Through My Window(Hidalgos #1)(120)

“I guess hanging out with the guys has affected me. I picked up a lot of their likes and dislikes.”

I swipe the back of my hand across my mouth, as if that will take the taste away.

“Do you have any other friends?”

“No, it’s always been them.” Her eyes travel to Gregory and Ares, and then to Marco and Apolo. “But I’m fine. They’ve been great to me.”

“It must be nice knowing them since they were little,” I comment, hoping she’ll say more.

Samy laughs to her herself. “Oh, believe me, I know so many embarrassing stories! Although Claudia beats me, she knows way more than I do.” I give her a look full of questions, and she seems to read my mind because she raises her hand in a sign of peace. “No, I don’t know what’s going on between her, Artemis, and Apolo either.”

“Apolo?” I frown.

She opens her eyes wide, her expression indicating that she said something she shouldn’t have.

“Hey.” She tucks her hair behind her ear. “I mean. . . . Not that there’s anything wrong, I just assumed. . . . Just forget it.”

My mind travels back to that time in the hospital when I realized that Artemis had hit Apolo, and it all makes sense. My gaze falls on Dani, and my need to protect her wins out over everything.

“Does Apolo have something with Claudia?” She doesn’t say anything, so I push her. “Samy, I don’t like to pressure people, but Dani is my best friend, and I would do anything for her. I need to know if I should tell her to forget about Apolo.”

“If I knew what was going on, I’d tell you. Really, Raquel. But I have no idea. Artemis is an indecipherable block of ice. Apolo is so honorable that he would never talk about a girl. And Ares, well, he’s honest about everything except his brothers’ stuff. They have an incredible sense of loyalty.”

I believe her.

The few times I’ve tried to get information out of Ares about that situation have been a failure, including once when I tried to use sex as a weapon for informative extraction, and only ended up fucked and just as curious.

Ares joins the other guys to play ball as Gregory walks over to us.

“Tropical beauties!”

That brings a smile to my face. Gregory is so energetic and cheerful that he reminds me of Carlos. Samy offers him a drink.

“How come you always have so much energy?”

Gregory drinks and exhales noticeably. “It’s the strength of youth,” he says, sitting on the sand in front of us. “What were you talking about? You had serious expressions.”

“Nonsense,” I say, rubbing his head as if he were a puppy. “Who’s a good boy?”

Gregory barks and sticks out his tongue.

Samy rolls her eyes. “It’s because of you that he doesn’t grow up,” she says.

Gregory gives her a hurt puppy dog look.

“I’m not going to rub your head.” Gregory continues with his eyes, and I can only watch with a smile on my face. Samy sighs. “Good, boy,” she says and rubs his head.

Gregory sticks out his tongue and licks her hand. “Ah!”

“The sun’s about to set,” Sami points.

“We should build a campfire before we lose the sunlight,” I suggest. Why do I always come up with ideas like this?

Eight walks in search of firewood later . . .

In the movies, lighting a campfire isn’t that complicated; it looks easy. Well, welcome to reality. It’s fucking hard. We’re all sweaty and darkness is already upon us, but finally the campfire is lit. We sit around it with the reflection of the fire on our faces.

I sit next to Ares, leaning my head on his shoulder and watching the flames, which have blue sparkles. It calms me and gives me a sense of peace. The wind on the beach, the sound of the waves, the boy next to me, the friends around me, it’s a perfect moment, and I pay attention to every detail to keep this memory in a special place in my heart.

“I’m going to miss you,” Gregory breaks the silence, and I think he’s saying what we’re all thinking.

Apolo throws a piece of wood into the fire.

“At least you’re going to college, too, Gregory. I’ve got to stay in high school by myself.”

Dani stares at him. Her feelings are obvious. I wonder if mine are this obvious when I look at Ares.

Of course they are, I mentally growl at myself.

Marco returns from his car search with bags of marshmallows in his hands. The food has arrived. Samy helps him with the bags.

“Yes! I want to eat something sweet so badly.”

Gregory coughs. “Marco can give you something sweet, you know, to suck on.”

Samy grimaces. “You’re the worst.”

Dani gets the wonderful idea to talk.

“Besides, that’s not sweet.”

“Ohhhhhhhhh!”

I can only cover my face. Dani blushes as she realizes she just made a serious mistake. That’s what I like to call verbal suicide. They’ll make fun of her forever and ever with that.

While they tease Dani, Ares whispers to me: “Want to walk along the beach?” God, I love his voice. I straighten up and look at him.

“Only if you promise to behave.”

He smiles openly at me.

“I won’t make promises I can’t keep.”