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Cecilia

I'm sitting in the car next to a guy I just met. I couldn't believe I was trusting a handsome man again, just because he was the slightest bit kind.

"Are you deciding if it's worth jumping?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Almost that." I also responded, smiling at the idea.

"If you want, we can stop and you can get off," he said, being more serious.

"I'm sorry, I already promised myself I wouldn't do that again," I was honest.

"Promised what exactly?" He questioned, holding my gaze.

He was looking at me so intensely that I ended up not holding back and moved to my hands that were in my lap.

"I don't trust any man anymore, yet I'm in a car with someone I don't know, going to a place I don't know either," he smiles.

"Well, this is the place, and as for me, you can see it now if you want," he said.

I looked outside through the window and saw a huge facade with dark tones, clearly a men's bar.

Antônio got out and walked around the car to open my door, I didn't expect that, not nowadays.

"What a gentleman," he said smiling.

"Always. Now let's drink our whiskey," he said.

When we entered, he took us to a table that was already waiting for us, in a more discreet corner of the bar.

The place was cozy and breathed masculinity, the decor was darker, with shades of black and red.

When we sat down, Antônio made a gesture with his hand and immediately a man came to serve us, he ordered the entire bottle of whiskey, and we began to chat unpretentiously. Antônio is a young man, at least he appears to be very young, but he has a good conversation, a different way from others I've met.

"So are you going to tell me why you were crying in a square?" he questioned.

I took another dose, to have the courage to speak.

"Well, in short, I refused to have sex with my boss and he fired me and also ruined my image in all the decent places to work," he said. And I saw him get serious.

"Who is this asshole?" he questioned seriously.

"Don't worry, it's over. I'm happy to be free of it. I just don't know how I'm going to be able to pay for my apartment and college," I said and took another dose.

We talked for hours, completely random things, it was as if we had been friends for a long time, between us the conversation flowed naturally.

"Have you lived here long?" I asked. He took a deep breath and then swallowed before answering.

"I was born here and lived until I was 16 in this city, but I left 3 years ago and I'm only coming back now," he replied with regret in his voice.

"What do you hear?" I asked.

"Well, in short, my parents were murdered and I was the only survivor of that, my brother was out of town at the time. Then I couldn't live here anymore and he didn't even want to see me around," he said, lowering his head.

I felt the pain in the words he said, I saw myself in the place of his suffering. I dropped my glass and approached him, pulling him into a hug. At first, he was surprised, but then he accepted the hug willingly and put his arms around me too.

"I lost my parents, and the only things I keep from them are the scars I have on my body. Even though they were the worst, I still didn't want them to die," I whispered in his ear.

Antônio pulled me closer to him, and I didn't refuse, after so long it was good to have a hug from someone real.

It was strange the way I felt with him, I trusted him, I trusted him and a guy I had only known for a few hours. Our eyes met and held each other for a few seconds which seemed like minutes until my cell phone rang. On the display was Camilly's name.

CONNECT ON

"Hello."

"Where are you?"

"I'm in a bar, celebrating that I didn't get a job, and with a friend I just met."

"Have you lost your mind Cecília? Tell me the name of this bar now and I'll come and get you."

"Don't worry Camile, I'm safe. Tomorrow we talk and I'll tell you what a fiasco this week was for me."

"Cecília, I want you to take care of yourself, anything calls me, okay? If you say you're safe, I believe you, see you tomorrow."

CONNECT OFF

I put the phone back on the table and looked at him who was staring at me.

"Worried boyfriend?" he asked.

"Nice try, but I don't have a boyfriend. I was just a very faithful friend worried about me. Since you asked me, I also have the right to ask. Because instead of being with a woman, you're here with the almost homeless woman, who doesn't have a I don't even have enough money to pay for that shot of whiskey?" I questioned filling my glass.

"But I'm with a woman, and she's very beautiful," he said with a smile.

"I'm talking about a girlfriend," I insist.

"I don't get along with women. They usually think I'm very strange and complicated," he said, looking sad.

"You're not weird, I mean not a bad feat. I like it," she said, already feeling loose.

