Way Too Close: A New Generation series Page 2

  She glanced around, sipping her diet soda as she sat there by herself, trying to decide her next move. She’d been sitting with Vannah’s twin, Nena, until she, too, was whisked away a few minutes ago to help her mom with something. Now she sat there by herself, but she didn’t want anyone labeling her anti-social.

  Turning forward again, Xochitl flinched when Vannah’s brother Taz startled her, as he plopped down on the seat next to her suddenly. “I need a favor,” he said, leaning over, rested his elbows on his knees without looking up, and tapped away at his phone screen. “Act like you’re my girl.”

  Her face instantly heated. “What?” Okay, maybe she should’ve put a little more effort into working on her game. This was Vannah’s younger brother for crying out loud. She’d long ago been informed, or rather warned by his sisters on more than one occasion, of what players both their brothers were, despite being younger than her.

  “Taz is especially incorrigible when it comes to flirting with our friends,” Vannah had quipped more than once then seemed to blame it on something else each time. “Some girls these days have just made it too easy on my charmingly handsome brothers. Easing through puberty and crossing over to adulthood, when it comes to girls and sex, has been anything but formidable for them. They’ve enjoyed owning it from the day they figured out they could.”

  When Xochitl met Taz last year, for the very first time, that dimpled smile had nearly sucked the life out of her. But mercifully, having been forewarned, she refused to get sucked into his nonsense and had managed to stand her ground. Then the handful of times she’d been around him since, she’d avoided being alone with the little flirt. She would not get caught up with him. Even if this very recent, high school graduate was nearly a foot taller than her and all muscle. He sat up straight and leaned into her a little. That gorgeous smile, coupled with the smoldering gaze, had her swallowing hard. “You don’t have to say you’re my girl. In fact, you can’t. I don’t want Nena or Vannah asking questions.” He glanced around as if to look for his sisters, and thankfully so, because Xochitl took the moment to draw in a much-needed deep breath. Then just like that, he was back to gazing in her eyes with that same unbelievable smile. “Just act so, that if anyone were to be observing us, they might get the idea that maybe we’re hiding something juicy.” He licked his lips, glancing down at hers before bringing his eyes back to him. “A very naughty secret between just the two of us.”

  She gulped hard, but as usual Xochitl did what she always did even when faced with the most uncomfortable of moments. She kept her cool and reminded herself how young he was. Because of Vannah, she knew the guy had very recently just turned eighteen—obviously—since he was asking her to help him do something so immature. Yet somehow, she felt overwhelmingly flattered. Despite him being younger than her, she would’ve never thought a guy like him, would ever consider her someone he could make another girl jealous with. If in fact that was what this was about. “W-why?”

  She started to glance away, but his hand on her leg made her freeze. “No, don’t look around. I don’t want her to think I’m telling you anything about her.”

  “Who?” Jesus, was that all she could come up with? Uneasy, sputtered-out, one-worded questions? She was better than this, damn it.

  “Angela. She’s my sisters’ good friend since high school.” He glanced down at his phone again, allowing Xochitl to exhale subtly. “Act like I’m showing you something here.” She rolled her eyes, very obviously because she’d always objected to these stupid kinds of games. He glanced up just in time to catch the tail end of her disapproving expression and smiled. Her eyes instantly zoomed onto those dimples making her breath catch. “Come on.” He motioned down to his phone. “It’s not totally fake. I really do have something you might wanna check out.”

  Despite her disapproval of this dumb game in general, curiosity got the best of her. She leaned over to look at his phone screen, inhaling the scent of his intoxicating cologne in the process. It smelled so damn good it nearly had her lashes fluttering. But she concentrated on watching him tap his phone screen, chastising herself for even thinking of her friend’s brother in that way. Focusing on the photos he slid across his phone screen, Xochitl was surprised that she was in a few of them. They were photos of the day last year she’d driven out here to La Jolla with Vannah and Byron to drop the bomb on her family that she was getting married at such a young age and she wasn’t even pregnant. In most of them, she, Vannah, and Nena were engrossed in conversation, obviously unaware he was taking the photos.

