Chapter 5 Diego
FIVE
DIEGO
When my eyes closed, I saw us sitting at a table.
Me and that beautiful doctor that had patched me up.
Ruby, I think was her name. I saw her long, honey brown hair wafting in the breeze as we sat with the ocean lapping at our feet.
I sliced off a juicy piece of steak and rushed it around in some sauce before bringing it to her plump lips, watching her wrap them around that blessed fork.
I woke up jealous of that fucking fork as pain washed through my system.
But I managed to get off the cot and drag myself into the main room of the bar.
“There a party I’m missing or something?” I asked playfully.
All of the guys were there. At least, it felt like all of them. Notch stood at the forefront next to this towering beef-pot of a man who had his arms crossed, and I wondered if they were about to try and kill me as well. Then, I realized what I was missing. I realized why I felt so cold.
And when I looked down, my cartel tattoo was out there for the entire world to see.
“Fuck,” I murmured.
“So, it’s true,” Notch said.
Not asked, but said.
“Uh, I just—”
A familiar sound hit my ears and my hands quickly rushed up into the air.
I groaned at the pain that shot through my system as I held my hands above my head, but the pain almost sank me to my knees.
A man standing behind Notch had his gun already trained on me, and I figured this was it.
I was healed of one bullet only to go down swallowing another.
But Notch and Ruby quickly rushed in front of me.
“The hell are you doing, Stone?” Notch asked.
The man with the gun took a step toward me. “You heard him.”
Ruby snickered. “All we heard him say was ‘fuck.’ That’s it.”
Stone cocked his gun. “Because he’s part of the fucking cartel. Why the hell do you have cartel ties, Notch?”
Notch held up his hands. “Calm the fuck down, you guys.”
But that Stone guy shook his head. “Get out of my way or I’m taking you down with him.”
Ruby balked. “Wow, some brotherhood you guys got here, assholes.”
“I said, calm the fuck down!” Notch exclaimed.
Stone dropped his gun and puffed out his chest. “Whose side are you on now, huh? Because let me tell you, you’ve been flip-flopping around a hell of a lot lately.
First, you dip out on the crew for days at a time and don’t resurface until you’re ready.
You’ve missed three separate jobs that you could’ve gotten paid for had you just showed the fuck up with your damn first aid kit, and now you’re standing in front of a cartel member trying to defend his actions? Have you lost your damn mind!?”
Notch walked up to him and got in his face. “If you want to know what the fucking Banderas Cartel is doing standing in the middle of our bar, then it does you no good to shoot the man. Ask the questions, get the answers, then decide his fate. Since when are you an executor instead of a negotiator?”
I peeked over at Ruby and my heart sank. She stared at the guys with wide eyes, her hands shoved into her pockets. There was a mixture of confusion and fear on her face, and when her eyes met mine, she quickly looked away.
So much for that dinner, I guess.
Stone finally put his gun away but when Notch turned around, the look of disappointment that washed over his face made me physically sick.
I swallowed down the bile creeping its way up the back of my throat as he looked me up and down, almost as if he were seeing me for the very first time.
His jaw clenched. He shook his head at me like some disapproving father.
Then, he walked over to stand with his crew, drawing a line between myself and Ruby and the rest of them.
“I’m sorry, Notch,” I said.
He held up his hand. “Stone has questions.”
I nodded softly. “I know.”
Notch couldn’t even look me in the eye, and it sickened me. I hated that he had to have things confirmed this way. Notch wasn’t an idiot; somewhere, deep down, he knew I had been involved with the same cartel that I was convinced had killed my brother and his best friend.
But to have him not be able to look at me was a torture I would have never imagined.
Stone came to the forefront of the group. “You’ve got some serious explaining to do.”
I slowly inched my hands down, trying not to gasp with pain. “This isn’t what it looks like, I promise.”
Stone snickered. “You hear that, guys? The cartel promised.”
They all gave a sarcastic chuckle as Notch moved his way to the back of the crowd, as if to put as much space between us as possible.
And for the first time since my brother’s death, I felt totally and completely alone.
