend, Kamilah was a bit of a broken record, so Sofi didn’t have to pay much attention to what Kamilah was saying. She already knew it was some version of calling him rude, a jerk, cold, or—when she was feeling extra butthurt—an asshole. It always was. Sofi wanted to point out that maybe Kamilah should just stop doing things for him, but she’d already tried that when Kamilah first mentioned helping his grandfather plan Liam’s party. Look where that had gotten her.

“I mean, sure, he said ‘thank you’ to us, but it was like the most unemotional, borderline sarcastic version ever said. Seriously, you should’ve heard it.”

“I did hear it,” Sofi said, trying to make a straight part down the middle of Kamilah’s head. “I was there.”

Kamilah didn’t hear her. “He practically ran out as soon as he could. I mean, it was barely eight o’clock and it’s not like he had other plans. He doesn’t even have any friends!” She shook her head in disbelief, causing the pointy end of the comb to create a sloppy zigzag from her crown to her hairline.

Sofi had enough. “Stop moving or I swear I’m going to stab you with this.” She poked Kamilah with the rattail in warning.

Kamilah blinked as if coming out of her rage fog. “Oh sorry,” she said, wincing. “I totally forgot you were going to braid my hair for me.” She paused for a second. “Do you think this is why my mom always whacked my head with the brush when I was little?”

“Yes,” Sofi said without hesitation. “Doing your hair is like trying to shove a cooked spaghetti noodle through a straw.”

“I’m not that bad!”

Sofi stared at her, unblinking.

Kamilah grimaced. “Okay fine, but I’ll sit still now. I promise.”

A scoff from the doorway had both of their heads swiveling to the side. Leo stood, leaning his shoulder against the doorjamb. He was in his Chicago Fire Department Academy uniform and Sofi almost choked on her own saliva when she attempted to swallow. He’d really bulked up in the last few months and Sofi wasn’t sure how she’d ever keep her hands to herself now.

“You must like torture,” he told Sofi with a smart-ass smirk. “My mom hated doing Kamilah’s nappy hair. She was always threatening to shave Kamilah bald because she was such a pain in the ass about it. Right, Sideshow Bob?” He directed the question at his sister, who rolled her eyes.

“First of all,” Kamilah said, holding up a finger, “Mami was as serious about that threat as Papi was about cutting off your sticky fingers for constantly stealing the caramel-filled chocolates from the box.” She held up another finger. “Secondly, shut up and go away, you goblin.” She quickly dropped her index finger and left only her middle one up.

Leo’s smirk grew because he lived to get a rise out of everyone around him. “Let’s see how much that sassiness lasts, princesita. Mami and Papi want to talk to you downstairs. They heard about you calling Liam un huelebicho malagradecido to his face.”

Kamilah’s eyes widened. Sofi’s widened too, but mostly because she couldn’t see her bestie saying something so rude to anyone’s face, even Liam’s.

“Word of advice from someone who’s always in trouble with them,” Leo said, stepping into the room. “Don’t try to act innocent, just own up to what you did right away and apologize profusely, cry if they seem really mad, and most importantly never keep them waiting when they call for you. That just makes them madder.”

Kamilah hopped off the bed so fast that she nearly fell right on her face. She ran past Leo, knocking into his shoulder and almost sending them both to the floor.

As soon as the apartment door slammed shut behind Kamilah, Leo’s expression changed. He looked at Sofi like a panther stalking his prey. “Sofi,” he murmured, sliding farther into the room and closing the bedroom door behind him. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

Sofi fought the urge to shrink back against the ruffled pillows in Kamilah’s bed. Instead she snorted and rolled her eyes. “Please, as if you’re that important. I barely remember you exist unless you’re standing right in front of me.”

He moved closer. “I think I am and I think you do. In fact, I’m positive that you not only remember me when I’m not around, but you miss me.”

“Well, I’m not surprised about that. Your ego has always been bigger than your brain.”

He smiled. “Ouch. Someone is in a mood. What’s with the attitude?” He sat at the foot of Kamilah’s bed, his hip touching Sofi’s knee. “I thought that I’d for sure get sweet Sofi, the one who melts for me as soon as her tongue is in my mouth.” He brought his hand up and began dancing his fingers along her thigh where her sleep shorts had ridden up.

Sofi pushed his hand off. “I don’t know why you thought that. If you need something to melt in your mouth, you’d better hope parents have one of those caramel chocolates around.”

He chuckled and put his hand back. “But I already have one right here. Tú eres mi bombón de caramelo.”

Sofi wanted to ask, if that was true, why he’d been spending so much time with his fire academy friends trolling bars for girls, but that would’ve told him that she was jealous. She was jealous, but she didn’t want him to know that. It was bad enough that he was practically an adult now, he was so close to graduating, and she was still in high school. She didn’t need to look more immature. She was wracking her brain for something to say, but she couldn’t think of anything. Her mind would only process the feel of his calloused fingers on her skin.

Luckily, before she could make a fool of herself, the door swung open and an angry Kamilah stomped through.