  “She and I messed around a few times.” She glanced up at Taz, not even sure what he was talking about now. He glanced up for a moment and met her eyes, once again indulging her with that smile. “Angela. My sisters’ friend but they don’t know it. She didn’t want them to.” He shrugged pointing at his screen as if he were really showing her what he was talking about. Xochitl froze at the sight of a photo of herself—by herself. She was sitting in his parents’ backyard smiling big as she pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear. He glanced up to meet her eyes and smiled again, only not quite as smugly as he had earlier and cleared his throat. “My mom likes when I take candid photos. Says people never smile that naturally when they know they’re being photographed. This is one of my favorites.” Their eyes met again, this time minus the smile. Instead, he searched her eyes as if waiting for her to comment on this. For the first time in like ever, Xochitl was speechless. She was still trying to decide if she should be flattered or crept out that this guy—albeit hotter than she cared to admit—had taken pictures of her last year. Pictures that were completely unbeknownst to her. Ones he was still looking at and now making sure she knew it. When she didn’t immediately respond, he shrugged. “I guess I didn’t want my sisters to know about me and Angela either. I knew it wouldn’t work out from the beginning, and my sisters might be miffed about me messing with their good friend.” He glanced up at her, those dimples making yet another appearance now that the smug smile was back. “But no sense in passing up a good time, right?”

  The smolder in his eyes was back. She now knew the whole act was for the sake of this Angela chick and no other reason. Yet, her already thudding heart sped up. Swallowing hard again, she watched as he brought up his contact list on his phone, not saying anything for a moment. Okay, this wasn’t that big a deal. So, her friends’ hot brother took photos of her without her knowledge and said one of them was his favorite. She’d already been warned of what smooth flirts her brothers could be. But Xochitl was confident she could sit there and have an adult conversation without falling for any of the nonsense. And she wasn’t about to sit there and make a total ass of herself over something he may very likely have planned and was expecting her to react like all the other girls did to him. She was determined to keep her dignity here. Ask something other than her piddly one-worded questions. Clearing her throat, she lifted her chin a bit, deciding not to comment on the photos he’d taken of her. “So, if you knew it wouldn’t work out, then it must not have meant much to you. Why do you want her to think you’re with someone now? What’s the point?”

  He glanced up at her again and smiled, unnerving her to no end when he dropped his eyes to her lips for a second, before meeting her eyes again. “Not just someone,” he practically murmured, and annoyingly it had Xochitl struggling not to react. “My sister’s college friend.” Thankfully, before she could blurt out another stupid why, he went on. “I blew her off, and she was none too pleased about it. But she was beginning to get clingy and hinting that maybe we should let my sisters in on it. Like maybe she thought it might turn into more. So, the last few times she’s been around, she’s been a little hostile. Kind of a bitch. Made a few comments about being into men, not little boys. Said most girls aren’t. That kind of shit. I shot back that it’s why I’d blown her off, because I wasn’t into desperate older girls looking to tie me down. Now she’s here with a dude who’s obviously older than me, and I’m sure she did it on purpose.”

  Glancing down when he motioned to his phone again, Xochitl could see he’d brought up a new contact screen. She read the name he typed in.

  Socheel

  Feeling her heart speed up, she did the stupid clearing of her throat again. “Is that supposed to be my name?”

  “Yeah.” He turned to her. “Isn’t that how you spell it?”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s spelled completely different than how it’s pronounced.”

  He cleared what he’d written. “So how do you spell it?”

  As expected, the moment she said X, he jerked his head back to look at her, brows fully raised. For the first time since he’d sat down next to her, Xochitl felt at ease enough to smile.

  “No way.”

  “Yes,” she nodded, smiling even bigger. “My parents chose Aztec names for both me and my brother. But at least his sounds exactly how it’s spelled, Izel.”

