The next evening, I see the men moving the large dining table out of our villa.
‘Hey Maria. Wassup? Our furniture being repossessed or something?’
‘We don’t serve dinner here no more,’ she replies.
‘You don’t serve - why?’
She shrugs. ‘That’s what Diablo wants.’
‘Oh.’ A tiny thrill shoots through me. I didn’t like them drinking and doing drugs where I sleep. It was one of my gripes at the rock pool.
‘Is all about you, Senorita,’ Rosa says, winking at me. ‘Diablo, he want to make you veeery happy.’
I smile inwardly at her words.
* **
As soon as Senor Vito leaves the ranch I seek out Diablo. I knock on his door and wait. Santana opens the door and bristles with hostility. ‘Aaaan? What do you want now, puta?’
‘Hey Santana,’ I say, ignoring her foul mood. After I learned how hard her life is under Christa, she too has my sympathy.
A shirtless Diablo appears behind her.
‘Oh … hi…’ I murmur. ‘Um ... I’ll maybe come back later, cos it’s not import ... ’
‘No, stay!’ He looks pointedly at Santana.
‘Biiitch!’ Santana mutters as she storms out.
I look at Diablo in the natural light and see the scars on his forehead, the red eyes, and since he’s shirtless – the tattoos on his chest and an urge to hug him overcomes me. Right there, I vow never to call him Diablo again - never to refer to him as a devil, a beast, a monster. He’s Diago, brother to Troy.
I study the tattoos as if I’m admiring them, but I actually want to see the scars from the cigarette burns. Despite my distress, I manage a small smile. ‘How are you Diago?’ I ask, emphasising his name, a tacit reminder of our lovely date.
He shrugs, never one for words. But his lit up face tells me he’s happy to see me.
I point at one shoulder. ‘I’ll take that shrug as a, “Very well, thank you and how are you?”’
He grins and scratches the back of his neck.
‘Look Diago,’ I say, getting serious, ‘it’s my nephews Christening - eh, Naming Ceremony and I wanna attend. Please? I adore Liam and since he’s my only nephew, I’m excited about the Christening. ’Sides, it gives me something to do, cos I get really bored here.’
His smile suddenly vanishes.
‘What? It’s just for the baby, not Austin, really.’
After taking a deep breath, he shrugs and then nods slowly.
I exhale. ‘Thank you. And Marcus ...?’
He nods. ‘Marucs, he take you, he stay with you, he brung you back.’
‘Bring,’ I correct, barely able to contain my excitement. ‘Um …you’re not going to change your mind like the last time, are you?’ My voice is pleading.
He shakes his head slowly.
‘Great! It’ll save you heaps of abuse from me.’
He smiles.
‘Now ... I need pesos. Lots of it.’ I was kidding about the “lots of it” part.
He reaches into his closet, draws out a shoe box and hands it to me.
‘T…hanks,’ I say, opening the box. ‘I suppose I can sell these shoes on Ebay and use the mo ... Ohmigod!’ The shoe box is filled with banknotes. My eyes fly to his. ‘This much?’
More shrugging as he shuts the closet, a smug look on his face.
‘Wow! I wasn’t ... I ... wow! Thank you, Diago.’
I think he’s showing of, but hey, I don’t mind. ‘This will like, come in handy,’ I say, clutching the box to my chest.
He scratches the back of his head, his chin and finally jerks his neck from side-to-side, his signature response to shyness.
We stare at each other for a few moments and smile, memories of our dinner date flooding our mind.
‘Well, I’ll eh, say goodnight then and like, leave you to ...’ I jerk my head in Santana’s direction.
He grunts again and I exit clutching my box of money.
Paris and I are not the best of friends, but I really adore Liam and since I have tons of money, my plans for the christening now include a tiered Christening cake, a tiny white satin suit for baby, a new dress for Paris and of course, a new dress for me. I plan to take them shopping today and splurge on them. And me - all courtesy of Diago.