𝑽𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 (𝑻𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 #𝟏)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐧: 𝐁𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

                                                                                 ꜱᴀɴᴛɪᴀɢᴏ ᴀʟᴠᴀʀᴏ

I'm irritated.

Usually, I spend my weekends hanging with the cabróns I call my best friends, I hit a couple of clubs, and hook up with a girl or two.

However, after I dropped off Leilani, I couldn't do any of my weekend plans except hang out with my stupid friends.

Every club I went to was boring and every girl was repulsive.

There hasn't been a weekend that I haven't been laid since ALARAX took off.

"So, how's Salma?" Ethan asks, interrupting my thoughts. "I can't imagine Micah cheating on me."

"You're not dating her, Ethan. You're not even speaking to her," Aidan says.

Ethan smiles and slumps back in his seat with a lovesick look. "Yeah, but last night she said my name."

"She called you Emmanual," Nathan says.

"Ethan starts with an E. Emmanual starts with an E. It's practically the same thing."

"You're actually insane," Julian says.

Ethan and Julian argue about Ethan's love life and the rest of us just watch them. They do this often. 

A knock at the door interrupts them.

Leilani steps inside my office and I immediately spot the ruby necklace around her neck. I almost smiled to myself.

"Mr. Alvaro, someone is here requesting to see you," she says.

I roll my eyes. "Santiago."

"Santiago," she corrects. "A Roman Lathario is requesting to see you. More like demanding and his tone is kind of offensive--"

Leilani stops and clears her throat. "He's waiting in the lobby."

"What the hell is Roman doing here?" Nathan asks.

"He's the head of the Marketing Department for the Lathario Foundation," Aidan explains. "Must've got the word that Malcolm came here."

I roll my eyes. Roman went to Princeton with the rest of us.

It was always a competition between us. It was a fix. We always needed to beat each other.

The other guys would call me crazy, but it was a necessary evil. It kept me grounded. It drove me and kept me going.

"Thank you, Leilani," I say. "You can send him in."

Aidan rises out of his seat and adjusts his tie. 

"Well, gossip in my office when he leaves," he says, heading to the door. I nod as everyone else rises and leaves my office.

Shortly after they leave, Roman opens the door. "San--"