Chapter 11. Not a chance in hell
It’s five in the morning. I sit at the kitchen table with Nine and Cisco waiting for Mya. She never came back last night, nor did she even call to let us know she was safe. The kids don’t know we have their cars tracked but she didn’t take her car. She didn’t even take her phone. It turns out, per our cameras, she left with a pretty big man last night in a limo. The audio caught her and this guy talking about a man named Oscar, and fifty grand was mentioned. Some other cryptic shit about what they bought. We had to grill Cisco all night to get even an ounce of information from him. All we know is that she was going to have dinner with a young man interested in her. Cisco wouldn’t give any other info so we kept him up all night. He’s now head down on the kitchen table, drowning in sleep deprivation.
“Wake the fuck up! No info. No sleep.”
“Dad, I gave you all I know,” he groans as he picks up his head.
“Again, I highly doubt that.”
He rubs his eyes and yawns.
“Why am I being tortured for her behavior?”
“Because you know more than what you keep telling us. You better pray she comes home, because if she doesn’t, I will kill you for wasting our time sitting here all night.”
Right then the sound of keys jingle from outside. The door opens and in sneaks Mya. Her hair and makeup are a mess. She’s carrying a duffle bag in one hand and high heels in the other. She turns around to see all of us just straight glaring at her. Nine shoots up from the table.
“Are you fucking insane?”
Mya looks over to Cisco, who puts his head down.
“I should have called. I’m sorry.”
“Called? Called? Where the fuck were you?” Nine snaps.
Mya looks over to Cisco for help but Cisco has nothing left. He’s just swaying in his chair at this point.”
“I had a date.”
Nine scoffs. “Please elaborate. What type of gentleman keeps his date out all night?”
“Time slipped away and I fell asleep.”
Cisco chuckles but stops when we all glare at him.
“Hand me the bag,” Nine demands.
Mya reluctantly hands the bag to Nine with no eye contact. I watch as Nine props it on the back of the couch and then peeks inside. She makes a shocked face at Mya who instantly stares down at the floor.
“How much is in here?” she says. Mya stays silent. “How much is in here?” she repeats but louder this time.
Cisco looks up at Mya. Nine walks the bag over and dumps it all out, spreading cash everywhere in front of us. I look up at Nine and give her a worried look.
“Mya, how much is this? Thirty grand? Forty grand? What did you do?”
“Dad, it’s a gift.”
“Mya, no one that is normal gifts anyone this much money. Answer me, now!” I bark
“It’s uh…fifty grand.”
“I’mma kill you,” Nine snaps and lunges for her. Cisco shoots up out of his chair. I kick back my chair and lunge for Nine. I grab Nine by her wrist and pull her back where I can embrace her tightly from behind. Cisco struts over and stands in front of Mya.
“If you kill her, my love, how will we get the answers we need,” I whisper into Nine”s ear in an attempt to calm her down.
“Mya, what did you do for fifty grand?” I ask again. I can feel Nine ready to spring so I tighten my grip on her.
Mya looks at Nine and then to me and then back to Nine.
“It was a gift. I didn’t do anything.”
“Mya, who is Oscar?”
Mya shoots Cisco an ugly look.
“Cameras, dumb ass. That’s all you,” Cisco says, unbothered
“Oscar is a guy I met while…shopping.”
“Okay. Let’s cut the shit. I’m not going to ask you again. What did you do for fifty grand? You can tell me or I can go to his house and find out for myself.”
Mya looks like a cornered cat.
“I had dinner with him. Is that illegal? This is embarrassing.”
“Dinner. Mm-hmm. Did you sleep with him? Is that money for sex?” Nine cuts in.
Mya doesn’t answer her, which just sets off Nine. Nine ninjas out of my grip and starts to run toward Mya. I tackle Nine and hold her on the ground in my arms.
“Everyone to the table now!” I yell, winded from the floor.
“Goddamn it, Trig!”
“Baby, I know you”re pissed, but I’m asking you to bottle that shit for a few hours so we can find out what the hell is happening. Can you do that?”
“No promises,” she says.
“Nine!”
“Thirty minutes tops and then I’mma kill her.”
“That’s fair.”
I take my hands off her slowly. She makes a face and then she puts her hands up. I stand up and then help her off the ground. The kids are both seated at the table, whispering, when we make it over to them. Nine sits directly next to Mya and burns a hole into her the whole time. She stares at me for help.