  She gave him the rest of the spelling. His eyes grew wider with each letter, and he shook his head when she was done. “Your parents are fucked up.”

  This time Xochitl all-out laughed. “I’d take offense, but trust me it’s not the first time I’ve heard that. And yeah, imagine me as a five-year-old trying for the life of me to make sense of why my name started with an X, and then me trying to learn to spell it.”

  “That must’ve sucked ass.” He shook his head. “I would’ve picked up a nickname or something.”

  “I like my name, though,” she protested. “I remember the kids that the teachers had to call out as Juan B, and Juan R, and so forth, because there were multiple in the class. I never had to worry about that.”

  “Well, yeah, for good reason.” He pointed at his phone screen. “Who else would wanna go by this?”

  “Oh, ye
ah? What about Taz?” she teased, thankful that she was feeling more like her normal self finally. “Vannah said it’s short for Tasmanian Devil, like the cartoon, because you were such a handful as a kid. But you’re, what? Seventeen now—?”

  “Eighteen,” he said with conviction and sat up a little straighter.

  Xochitl couldn’t help smirk. She’d purposely thrown out seventeen, knowing he was eighteen now. Clearly, he had a chip on his shoulder about being called a little boy by Angela, even if he looked anything but. If it wasn’t because she knew he was Vannah’s younger brother, Xochitl might’ve thought him older than his sisters. He sure as hell was bigger than them, and Vannah had mentioned more than once that both her charming brothers were gym rats. With his height and impressive muscle, he could easily pass for at least twenty-one. “You see that’s even worse.” She raised a brow. “You’re practically a full-fledged, grown ass man, and you’re still going by your childhood nickname. At least I had no say in my name. I would’ve outgrown my silly nickname by now.”

  He smirked now, like he knew she was purposely razzing him. “It’s mostly just the family that calls me that now,” he clarified. “I’m named after my dad, Alex. So, to avoid confusion at home and my family’s restaurant, I’m either Taz or Lex.”

  “Lex.” Xochitl smiled. “I like that. I so would’ve lost Taz by now.” He stared at her with a smirk for a moment that went on a little too long. She’d noticed that about him since she’d first met him last year, even though they’d barely spoken the few times she’d been around before today. Most people avoided eye contact. Not Lex. He seemed to persistently search her eyes, like he was doing again now. Something she knew was a trait of someone completely, maybe even overly, self-confident. Thankfully, he glanced away then back at her just as quick, leaning a little closer again. It irritated Xochitl that she could so easily get utterly unnerved—and by someone younger—no less. So, she stood her ground and didn’t flinch back the way she was so tempted to.

  “This bitch thinks I care,” he murmured in her face, through a smile Xochitl knew was fake but was still too damn breathtaking. “She’s laying it on thick that she’s got a man now, with all the touchy-feely shit she’s doing over there. Too bad I can’t touch you like that.” The intense way his eyes bore into hers waned a bit as his fingers played with a strand of her hair. He glanced down at his phone, as Xochitl’s grateful heart raced, but as always, her tenacity to keep her composure won. “My sisters would ask too many questions. Little boy,” he scoffed, stopping to gaze in her eyes once again. “Some of the things I did to her were not little boy things. It’s why she’s probably pissed that she came here today thinking she’d be showing me up, only to find out I can be into older girls and might even be willing . . .” His eyes dropped down to her lips. “So willing to get tied up by the right one. It was just Angela who didn’t do it for me.” Before Xochitl could even think of how to respond to that, their eyes met again as he cleared his throat. “Isn’t this some crazy shit though?” He glanced around the room and shook his head. “My sister’s not even old enough to drink legally, and she’s committing to marriage.”

  As happy as Xochitl was for her bestie, she had to agree. “I was pretty shocked when she told me too. But they seem so in love and happy.”