So, I started with what made the most sense. “Notch and I are neighbors. We have been for years now. Him and my older brother, Sebastian, were good friends.”
Stone crooked his eyebrow. “The guy that got killed in the drunk driving accident?”
“Yes,” Notch said flatly.
I shrugged. “Sure, that’s what the cartel wants it to look like, yeah.”
Stone’s face fell to, well, stone. “Uh huh.”
I swallowed hard and tried my best to find a decent starting point.
“A few years back, my family was strapped for cash. Mom was just getting sick with a cancer she’s now battling for the second time, and we couldn’t afford her treatments.
I picked up three jobs to try and help make ends meet and moved her and my brother into my house, but it wasn’t enough, and Sebastian got involved with the cartel to bring in more money. ”
Stone nodded, still unreadable. “Uh huh.”
I leaned against the bar behind me for support as my legs grew weak.
“First, it was just running stuff. Nothing big. Then, they got him into dealing. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wasn’t hearing it.
I mean, he raked in enough cash to put Mom in the best hospital so she could get the best care, and neither of us wanted to put that in jeopardy.
But we promised that once Mom went back into remission, everything with the cartel stopped. ”
“But it didn’t,” Stone said.
I shrugged. “Mom’s still getting treatment, so no, it didn’t stop.”
Notch spoke up from the back. “When did you make the idiotic decision to join them, too?”
My heart sank to my knees. “When I was fired from all three of my jobs.”
“Jesus,” Ruby whispered.
I shook my head softly. “Look, I don’t want to be part of the cartel any more now than I did to begin with.
But what the hell were we supposed to do?
Our mother’s dying, our father hasn’t been in our lives for a very long time, and that woman half-killed herself providing for the two of us.
Two growing boys with growing appetites, and she worked herself to the bone to make sure we always ate, even when she couldn't. And we’re supposed to turn our back on her when she needs us the most? ”
Notch clicked his tongue. “Why didn’t you just come to me and—”
Stone held up his hand, silencing the man. “How do we know we can trust you and your story? Seems like a pretty stereotypical story to me.”
I shrugged. “It’s a stereotype for a reason.
Cartels in general prey on those who are done in by the system.
Who have nowhere else to turn and no good reason to say ‘no’ in the first place.
That’s what they do. That’s what they’re good at.
And once they sink their claws into you, there’s no going back.
That’s why my story feels so familiar; it’s because it’s everyone else’s story, too.
Everyone who’s ever gotten caught up in the cartel world and lived to tell the tale. ”
Then, Ruby came up and placed her hand against my arm. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Diego.”
I gazed into her gorgeous, sparkling eyes. “I appreciate that, thanks.”
Stone cleared his throat and Ruby quickly stepped away. “So, how do we know you’re not a fucking spy from the cartel sent here to infiltrate us or some shit?”
I blinked. “Wait, what?”
Then, that beef-pot of a man stepped up to Stone’s side. “Hi. The name’s Bronx.”
I nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
He scoffed. “Don’t say that just yet. I took a look at the bullet that Ruby here pulled out of you, and it has the cartel insignia on it. That’s how they mark their territory. So, you got shot by one of your own?”
I snickered. “Can’t really say I claim the cartel as ‘my own.’”
“But they shot you. The cartel,” Bronx said.
Notch pushed his way back to the forefront. “How long was it after I left that they showed up?”
The guys all faced him as we stared off.
“Answer me, damn it!” he exclaimed.
I swallowed hard. “Not even a few seconds. I’m pretty sure the revving of your bike engine is what covered up the muffled gunshot, actually.”
Stone came back to the front as Notch stared at me with shock in his eyes. “So, the cartel comes and shoots you and you just happen to stumble into this bar? You can see how we might think you’ve been sent by them.”
But Notch shook his head. “I don’t think that’s what’s going on.”
I furrowed my brow. “You don’t?”
Stone’s hand fell back to his gun. “You willing to put your trust on the line for that, Notch? You willing to actually vouch for this man with that kind of tattoo out there for the world to see?”
I pleaded with my eyes and whether it was that or Notch’s good nature, he finally stepped away from the men and came to stand at my side.
