Antonio Hill - The Summer of Dead Toys

“What are you thinking?” Aleix whispered in her ear. “I thought you were asleep,” she said and kissed him on the forehead. She shifted a little so he could put his arm around her. Their hands intertwined. The force radiating from those strong fingers gave her life.

“Only a little. But it’s your fault,” he purred obscenely. “You wear me out.”

She laughed, satisfied, and his other hand sneaked under the sheets and brushed her thighs.

“Stop,” she protested, moving away a little. “We have to go.”

“No.” He pinned her down with his whole body. “I want to stay here.”

“Ah, come on, get up. Lazy. . It’s too hot to have you on top of me.” She used a mock-severe tone; like a rebellious child, he held her even more tightly in his arms. At last Regina succeeded in freeing herself; she sat on the edge of the bed and turned on the harsh light on the nightstand.

Aleix lay spread out in the shape of a cross, occupying practically the whole space. She couldn’t help being surprised once again by the beauty of that naked body. It was a bittersweet feeling: a mixture of admiration and embarrassment. Without getting up, she stretched out her arm to grab her bra and blouse, thrown on a nearby chair.

“You can stay in bed if you want,” she said, as she dressed, her back to him.

“Don’t go yet. I have to talk to you.”

Something in his tone of voice alarmed her suddenly and she turned, her blouse half buttoned.

“Does it have to be now?” She finished buttoning the blouse and picked up her watch from the nightstand. “It’s really late.”

He moved to kneel on the sheets and kissed her on the neck.

“Stop. . If you hadn’t stood me up yesterday, we’d have had more time. Salvador arrives in less than an hour and I have to go to the airport to collect him.”

“I did it for Gina, I already told you. . And it’s partly your fault: no mobile messages, no contact outside of here. I couldn’t tell you.”

She nodded rapidly, impatient.

“That’s how it has to be. OK, make the most of it while I’m dressing. What do you have to tell me?” She rose from the bed and began to put on her underwear and then her skirt. She didn’t even have time to go home and shower. She’d go straight to collect the Old Man.

“I’m in trouble. Bad trouble.”

Silence.

“I need money.”

“Money?” Regina didn’t know what to say. She turned red and stopped dressing.

He realized he’d offended her; he jumped out of bed, still naked, and came toward her. Regina looked away.

“Hey, hey. . Look at me,” he said to her. She did so, and then, seeing his face, she understood that he was really serious. “I wouldn’t be asking you if it wasn’t essential. But I’ve fucked up and I need it. Really.”

“You have parents, Aleix. Surely they’ll help you.”

“Don’t be absurd. I can’t go to them.”

Regina exhaled.

“What’s going on? Have you got some college girl pregnant or something like that?”

His expression changed and he grabbed her hand.

“Let go!” He didn’t. He grasped it more firmly and drew her toward him.

“This isn’t a joke, Regina. If I don’t get three thousand euros before Tuesday-”

She didn’t let him finish. She interrupted him with a dry, ironic laugh.

“Three thousand euros? You’re mad!”

Aleix squeezed her hand harder, but then dropped it. They were face to face, measuring each other up.

“I’ll pay you back.”

“Listen, no way. It’s not about whether you’d return it or not. Do you think I can take three thousand euros out of the account without Salvador noticing? And what would I say to him? That the fucking has been a little expensive this time?”

She was offended: it was what he’d been afraid of, making her feel like someone who has to pay for sex. He tried to explain.

“Listen, I’m not asking you as a lover, I’m asking you as a friend. I’m asking you because if I don’t give it back, these guys will kill me.”

“What are you talking about?” It was getting late. She wanted to finish this conversation and get out of there. “What guys?”

He lowered his head. He couldn’t tell her the whole thing.

“I wouldn’t be saying this to you if it wasn’t important.”

Regina didn’t want to give him any more options: she sat down on the chair to put on her white sandals, but the weight of silence, only broken by the sound of the air conditioning, was too much for her.

“Aleix, I’ll be straight with you. If you really are in trouble, you have to turn to your parents. I can’t solve your problems. Understand?”

“Don’t come over all protective on me. Not when I just fucked you twice.”

She half smiled.

“Leave it, Aleix. I don’t want to fight with you.”

It was his last card: he played it in desperation, with a pang of regret. He fell back on the bed and fixed his eyes on her.

“I don’t want to fight either.” He tried to make his voice sound cold, suddenly unconcerned. “But I think you’re going to help me in the end. Even if it’s only for your daughter’s sake.”

“Don’t you dare bring Gina into this.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on telling her that I screw her mother once a week. I’ll leave that to you.” He lowered his voice: once he’d started, there was no way back. “What I will do is tell that Argentine inspector that I saw frightened, innocent Gina push Marc out of the window.”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“The cold hard truth. Why do you think Gina’s like she is? Why do you think I went to your house yesterday? So she wouldn’t be alone with the police, because your little girl is terrified of what she did.”

“You’re making it up.” Her voice was trembling. Fragmented images of the last few days flashed through her head. She tried to dispel them before continuing. This was a bluff; it had to be this bastard brat’s fucking bluff. She became indignant.

Aleix kept talking.

“She’d been dying of jealousy since Marc told us he’d met a girl in Dublin. And on San Juan she couldn’t take it any more. She put on that dress to hook up with him, but he wasn’t interested.”

Regina got up and went toward Aleix. She had to control her voice, control herself so as not to lose her temper and slap him across the face. Control herself so as to leave no doubts that she was serious.

“You left. . you stated so to the police and Gina said so as well.”

He smiled. Regina hesitated. Right now all he needed was to sow doubt in her mind.

“Of course. It’s what you do for a friend, isn’t it? In spite of Marc being my friend too. It’s in your hands, Regina. Simple: one favor for another. You help me, I help you and Gina.”

Just then Aleix’s mobile, which he’d left on the nightstand, rang. He stretched out his arm to see who it was and frowned. He answered under Regina’s glare.

“Edu? Something up?” His brother rarely called him, and never without a reason.

While he listened to what Edu had to tell him, Regina slowly picked up her bag. The conversation lasted barely a minute. Aleix said thank you and good-bye and hung up.

He looked at her, smiling. He was still naked, aware of the attractiveness of his body. She knew he had something to say: she saw it in his satisfied face, in that smile expressing more arrogance than any kind of happiness.

“What a coincidence. It seems the cop wants to see me. Monday afternoon. Just enough time for you and me to resolve this matter between ourselves.”

For a moment Regina hesitated. A cold mask came over her face. A part of her, the part belonging to the disappointed woman, wanted to slap that cocky brat’s face, but her maternal side finally prevailed. The first thing was to speak to Gina. She decided the slap could wait.