Chapter 12

Fernando

"How's it going?" I asked as bro' came into our apartment two days after Krystal's migraine. We'd spent the night there, both tormented by her nearness, both wanting to do things that we weren't supposed to do, that we'd sworn we wouldn't do.

"Pretty hard." Santiago scoffed and nearly bent over with laughter. "This fucking sucks, 'Nando."

"I know, but we've talked about this. I thought we'd agreed?" I could see the way tension tightened on my brother's face, a face that had just been laughing but was now serious.

Santiago nodded. "Yeah, we did. I'm just still worried it's a game, you know?" He slid his left hand down his right arm, over the rose tattoo that blended into a screaming eagle down his arm. He and I were both covered in tattoos, something Mami had hated but had come to terms with.