Sofi hopped off the bed so quickly that she was sure Kamilah would call her out on her obvious guilt.

Thankfully, her friend was too busy shouting at her brother. “You jerk!” she yelled at Leo. “They had no idea I’d said that. You just made me tell on myself and now I’m grounded for the next two weeks!”

“Oops,” Leo smirked. “My bad. I guess I was the one who heard you. Not Mami and Papi.”

“You are literally the worst! Why do you always have to be such a tool?” She waved her hands around before he could answer. “Actually, I don’t care what your answer is, just get out of my room. Go hang out with your dumb academy friends and trick girls into thinking you’re an actual firefighter in hopes that they’ll overlook your personality and hook up with you. Neither one of us wants you here, right, Sofi?”

Sofi immediately nodded her head. “Yeah, go away, Leo. We’re too smart to fall for your charming act. We know you’re nothing but an idiotic douchebag.”

If she hadn’t known him so well, she would’ve missed the flash of hurt that passed his face before he schooled it into his usual look of I don’t care about anything .

He let out a fake bark of laughter. “Please, as if I actually want to hang out with two high school girls. I have better things to do. I just came to grab a few rubbers from my room, since I used the ones in my wallet already.”

“Eww. TMI, you perv,” Kamilah exclaimed. She began actively shoving him to the door until he was on the other side of the doorway. Then she slammed the door on his face and locked it. She spun to face Sofi and rested her back on the door. She let out a sigh of annoyance. “I know I want you to marry one of my brothers, so that we’ll be real sisters one day, but promise me that it won’t be Leo.”

“God no,” Sofi said with a fake laugh of her own. “Never in my life would I even look twice at Leo.”

Kamilah nodded. “Good, because he’s the absolute worst. He’s a cocky jerk who thinks he’s the greatest thing since Ricky Martin and he doesn’t care about anyone but himself.” She pushed off the door and walked over to the bed where she plopped down on her back. “Saint would be the best choice for you, if he ever decides to come home. Otherwise, there’s always Eddie. He’s a dork, but he’s still a good guy.”

“Or I could just hold out and see if Cristian and Yasmeen actually make their marriage work,” Sofi teased.

“Gross, Sofi. He’s a dad already.”

“I think I’d make a good stepmom, don’t you?” Sofi waggled her brows.

Kamilah whacked her in the face with a pillow. “Cut it out, you homewrecker. Just keep it in your pants until one of my single and not jerky brothers comes back.”

Sofi chuckled, but she could hear how forced it sounded. “Don’t worry about me. I have no interest in any of your brothers and I don’t have to in order for us to be sisters.”

Kamilah flipped over onto her side and Sofi turned her head to look at her. “True,” Kamilah said with a blazing smile. “We’re already sisters.”

Sofi smiled back at her. She held out her pinky. “Ride or die.” It was something they’d said to each other since the day Kamilah had claimed Sofi as her best friend. It meant that they would be by each other’s side no matter what.

Kamilah wrapped her pinky around Sofi’s. “Ride or die,” she promised.

In her head, Sofi promised that she’d always put her friendship with Kamilah first. It wasn’t like her and Leo would work out anyway. They were already moving in different directions.

Sofi shook herself out of the past only to realize everyone was staring at her. “I’m sorry, what?” she asked.

Kamilah gave her a weird look. “I said, Rome has been talking about the bachelor party and I was telling him that Liam and I weren’t planning on having a bachelor or bachelorette party.”

“What?” Sofi screeched. “Of course you’re having a bachelorette party. I’ve already planned it and everything.”

“I told you,” Leo’s smug voice said right before a dark pink drink in a short tumbler appeared in front of Sofi’s face, cutting off her view of Kamilah.

Sofi blinked and grabbed the drink if only to get it out of her way. “You told me what?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “No. I told Kamilah that there was no way you were letting her get away with that and that you’d no doubt started planning it as soon as she asked you to be the maid of honor.”

Unwilling to say that he was right, Sofi sniffed and took a sip of her drink which tasted like a blackberry sweet tea with a tart kick of lime, spicy ginger, and the warmth of smooth whiskey. “This is good,” she told him. “A bit too boozy, but good.”

“I love boozy,” Alex said. “Boozy sounds perfect to us, right, Gabs?” She clicked her glass against her older sister’s. Alex and Gabi were the youngest daughters of Kamilah and Leo’s youngest aunt, but they were a lot closer to Kamilah than mere cousins. When their mom, Carmen, had left for New York with the oldest daughter, Eva, she’d left the younger two with their father, Luís. Kamilah’s parents, along with the rest of the family, had jumped right in to help Luís raise Gabi and Alex. In some ways it was like Gabi and Alex belonged more to the elder set of Vega siblings than they did to their own mother. It wasn’t surprising then that both were included in Kamilah’s wedding party, they were pretty much her little sisters.

“Leo, can I ask you something?” Ben asked from the bar where he was looking over the ingredients on the counter. “Are all the drinks you make today going to be pink? If so, why?”

“I was wondering that same thing,” Liam said.