“I don’t think it’s fair that everyone is coming down on me like I’m some streetwalker. You guys should really ask Cisco what he’s been doing with Oscar.”
“What the hell?” Cisco yells.
We all stare at him. He slams his hands down on the table.
“That’s a bitch move, Mya.”
“Well, I feel like you ratted me out, you snitch,” she replies.
“I didn’t…I was ready to protect you, but the gloves are off now,” Cisco says. “Mya was offered fifty grand to go have “dinner”, aka sex, with Oscar.”
“Oh, well Cisco has been selling guns for Oscar.”
“At least I didn’t fuck him, and you meant to say we have been selling guns. We! Don’t pin this all on me!”
“Who said I fucked him?”
“That ratted-ass hair on your head did. The hickeys on your neck. The fact that your makeup looks like you survived a nuclear attack. Not to mention, you smell like Tequila.”
“Bitch-ass mother fu—!”
“Enough!” I yell at both of them. “Mya, a gun supplier? You slept with a gun supplier? These men make women their property. They don’t fall in love. You’re smarter than this.”
“Who said I want to be in love?” Mya mutters. “I’d rather swallow rocks.”
“You shut up. I’ll circle back to you. Cisco? Guns? What are you thinking? Why in the hell would you be selling weapons? Is there a gun to your head forcing you, because that’s the only thing that would make sense to me?”
Cisco just shakes his head. “It…looked cool.”
“You hear this shit, Nine? It looked cool.” I pause. “My brother had the same mentality. Sucked in by glitz and glam. Do you know where he is right now? He’s dead. Murdered. There is no way you both are this irresponsible.”
Nine looks like she is about to go postal. She is rocking in her chair silently, not looking at anyone now.
“Mya. Are you a prostitute?” Nine inquires.
“Mom, no. It was one time. I didn’t sleep with him for money. It was more of a game. It’s hard to explain.”
Nine rolls her eyes and then sharply turns in her chair to Mya. “You will return that money, and Cisco, you know better. Both of you are done with all this shit. Today it ends. No more guns and no more games. You have no idea what fire you are playing with. Just messy. Both of you.
“Mom, I can’t just walk away. I kind of have a commitment,” Cisco pleads.
“Give the money back, how? I don’t know where he lives. I was blindfolded. I don’t even have his number,” Mya argues.
“That is exactly the mess I’m talking about. This is how it starts. Your casket is how it ends. Are you guys ready for that? Because I’m not.”
Nine starts to cry as she quickly gets up to leave the table. I watch as she rushes out of the room. The kids look down in shame.
“You two have no idea what we have been through. The pain and the suffering. The paths it took to get here and give you guys a better life. Your mom has been through hell and I have walked through the flames of the underworld just to find her. Apparently, it’s all been for nothing because look at what you guys are doing. I’m very disappointed.”
“You keep saying that but Cisco and I don’t know anything about your past. Why you guys actually have double names, ones we can never use outside the house. Why we don’t have extended family besides Aunt Torrie. Why I can never mention you on my social media. Why I sometimes have memories that no one wants to discuss. It seems you two have secrets, and I have respected your privacy, but if you’re going to shame us, then start shaming yourself first.”
“Mya!” Cisco warns.
“What? They act like they’re perfect.”
Nine rushes out with a baseball bat and slams that shit into the kitchen table, sending glass flying. Everyone scatters into different corners.
“Shame? What the hell do you know? You two walk around here wanting for nothing. You don’t need to sell guns. You don’t need to play games with men for money. You choose to. For what? Adrenaline rush? A fucking high? A power move? Then you want to turn the tables and ask about our shit as if you’re grown. Me and your dad have bathed in enough shame to last ten lifetimes. You have no fucking clue what shame is.”
Nine tosses the bat on the floor and then turns to the patio door to walk outside. She slams the door shut on her way out, rattling the glass. We all flinch at the sound. I run my hands down my face. The room is dead silent as we take in the mess. Cisco has his hand covering his mouth. Mya is frozen in place with her hand over her heart.
“You want answers, Mya? You ask and you keep on asking until you get the answers you need, but don’t you ever disrespect us again. Watch your mouth, and you, Cisco, standing there like nothing. You’re a big boy playing a big boy game. You ever killed someone?”
