Carnal Desires

46

Sofia Karlberg - Bad Omen

Café del Mar was filled to the brim with tourists; eating, drinking, and watching the sun setting over the Caribbean Sea. It was beautiful; an array of dusty yellow and pastel pink colours. The Colombian flag swayed in the wind while music blares from a speaker near the bar.

Rory observed the opened venue with excitement but her guard - Jairo - merely stood beside her bored. His expression clearly not as impressed; he was a native after all.

Then it got her thinking; what if Luci felt the same? Unimpressed. God, she wished she hadn't suggested it. Rory glanced around the venue, her gaze darting between several faces - one after the other but none were Luci.

Among the sounds playing around them, Rory's phone blared in her hands and an unknown number flashed on her screen.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Luci." She said. "I've should've told that the café would be busy, it's a tourist hot spot. Do you think you can meet me at the beach instead?"

After getting the directions from Luci, Jairo escorted her towards the beach and the sounds of music and chitchat dies as they got further away from the café. It was peaceful with only the sounds of waves washing up on the shore reverberating around them.

Rory spotted Luci standing along the shoreline, the sea brushing against her bare feet as her eyes fixated on the sunset. Her hair danced in the wind and for a moment she looked like she was caught in a riptide; an eternal struggling raging inside her. But, all that washed away when she caught sight of Rory.

Luci broke into a beaming smile and trotted along the sand towards her.

"I never thought he'd let you out without him." She joked, lacings their arms while they walked along the shore.

A silence settled over them; different unlike the times before. But, Rory couldn't pinpoint what was so different this time. Luci was still the same Luci she knew, from the outside anyways. Before, she could speak Luci craned her head behind them, eyeing Jairo with her deep brown eyes, suspicious and untrusting.

He was following closely behind them - Gideon's order.

From the look on her dainty features, Rory could tell that Jairo's presence was making her uncomfortable.

"Can you follow a little further back?" Luci requested with a frown. "I just want some privacy with Rory, it's just some girl talk."

He glanced at Rory as if he was looking for permission. She slowly nodded and he backed off while they walked a little further - enough that he was out of earshot and that the waves washing ashore drowned out any sounds.

After settling into a comfy walking rhythm and Rory could no longer stand the silence.

"How are you?" She asked softly. "Lolo misses you."

"I'm good." Luci replied, her features visibly relaxes but the exhaustion was evident in her eyes. "I really just needed some time away from Gideon. He's too overbearing."

She recalled the argument that day though never knew what really happened. And, Gideon nor Sebastian wouldn't tell her. Their reactions only pointed her to one answer - Cristian Herrera. The mystery man they were both connected in some shape or form.

Rory could only assume that something terrible must've occurred for the three of them to hate each with so much passion. Did Cristian hate them though? Or was it all just one sided?