"Well h.e.l.lo gorgeous."I slowly walk towards Toni. As I approach him the smell of liquor grows.
"This a.s.shole."
"Hey, so...what"s up?"
He grins at me and pulls out a half empty bottle of scotch,
"Wanna sip hun?"
"Oh no thanks. Why did you wanna meet here, Toni? It"s..."
"Creepy?"
I nod,
"A little bit."
He walks over and puts his arm around my waist.
"I had a feeling you"d say that. C"mon, I wanna show you something."
I swat his arm off of me,
"Listen Toni, if you"re serious about this, about me...then I need you get real."
"Kaz I am serious about you, but I feel like you don"t trust me. Do you?"
"Just get him to confess and this"ll all be over."
I take a deep breath and put on my best fake smile,
"Not really but I have something in mind."
"Oh?"
He grins.
"I just need you tell me what"s really going on with you. All bulls.h.i.t aside Toni. I want the truth."
He runs his hands through his hair as if i"m overwhelming him.
"Ok Kaz. But know this, when I tell you, you have to leave with me."
"O-ok, but you"re swear you"ll tell the truth?"
He holds up his hand like a boy scout,
"I swear."
"Good,"
I make sure he"s close enough to the wire,
"I never meant for this to happen Kaz. Ricky took me in when I was a teen and gave me a job. But..."
He trails off,
"But what? You can tell me, Toni."
I pat his arm,
"But these guys showed up on day. They threatened me, saying that they"d hurt my youngest sister if I didn"t do it."
"Tell me exactly what they said."
He looks at me with such worry,
"They said that they"d take her and sell her into trafficking and that every month that I didn"t deliver, they would hurt another one of my sisters."
"Why didn"t you tell Ricky? He would"ve taken care of it."
"Because...it"s someone from his past, someone he wants to see suffer. So if I told him what happed there would be an all out gang war and countless people would end up dead."
"That"s not your problem. You really f.u.c.ked up Toni."
He hits his face with the palm of his hand,
"d.a.m.nit! I know, it was just in the heat of the moment. I-I had to protect them! They rely on me!"
I tap the wire hidden underneath my shirt,
"You got all that Ricky?"
He burst open the old metal door and walks in with his hands folded across his chest.
"Every word babe. Now go get your pretty a.s.s in the car. You did good."
"WHAT THE h.e.l.l?! YOU LIED TO ME?!"
"No Toni, you lied and I just got you to admit it."
I walk to Ricky pull him down to my height,
"I thought you said to bring him to you."
He grins,
"I couldn"t leave you here alone with another man. Especially not a f.u.c.king two faced b.i.t.c.h like him."
He glares at Toni with cold dead eyes, the same eyes that can make me feel terrified of him.
"I"ll go wait outside."
I try to back away towards the door but he puts his hand on my back,
"No Kaz, quiero que veas lo que les sucede a las perras que dan por sentado mi amabilidad."
(No Kaz, I want you to see what happens to the b.i.t.c.hes who take my kindness for granted.)
"But I don"t wanna see. G.o.dd.a.m.n, why the h.e.l.l does he radiate such fear? I know what"s going to happen but I don"t think I wanna see."
"R-Ricky wait...we should take him to the bas.e.m.e.nt."
"Hmm,"
"Please change your mind!"
He walks over to Toni and punches him right on the face. Toni hits the floor with a b.l.o.o.d.y nose and lies there unconscious.
"d.a.m.nit Ricky, what was that for?"
"Well he touched you and I don"t want him to know where we"re taking him...but mostly because he touched you."
He grabs Toni"s leg and pulls him to the door,
"Ya mind?"
He nods towards the door,
"Oh! Right."
I open the door for him and her drags Toni to the car and opens the trunk. He then picks him up and tosses him in.
"What the f.u.c.k, Toni is like 6"6 and he just picked him up like it was nothing!"
"Kaz, let"s go."
"R-right."
***
"I really don"t like being here...gives me ptsd."
"It"s fine Kaz, you won"t be down here long. I just need you to get him up. I"ll handle the rest."
I walk to the cell holding Toni. Ricky unlocks it and I step inside,
"Toni. Toni wake up."
I shake him until he comes to,
"Kaz? What"s going on?"
"Ok Ricky, he"s up! Get me the h.e.l.l outta here?"
Toni tries to grab me but his chains won"t reach me,
"f.u.c.k YOU RICARDO! IT WASN"T MY FAULT!"
Ricky opens the cell and yanks me out of there,
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, HUH?! JUST DO IT ALREADY!"
"His eyes are twitching like crazy, dear G.o.d."
"Kaz, you can leave now. I don"t want you to be here for this."
Ricky"s jaw is clench shut and the aura around him reeks of murderous rage.
"Just don"t take too long Ricky..."
I whisper in his ear,
"If you kill him, you"re responsible for his sisters."
I leave the his cell and go upstairs. I want nothing more than to leave this place, it reminds me of her.
***
"Hermanita, come over here! And bring me a beer!"
"Kay!"
I happily get him his drink and join him at the counter.
"So,"
He pops off the cap,
"Scale of 1 to 10 how p.i.s.sed was he?"
"A f.u.c.king 96."
"Hm, that bad huh?"
"Carlos, I myself was scared. I"ve never seen such a look in his eyes, not even when he killed Layla."
"That"s because he hates liars. Like with a pa.s.sion."
"He"s gonna kill him, isn"t he?"
"I don"t know cariño, you saw how p.i.s.sed he was."
"But he has to look after six sister!"
"It"s not up to us Kaz, I think it would be best for you to just drop it."
"Easier said than done."
"Well go smoke something, that always seems to calm you down."
"Mhm, i"ll be back then."
I go to my room and roll a blunt,
"I should"ve said goodbye to him."