𝐕𝐀𝐋
༻❁༺
Rudy joined Simon and I on our way to the meeting room, though Simon took a quick detour before we could arrive, leaving Rudy and me on our own. I didn't want to think it was because Rudy was making me so many questions, almost forgetting Simon was there, but one thing I loved about Rudy was that he never let anyone feel left out, so he kept glancing back at Simon to make sure he was in our conversation, even if all he added was the raspy 'mhm' that came from deep down his throat.
But then he squeezed my hand and told me he'd meet us there in a bit and left with nothing much to say. As always, I stared at the place he disappeared through, my train of thought leaving with him and making me forget what I was talking about. "And uh..." I trailed off. "I believe—ah, yeah."
"I'm still trying to figure it out, you know?" Rudy said in Spanish. "It's so weird."
I looked at him, now confused because if I remembered correctly, the context of our previous conversation was another one. "What thing?"
"You. That man. That thing."
"You say 'that man' as if he's an alien and doesn't have a name." I turned around to continue walking toward the meeting, Rudy quickly following behind me.
He stuck his head around for me to meet his eyes. "I see you decided to ignore the 'that thing.'"
Damnit.
I did.
I sighed and pressed my eyes together for a second, gathering my thoughts together. "Well, ah, I don't know what you want me to say. Yes, it is a thing, and I am okay with it as long as it's still something." There, I admitted it, and it felt... strange, but right.
"Oh wow. That's... deep."
"Am I being too foolish, maybe too delusional? After all, look at the place that we are."
"Of course, you are not. I understand that this is an odd place to get so attached to someone, but there's always the outside."
"This is the only place where he and I could ever have something. Simon said he didn't want to meet outside."
"But you want to."
"I do."
He remained silent for a few beats. "Maybe he'll change his mind soon."
"There are so many things you don't know. Even I, myself, don't know." I crossed my arms over my chest, and suddenly a chill ran down my spine.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." Not until I got to understand. Until Simon himself wanted to talk about it. What better talking about it could possibly do if not confuse me even more?
Rudy and I continued walking down the hallway in complete silence. We were about to arrive at the room when he decided to break it for a last time, "So, does he treat you well, like you deserve?"
I smiled to myself, remembering our morning routine lately, if you know what I mean. "He's so gentle and caring."
"Hard to believe."
I snorted. "Trust me, I know. But that makes him so much more desirable. Especially because I'm the only one who gets to see this side of him."
"Vale."
"What?"
"I really have to ask you this, because otherwise, it'll eat me alive."
"What is it?" We stopped right in front of the entrance of the room. His serious tone made my lungs forget how to work.
But then Rudy raised his eyebrows and his hand motioned his whole face. "What is it like?"
Oh god. I blushed, hard. My neck on fucking fire. If I could avoid this, I would, but there wasn't any way out. "He actually hasn't... shown me his face yet."
Rudy's chin fell to the ground with a loud pop. Not really, but it could have if this moment was like that anime my sister loved to watch so much. He blinked once, his Adam's apple moving up and down. "Why?"
"He has his reasons." I shrugged. "As I said before, there is so much I don't know and I'm not entirely sure I will ever know. Still, I feel good when he's around. I think I will be fine when it's over."
"You think?"
"I will."
*ೃ༄
Soap burst into the room with a purpose, marching with heavy steps to come to stand at the end of the full table. He had a bunch of bottles in his arms and he was struggling to keep them in there until he dropped them all in front of him. "Good one," he breathed, pointing at Alejandro who sat across, and right then I noticed Soap was out of breath as well. "Seriously, good one Alejandro."
Curious, I stretched across the table—I wasn't sitting too far from where Soap stood—and grabbed the bottle that fell closer to me. Except, it wasn't just a bottle, it was a plastic soap dispenser with Soap's sleeping face stuck to the container.
My stomach hurt with how hard I laughed.
"Is seriously my gorgeous, handsome, beautiful, perfect face, in every soap container of this place?" Soap asked, taking one soap dispenser and admiring himself on the front.
"Guess you have to find them all to find out," Alejandro shrugged.
"You know the only reason I took these was because I don't want people to use me freely? I declare ten pounds for every time one of you uses my body to wash your filthy hands."
"Or filthy bodies," Alejandro added.
Soap visibly flinched. "I take that back. I want twenty pounds now."
"Please, Johnny, take these hand soaps somewhere else," Price spoke, all seriousness sitting between Alejandro and Gaz, though the soft smile tugging at his lips mirrored the amusement in his eyes. "We've got matters to discuss."
"Aye Cap," Soap nodded and pulled all of the other soaps away from the main desk. Before I could tell him that the empty seat next to me was for Simon, he plunged down.
