“He doesn’t, he’s going based off when I saw you in Santa Cruz.”
“Tell me again he has nothing to do with those fucking peasants from his club. If this is a set-up it ain’t a good idea. Outlaw Souls will stitch this up real quick so you need to tell me now. It will turn into a full-blown turf war and there’s no turning back from that. Bloodshed will be what’s up next on the menu.”
I sighed, taking a sip of my wine to calm my nerves. “Diego, stop thinking like that. It’s not a set-up. My brother wants to talk to you because he is overbearing. He’s protective. He wants to talk to you because you’re dating me.”
Diego paused for a minute. “So you have two men standing over you.”
“It’s not like that, Diego.”
“I know. I’m just frustrated. I want to be with you, out in the open. I want to spend time with you and not have this bullshit hanging over our heads.”
The back and forth of hiding and sneaking was starting to grate at me as well. “How do you think I feel? I have classes, I’m trying to become a doctor and I’m dating an Outlaw! You see why I didn’t want to talk to you?”
He laughed. “Dating an outlaw? Not quite, baby doll. But hey, sounds badass doesn’t it?”
“It does. Hang on a minute.” I crept to the door and opened it. Nobody was there. I wanted to check that Palo wasn’t listening in on my conversation. Then I heard the sound of high-speed cars and knew he was playing a video game in the main lounge.
“What happened?”
“Umm. I was checking for Palo. He’s playing video games, the coast is clear.”
“Okay. I know you gotta study but I will be ready. Has your brother got a cool head? Is he coming at me with a few people or not? Let me know now so I know what I’m up against.”
“Papi! He’s not coming at you that way. He will approach you man to man. That’s not his style. He’s old school. I wanna say something else…”
“What now, Misty? Please, between the two punks that tried to bum-rush my warehouse and your brother, what else could there be?”
“I don’t know. Misunderstanding between you and me about that friend of yours. Crystal was it? He was mad because I was crying about it.”
“You really thought I was with her? Oh, man.”
I cringed a little. “See, that’s why I didn’t want to tell you,” I said as I grabbed a piece of cheese and put it on a cracker.
“Crystal and I ran our course. She came to see me to close the door I guess.”
A pang of jealousy hit me. “I guess I can’t compete with that.”
“There’s nothing to compete with. I want you and only you. I wouldn’t be jumping through all the hoops I am right now. We just need to tread lightly. I’ll go easy on your brother when he gets here. I won’t rough him up too bad.” Diego laughed wholeheartedly on the other end.
“Stop!” I responded playfully.
“It will work out,” he said simply.
“Okay. I trust you.”
“That means a lot. I know you gotta study, so I will let you study to save the world. You wanna come here later in the week?”
“Yes, if I can swing it.”
“We’ll figure it out. Bye, baby.”
“Bye.”
I planned to put a stop to the situation. I just had to broach the subject from a different angle with my brother. I had a day off the next day. Well, not technically, just a lecture I didn’t feel like going to. I wanted to give myself a break from things and to talk to Palo. We met like we always did in the kitchen for breakfast. He looked bleary-eyed as he got ready to head out the door for his day job. I had a coffee in my hand. I turned to face him.
“Morning, Palo.” I was still in my PJs and he hadn’t even seen me.
“You’re still here? I thought you would be at school.”
