“Come on, my friend, let’s go down to the beach. We can talk more calmly there,” Esteban suggested.
Carlos didn’t need to be told twice. He had no desire to recount the story of his kidnapping somewhere where even the walls had ears.
But they had barely stepped off Ted’s terrace when Bernard and Noud appeared next door.
“Carlos, Esteban!” Bernard called out cheerfully. “What a surprise!”
“Come sit with us, I’ll bring you a nice coffee right away,” Noud offered kindly.
“Oh, we really don’t want to hold you up,” Carlos replied, visibly pale. “We were just about to leave. Esteban could use a hand moving some furniture. We’ll take a rain check on the coffee, alright?”
“You won’t get rid of us that easily,” Bernard laughed, though it sounded a little forced. “Just a coffee and a quick chat, then we’ll leave you in peace, I promise.”
He shot a pleading glance at Noud, who immediately caught on.
“It’s been ages since we’ve had a proper chat,” Noud added. “We haven’t even seen you in days.”
A dark cloud briefly passed over Carlos’s face.
“That’s true,” he finally gave in. “I’ve been spending the past few days with María José.”
“Oh, love…” Bernard sighed.
“Well… not exactly,” Carlos said dryly. “Something must’ve gotten into her system. She almost died.” He paused briefly, giving his words time to sink in. “You know, at our age, you can’t just take whatever you like. The body’s not what it used to be at twenty. It can’t handle the strain. At some point… it just gives up. And that’s it. Game over.”
He coughed a couple of times to swallow his anger and choke back his tears.
A heavy, tension-filled silence settled over the four men.
Noud stared despondently at his feet, tucked into soft deck shoes. Bernard ran a hand through his hair to hide his trembling fingers. Esteban, who still hadn’t made sense of what was unfolding in front of him, kept his eyes on Ted. The man was approaching the pool, bottle in hand.
“What a loser Ted is…” Esteban shook his head.
The others visibly relaxed, grateful the topic had shifted.
“Yeah… Ted,” Noud said, a faint smile appearing on his lips. “Flirting isn’t exactly his thing.”
“At least he’s trying,” Bernard shrugged.
“You mean, he’s making a few clumsy moves?”
“So what? At least his mind’s not busy finding new ways to annoy people.”
Carlos listened to the two Dutchmen in silence. The past few days had drained him—even though he generally loved dangerous adventures. But he liked those adventures either alone or with well-trained veterans like himself—not in the company of elderly women. One thing, however, was now crystal clear: Ted had nothing to do with any of this. Noud and Bernard, on the other hand, couldn’t have looked more guilty. Their panicked reactions to Carlos’s words gave them away completely.
And that’s what truly scared Carlos. It meant their lives had really been in danger.
“Still,” Esteban spoke up again, “I have to admit, he looks way better now than he used to, with that ridiculous haystack on his head.” His gaze drifted off, then he chuckled softly. “And let’s not even start on that porn-star moustache… God, what a punchable face he had!”