“I will vouch for him, actually,” he said.
I cleared my throat. “He’s right, though.”
Notch peered over at me. “What?”
I shrugged before I winced in pain. “The only thing I can do is prove that I’m not here to infiltrate or spy or do whatever it is everyone thinks I’m here to do. And I’m willing to do that, at least once I have full mobility in my shoulder.”
Ruby jumped in. “And when we’re out of the woods for infection.”
I looked back over at Stone. “So, what do you say? Is there anything I can do to prove to you that I’m just some guy wrapped up in some bad shit and that I’m not here to compromise you guys at all?”
Bronx crooked an eyebrow. “Won’t the cartel come after us now that we know about this guy, though?”
I snickered. “The cartel is already coming for you guys, whether you like it or not. That, I can tell you with assurance.”
“Guys?” Ruby asked.
Stone narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Guys!?” Ruby called again her voice growing.
Notch grabbed my good shoulder and turned me to face him. “What do you know that we don’t?”
“Guys! He’s bleeding through his bandages! Shut up!” Ruby called out.
All at once, I felt light-headed. I teetered on my own two feet before I fell forward, Notch quickly catching me in his arms. The guys rushed my body, helping me onto the bar as Ruby sprinted behind it.
“Turn him on his good side on the count of three for me, okay?” Ruby asked. “One. Two.”
“Three,” everyone said.
Ruby undressed my wound. “You guys have questioned him enough. He needs rest if you want to continue your line of poking and prodding. Diego?”
“Yeah?” I said with a grunt.
“I need you to keep talking to me, okay? Let me know if I cause too much pain. Can you do that?”
I chuckled. “Sure—oh, fuck—sure can.”
“I know, I know,” she said softly, “I’m going as quickly as I can.”
And after she got my dressings changed, the guys helped me down off the bar while Notch held me upright.
“Ruby’s right,” he said as I leaned against him. “He needs more rest. We can talk more tonight, but for now he needs sleep.”
Stone scoffed. “Well, he’s not sleeping here.”
Bronx held out his arms. “Just a couple more questions. That’s all we’ve got.”
Notch chuckled. “Yeah, that’s a load of shit and you know it.”
I struggled to catch my breath. “I swear, whatever you guys wanna know, I’ll—I’ll just—sleep.”
“All right,” Ruby said as she came and propped up my other side, “back to the cot with you.”
Stone stepped in front of us. “Just one more question.”
“No,” Notch said curtly.
Stone stared him down. “I said I have one more question I want to ask.”
Notch growled at him. “And I told you to trust me. You trust me, right?”
Stone clenched his jaw. “You know I do. With my life.”
Notch sighed. “Then, trust me on this. If Diego were a spy, I’d kill him myself. You know that as well as I do.”
His words stung my mind. I’d never heard Notch so flagrantly throw around the idea of murder as if we were talking about what to do for dinner.
His voice had never sounded so harsh, and it was almost like I was standing in the presence of a completely different person.
Nevertheless, he got Stone to back off, and both him and Ruby helped me into the back room before laying me down on the cot.
This is what I get for being the outsider.
“You’re in a lot of shit,” Notch said as he tossed the blanket over me, “I hope you know that.”
Stay on his good side. Don’t lose him now. “I’m sorry for disappointing you.”
Notch froze before he sighed. “Just get some rest. We can talk more when you wake back up.”
Ruby held a straw up to my lips. “Drink. I want half of this gone before you pass back out.”
As I wrapped my lips around the straw, I watched Notch as he left the room. I trusted Notch even though he probably didn’t trust me any longer, and I hoped with all of my might that I could get him and the rest of the club on my side before it was too late.
“There,” Ruby said as she removed the straw, “that’ll help hydrate you and help you sleep.”
My eyes already felt heavy. “Thank you, beautiful.”
She giggled. “Yeah, you really are drugged. Sleep tight, Diego.”
And the last thing I remembered was that jiggling ass of hers as she walked away from me to head back out into the main room.
Leaving me with wonderful memories to keep me company while I dreamt of all the things I’d do to her body if I ever got a chance to wrap her up in my own.