42. Luís’s Blessing

A month before Luís Castillo’s Murder

Leonie

It was late May. The nights were staying brighter for longer, but Dom normally only sneaked in during the cover of darkness.

At school, he’d told me tonight would have to be the last time we saw each other for a while. He had to focus on his exams and I was too much of a distraction.

He’d probably still have time to see his girlfriend, though.

Shitty Rebecca. I loathed her.

Dom was going to move to university on the 28th of September. That meant 128 days for me to tell him I loved him.

And I wanted him to be mine for the summer before he left. I wanted us to truly be together before he went and found his future wife at university.

It was all I could think about the drive down to the cove. We were screaming along to Brand New, the roof of his car down, my hand waving on the breeze.

Three words, Leonie. You can do this.

It’s Dom, for Christ’s sake.

Down at the cove, Dom pulled out a joint and lit it, lying back on the sand. He was so precious about his car, but not when it came to our nights on the beach. Back when he stole his dad’s car to get me, we would have to be really careful not to get sand inside. We’d practically strip to nothing and cover our shoes in plastic bags.

Ivan was a man to be feared, especially when it came to his cars.

“How about,” I started and leaned over to take one of his hands and try to hoist him up, “we go skinny dipping?”

My heart was thrumming.

“Skinny dipping?” he asked, letting me pull him to his feet, his frown the lowest it had ever been. “Did you not wear a bikini?”

I pursed my lips to feign shyness. “No.”

“Why would you… You had time, Leo. We weren’t in any rush.”

“I’ve always wanted to go skinny dipping.”

“Right,” he said, pulling his hand from mine. “Okay. Well, you get in and I’ll turn around.”

I laughed. “You don’t have to—”

“I do.” His voice was cold, firm. No room for arguments.

And suddenly, I didn’t want to get naked and go in the water. I wanted to put the entire contents of my wardrobe on and get into my bed.

“You’re a minor,” he added, already facing away, breathing out a dark cloud of smoke.

“I’m sixteen,” I countered, pulling off my shirt as if it had personally insulted me. “I’m old enough to—”

“And I’m eighteen. That’s just… it’s not…”

I gripped my top tightly, anger in my fists. “Take me home.”

He whipped around, eyes flashing with anger even in the darkness and he caught my wrist before I could undress any further. “What is going on? Why are you trying to ruin our last night together?”

“Last night?”

“My exams start Monday.”

“I know… I just wanted to go skinny dipping,” I lied, staring down at my bare feet.

“Right,” he said again, lowering his gaze. I had gone all out, wearing a black lacey bra that showed my nipples. “Get in the water with your underwear on. I have towels in the car. Or… go on then. Let’s go bloody skinny dipping.”

I beamed. His rejection still stung, I had been put in my place and, naked, I wouldn’t be able to cling to him like I normally would… like I hoped I could.

The water was cold for late May, but it quickly warmed up. Dom waited for me to be in the water before stripping to his swimming trunks and joining me.

“That’s not skinny dipping,” I pouted.

But he ignored me, coming so close to my body that, despite the cold water, he had my skin heating.

“Have you ever been kissed before, Leo?” he asked, looking down at me, only inches away. The small waves cut into his pecs as they hit my shoulders.

I shook my head, too taken aback by his question to verbally answer.

“Are you scared of it? I was really nervous.”

“I… just want it over with.”

“So you are scared,” he laughed, looking out at the ships past the cove.

With you, I wouldn’t be.

“A little.”

“You got kidnapped and held for over a day, killed one of the men and you’re scared of a kiss?”

“I’m scared of doing it wrong,” I said with an awkward laugh, pushing my back against his chest to watch the ships with him. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “I’m scared of doing it with the wrong person.”

“It’s just a kiss,” he said and I could feel him shrug behind me.

I turned to look at him over my shoulder, our faces so close. His mouth was slightly parted as he looked down at me in wonder. I wanted those lips on mine. “Yeah,” I said, not caring for how breathless I sounded. “It’s just a kiss.”

He was going to do it. Press his lips to mine and show me how. He would be the first and last person I ever kissed and I knew it in that moment.

But the seconds passed, and I knew he was losing his nerve.

When he looked up, it was over.

“Smoke with me.”

So we got out — he turned away from me and, covering his eyes, passed me a towel from his car — and I lay next to him and did just that. He hardly smoked any of it and kept passing it back to me without taking a drag.

We just stared at the stars until I questioned him about what he needed to know for his first exam. A high revision session and we were back to normal.

Until we went into my garden, still not quite done with our conversation and sitting on the sun loungers, whispering loudly.

A throat cleared behind us.

I quickly shoved my half-undone shirt over myself as we turned to face my father, who stood there with a cocky grin. My dad was the largest man I knew. Six foot five, built like a brick wall and as wide as an AK-47 is long, he intimidated every man he met.

In the last few years, his hair had started to grey, but if anything, it just made him look more dangerous.

“Leonie and Dominic out in my garden, high at four am?” he asked, false surprise in his voice. “Well, I never.”

Dom was standing and saying, “Sir, I—”

“Don’t ‘sir’ me now,” my dad sighed.

Dom had only ever called my dad Uncle Luís as I called his dad Uncle Ivan, but since that night when they had killed those responsible for hurting me…

‘Sir’ escaped his lips every now and then.

“Leonie, to bed.”

“But, Dad, I—”

He shot me that dry, dull look that had me sliding my sandals back on.

I didn’t go to bed, though.

The two men came back into the house and I hid as they went into his office, ready to wait for their chat so I could find Dom and apologise for earlier.

Now had not been the right time to make a move. Not when he had his exams starting, not while preparing for university, not while he had a girlfriend.

“Sit,” my dad demanded Dom and I could only assume he followed the instruction.

There was the glug of two glasses being poured, no doubt Dad’s stash of whiskey and then the slide of glass across the table.

“At least three times every week for the last two months, I’ve awoken to a little CCTV of you gaining access to my property or my daughter sneaking out. Until four in the morning,” he added. “On cameras that you helped install. Cameras you know I can see you on.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How long for, son?”

“The past year or so, Uncle Luís.”

Dad hmphed and then there was the harsh sound of him setting down his glass. I imagined it to be empty now.

“Are you having sex with my daughter?”

Dom sounded outraged. “What? No, we’re—”

“Are you doing this on camera as some shy way of asking for my blessing? Because both your father and I—”

“No! No, I’m not doing anything,” Dom replied, getting flustered. “Leonie is my best friend. I love her, but… I wouldn’t ever hurt her. I couldn’t—”

“Your dad and I spoke,” Dad interrupted, “and you have exams coming up. You can’t be spending your time getting high late into the morning.”

“This is the last time—”

“I highly doubt that. Next time I see your ass climbing my gate, I’m getting an electric one installed. At least you’ve found the one flaw in my security, so I guess I’ll thank you for that.”

They both stood, chairs scraping the wood floor, and I went to move away, but just as I did, I heard my dad say, “If you wanted my blessing, you have it.”