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

Chapter 23

23

Leo had known that there would eventually be a reckoning, so he was not at all surprised when his family showed up in his apartment in the middle of the day. What astonished him was that they’d waited an entire week before they did. Maybe they pitied him because Leo still couldn’t use his right arm or, more likely, they felt bad about his breakup with Sofi. Needless to say, Leo’s life was in a pathetic state, so he didn’t even care that they’d barged into his space in order to yell at him. They weren’t going to say anything he didn’t already know.

“Look, can we not do this? I already know that I messed up big-time.” He looked at Kamilah. “I know how difficult it was for Liam to trust me with the tasting room. This is his first project with his new partner and, after I pretty much inserted myself into it, and I wasn’t fully invested. He trusted me with his life’s work and I wasn’t honest about my intentions. He deserves way better than that.” Leo shook his head. “Not only that, but I promised you I’d perform for your first dance and now, because of my own stupidity, I can’t.” Leo was about to continue enumerating his many faults, but his dad stopped him.

“Leo, we aren’t here for that.” Papi let out a breath. “Some things came out last week that we needed to process.”

Leo nodded sadly. “I know. I disappointed you all again.”

His dad’s hand landed on his good shoulder. “No, Leo. You didn’t. We need you to know that we’ve never thought you were broken or stupid.”

Leo scoffed. “All you two ever did was push your other kids. You pushed them and set high expectations for them, but you stopped doing that with me. As soon as you were told I had ADHD, you didn’t expect the same things of me as you did the others. Whenever I did anything wrong you’d just sigh in disappointment and move on, as if I’m not even worth the time or effort.”

Mami looked close to tears. “Leo, we never pushed you, because we never had to. When it was important enough to you, you pushed yourself. You always have. From the minute you came into this world too early, you’ve pushed yourself.”

“You’ve always stood firm in who you are and what you want,” Papi said. “We wanted to respect that. If we didn’t always get on you over your grades, especially later, it was because we finally understood that it was the fault of the education system, not you. You were smart and capable, but only when you wanted to be, not when anyone told you to be.”

“Leo, you are not the dumb one,” Saint said. “You’re the brave one.”

Leo snorted in disbelief. Yeah, Saint was a whole war hero with a medal, but Leo was the brave one. Right.

“You are,” he emphasized. “You have always just gone for things. Put yourself out there. It doesn’t matter what anyone says or thinks. You’re going to do it because you’re confident in your ability to handle whatever comes next. That’s brave.”

“I’ve always been jealous of you for that,” Eddie said. “I envy the way you just go for it and believe that everything will work out how you want it to. I always have to think, and plan, and think some more. Most of the time I end up picking the safest option because I’m scared of the risk. Not you. You are willing to take the risk.”

Leo just stared at his brother, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He couldn’t believe that Eddie envied him anything. He was an actual genius, with a high six-figure job, a beautiful and equally successful wife, and two already high-performing kids. He had everything. It was difficult to grasp that he would want to be anything like Leo.

“Leo, you taught yourself to read music and play the guitar by age five,” Papi pointed out. “Then you retaught yourself to play after your injury.”

“You’re a force to be reckoned with, little brother,” Cristian said. He gave Leo’s head a rub like Leo was a Saint Bernard. “You always have been. You are the one we want to be more like.” He smirked. “Except for your propensity to stick your foot in your mouth. You can keep that.”

“Please. I have that issue too and it’s not as bad as it seems,” Kamilah joked.

Leo fought his own smile. “I don’t stick my foot in my mouth. I mean what I say and say what I mean. Even when it gets me in trouble.”

Mami stood from her spot and went to crouch next to him. She grabbed his hand in hers and looked into his eyes. “You, mi amor, are my miracle,” she told him in Spanish. “Every day I am proud of you and everything you have accomplished. I’m sorry for ever making you think otherwise. And if you want to become a firefighter again, then I will believe you and support you, because you’ve never failed at anything.”

His father gave his shoulder a solid pat. “You, son, are the strongest of us all and I’m sorry I made you feel like you were a weak link. You’re a survivor and I will choose to believe that you will survive this too.”

“I hope you all know that I’m going to remember all of this and bring it up constantly.”

His family started laughing.

“This from the guy who forgot his own birthday last year?” Papi snorted. “I doubt it.”

“Hey, I was on a lot of painkillers last summer!”

“And what’s your excuse for forgetting you were supposed to pick up Abuelo for a doctor’s appointment three days ago?” Saint asked.

“Uhh... I’m sad?”

“Okay,” Kamilah said, standing up. “I’m glad we all had this talk and now Leo knows exactly how valued he is to us, but I still need to talk to him and you are distracting us, so off you go.” She made a shooing motion with her hands.

Papi grumbled. “I’m still half owner of this building.”

Kamilah crossed her arms. “And the man who’s going to be my husband in a week is the other owner which basically means I am too. What’s your point?”

“Ooph. Someone is cranky,” Eddie said. “We’d better get out of here before she goes full bridezilla.”

Kamilah just smirked. “There are some new starters I’m trying out waiting for you downstairs. Let me know what you think.”

Suddenly, Papi and their brothers couldn’t leave fast enough. The only person who stayed was Mami.

She was looking at Leo with love and worry. “Are you sure we’re okay?” she asked.

Leo nodded. “We’re more than okay. You know you’ll always be my number one girl.”

Her eyes filled. “I meant every word I said. I love you and I’m proud of you.”

“I love you too, Mami. Now go, so Kamilah can yell at me in peace.”

Mami looked at Kamilah. “You take it easy on your brother. He got shot and dumped.”

Kamilah rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mami. I won’t berate your baby boy.”

“Good.” After a decisive nod, she left.

Kamilah shook her head and looked at him. “Here I always thought Eddie was her favorite.”

