“Thanks.” My questions are starting to multiply, but Lourdes walks on and I don’t want to get left behind. I jog to catch up with her.
We stop in front of a group of five or six people. The waitress from the restaurant who gave me ham, the valet who flirted with me when I first arrived, even the quiet girl from housekeeping, among others, are here.
“There’s our girl,” the valet announces, smiling at Lourdes. “Nice to see you again. We’ve—”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve missed me.” Lourdes brushes away the sentimentality, humble but endearing. The group watches her with adoration. A hint of sympathy. Then their attention shifts, and they lean forward, waiting for me to speak. I’m suddenly speechless.
“This is Audrey Casella,” Lourdes says for me. “Her brother’s the hot blond one.” The girls and a thin guy sipping from a martini glass all smile and nod to each other. I want to roll my eyes, tired of people always noticing Daniel for his looks.
“He’s also a nice guy,” I add. They glance around and laugh like I’ve told a joke I don’t know the punch line to. “No, really,” I say quieter, turning to Lourdes.
“I’m sure he is,” she says. “But we don’t really judge people based on how nice they are. The nice ones usually go to the party downstairs.” The valet reaches to touch Lourdes’s thigh to get her attention, and when she looks down to where he’s sitting, he hands her up a bottle. “Thank you, Joshua,” she says, then holds up the drink in cheers. “To our new guests,” she announces. “May they extend their stay and keep us company.”
“Cheers to that,” Joshua says with a sly grin before taking a drink. The others murmur their toasts, and then Tanya moves aside for me and Lourdes to sit down. I take an extra sip, trying to calm my nerves. I don’t know any of these people—and I’m intimidated, especially when they seem to know everything about each other.
“So tell me, Joshua,” Lourdes says, stretching her leg to lay her foot across his lap. He immediately puts his hand on her ankle, stroking his thumb over the skin. “How long have you and Catherine been rekindled? I had to hear about it from the dishwasher.” Joshua’s fingers still, and my heart sinks.
“Rumors,” Joshua says, moving Lourdes’s leg off of him. “I know better than to deal with her. Not since the last time she stabbed me.”
“Catherine stabbed you?” I demand, my worry for my brother spiking. The group looks over at me, and I earn a few stares from across the roof.
“Shh . . . ,” Lourdes tells me. “We’re not supposed to gossip about the guests. And Joshua’s fine. He’s making it sound more dramatic than it really was.”
“Yes,” Joshua says sarcastically. “I tend to exaggerate when women stick knives into my belly.”
“What’s funny about that statement,” Tanya calls out, “is that ‘women’ is plural.” They all start to laugh, but I’m wondering if my brother is in danger. I want to ask, but at the same time I can’t tell if they’re joking or not. And I’m not sure how they’ll react if Daniel is hooking up with someone’s girlfriend. I’ll get the details from Lourdes when the others aren’t around.
Lourdes swears from next to me, and I turn to follow her line of sight. Elias, dressed in a pressed black suit, is walking across the roof terrace and heading straight for us. I realize I’m grinning like an idiot, and I try to play it cool before anyone notices.
“For Christ’s sake,” Tanya says, leaning back against the wall. “This place is going to hell tonight.”
“Oh, relax,” Lourdes tells her. “It’s not like it’s his first time up here.”
“This can only end badly,” Tanya adds. I glance back at her, wondering what exactly she means. Do we have the same idea of what ending badly is? If so, I’m screwed.
“Eli,” Lourdes calls. “Twice in one day. This has been quite a homecoming.”
Elias reaches our part of the roof, and my momentary doubt is overshadowed. The soft light casts him in a silhouette—tall and angular. His shoes scuff to a stop and his face comes into view, painfully handsome. He smiles warmly, the kind of smile that deserves one in return.
“Just happy to have you back,” he says to Lourdes, sitting on the edge of another metal cylinder. “And you know I’d turn up more, but Kenneth can be a tyrant sometimes.”
“A true villain,” Lourdes adds. She holds Elias’s stare until they both break the moment by laughing. Elias shifts toward me.
“I was hoping I’d catch you at dinner,” he says quietly. “Caught up with your brother outside the restaurant instead. He wasn’t pleasant.”