Diego

by Hope Stone

  “You’ve got her running real smooth,” Rick told me with an impressed face.

  “Yes, nothing wrong with your bike at all, it’s in pretty decent condition,” I replied, distracted by the two men I’d just witnessed. “Excuse me for a minute, fellas. There’s a couple of guys at the front and I need to check them out.”

  “Okay, no problem,” Derek said.

  I picked up pace. One fat guy in black and the other guy looked like a weasel. Both of them looked to be of Hispanic descent. As I got closer, our eyes locked and they backed off.

  “Hey!” I yelled out. Neither of them responded; they just kept moving on. I sped up and so did they. I called out again.

  “Hey!”

  I darted my eyes around the warehouse to see if anyone else was there. They hadn’t parked in the parking lot either. Both of them ran to the front of the parking lot and I gave chase. I saw them jump in a black Jeep and screech away from the curb. My breathing picked up from running to catch up with them. Who the fuck was that?

  Rick and Derek were at the front of the warehouse when I got back.

  “Who were those guys? Did you get the plates?” Rick asked.

  “Naw. I didn’t. I hope that’s the first and last time they come around here.”

  “Where can I sign up for the chapter?” Rick’s face was stern. “I’m a bouncer on weekends and it looks like you could use a little help here. You’re wide open right now.”

  “My man.” I shook his hand and smiled. “I sure could. We have to initiate you first and the tattoo is part of the code.”

  “Understood. My cousin told me a lot about you guys already, so I’m across it. You seem like a stand-up guy.”

  Derek watched and listened. “I’m not so sure. I have a corporate job, so it might not work if somebody finds out.”

  “No problem, Derek. If you keep coming here to get your bike fixed, that will be fine by me. Rick, I’ll call you and we can line up a meeting with Ryder to talk to you. See when we can get you in.”

  “Okay. Make sure you get the plates on those guys next time. You got my number if you need to hire me for any reason.”

  “Thanks for the back-up,” I said.

  “You got a weapon?” he inquired.

  “I try not to strap up unless I have to but because of some situations I got a Smith and Wesson.”

  “You might want to start thinking about bringing it.”

  “I hear you. Glad that didn’t deter you from wanting to join.”

  “Nope.”

  “Okay, I’ll be in touch.”

  As Rick and Derek made an exit, I rifled through my head as to who might want to start trouble. If I told Ryder about it, he would probably connect it to Las Balas. I looked down at my watch. I was due to pick up Misty in the next hour so maybe she would know something about it.

  Time flowed on and I hit the road on my bike to see Misty. I parked my bike in the medical school parking lot and waited. I got a few stares, mainly at the bike. I gave them all a customary salute as they whispered amongst their friends.

  Suddenly I felt the back of my bike start shaking. I snapped my head around quickly.

  “Ayy!” Behind the voice was a beautiful Puerto Rican lady, Misty.

  “You lucky. I was about to start something.” I grinned as she closed the gap and came to me.

  I wrapped my hands around her hips easily as she leaned in for a kiss.

  “Mwah! I was just playing. You looked bored so I wanted to shake you up a little.”

  “Good job,” I whispered. “How was class, where are your friends at? I wanted to meet them.”

  “Just me today, next time you pick me up you can meet Shauna. I don’t have the same classes as everyone else today.”

  “Okay. Are you ready to go? How about we grab a bite to eat?”

  “Sounds good. You gotta drop me back here in a few hours though. I have a late class.”

  I squeezed her hand as she talked, her radiant Spanish beauty taking me over. “I can do that for you.”

  We rode out to a nice café around the back of Merced. Eyes were out; Ryder had connects in Merced, so we kept it low-key. We got a table at the back of the café, and I looked around as we walked through. The place looked like a ghost town. The sign on the counter said table service so we headed to a booth at the back. Spanish music ran through the speakers.

  “Hmm, I don’t think anybody is going to find us here.”

  I smiled at Misty. “I know it’s a little out of the way, but I don’t want to take any chances. There’s a lot at stake. But I had to see you. I miss you in my bed and in my arms.”

  “You are so sweet. Can I get a kiss?” she asked sexily. We were sitting side by side, and she linked her leg across mine as I grabbed her face. I let my lips drift over hers, her soft juicy lips breathing life into mine.

  “Mmm. You taste good. Stop, otherwise we’ll need to go to your place.” She lowered her voice seductively.

  “Fine by me, just say when, baby.” Her sexy legs were wrapped in black jeans and she wore a cute red top that matched her temperament.

  A slight young boy with dark hair, no more than fifteen, came to the table. He looked to be of Spanish descent.

  “Ola, can I take your order today?”

  “Yes, can I have a latte and one of your enchiladas?” asked Misty.

  “Little man, can you add another latte to that and two chili tacos?”

  “Si. Be right back.” As the little boy walked away, I focused on Misty.