Leo smirked. “You heard her. I’m her miracle.”

“You’d think she’d remember that I too was born early all thanks to your diva-ass causing an emergency cesarian less than two years earlier.”

“Don’t blame that on me, she wanted you born early so you wouldn’t come out a Halloween demon baby. Too bad she waited too long and it happened anyway.”

Kamilah stuck her tongue out at him, her go-to move when she couldn’t think of a comeback.

“About Liam,” he said, getting serious. “I know it seems like I’m not taking the bar seriously, but I am. I will make sure that I hire someone great to bartend until I can do it, but I’ll still develop the menu, talk to the vendors, and basically manage everything like I promised. Making this bar successful is my priority.” It was the only thing he had going for him, so it had to be his priority.

“Good,” she said, both sounding and looking like their mother, especially because she gave the same quick nod. “But that’s not actually why I wanted to talk to you alone.”

Leo dropped his head back. “Ugh.” He lifted it and shot Kamilah a look. “Please tell me that this isn’t about Sofi.”

“Of course it is.” Kamilah came around and sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of him. She leveled him with a no-nonsense look. “What happened after we left, Leo?”

“You mean she didn’t tell you everything when she went to stay at your house?”

“No, she refused to talk about it. She said that she didn’t want me to be in the middle.”

“Then maybe listen to her and stay out of it.” He looked at the expression on his sister’s face. “Right. I forgot who I was talking to. You couldn’t stay out of it even if we dropped you in a cage in the ocean.”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “This is true.”

Leo sighed, but let it out anyway. “We argued some more, obviously, and I flat out asked her if she wanted to be with me. She couldn’t answer. I told her that I loved her and she told me that we’re doomed because I want what she can’t give me. Then I basically told her that I was done trying to make things work with her.”

“And are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Done with her?”

Leo scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m tired, Sideshow Bob. I’ve been trying to get her to give me a chance since we were teens. I don’t want to keep doing this for the rest of my life. After I got shot, I promised myself that I wouldn’t fall into the same patterns. That I’d make my second chance worth it.”

“Leo, I’m going to give you some hard-learned advice.”

“Look, I know she’s your best friend and you know her very well, but trust me I know her better.”

“First of all, eww because I know what you were trying to say there. Second of all, this advice I gleaned from dealing with Liam not Sofi.” She paused and her face scrunched in thought. “Even though the two of them are scary similar.”

“No duh,” Leo said. “You’re basically marrying a male Sofi with less style and more facial hair.”

Kamilah put a hand on her heart. “Aww. I kind of love that.”

Leo blew out a breath. “Your advice, weirdo?”

“Their greatest fear is that there is something wrong with them that means they will always be left. Because of this fear, they lock their true selves away and hide behind their badass personas.”

“Yeah. I know this.”

“Getting through to them isn’t about smashing down their walls, Leo. All that will do is make them lash out because they feel unsafe.”

“I am not a subtle man, Kamilah.”

She threw his own words back at him. “Yeah. I know this.” She put a hand on his. “However, you’re going to have to learn to be if you want a future with Sofi. You have to create a safe place for her, if you want her to emerge from her fortress, and you can’t do it by scheming behind her back. You have to let her know that she’s safe with you physically, mentally, emotionally. Her well-being is your priority.”

“I tried to do that, but—”

Kamilah held up a hand, stopping him. “I know how hard this next part is, trust me. I struggle with this all of the time, but you’re also going to have to be patient with her. Because even when she does come out from behind her walls, her first instinct will always be to hide behind them again when she feels vulnerable. It’s not a reflection on you or her feelings for you. It’s just her way of coping. So instead of getting mad or hurt or feeling defeated, you’ll have to be patient and coax her out again.”

“But, Kamilah, it shouldn’t be that hard.”

“Who says it’s not hard? Movies? Songs? That’s not real life. That’s not how real relationships work. Real relationships are very hard. They require tremendous amounts of give-and-take, especially when the people in them are so different yet equally headstrong.”

“I know relationships aren’t easy, but I can’t be the only one trying. That doesn’t work either.”

“You’re one hundred percent right. You both need to put in the work, but all I’m telling you is that you can’t expect her to just let down her guard completely and forever. You have to be willing to reassure her every time she tries to hide that you’re still a safe place for her. If you can’t or don’t want to do that, then maybe it’s best you two are done for real.”

Leo looked down at his right hand which was holding his stress ball, but not squeezing—mostly because he couldn’t. The last few days, he’d been doing a lot of thinking and one of his main thoughts was about changing. He’d felt like he’d changed a lot, but now he wasn’t sure he had. At his core he was still the same person he’d always been, but he’d tried to at least make better choices for himself and his life. He guessed that was the most you could ask of people—for them to make better, less harmful choices. The same could be said for Sofi. He couldn’t expect her to completely change her personality or way of interacting with the world. He could only be there for her as she tried to make those choices. She was never going to be this happy-go-lucky person with an open and trusting personality. He didn’t want her to be. He loved her crotchety ass exactly how she was. So he needed to stop trying to change her.

He looked back up at his unexpectedly emotionally intelligent little sister. “So, like on a scale of zero to ten, how mad would you be if I hijack your wedding?”

She pursed her lips and tapped a finger on her chin. “Think about it like this: on a scale of zero to ten, how much do you like having at least one fully functional arm?”

“Okay. Okay. So wait until after your wedding is what I’m hearing.”

“For the sake of your well-being that’s probably the best idea. Yes.”

Leo stood and made his way to the door. He paused at the threshold. “I just want to throw out that technically the reception is after the wedding. Okay. Love you. Bye.” Then he took off running and ignored her yelling his name. He had an abuelo to see and a grand gesture to plan.