“Yes,” Leo responded. “And I figured they should be pink so they can match with the pink wedding stuff.”

Liam blinked. “What pink wedding stuff?” His tone was dark and slightly threatening as if to say there had better not be any pink wedding stuff.

“Uh-oh,” Kamilah murmured, making it clear she hadn’t said anything about Sofi’s changes to the color palette.

Liam’s eyes locked on his fiancée. “I thought you said the colors were white, gold, and green like your ring.”

Kamilah squirmed. “They are, but then Sofi pointed out that we needed something bright to balance the deep emerald green.”

Sofi jumped in to defend her stance. “Exactly. Adding blush, berry, and fuchsia pink to the mix with little pops of orangy coral and sage green makes your wedding look like a summer wedding instead of a fall one.”

Saint shook his head as if something just wouldn’t compute. “Kamilah with a pink wedding? I just don’t see it.”

Sofi wasn’t surprised. According to the family, Kamilah had been the quintessential tomboy until she’d met Sofi. It made sense considering she had four older brothers who always teased her whenever she did anything they considered “girlie,” they still did.

Case in point Leo immediately saying, “I too was shocked when I walked into the dining room and saw a bunch of pictures of pink flowers all over the wall. Who would’ve thought that the same girl who wore my hand-me-down jeans and tennis shoes would want a Barbie wedding?” He turned to Liam. “You ready for all that Ken?”

Liam scowled. “I don’t think I want a pink wedding.”

“Well, who cares what you want,” Sofi said, sounding a bit bitchier than she intended. “Kamilah wants it and that’s what matters most.”

Leo laughed. “I don’t think it works that way. The groom is also an important part of the wedding process.”

Sofi waved him off. “Yeah, well, I’m on the case now. All this bride and groom need to do is show up.”

Kamilah walked up to Liam and plopped herself in his lap which seemed to lighten his mood considerably. “Besides, it’s not a lot of pink and it’s mostly just in the flowers.”

“Fine,” he huffed. “But I’m not wearing anything pink.”

Ben slapped Liam on the back but looked at Sofi. “Yeah, don’t put him in anything pink. It doesn’t go well with his pasty white skin tone. He’ll look like a raw chicken breast.”

Rome, Ben’s cousin and Liam’s other groomsman, laughed. “Yes, leave the pink for those of us with more melanin.” He gestured to his brown skin that was a few shades lighter than Sofi’s. “We carry it off better.”

“No one is wearing pink,” Sofi said. Mentally, she corrected herself. No one else was wearing pink. When it became clear that she wouldn’t be able to get a dress that matched the rest of the bridesmaids in time, Sofi had been forced to pivot. Luckily, she had a gorgeous fuchsia designer dress from an event she’d attended in Paris. It would match the flowers perfectly and as it was also sequined, it was close enough in style to the other bridesmaids that the overall look would still be cohesive.

Ben clapped. “Great. Now that we all have accepted the addition of pink to the wedding colors, can we get back to talking bachelor party?” He waved his phone around. “Dev, who regrets that he has to be training instead of here, has suggested Vegas.” He looked at Liam. “This sweaty gym sock has already said that he doesn’t care as long as there are no strippers.” Ben turned his attention to Leo. “You in?” His tone was more a statement than a question because who wouldn’t think that Leo’d love to party in Las Vegas. He was a party guy after all.

Except Leo didn’t seem thrilled by the idea at all. He pulsed the stress ball in his hand repeatedly and Sofi could practically feel his desire to fidget. “Sounds a little cliché if you ask me,” he said, he was trying to come across as nonchalant, but Sofi could hear the tension in his voice.

She frowned.

“I agree,” Rome said. “That’s why I suggested Catalina Island. It’s still fun, but more chill which is more Liam’s speed. We can hang out on the beach, hike, fish, maybe charter a yacht.”

Leo was already shaking his head. “Liam doesn’t do boats.”

Liam’s head shot up and he glared at Leo, obviously mad that Leo had brought it up. After a boating accident had claimed his father’s and grandmother’s lives in front of him, it was hardly surprising Liam wasn’t an avid sailor. But he still didn’t like it brought up and usually everyone was careful to not do so. “And Leo doesn’t do planes,” he said with a challenging look at Leo.

All the eyes in the room shot to Leo, who was busy glaring at Liam before he schooled his expression into something that resembled light amusement. “I went to Puerto Rico at least once a year most of my life and, guess what, I certainly didn’t walk there.”

“And when was the last time you’ve been?” Liam asked, already knowing the answer.

Leo shrugged. “It’s been a few years, but I’ve been busy working.” “A few years” was generous. From her calculations, it had been close to ten years if not more.

Slowly Sofi was beginning to put things together. She’d never understood how Leo just happened to have duty every single time his family booked a trip to the island. A few times could be called bad luck, but every single time for a decade? That wasn’t coincidence. That was avoidance. “Leo’s scared of flying,” she said, reaching the conclusion Liam had obviously come to before. She hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but when Leo’s glare turned on her she realized she had.