Russian Roulette: Family secrets [2021 version]

Ch. 22: You were drooling a little bit

"You look beautiful."

Gareth parked the rental car next to the other cars in front of the huge and very impressive mansion. There were a lot of cars and that could only mean a lot of guests. The house was all white and had the American colonial style to it. It looked like something straight out of Gone with the Wind.

Not exactly what one expected in Spain.

It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Gareth's school friend, Porter, had called and asked if he would be up for a small party in Madrid. They were trying to fill the house to help one of Porter's brothers, who wanted to introduce his 'girlfriend but not girlfriend' to the family and his children. And they wanted to take the pressure off the kids by making it look like a normal party.

Almost the whole friend group attended, and it had been a while since they had all been together. As always, some could not make it at such short notice, which was why Gareth and Mackenzie had not run into each other at the parties in the past. And of course, they held gender-divided parties too where they definitely would not have met, despite having shared friends.

So Gareth had chosen to go.

Asking Mackenzie to come had been his first thought after Porter's call. She already knew most of them because she was friends with Porter's sister, Sereai. The friend group would think nothing much of it if they arrived together. It was Sereai's wedding to her husband, Fernando, which had led to Gareth and Mackenzie meeting in the first place.

Full circle.

So, there they were.

In Madrid for a few days. They had flown there the previous day, stayed at Porter's family's hotel, and would go to the party together.

Separate rooms, though.

Somehow, it felt nice to get away from the reality at home. All the tension after their date. Waiting on whatever Mackenzie had to figure out had them both on edge. Gareth wanted to let Mackenzie find her feet again and have her recover fully after what she allowed him to do to her. He had been nervous that it would hit her in the days after, and she would lose it completely. That had not happened.

At least Gareth knew she had stopped worrying about her mother. Now that he knew what she had stressed over, he saw the difference in her, saw how she frowned less, and that haunted look in her eyes had vanished.

She seemed to be back to normal.

At least the normal he remembered.

"Thank you. It'll be nice to see Sereai again. I don't think I've seen her since the wedding."

"Yes, you didn't come to India's christening?"

Surprised, Mackenzie looked at him. "And you did?"

Gareth laughed a little. "Well, I was there for the party. I don't do churches. I kind of feel like God wouldn't appreciate me being there with who I am and what I do. Also, why I didn't see you at the church for their wedding and didn't notice you until the party."

"I wasn't a bridesmaid or anything, you wouldn't have seen me."

"I'd have noticed you anywhere, Malyshka." Gareth winked at her. "I did, remember?"

Mackenzie smiled. Gareth made no big deal about it. He made a statement that she knew he meant; how true it was, in reality, did not matter. She liked he felt he would have noticed her in any crowd.

The front door got opened and Sereai stood there, not paying any attention to them. She held back two toddlers with one leg and tried to get another to release the grip he had on her earring.