Cisco shakes his head.
“No? Never? Interesting, because in time in this industry, you’re going to have to. Someone is going to screw you over or set you up and you’ll have no time to think but just act. Can you pull the trigger when the clock is ticking?” I pause. “I want Oscar’s information. A phone number. An address. Something.”
Cisco fiddles with his thumbs.
“This isn’t a good idea,” he says
“You should have thought about that before you chose to dive in like an idiot and bring in your sister.”
“We’re good shooters. You taught us. You know. We can protect ourselves.”
“Best in the west, bro,” Mya adds.
“Mya…shut up. You’re nowhere near being off the hook. I’d sit there quietly if I were you. Cisco, put your ego away. There are nightmares walking around as humans, and guess what, they’ll be better than you.”
“Respectfully, I don’t think you jumping in this is a good move,” he says.
“Respectfully, I don’t care. How does this operation of his go? Is Oscar the supplier or is he just a middle-man reseller using you and others to push them?”
“He’s the supplier. He gives them to me. I bring money each time to cover the last batch of guns. When I pay him, he pays me. Mya handles all the contacts and sets up appointments.”
“The customers. Who are they?”
Cisco scoffs. “Who aren’t they, is the question. They look like normal-looking people. They could be anyone. The list is an encrypted message. It takes a fingerprint. A code and a face scan to even see the names and contact info.”
“Is the gun supply pickup for you always in the same location?”
“Yeah, but you can’t just run up in there and be like, ‘I’m Cisco’s daddy. I’m a photographer. Now stop it’.”
Mya giggles. I ball my hands into fists and grit my teeth. I lean into both of them
“Ask me what I did before photography. Ask me why both of you know how to shoot guns well. Ask me why I have knife and bullet wound scars. Go ahead!”
They both look at me in fear. Right then Mya’s phone rings. We all look at her to answer.
“It’s an unknown number,” she says.
“Put it on speaker,” I command. “Now!”
“Hello!” she answers.
“I miss you, Hips. I had a good time last night.”
Mya swallows the lump in her throat as she looks at me.
“Yeah. Dinner was great,” she replies, as she begins to pace.
“I’m not talking about dinner. I’m talking about you naked on my—”
“Aye! You’re on speaker and my dad is in the room.”
Cisco looks away uncomfortably. I scowl at her.
“I’m going to break his kneecaps,” I whisper.
“When am I going to see you again?” Oscar asks.
Mya uncomfortably chuckles when she notices Nine has re-entered the room.
“That’s an interesting question.”
“Then give me an interesting answer,” Oscar shoots back.
I snap my fingers to get her attention and then I mouth the word ‘tonight’ to her while pointing down at the floor.
“I’m sure you’re very busy, but how about dinner at my house tonight…with my family?”
Oscar takes a deep breath in and then responds.
“You want me to meet your family? He pauses. “I mean…that’s a different energy from last night but if it makes you happy…sure.”
“Nothing I want more.” Mya grits her teeth and fake smiles.
“Mm-hmm. What time, beautiful?”
Mya looks at me. I look at Nine. Nine looks at the non-existent table.
“Maybe seven-thirty. We might need to go to the furniture store,” Mya trails off.
“What?” Oscar asks, confused.
“Nothing. Text me your number. I’ll let you know.”
“My number is in your phone. I put it in there last night. I’m calling you from the warehouse.”
I glare at Mya, not knowing she has a secondary phone.
“You’re invasive.”
“I’m thorough.”
“Okay! We”re done here. Message you later.”
Mya hangs up and looks at me. She motions to the broken table as if to say, ‘where are we supposed to eat?’
“Mya, there is a patio table outside. You and Cisco get the vacuum and clean this mess up.”
Nine walks by the kids and doesn’t say a word. They both look at me with sadness in their eyes. I turn to walk after her.
“Does she hate us?” Cisco asks.
I swing around. Mya searches my face for an answer.
“Worse. She loves you both.” I pause. “She’s tired. She’s pissed. She’s overstimulated. Let her get some sleep. All of us should. We’ll talk later.”
I walk back to our bedroom to find her sprawled out on the bed. She sits up when she hears me enter.
“Do you honestly believe they are going to stop?” Nine inquires.
I sit down on the bed next to her and grab her hand.
“With our DNA, there’s not a chance in hell.”