His choice of words was a deliberate painful blow, but I knew better than to show him how much they hurt.
“I’d love to meet a man with balls big enough to try, because the second that happens, he will no longer have any. Now I remember why mama didn’t like you. You’re a real fucking asshole,” I glacially retorted, keeping a cool demeanor.
I was positive by the look on his face he’d never been spoken to like this before. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he keeled over and had a stroke.
He was probably more shocked that I didn’t have a tongue of cultured etiquette. “Samuel, that was uncalled for,” my grandmother chastised.
“There you go defending her again.” His mouth twisted into an ugly sneer. The smell of something stronger than wine reached my nose. He was drunk.
“For the record, Mateo likes his women subservient. You’re nothing but a little girl trying to involve yourself in a game you will lose forallof us.”
He shoved away from the table, looking down at me like I was a piece of shit smeared into the carpet before leaving the room.
“Fucking dick,” I quietly seethed.
“Your uncle means no harm,diosa, but I know that hurt.”My grandmother sighed and softly chuckled a minute later.
“What’s funny?” I asked, side-eyeing her.
“You remind me of your mother––in spirit and in beauty. The parts that didn’t put up with anyone’s bullshit.” She smiled at me, showing off all the envious beauty that hid her true age. And she did look amazing for her age.
Her dark hair was twisted into a French chignon, the grays well beyond dyed. Her makeup was much more carefully applied than mine would ever be, and she carried herself like she was the POTUS.
“We weren’t born yesterday. We know something’s going on between you two,” she said after a few silent moments.
“Grams, we just met.”
“Are you still taking your birth control?”
“I’ve been taking them with my Prozac,” I muttered.
“Good. For a minute I was worried about you going through a mania, or getting worse.”
“I haven’t had any symptoms that would make you think that.”
“Oh, I just meant maybe we should start looking into centers, in case things do go downhill for you.” She smiled, a sweet insincere bitch of a smile.
Threatening me with something I worked very hard to control over the years was a low fucking blow.Stupid cuntwas on the tip of my tongue, but this woman was supposed to be a grandmother, so I returned her smile.
“You’re right. I would hate to completely lose my shit and do something drastic to you or Uncle Samuel. You two seem to sleep through everything at night.”
She didn’t have a reason to smile anymore. I wasn’t bluffing, I would do it. If she got in my way of finding Eva, I would burn the whole fucking house down with her in it. Grandmother or not. I could dish out threats too. She didn’t know me well enough to antagonize me.
“You really are your mother’s child,” she said softly, picking up her paper again.
Ifell into deep contemplation as I drove towards Mateo’s estate that evening.
I didn’t bother using the Cadillac’s high-tech navigation system to point me in the right direction. I knew exactly where I was going.
Every home I managed to catch a glimpse of was ridiculously large.
I imagined my aunt’s little bungalow fitting nicely within one of their garages and still having space for an ample backyard.
They sat marginally far apart, most on the cusp of a hill––hence RemmingtonHillEstates. There was no need to worry about your perverted neighbor staring from their bedroom window straight into yours, as I’d had to do for years.
From the road, you could see the silhouette of whichever house you were passing but peering into one was damn near impossible unless you had a pair of binoculars.
If you thought normal people wanted their privacy and security you should see families that specialized in the illegal underworld.