  “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 troubl
e 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

  Running my hands through Diego’s rough stubble made me want to ride off into the sunset with him, just like in the old cowboy classics. My daydream was burst by a late biomedical class where we were examining cultures and blood types in the lab.

  “Hey, hot stuff. What’s cracking with you?” Shauna with her bouncy jet black curls and fresh lip gloss was lined up behind a microscope. We were in the clinical labs with a handful of other students.

  “Oh, plenty.” The whites of her eyes became more prominent as she scanned me dramatically.

  “You were with the biker hottie, weren’t you? Why haven’t I met him?”

  “Oh, you will in time. He asked the same thing about you. He wants to see you. I told him next time you can meet.” The dreamy smile couldn't be wiped off my face, and I felt like I could just drift on out of the classroom. Mrs. Sanderson, a redheaded middle-aged woman with curly hair said:

  “You’ll notice you each have two slides in front of you. I simply want you to describe what you see and tell the class. One is blood plasma and the other is bacteria. Your turn.” She flipped over a whiteboard and the squeak of her blue marker filled the room. I squinted my eye through the microscopic lenses in front of me and drew back. I was looking at the bacteria. An orange ring of intricate circles joined together and a mustard yellow ring on the inside with a purple blob in the middle. Some were a sickly shade of green. When you looked at the liquid on the glass itself, it just looked like a blob.

  “Check that out. It’s amazing,” I said, pointing.

  “Lemme see. Lemme see.” I stepped aside and let Shauna take a peek. “That’s crazy. I don’t know what it is but I hope I never get it,” she said loudly.

  Mrs. Sanderson laughed, along with a couple of others in the class.

  “I mean, am I wrong, guys, come on, right?” She shrugged her shoulders and made a face like the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.

  “You’re not wrong. Funny you should mention you hope you never catch it…because what you’re looking at is influenza.”

  The whole class gasped, including me.

  No way!

  That’s crazy!

  Ewww.

  The class ended up being a really interesting two hours and we received an assignment on identifying clusters and different types of blood plasmas for our trouble.

  “I’m glad to get out of that lab. I always feel like I’m trapped when I’m in there,” I said.

  Class was done for the day and I was heading home. Huge puffy clouds crossed the Cali sky and it looked as if she was about to unleash her tears on us.

  “Girl, I’m not trying to get wet. I’m about to run to the car right now. You need a ride home right?”

  “Yup. I do,” I said hesitantly. Shauna took off her jacket and put it over our heads like a blanket as we skittered off. I loved listening to the patter of rain falling. Students ran past us. Looked like they forgot their umbrellas too. I wasn’t in a hurry to get back home, but it was inevitable. I had a real estate pamphlet in my bag that I’d picked up. I planned to make good on the promise I’d made to myself. I wanted to move out of the house. I was starting to feel stifled.

  A break in the weather and a peek-a-boo from the sun let me know it was just a passing Cali shower. Shauna and I walked with her to her car. Mainly, I was dreading getting home to an onslaught from Palo. He’d been looking at me strangely ever since the Santa Cruz ride. Shauna and I were both silent most of the way. We’d talked enough in class. She dropped me right at my door.

  “Okay, girl. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said giving me a quick hug.

  “Thanks Shauna. Don’t study too hard,” I told her with a smile.

  “I won’t. I’m taking a break. My brain’s fried,” she replied in a tired voice.

  I walked in the door and headed to the kitchen. I could hear Palo talking in the den. The door was cracked and I saw a shadow of his bald head. He was tapping something on the desk.

  “What did you do? Are they gone now?” Palo asked in an exasperated tone. I flattened myself against the wall so I could hear what he was saying and who he was talking to. “You don’t know what happened to them? I told you to scare them enough to get rid of them. Now we got a situation, right? I can’t take the chapter forward if we have this situation.” The daggers of anger were sharply directed to the person at the other end of the line. “I got to go check out this Diego guy.” I felt my chest rise and fall from anxiety. Why the hell was he talking about Diego? “He needs a warning. I’m about to go find out. I know my sister, she gave up too quickly. She’ll find a way to see him.”

  I wrinkled up my nose in disgust. Another vote for leaving my brother’s house. I didn’t want him tracking my whereabouts. I tiptoed on the balls of my feet to the kitchen and picked out some cheese and crackers from the pantry. A red wine was sitting on the counter and I poured myself a glass. It would help while I studied bacterias. I made myself the plate and headed to my room. I wanted to warn Diego about my brother. If
he wanted something, he would be ruthless enough to go after it. I texted him as soon as I sat my evening snack down on my desk.

  “Heads up my brother might pop up to talk to you. I overheard.”

  The phone vibrated with a blue screen, Diego was calling me.

  “Hey, what the hell?” His exasperated tone made me nervous. “I thought he didn't know about us?”

  “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.”