GRINGA (62 page)

    
             
‘But she just got here,’ Elaine snaps. ‘We need to ... ’

             
‘Later,’ he says.

             
‘No! We talk now,’ Elaine insists.

             
Diago growls, ‘Talk
later.
’

             
I quickly intervene, ‘Elaine,’ let it go. We’ll talk
like,
later.’

             
‘
I’m
not scared of him,’ she spits, throwing Diago a look of disgust. ‘We can talk ... ’

             
Diago reaches over and slaps her across the face. ‘How ’bout now?’ he asks. ‘You scared of me now?’

             
I’m
both amused and horrified at what he just did. ‘Diago, what the hell?’

             
He shrugs. I think he was waiting for an opportunity to do that.

             
Elaine sits in stunned silence, while
Paris
smiles.

             
‘Diago, that is
so
not cool,’ I rebuke. ‘You can’t
,
like,
hit a woman. We talked about that, remember?’

             
‘She’s no
t
a woman,’ he says, unfazed
. ‘She a
b
i
tch.’

             
I sighed loudly and looked at Elaine. ‘Sorry.’

             
‘Animal!’ Elaine hisses under her breath.
             

    
             
‘Now we go,’ Diago says and hoists me to my feet.

   
             
I give everyone an apologetic look. ‘You heard him. He’s my master and commander and I have to ...’

             
Diago scoops me off my feet and throws me over his shoulder cave
-
man style
.
‘I need to fark her,’ I hear him mutter
as we walk to his room.

     
             
I laugh and hope I don’t throw up first.

     
             
In his room, he
throws me on the bed. I giggle at his antics as he climbs on top of me and lays over me, his nose touching mine.

             
‘You’re speaking long sentences Diago. I think I counted eighteen earlier on. A record, eh? Worthy of another kiss.’    

             
He stares at me, his eyes shining with love. ‘
Te amo
,’ he whispers. 

    
             
I cup his face with my hands and gently stroke his lips with my thumbs. ‘I love you, Diago,’ I whisper. For a moment, I feel like
I’m
going to burst with love. ‘I love you so much.’

             
‘You l
u
v me?’

             
‘I love you.’

             
He smiles and for a while we silently bask in the glow of our love.

             
‘I never tell anyone I luv them. You first person.’

             
‘
I’m
the first? What about
Troy
? Surely you  ... ’

             
He shook his head. ‘I l
uv him, but I don’
t
tell him stuff like tha
t.’ But I lu
v him and he know
it
.’

             
I squirm out from under him and straddle him.
‘What about Santana?’

             
‘Never?’

             
I jerk back.
‘Never?’

             
‘You first.’

             
‘Mmm. How does it feel?’

             
He th
inks
about it. ‘Nice ...Good  ...’ He g
ives
me a squeeze. ‘I luv you.’ He put his head on my breast. ‘I luv you my whole life
…
’

             
‘I love you, Diago. I love you with all my heart.’

             
‘I bet you had peace when I was gone, though?’ I ask, shrouding his face with my hair.

             
He thinks about it, then nods vigorously. ‘Mucho peace,’ he says, his eyes twinkling.                                                                                                                                                                                          

 
             
I playfully pummel him with my fists. He catches both my arms and laughs. Then he releases my arms and slowly lifts up my dress over my head and
tosses it behind him
. I unbutton his shirt and kiss his tattooed chest. Gently I trace the patterns on it.

             
‘I missed this, I say, running my fingers over the tattoos on his chest. I used to read them at night when I couldn’t sleep.’

             
‘
Si
?’

             
‘Yeah.
M
issed
like,
everything about you,’ I whisper. ‘Now,
I’m
gonna fuck you
,
my way.’

 
             
‘Your way?’

             
‘My way
.
’ 

             
Our love making isn’t gentle, because Diago doesn’t do
gentle
. But it sure is slower tonight,
more meaningful. I guess it’s different because it’s more than physical sex. We love each other. We want to be with each other. I never thought it
was
possible to feel so loved and be so happy.

             
‘My turn,’ he says and rolls me over so that he is on top of me.

             
I moan as he thrusts into me, long, hard, deep.

             
Suddenly the door is flung open and Christa barges in.

             
‘Diago, where are ...?’ She
balks
when she sees Diago having sex and begins to apologise. But when she realises it’s me under Diago
. ‘You!’
Okay, I think she’s going into cardiac arrest.

 
             
I guess, w
hen I disappeared for five days, she thought I had exited their lives for good.
From what I understand,
she threw a huge bash, even though a lot of the people at the ranch mourned my absence. Diago was distraught, but she
obviously
did
n’t
care.
Maybe s
he just wanted to thank the Gods for finally ridding Diago of his obsession.

             
Yeah, get rid of me and she’d probably have the
old, ruthless, menacing Diago back. But
, here I am having sex with her protégé.

             
‘Where you go? Who you stay with? Why you come back?’

             
Fuck if I’m going to be interrogated by her. I don’t answer but
I try to push Diago off me
.

             
H
e holds onto me and without missing a beat in his thrusting, he
says, ‘Go, I will come soon.’

             
We look at each other and burst out laughing at his choice of words.

             
Furious, she glares at me, then turns and storms off.

             
I
lightly punch his arm.

             
‘What?’

             
‘You could have stopped.’

             
His response is to flip me around and increasing the intensity of his thrusting, withdrawing as usual at the last moment.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It’s a month since I returned to Tana-
Mera and life is, well, smooth. No dramas.

             
I’m surprise
d to see my father at the ranch. When
he takes me by the elbow and steers me aside, I
start to
worry. 

             
He’s looking different
today
. H
is usual suede and gabardine has been replaced by a
pair of skinny black jeans and a generously cut
black
vest.
As for his hair
- t
here’s a
n unusual amount of
comb-over activity going on.
Mid-life crises? Wonder what Elaine has to say about his ‘commoners’ clothes.

             
‘You’re looking …
cool
, dad.
’
I
immediately regret the sarcasm in my voice.

             
He beams. ‘You think?
You think?
’

             
‘
Eh … yeah.
’

             
His
smile
fades
and he lowers his voice.
‘They want to see you tomorrow
.
’