  “Yeah, but for how long?” He glanced out to where Vannah and Byron were chatting with some of the guests. “I mean I don’t doubt they’re in love. The guy seems crazy about her, but that’s too fucking young.” He shrugged, glancing down at his phone again. “To each his own, and I hope it works out, I guess. I just think it’s insane.” He was back to tapping on his phone screen. “What’s your phone number?” Turning back to her, their eyes met, and no surprise, he looked completely unfazed as he waited.

  Xochitl on the other hand, did the throat clearing again, but lifted a brow in question. “My phone number?”

  “Yeah, so I can program it into my phone. Just until this wedding crap is over,” he added quickly. “I can delete it after if you want. It’s just so I can track you down on the fly, if I need a quick fake girlfriend moment during all these events.” He frowned, glancing around the crowded backyard. “Maybe if I didn’t have three million relatives at all these events, it might be easy to just look around and find you.”

  She hadn’t agreed to this yet, and normally she wouldn’t be willing to go along with this kind of silly game. But he did say she didn’t have to say she was his girl, just pretend to be attracted to him, and taken by his flirting. As much as she’d usually object to such nonsense, she hated to admit it, but looking like she was attracted to him and taken by his flirting was something she was certain she was already doing anyway. Technically, this wouldn’t be an all-out lie on her part. It did beat sitting alone, looking all loner boner or anti-social whenever Vannah and Nena got busy. And she could and would put her foot down at any point if he asked her to do anything more objectionable than just this. So, she figured, why not? She finished rattling off her number, and he said he was sending her a text so she’d know it was him when his number came up. Her phone dinged, and she glanced down, surprised that he hadn’t just sent a blank text. Clicking on it, she read the short sentence he’d sent.

  I hear you’re into gossip.

  She looked up at him, feeling her brows furrow. “What?”

  “You run an online gossip column or something.”

  “It’s not a gossip column,” she countered, though she couldn’t help smirk. “It’s a news blog.” He lifted an unimpressed brow like he was thinking she was full of it. “It is. Your sisters inspired me to embrace social media and start my own blog. It started off as an assignment for my media relations class. I got tired of those clickbait articles that take you through pages and pages of buildup and sponsored crap before getting to the point. So, when I was assigned to write about something in the media that irks me and give a presentation on how I would do it differently, I started a blog where I posted short to-the-point stories about the latest news. Called it Quick Click News. I thought I’d only use it for the one assignment, but when I made it public, I got a lot of positive feedback and it was sort of exciting, so I kept doing more. But it’s news, not gossip.”

  His eyes narrowed in on her knowingly. “About celebrities?”

  “Some stories are,” she countered quickly because she knew what he was implying. It was the same thing her brother had suggested. “But it’s all facts. I get the information straight from their websites and press releases.” He was still peering at her suspiciously, so she decided to just admit something. “I am a sucker for a good juicy story online or sharing some with close friends or family I know I can trust. It’s why I’d always get caught up in those maddening clickbait articles. But I’ve never, nor has my blog ever, spread gossip if that’s what you’re getting at. Just the facts. Like the news.”

  Now he laughed. “Yeah, because we all know the news reports nothing but the truth.”

  She chuckled now too because he had a point. “You know what I mean. I do my research and report nothing but facts, keeping it short and sweet.”

  “Speaking of short and sweet.” Xochitl had to inhale deeply at the sight of that incredible smile as he glanced behind her.

  Nena and her cousins Amanda, and Viviana walked up to where they were sitting. “Taz, daddy needs you and Gordo to help him move some of the cases of drinks out back.”

  He shot up but leaned over, away from his sister’s view and whispered, “Pretend I’m saying something sweet to you.” The smile waned a bit as he searched her eyes again. “Like, that those beautiful hazel eyes are beginning to own me.” Feeling the air sucked out of her, and not having the slightest idea how to react to that without sounding or acting the ways she knew he expected her to, she stared at him blankly. His smile went even flatter. “You’re supposed to look enamored, not . . . horrified.”