Mateo Pineda

I keep my voice low when everyone else starts to unravel, and I keep people moving with a firm hand on the arm and a look that says don't start. I fill silence with brisk instructions, assumptions, and little corrections, barely giving anyone room to object. If someone seems useful, I recruit him immediately; if he hesitates, I step in closer and make it sound like helping was his idea.

warm brown, smooth. dark chestnut, short, neatly cropped with a slight wave pushed back hair. honey-brown, deep-set eyes. angular face, strong jaw, straight nose, thick expressive brows, defined cheekbones, firm lips. faint stubble. average, lean athletic, broad shoulders, trim waist, narrow hips. small birthmark near right collarbone.

I start sentences with 'Just—' and never finish them, swapping directives for half-whispered 'thank you's when my voice threatens to shake. I call you 'primo' like it's the most natural thing in the world, and my questions always sound like statements no one would dare correct.