My nails dug into the palms of my hands as I fisted them, because now the only empty seat left was the one next to Nadia Ibrahim right across from me. I shouldn't have felt that jealous, but I just couldn't help it.
Just as I wondered where Simon had gone off to, he came through the door, holding a cup of coffee or tea—I wasn't sure yet—in one hand and a plate with two pan dulces (sweet bread) in the other. When he placed them down in front of me, I realized Simon and I hadn't had our breakfast that morning, since we spent it all on bed and then headed straight to the meeting room.
Now that I knew where he went and what was his purpose, it was my heart that shook with Simon's gesture, since my stomach was too busy growling with hunger. I looked up at Simon and thanked him. "What about you? Did you eat?" I asked him.
He gave a firm nod. "Right before I headed back here."
I nodded back, now too busy thrusting the pink bread into my mouth.
Simon left my side and when I caught him going around the table, I remembered the remaining seat. My gaze shot up to Nadia, who was looking at Simon approaching her and had a soft, teasing smile curving on her lips.
I wanted to punch that smile off her face and then punch Soap just because. Instead, I chew quietly and watched Simon grip the back of the empty chair and drag it away from its spot, all the way to the other side of the table, to my side. "Move," he told Soap, and then put the seat between us and sank down.
I recalled Rudy's words a few minutes back and thought that maybe, just maybe, I was getting too used to this, to Simon close to me. And maybe, just maybe, it was a bad thing. I said I will be fine when it was over, now as Simon leaned back and placed his arm on the back of my chair, as I sipped my tea and found out he had prepared it just the way I liked it, I was not so sure about that.
"Very well, let's begin," Captain Price spoke, loud and clear. He cleared his throat. "I'll briefly go over what we already know.
"Shadow Company is gone. Shepherd is still missing. Laswell is still doing her research back in the States. There are no news regarding that. Every inch of the border in that country is being covered at the moment, so it would be impossible to sneak in and attempt an assault. We don't know if Hassan left Las Almas before Alejandro put his Vaqueros to guard the zone or if he is still seeking the Cartel's protection. It is possible that Hassan hasn't left this city yet, which means he is probably stuck somewhere close, probably with Valeria. All we gotta do is find him and the stolen missile. Anyone has anything else to add?"
When Price finished, he looked at us. Took a moment to scan every face before he understood nobody had anything to say.
He sighed and pressed the tips of his middle and index fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Honestly team, delaying our mission is a very dangerous game. Though it is not something we can control, we must do something to step forward. I say we try El Sin Nombre again."
"Persuading Valeria again is a hard no," Alejandro said firmly. "She knows too much. Knows that we know. Thus, I'm certain that this time, her hiding spot is intended to never find her."
"We made a deal with her, did we not?" Soap stated matter-of-factly. "Said we would leave Las Almas after she told us where Hassan kept the missiles. What happened to that?"
"Fuck that deal," Alejandro rasped. "She knew there was a third one, she just forgot to mention it."
"Can you not find a way to speak to this woman and agree on a new deal?" Max Morris asked.
"It's not that easy," Manu jumped. "Let's not forget Valeria is the leader of Las Almas Cartel, goes by El Sin Nombre. She's powerful in her territory."
"And we already tricked her once," Rudy added. "Next time we try to speak to her, she'll put a bullet between our eyes before we can open our mouths."
Everyone was right, from not persuading Valeria to trying to speak with her. Valeria was our only source of finding Hassan unless we wanted to waste time and take the hard way, but it was true that we didn't have a clue where she might be hiding. She was powerful. She owned the city. She could be somewhere far away or maybe pointing a gun at us from behind.
Except...
"She wants us to leave Las Almas." I forced myself to chew the sweet bread faster so everyone could hear me clearly, and then I turned my head to face the space Alejandro and Price were occupying. "Let's cause chaos and budge her out of her hiding place."
"She'll send her men," Alejandro shook his head, dismissing my idea. "She's good at hiding, remember? We didn't know El Sin Nombre was a female until we kidnapped her."
"Perhaps it could work," Simon rasped beside me. "She cares for her city. I am a hundred percent certain that if we cause this massive chaos, if we destroy things, she will do anything to send us far away from her territory. It is all that matters to her."
"We ask for Hassan in exchange to leaving. She will give him to us," I continued. "In the end, she doesn't care about anyone but herself and Las Almas."
Alejandro seemed to be thinking about it, with a frown on his face. He didn't like it, yet it was the only good idea we had and he knew it. "That means war with the Cartel."
I scoffed. "We are already at war."
*ೃ༄
𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐃...
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