“I want to talk to you about something,” I said. Her feline olive eyes held their own, and I wanted to bite her lip. “Do you know anyone from Las Balas that might start a war? I am asking because I had an incident at the warehouse this morning.” Her eyes remained steady but her body tightened up. I put my hand across her thigh, rubbing it. “I’m just asking you. Don’t fly off the handle like last time.”
“It’s not that. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I didn’t tell you about something because I didn’t want you to worry.”
I looked her square in the eye. “Misty! This shit ain’t for play play. You need to tell me what you know. All of it. Now! I can’t protect you if you don’t tell me.” The darker side of my Argentinian passion came out.
She licked her tongue around her lips as her eyes taunted me. “Oooh, I like it when you get angry, papi. Fierce.” She flicked her long hair out of her face. I waited patiently for her to answer. “I was at the club, The Partition and these two guys in all black from Las Balas came in. They bum-rushed me at the bar and asked if I like to fuck. My bro’ came and picked me up. I was shaken up a little. He told me he kicked them out of the chapter though.”
Our coffees came out with our meals. The little guy had them on a platter.
“Thank you for your order. Here you go.”
“Thank you.” We both said in unison.
“What the fuck? You should have called me. I would have come got you,” I hissed.
“We’d only just started dating then. I didn’t really know you like that,” she replied as she picked at her food.
“Still. So what do these guys look like?” I bit into my taco and the sauce squeezed out the side.
“One was really slim but slimy, wearing all black, the other one was fat and wearing black too. He had this teardrop between his fingers.”
“Teardrop between his fingers,” I repeated as my mind started racing. “Let me find out about that. Fits the description of the two guys I saw. Misty. You gotta tell me what’s up. Don’t leave me hanging in the dark about what’s going on.”
“I know now. I promise I won’t.” We ate in silence and in the back of my mind I wondered if this was a set-up. I shook it off. “You mad?” she enquired as she finished her meal.
I sighed and touched her forearm lightly. “Baby, no. I just don’t want any bullshit. I didn’t come here for this.”
She lowered her head and looked into her food. “I’m not trying to bring trouble to you. I had no idea about these guys, I swear.”
“I believe you. Let’s just chill with it.” I crunched the last of my tacos. They went down easy. We sat eating quietly and we exited not long after. The ride was relatively silent as we both got lost in our own thoughts. I dropped her back at the university.
“Misty, be careful and call me if anything else like that happens.”
“I will.” She raised her hands around my neck and massaged my head. I loved her touch and could stay holding her forever. I knew I had to let her go, though. I tapped her lightly on the ass.
“Go, go. Get to class before we never make it out of the parking lot.” She giggled and gave me a quick kiss.
The next few days went by and the disturbing feeling about those two guys kept me up at night. I researched the Las Balas page, looking for the two members and new clues. I couldn’t see them on the page. Maybe Misty was telling me the truth after all.
I’d gotten into the routine of heading to the warehouse early around seven a.m. I tied up my dirty blond hair and wore the same blue denims as always and a white tee. I opened up when I got there and flicked on all the lights. I’d started with three bikes for the week and now there were two left. Both of them were Honda touring bikes. Nothing out of the ordinary, just standard services. I boiled some water to make an instant coffee and turned the radio on.
The sounds of pistons rang through the warehouse and I perked up at the thought of more business. Some sound off in the distance caught my attention. The water jug boiled and I poured my instant coffee. I stepped to the front of the warehouse which led onto the street. I looked out and in the quickest of flashes, noted a guy on a bike parked yards away. Just watching. Again in all black. When I stepped out to look closer, the bike sped off.
The shitstorm was officially beginning. I sipped my coffee and ran my mind back to where I’d hid my gun. The last time I had to use it was on a rival gang back in the day.
“Get the fuck off my property before I call the crew! We don’t have your drugs, now fuck off!” I shook my head. I’d just gotten home from a ride out with the boys and they were having some trouble with the Notorious Riot gang. I had been warned that I would need to carry.
Kicking and loud banging thundered through my ears so hard and fast I thought I was dreaming. My adrenaline shot through the roof and on beat I reached into my bedside drawer and clicked my clips in place, ready to quick draw. Two masked men of average height were in my La Playa kitchen, sniffing around that night. Too busy searching for shit they didn’t see me in the white wife-beater and cut-off shorts aiming a Smith and Wesson at their heads.
“Looking for something, boys?”
“Oh shit!” one of them hollered. They clocked at breakneck speed to get out of the screen door. I shot at the ground to make them dance a little. That sped up their pace considerably.
Another reason to leave La Playa... Too many memories from the early days.
FOURTEEN
MISTY
