“She’s not in the picture anymore, and it was nothing,” I say.
“Hmm,” he says, taking a moment to pause and think. “So tell me, if she’s not in the picture anymore, and it was, as you say, nothing, why were you fighting the VP of Diablos Rojos in the Pit over her, when we’re so close to making a deal with them?”
I shrug. “It wasn’t like that. I needed to fight, he requested me, that’s all. It was nothing to do with her.”
“That’s not how I heard it went down.”
“Well who was there, me or you?” I ask, my raised voice only making him laugh.
Shit. I need to get my emotions under control; I can’t let him get to me.
“Look,” I say, calmly this time, “we both went hard, he pissed me off, I ended up winning, but we’re all good now, it’s sorted.”
Frank nods. “You always were a scrapper, could take a beating for sure, but gave as good as you got too.”
“And where do you think I learned that?”
“Oh, don’t give me that shit,” he says, “I did you a favor. You wouldn’t be the man you are today if I hadn’t been so hard on you.”
Elizabeth’s voice echoes in my mind… Too much was put on you as a child, and you shouldn’t have had to deal with that…
“Whatever,” I say, shaking my head to get rid of the memory. “Like I said, we’re all good with Diablos Rojos, you don’t need to worry.”
“So the club’s going to work with them?”
There’s a glint in his eyes; he’s probably hoping that Lobos Aulladores will go back to making their money illegally. Frank hated it when we went legit, but after he got sentenced to life, he couldn’t be El Jefe anymore, and had no say in the new direction the club decided to go in.
“We haven’t decided yet.”
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“I mean, that we haven’t decided yet.”
“Then you need to stick to your side of the fucking deal. Do you know how long I’ve been working in here to set this up?”
“Set this up?” I ask, “I thought they helped you out and now they’re saying we owe them a debt.”
Frank laughs. “Come on, I arranged it so that I’d need their help, I thought that would be obvious to you.”
I rest my head on my hand, letting out an exhale. Shit… he’s been planning this the whole time.
“Pops, you’re not El Jefe anymore—”
“I will always be El Jefe!” he shouts, spittle landing on the glass between us
“Keep it down inmate,” a guard calls.
Frank leans in, his eyes full of rage. “I built that club to what it was, I was the one who made us the money, grew our numbers, earned us respect. Me.”
“It’s not like that anymore,” I say, “the club is different now.”
“And together, we’re going to change it back.”
“Frank—”
“Are you forgetting our deal?” he asks, and that’s when my heart drops in my chest. “If you don’t back me in this, help me get the club back to what it was before, then our deal is off. Instead of leaving Sofía and Donovan alone, I’ll get very involved in their lives. And, well, I hear your girl really is a fine piece of ass, so I know a lot of people who’d love to get more involved in her life—”
“Shut the fuck up!” I slam my hand against the glass, right in front of his face.
