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

Chapter 18

18

Leo was standing in Liam and Kamilah’s kitchen grabbing another beer when he was cornered by Abuelo Papo.

His abuelo was wearing a bright yellow guayabera that made his green eyes look more intense. Or maybe it was the scowl on his face. “Mira muchacho del demonio, you’ve been ignoring my calls.”

Leo did his best not to react to getting called out on avoiding his abuelo. “I’ve just been super busy,” he replied. It was true. His days were full of work, band practice, training, Tostón, and Sofi. Well, mostly Sofi. It had been two weeks since they’d decided to really go for it and Leo had never been happier.

“There’s no excuse to disappear.” Abuelo crossed his arms and stared Leo down as if he weren’t half a foot shorter. “Fina and I are doing our best to help you, but we can’t do anything if you don’t cooperate.”

Leo gave a quick look around. Luckily, Liam and the rest of the groomsmen were too busy setting up the poker table to overhear. It had finally been determined that the bachelor party would consist of a night of drinks and poker, something Liam would actually enjoy, while the bachelorette party headed out for a night of drinks and dancing, something Kamilah always enjoyed. Tonight was that night, so while the guys were downstairs prepping, the girls were upstairs doing the same.

Leo leaned closer to his abuelo.

Knowing that Leo was about to spill the tea, Abuelo’s eyes gleamed as he leaned toward him. “Dime,” he commanded in a whisper.

“You and Do?a Fina don’t have to scheme anymore,” Leo whispered.

Abuelo’s mouth stretched into a grin. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

Leo nodded. “Sofi and I are together. Like, for real together.”

“Wepa!” Abuelo hollered, throwing his hands up and giving a salsero spin.

“Shh,” Leo whisper-shouted, but it was too late. Everything around them was quiet. He looked and found everyone looking at him and Abuelo in confusion and interest. Leo cleared his throat. “I just told him that if he manages to beat me tonight, I’ll give him a solo at the reception.”

It was obviously a lie but leave it to his grandpa to take advantage. “You said two solos and a duet.” He shook his finger at Leo as if to say, Ah, ah, ah .

Leo narrowed his eyes. “I don’t remember that.”

Abuelo shrugged. “Maybe you need to slow down on the beer. It won’t be any fun kicking your butt if you’re too drunk to play well.”

The rest of the guys laughed and let out a chorus of “ooh” and “aw snap.”

“Oh, it’s on now, Abuelo,” he warned. “Be prepared to feel my wrath.”

Abuelo snorted. “Bring it on.”

By the time they’d finished their bickering, the guys had lost interest and gone back to setting everything up. Leo lowered his voice again. “We’re still keeping it quiet, so chill out and please, for the love of God, don’t say anything.”

Abuelo was affronted. “How dare you? I’m great at keeping secrets. You’re the one who just blurts out whatever pops into your head.”

Leo had nothing to say to that because it was true. Maybe he did need to slow down with the beer. The last thing he needed was to drunkenly spill the beans. Sofi would be pissed and that was the last thing he wanted. It was one thing to get her worked up on purpose. It was another to make her truly angry.

Abuelo poked him in the chest. “Hey, let me ask you something.”

“What?”

“Why are you still letting her hide you? I thought you said that you were done with that.”

“It’s not for long.” Leo took a drink from his beer before putting it on the counter next to him. “Sofi is worried about how Kamilah will react to finding everything out and neither one of us wants to jeopardize the wedding, so we agreed to wait until that’s done.”

Abuelo nodded. “That’s a good idea. Ojitos de Oro will probably have a fit.”

Leo almost rolled his eyes. Here Abuelo called Kamilah Little Golden Eyes while Leo was called devil child. So rude. “I don’t know,” Leo said. “I don’t think she’ll be that upset about it. Maybe if we were teenagers who fought constantly still, but we get along pretty well now.”

“Sí, but after how much of a big deal Sofi made out of her lie, Kamilah has every right to be mad about this lie.”

Leo was no longer sure that he agreed with that, but he wasn’t going to discuss it with his grandpa. “Look, the point is that we’re already together, so there is no reason for you and Do?a Fina to keep scheming. We’re good. Really good.”

Abuelo let out a hum of thought. “I’ll believe that when I see you two out in the open together,” he said, finally. “As of right now, you basically just made it back to square one. Together in secret.” With that he took Leo’s beer and wandered back into the dining room where the rest of the guys were.

Leo was about to follow him when the clack of heels on the floor brought his attention to the stairs where the ladies were coming down. Kamilah was wearing a sparkly dress that wasn’t exactly white, but wasn’t gold either. The rest of them were wearing some version of black leather and gold accessories. Sofi had on a black lacy bodysuit that showed a lot of skin with a leather mini skirt and the highest of heels. Her straightened hair was slicked back into a tight, high ponytail. Her eyes were smoky and her lips a deep red. She looked like a dominatrix. Leo was ready to drop to his knees and follow her around like Tostón while worshipping at her feet. God, she was sexy.