"I think he already drinks we have a lot. I'm going to take you home," he said. I didn't want to go home, I wanted to stay there with him.

"I don't want to go back, because I only have a place to live until the end of the week," he said.

"Okay, we'll drink some more and then you can go to the hotel I stayed at," he said matter-of-factly.

"Um, so you want to have sex with me," I stated, taking him by surprise and scaring him.

"Of course not," he said.

"Wow, that hurt," he acted offended.

"I didn't mean that, of course I would love to, you're an amazing woman. But that wasn't my intention, I just want to help," he said.

Where had this guy come from? Why was he so sweet, polite, kind, and trustworthy? This must be a trick for me, I had never found anything so easy in my life and this certainly wouldn't be either.

"Do you exist?" I asked in disbelief.

"I guess so," he replied with a condom-wetting smile.

There were many hours of trivial conversations, now I wanted to know more about him before the drink completely took away my judgment.

"So, we've been talking for hours and you still haven't told me much about yourself, tell me," I asked.

"There's not much to say, I'm the youngest in the family, my brother was in charge of managing the family and the business, and I was in charge of my studies and away from him," he said. "We were very good friends but I think that after what happened with our parents he blamed me in some way, he completely removed me, sending me to a boarding school on the other side of the world. Now he's trying to control my life, he thinks I'm going to be a soldier, who will control me like he does the mafia," he said.

Antônio ended up not noticing what he had just told me, he hadn't noticed that he had said he was from the mafia, and I couldn't believe that a guy like him was the brother of a mafia boss. And I also wouldn't say that I realized what he had said, according to Camille it's better not to comment or know about these things, and that didn't scare me either because I already had my fair share of mobsters in my life.

"Did you go to boarding school?" I questioned, changing the focus of the subject.

"Yes, 3 years trapped in that place, with no visitors and no way out," he said with regret.

I stopped for a moment and looked at him, he seemed sad to me when he talked about his brother, and I felt sad along with him, it's a feeling that I can't explain, a complicity that I've never felt with another person, or maybe it's the drink that was doing this to me.

"I've never talked so much about myself, you're a good listener," he smiled at me as he spoke.

"Sometimes it's easier to open up to people you don't know," I suggested.

"No, it's not that, it's you who is different, it was you who gave me the confidence to be able to open up, and thank you for that. But I think it's time for us to leave, I'm getting very drunk," he said, smiling more openly.

I couldn't say the same after so much disappointment in my life, I ended up being an expert at drinking and not getting drunk, but if he needed to go that was my cue, I would go with him to the hotel and then catch a bus to go home. He wasn't drunk, just slightly intoxicated.

After he paid the bill at the bar, or rather, the driver paid the bill, he hugged me and went to the car. The whole trip was very funny, Antônio told countless jokes, most of them very bad, but which made me laugh anyway.

When we arrived at the hotel I held him again and the driver who I think is his brother's security guard/spy took us to the room and the only reason he didn't take me out was because he didn't let me.

"I'm going to take a shower, do you want to go?" he asked. "Or if you want, the brute can drop you off at home," he said, laughing when referring to the driver.

"I may be making the wrong decision again, but I want to stay here, with you," I was honest.

I saw his smile get wider, then he started taking off his clothes to take a shower.

My lady with the bike, what a beautiful man, what a body that is, it was even difficult to breathe.

"You can wear one of my shirts to take a shower if you want," he said, seeing my doubt. "That suitcase over there."

He went to the bathroom and I was left to decide whether to go or not, since I was in the rain I was supposed to get wet, I went to the suitcase and took out a shirt and threw it on the bed, then I took off my clothes and put them on.

When I arrived at the box I had a fabulous view of Antônio, he was wearing just the box, wide back, tall, full of muscles, several scattered tattoos, and some scars that caught my attention.

I got into the shower and touched his back where the scar was most visible. He automatically felt obligated to tell her.

"I ended up getting stabbed in a fight, just because I defended a kid," he said and turned to me.

"Did you go through this alone?" I asked, touching his face.

"I've been alone since I was 16," he replied and then kissed me.

And I liked the kiss, I liked having trusted the stranger and I was enjoying being there, it's different and something gave me that certainty.

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