Hard Luck (Trophy Boyfriends 4)

So, not entirely a lie. None of my sisters need to know the truth; they’d castrate me right on this table.

“What did you talk about?”

I scratch my head beneath the baseball cap I’ve got on—the ball cap my mother glared at when I entered the restaurant because she thinks it’s rude to wear a hat—any hat—indoors.

“We talked about…” Shit, I don’t remember. “I complimented her on how nice she looked.” My sisters sigh as if I’m recanting a romantic tale. “And I asked her if she wanted a drink from the bar.”

And True Wallace did, so I fetched her a cocktail, and we laughed and laughed and drank and drank.

“I thought we were having a good time.”

Sophia tilts her head. “So then what?”

“So then what, what?”

“After you had drinks—why didn’t you ask her out?” Sophia is holding a wine glass but not drinking from it, so absorbed in sifting through the details of this “case” to uncover what really happened and why her brother has been ghosted.

“Then…that’s it.”

My sisters don’t believe me.

Sophia says, “You mean to tell us the two of you had a great time, and at a wedding, no less—one of the most romantic places to meet someone—and the whole thing ended right then and there?”

“Did someone else whisk her away?” Camila asks.

They all nod in unison as if to say, Good question, good question.

“No, no one else whisked her away.”

“Did she have to leave? It was her brother’s wedding—didn’t she stay until the end?” My sister the lawyer pummels me with one hard-hitting question after the next.

“No, she didn’t leave—why are you browbeating me like this?!” I need her to stop with the interrogation or I’m going to end up—

“Well what the hell happened?!” Sophia’s tone is as loud as mine was before when I raised my voice, and once again, our mother shoots the seven of us a warning.

She isn’t impressed by her offspring’s loud behavior.

“Shh,” she shushes from down the table, shaking her head. If we were teenagers and all going home to the same house, we’d be in deep shit.

Fortunately, we’re all grown-ass adults and live on our own.

Well, except Gloria, who still lives at home, but that’s because she’s young and still in college.

“Mami is getting enojada.” Mom is getting mad.

“That’s because she wants to know what’s going on over here.” Glory laughs. “Trust me, when we get home, she’ll grill me until she has all the details.”

I groan. “Please don’t say anything.”

My sisters laugh.

They laugh and laugh, like I’ve just told the funniest joke.

“Little brother, you come from a family of women, and you’re asking us to keep a secret?”

They all laugh some more.

Ana, who’s been relatively quiet this entire time, studies me. My face, my eyes.

Narrows hers.

“¿Te acostaste con ella?” Did you sleep with her?

All six heads whip toward me.

“I thought Sophia was the civil litigator here, not you.”

Rosaria dramatically places a hand on her heart. “Oh my god, he did.”

Camila picks up a linen napkin from the table and hits me on the arm with it. “You asshole! You slept with someone on the first date?”

“It wasn’t a date, remember?” Gloria helpfully points out.

“Glory!” Ana gasps. “That’s not helping.”

“What is Mami gonna say when she finds out?” Mariana is chomping on a chip, enjoying my downfall, double-dipping in the guacamole.

“Mami isn’t going to say anything, because no one is going to tell her!” I screech, sounding like a girl, high-pitched and panicky. I’m not afraid of many people, but my mother is one of them.

Loretta Espinoza runs her household with an iron fist.

“Are you serious?” Mariana laughs again. “You can’t treat women this way, Mateo.”

“I didn’t treat her like shit! I want to see her again!”

“Then why is she avoiding you, hermano?” Mariana has a disgusted look on her face—the same look all six of my sisters are giving me right now. “Have we taught you nothing? You don’t sleep with someone on the first date.”

“It wasn’t a date, remember?” Gloria repeats, amused.

The older sisters ignore her.

“I don’t know what you expect me to do. I asked her brother for her phone number, and he refused. I tried messaging her on social media, but she blocked me. I can’t show up at her work because I don’t know where that is.”

“Show up at her work?” Sophia looks horrified. “That’s stalking!”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I amend. “I’m not actually going to show up at her work!” How did this conversation get so out of hand? “I know that’s stalking—that’s why I’m not going to do it!”

If they didn’t gang up on me like this, I wouldn’t be so defensive, dammit.

“Honestly you guys, I have no idea what to do.” I really want to see her.

“If she wants nothing to do with you, Mateo, there is nothing you can do.” Ana puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “You cannot bother her anymore. You have to let it be.”