“Wow, mirá qué bellas son,” Abuelo Papo said as the group reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Aww, thank you, Abuelo,” Kamilah said, striding forward and placing a kiss on his cheek before using her thumb to wipe her lipstick off of it.

“So where are you going again?” Saint asked, he looked ready to tell them all to go back upstairs and put on more clothes.

“That Cuban place with live bands that is super popular,” Sofi said. “Plus, there’s a salsa conference in town, so you know there’re going to be hella professional dancers there tonight.”

“Okay, sexy professional dancers,” Lucy said.

Alex high-fived her. “I’m here for that. Right, Gabs and Sofi?”

Leo raised his eyebrows.

“Me?” Sofi asked.

“Duh, girl.” Liza bopped her on the head. “You three are the only single women here. It’s on you three to have a wild hookup.”

Leo almost growled, but instead he scoffed. “We have church with the whole family tomorrow. This is not the time for wild one-night hookups.”

“Wait a second now,” Lucy said. “Since when did you turn into an altar boy? You used to come to church straight from the after-party or whatever girl’s bed.”

“Exactly,” Kamilah agreed. “Don’t be a hypocrite, Leo. And if anyone deserves a wild one-night stand it’s my maid of honor slash wedding planner. She needs to let off some steam. Right, Sof?”

Sofi just shook her head. “I don’t need a wild hookup for that. I’m here to have fun with you all.”

“Sofi sowed her wild oats all around Europe for the last year,” Alex said. “Chicago guys probably don’t compare.”

“Can we not have a group discussion about my sex life?” Sofi asked. “Especially in front of your grandpa.” She gestured to Abuelo Papo, who stood to the side watching everything happen like he was watching his favorite movie. All he needed was a bucket of popcorn and he’d be set.

“Yeah, some of us plan to eat soon and aren’t interested in being nauseous for the next forever,” Leo said with more attitude than was probably necessary.

“Oh please,” Abuelo Papo said with a laugh. “Most of you wouldn’t be here if I were a prude.”

“Gross,” Leo exclaimed. He did not need the mental image of anything his grandparents used to do.

Abuelo patted him on the back. “Relax, Leo. This is Kamilah’s night and if she wants to spend it trying to get her best friend to have a good time, let her.” His smile was straight-up devious. He was having too much fun at Leo’s expense.

Leo promised to stop that enjoyment in its tracks as soon as they played poker. As for his secret girlfriend, she’d better not let them talk her into flirting with any guys. The look he shot her told her exactly that. At least, he thought it did until the little minx just winked at him and walked away—her arm entangled with his sister’s.

“Okay, so what’s our game plan?” Lucy asked from the front seat of the private car Ben had ordered for them.

“What do you mean?” Sofi asked. “We’re heading to the club.”

She laughed. “I was talking to Mila and I meant the plan to get you laid.”

“What?” she yelped.

Kamilah reached forward and whacked Lucy’s arm. “You have a big mouth. That was a secret.”

“A secret?” Sofi was trying to catch up, but she’d done too much pregaming. Her brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders. “You have a secret plan to get me laid at the club?”

Behind her, in the farthest seat, Alex, Gabi, and Liza laughed.

Kamilah turned to her. “Yes. I know we were just joking before, but then I think you need it.”

Sofi shook her head. “I don’t.”

“I don’t believe that,” Kamilah said. “You’ve been tense and jumpy as hell for at least a week now and you’re usually only that stressed when you aren’t getting any.”

She knew what Kamilah was talking about, but it wasn’t true. The truth was that she was jumpy and tense whenever she was messing around with Leo and didn’t want Kamilah to know. Hence her telling Kamilah that she wasn’t sleeping with anyone during those times. “I’m tense because I’m planning your wedding in a few weeks.”

“Exactly,” Kamilah exclaimed. “All the more reason for you to let loose tonight. Work out some of that stress.”

Sofi sniffed.

“Seriously, I never realized how much of a relief a good round of sex could be until Liam. I swear it’s like going from a block of ice to a puddle of warm bathwater.”

Sofi was well aware. She’d been taking advantage of the fact with Leo. “What about Alex and Gabi.”

“Count Gabi out. She’s basically a nun now and she likes it that way,” Alex said, then ducked her sister’s head smack. “But don’t worry about me. I’m on the stress relief train too. Trust and believe that I need it after working on the fucking theater for the last year.”

Kamilah turned in her seat to face her cousin. “Was it that bad? I thought you said the damage wasn’t as severe as you’d originally thought.”

