I am no one, I'm nothing

Capitulo Diez

Pedro dropped the pile of wood he had been carrying into the dormant fire pit with a hearty grunt. "Not that it matters," He called to Aldonza, who was approaching with a similar arm load of cinnamon tree bark. "But I couldn't help but overhear, notice what you did... or rather, didn't do... last night."

"What?" Aldonza asked with a flat, annoyed tone, like the buzzing of a pesky fly.

"Well, you told me that I would be the first person you would sleep with. You know, after what happened and everything..." Aldonza looked up at him, wiping a grimy hand against her similar brow.

"Well I'm terribly sorry to have broken that promise." She replied gruffly, stooping down to rub the sticks together, lighting the kindling with energized heat. "It wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. And you weren't exactly stopping anyone."

Pedro choked on a rough laugh. "Oh, mi gato, but you told me I was supposed to let you do what you do best." She penetrated his cocky smile with a glare, staring up at him through lashes caked with thick dirt and runny sweat.

"So practically throwing your brother on top of me was letting me do that?" She asked in a calm yet loaded voice. The two continued their rounds of verbal Russian roulette; soon, someone would say something irrevocable, deadly, and the fun banter would be merely remembered as a tragic act of stupidity.

"There's more than one way to skin a cat." Pedro defended with a playful tone as he pressed his toes across the imaginary, emotional lines, testing the waters of how far he could go. "It was his first time as a man. Doesn't my brother deserve the best?"

"The best," Aldonza scoffed roughly, swearing under her breath as a few rogue flames burned her exposed, kneeling knees. "What other option does he have for women around here?" The young woman pretended to think, looking around with a finger drawn on her lips before suddenly exclaiming, "Oh, I know! How about down in the village? Maybe he could have the time of his life with the old lady down there who likes to beat the shit out of women! I'm sure they'd have a great time together, maybe he could show her a thing or two about being gentle!"

"Aldonza!" Pedro cried playfully, gripping her shoulders as she stood up to face him. "Please, he's mi hermanito, and you-you're the moon, the stars. It was his first time-come on, don't you remember how you felt on that night? How you wanted everything to be perfect? That's all I was doing for him."

Aldonza backed up from him with measured, yet shaky, steps. "I do indeed remember my first time." She spat in a scary whisper. "I remember crying out to the Lord above to take me from this world. I remember banging my head against the altar as the one stable man I had in my life at the time deceived me and stole the only thing I had possession over." Angry tears littered the corners of her eyes as she turned her back from him, stalking into the trees to gather more firewood. "So yes, Pedro, I do remember." She seemed to spray a warning scent of danger, living up to her pet name.

"Mi gato, wait!" Pedro called after her with a good natured chuckle. He caught up to her and placed his arms around her, only to have her shove a thick log into his stomach, scraping harsh bark against his tender wound and causing him to stumble backwards, landing on the hard, wood-infested ground with a surprised yell. Aldonza's muddied eyes expanded with a mixture of fear and shock as she dropped the pile of gathered wood and bent down to examine her love.

A new hand was wrapping around her neck, adventuring fingers tickling the exposed skin that led to her breasts. "Ahh, I see you're following our little plan." Paco murmured just loud enough for Pedro's strained ears to hear, his woozy mind barely able to comprehend the situation around him.