Alex tossed her long light brown waves over a shoulder. “The problem wasn’t the building, but the owner.”

“Don’t tell me that Chord Bailón is an asshole,” Lucy cried from the front of the car. “My Barrio Brothers stan heart couldn’t take it.”

Sofi had missed a lot in her time away from the Vegas. She still found it hard to believe that Alex and Gabi’s Broadway-based mom, Carmen, and older sister, Evalisse, were back in Chicago specifically to work on a brand-new musical written, directed, and starring, of all people, Chord Bailón—the heartthrob of world-famous boy band the Barrio Brothers. Not only that, but he’d bought an old theater slash office building to house his masterpiece and the new El Hogar. She didn’t know how Saint and Lola had gotten that to happen, but it made her happy to see the family thriving for the most part. Although, apparently Alex felt differently about the whole thing.

Alex scoffed at Lucy’s comment. “Well, I hate to break your heart, but he’s the fucking worst. I’ve never met a more arrogant and annoying pain in the ass in my entire life.”

“Damn. Why do the best-looking celebs always have to be assholes?” Liza shook her head as if really sad about it.

“That’s not true,” Kamilah said. “I’ve heard that Keanu Reeves is one of the nicest people ever and has actually saved someone’s life.”

“Keanu doesn’t count,” Alex said. “He’s another type of being entirely. Like an angel who was sent here to give us all hope that not everything is crap.”

“So he’s basically Denzel in The Preacher’s Wife ?” Liza asked with a smart-ass smile.

Sofi breathed a sigh of relief as they began talking about celebrity gossip. She was positive that she’d successfully pulled off a diversion, but then they arrived at the club and Kamilah proceeded to push her at every single good-looking man she could find. There was the hot nerdy guy, the Eastern European guy who looked like a Bratva member but danced like a cast member of Dancing with the Stars , and the creep who gave straight-up serial killer vibes.

Sofi plopped onto her seat, out of breath after a dance with her last would-be hookup. “Dear lord, he kept spinning me like a damn dreidel. I’m dizzy.” She picked up her drink and slammed it. She was so hot.

Kamilah snort laughed. “You looked like one of those drills that they use to look for oil.”

Sofi glanced around. “Where is everyone else?” She had to practically yell the question because it was so loud.

“They’re out there dancing.” She sipped her own drink before putting it down with a plop. “Okay, he’s off the list.” She turned her head from side to side, searching. “Let’s find someone else.”

“I don’t want someone else and you look like a meerkat when you do that.”

“Stop being a bummer,” Kamilah told her. “I’m going to find you a sexy man to at least grind on and make out with if it’s the last thing I do.”

If there was one thing that Sofi knew about her friend it was that once she put her mind to something she was going to pursue it doggedly. There was only one option left. Sofi was going to have to come clean. The only way to stop this farce was to tell Kamilah that she was in a relationship, but she knew all too well that it wouldn’t stop there. Her friend would want to know who.

Fuck. She was too drunk for this. She stood and held her hand out to Kamilah. “Come outside to the patio with me.”

Kamilah stood and grabbed her hand. “Yes. Let’s cool off before we go back to our hunt.”

Sofi led Kamilah through the club and to the equally packed patio area. It was barely cooler than the inside, but there was at least a little bit of a breeze. Sofi found a tiny table with one single chair in the darkest corner.

Kamilah dropped into the chair. “I forgot how much heels suck,” she said, her champagne-colored sequin dress with a draped neckline, low back, and thigh-high slit sparkled even in the dark. She’d told Sofi she wanted to feel like Vanessa Williams in Dance with Me and Sofi was there to make all her professional ballroom dreams come true.

Sofi sat on the edge of the table. Her heart was racing. She took a deep breath and wished she were either more sober or more drunk for what was about to happen. “Kamilah, I have to tell you something, but I’m scared.”

Kamilah frowned. “Scared? About what?”

“I feel like I’m going to lose you again if tell you and I just got you back.” Dear lord, Sofi hated how pathetic she sounded. This was why it was never good to have deep conversations while drunk and overly sensitive. “I don’t want to ruin anything.”

“Sofi, you’re scaring me. Just tell me.”

Okay. She just needed to spit it out. “Leo and I are together. Actually it’s more like back together. You see we have a bit of a history. Not a bit. More like a lot of history. Like over fifteen years of history.” Then Sofi just kept talking. She told Kamilah everything from their first kiss when Sofi was fifteen to them deciding to give themselves a real shot. “And I should’ve told you all of this years ago, but the truth is that I’m a hypocrite. I was so mad at you for lying when I’ve been lying to you for much longer. I’m sorry and I hope you are more forgiving than I was.” She stared at her wringing hands.

A hand appeared on top of hers. “Sofi, look at me.” Kamilah squeezed Sofi’s hand and gave it a little shake. “Seriously, look at me.”

Sofi looked up. She was surprised to see nothing in Kamilah’s gaze but earnest caring. No disgust or anger. No disappointment. She didn’t get it. How could she be so cool about this?

“I know.”

Sofi sucked her teeth. “Shut the fuck up. There’s no way. No. There’s no possible way.”

Kamilah gave her one of those full body winces that all but scream, Well...

Sofi’s jaw dropped. “There’s. No. Fucking. Way.”

“To be fair, until recently I only suspected. But please, you’re my best friend, he’s my brother, of course I knew.”

Sofi sat there in silence, trying to pick up the pieces of her blown mind. “Wait,” she said suddenly. “What do you mean ‘until recently’?”

“I sort of walked in on you two asleep in your bed the morning of the festival. I was looking for Leo and then I heard what sounded like a dog in your room, so I had to investigate. I booked it out of there before the dog woke either of you up, but honestly, I wasn’t surprised.” Kamilah rolled her eyes. “I mean damn. I know I can be a bit in my own world, but y’all act like I walk around in an alternate universe.”

“I just. I... Why didn’t you call me out?”

“Honestly, I felt like it wasn’t my business. I knew that if it ever became something important enough, you’d tell me. If I’d have known that you were both making me your scapegoat, I would’ve busted your asses out years ago.”

“You don’t get it. We have fought about telling you for literal years. Years. And this whole time he was right.”

“Leo said that I knew?”

“No. He said that you wouldn’t care.”

“I mean I wouldn’t say that I don’t care, and Liam certainly had to listen to me rage about it for a few days, but I’m not upset anymore. I’m happy for you actually.”

“You are?”

“Hell yeah. I know I complain about him all the time, but my brother is a really good guy. However, he’s the lucky one. You are an amazing, strong, smart, sweet, beautiful but badass orchid mantis who’s as majestic as a...narwhal. And you smell like springtime!”

Sofi didn’t really know what the hell Kamilah was talking about, but she knew that it was said with love, because her glassy eyes were blinking up at Sofi like she’d just cured cancer or something.

“I really do love you,” Sofi told her with wet eyes.

“I love you too!” Kamilah threw her arms around Sofi.

They stayed like that for a while, crying and voicing their love for each other over and over.

“What in the white girl wasted...?” Liza’s voice said from the side.

Sofi and Kamilah pulled away from each other, wiping their eyes.

“Here they are! We found them!” Lucy shouted to someone out of sight.

Within moments Alex and Gabi stepped into Sofi’s line of sight.

Alex’s look was one of secondhand embarrassment. “Drunk crying in the club? Really?”

Kamilah gave Sofi a look that said, Do you want to tell them or should I?

Sofi waved her on. She didn’t have the energy or mental capacity do tell the whole story again.

When Kamilah finished everyone was quiet for a moment.

“Is that what this is about?” Lucy rolled her eyes. “We’ve been known.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Liza asked. “Because I sure didn’t. I’m flabbergasted.”

“Yeah me too,” Alex said. “I’m flabbergasted as hell.”

Alex looked at Gabi, but Gabi stayed quiet. “You knew?” she asked her sister.

Gabi shrugged. “It was pretty obvious something was going on. No two people enjoy fighting that much if there wasn’t something between them.”

Sofi blinked. “We don’t like fighting.”

Everyone laughed.

“We don’t.”

More laughter.

Sofi’s friends were assholes. “I don’t know why you are all laughing like I’m doing stand-up,” she groused. “Just rude as hell for no reason.”

“I’m sorry,” Kamilah wheezed. “It’s not that we’re laughing at you. It just that what you said made us laugh.”

“Yeah, I think I’m done with this conversation now.”

“Okay. Okay. Fine. We’re sorry.”

“Nope. Still done. I’m going back to the dance floor. Peace out.” Sofi pulled out her phone as she left.

I told Kamilah, but jokes on me. She already knew and she’s happy about it.

In less than a minute she received a mind-blown emoji. A moment after that he replied.

Meet me at our spot. We need to celebrate ASAP

Sofi smiled as she pulled up her text chain with Kamilah.

I love you, but I gotta go. Drink tons of water and keep an eye on Alex.

Her phone buzzed with a selfie of drunk Kamilah sticking out her tongue and flipping her off.

If I weren’t ready to go home to my sexy soon-to-be husband, I’d be pissed at you!

Love you too!

Tell my brother that I said he’d better be good to you or I’ll tell our parents about the night he snuck Miranda Vargas into the house in high school!

Sofi growled. Fucking Miranda Vargas. She’d hated that girl. After sending Kamilah a kissy face emoji, Sofi pulled up her rideshare app and put in her request. She couldn’t wait to see Leo.