Chapter 14

The house looked the same; it hadn’t changed one bit. The lawn was still unkept and the paint was still chipped in the same places. John looked at his watch and then back at the house while he sat in his town car. His driver, Thomas didn’t say a word, just popped open his can of New Coke and took a big swig.

Thomas rolled the window down and spit out the beverage. “This tastes like shit!”

“Is it that serious, Thomas?” asked John.

“Yes, boss, why did Coke even release this? They need to bring the old stuff back.”

John chuckled and looked at his watch again. The second hand seemed to be moving twice as fast as usual.

“Don’t mean to rush you sir, but we’re on a tight schedule.”

“I know, I just need a minute,” said John. He took a deep breath, collected his thoughts and grabbed the nicely wrapped gift that sat next to him. “I won’t be long, Thomas.”

The walk up to the front door was longer than he remembered and he could hear every step he took because it seemed to be amplified. His heart was beating fast and loud. Usually the most calm guy in every situation, he was a nervous wreck right now. He reached the front door and rang the doorbell.

BRRRRING!

It was the most horrible doorbell chime, but the familiarity of it brought some comfort to him.

The door opened and her beauty slapped him across the face. Her light brown eyes glistened in the sunlight and he always seemed to get lost in them. Her lips were slightly moist as if she had just run her tongue over them to relieve them of their dryness. Her hair was longer now; her brunette locks resting on her shoulders looked like they might reach halfway down her back. Her “beauty mark” was perfectly placed just to the right and below her nose; just above her upper lip. The ripped grey sweatshirt she wore rested comfortably on her and fell just off her shoulder exposing a bit of her olive colored, unblemished skin and part of her sports bra. She wore black leggings with leg warmers that matched her sweater and she was barefoot. She was the definition of beauty.

“Hi, Adriana.”

This ruggedly handsome man stood in front of her with his piercing hazel eyes. He looked tired and relieved at the same time. He had some scruff on his face which always irked Adriana, but she never really minded it. He wore a collared shirt and a sport coat, with no tie, and fitted slacks. He’s obviously seen Scarface one too many times, but the look worked for him. Adriana remembered a time when all he had to do was smile and she would melt in his arms. That was a long time ago and Adriana was a new woman. She was not happy to see this man that stood at her doorstep.

“What are you doing here, John?”

“I want to see her.”

“Why? It’s been three years and we haven’t heard a word from you. She doesn’t even know who you are.”

“You never showed her pictures of me?” there was hurt in John’s voice.

“Why would I do that? You bitched out and left us on our own.”

Just then an older woman walked up behind Adriana. “Mija, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, this solicitor was just leaving.”

The older lady put her glasses on which hung around her neck by a chain and got a better look at the “solicitor”. “Dios mio, Juan, is that you?”

“It’s been a long time Mrs. Nuñez, how are you?” asked John.

“Not good, Juan, not good. It’s tough raising a little girl especially when I thought I was done.”

“Mami, let me handle this please,” pleaded Adriana to her mother.

“Adriana, can I please see her?” asked John.

Adriana thought about it hard and eventually moved aside and motioned for John to come into the house.

John walked through the corridor and set the gift he had down on a bench. “You look as beautiful as ever, Mrs. Nuñez.”

“Gracias, Juan, but I’m not the one you need to be kissing up to. She’s in the living room mirando Rocky Fragments.”

“El programa se llama, Fraggle Rock, mami,” corrected Adriana.

Adriana led the way to the living room and there she was. She sat on the floor a little too close to the television watching some strange looking puppets of some kind. John had no idea what was on television, but she seemed to be enjoying the program.

Adriana walked up to her and said, “Veronica, someone wants to say hello.” Veronica looked very annoyed at her mother for interrupting her Fraggle Rock experience. She turned and looked at this strange man who just stared at her.

John looked at Adriana, “I don’t know what to say.”

“She’s three, for God sake, John. Just say hello.”

“Hello,” John waved at Veronica.

Veronica waved back, “You have surprise for me?”

“Veronica, that’s not polite,” said Adriana.

“No, it’s okay, I actually did bring her something; it’s in the hallway.” John went to retrieve the present he had carried into the house. He brought it into the living room and sat it in front of Veronica.

The wrapping paper with the clowns on it immediately grabbed Veronica’s attention. Knowing exactly what to do with wrapped boxes, Veronica began to tear away at the wrapping paper with excitement. John helped her and when the gift was revealed, Veronica just started at it with no reaction.

“What is it?” asked Adriana.

“It’s a Nintendo, it’s supposed to be the hottest thing and they’re extremely hard to find right now,” explained John.

“What’s a Nintendo, some kind of video game?” asked Adriana.

“Exactly.”

“She’s only three, John, but thanks I guess.”

“She’ll eventually learn to play it, she’s smart.”

“How would you know?” Adriana couldn’t be cordial to this man anymore, “You weren’t around and now you show up with some bullshit video game and hope it fixes everything? Is that all she’s worth to you?”

Mrs. Nuñez walks into the living room from the kitchen, “Adriana…” her mother warned.

“I’m sorry, mami,” Adriana knew her mother didn’t like it when she cussed let alone in front of Veronica.

John just stared at his daughter and tried to memorize every detail about her. She had his eyes and her mother’s nose. She was beautiful and John was now kicking himself for not bringing a camera with him.

“I know you don’t owe me anything, but do you have a picture of her I can have?” asked John.

“I’m surprised you even asked for one.”

“Gimme a break, Adriana, you know what I do is dangerous and I don’t want to get her or you caught up in it. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you guys and it was my fault.”

Adriana went into the closet and pulled out a Polaroid camera. “Did you want to be in the picture with her?”

John smiled and sat next to Veronica on the floor. He put his arm around her and Veronica stared at him.

CLICK!

The flash went off on the camera and like magic, a Polaroid appeared. Adriana handed the undeveloped picture to John. John immediately started to fan the Polaroid.

“Don’t do that, you’ll make the chemicals run,” advised Adriana.

BRRRING!

John stared at his daughter and couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Mrs. Nuñez led Thomas into the living room.

“Boss, forgive me, but we better get going,” said Thomas.

“I know, just give me one more second,” replied John. John leaned down towards Veronica and kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, mija.”

John stood up and walked over to Mrs. Nuñez, “Mama Nuñez, always a pleasure.” He gives her a kiss on the cheek. Then he makes his way over to Adriana whose eyes are watering.

“I hate you.”

“I know, but I have to go,” explains John.

“John, if you walk out that door, you walk out of her life and leave us alone,” says Adriana while fighting back tears.

John doesn’t say anything and just kisses Adriana on the cheek, “It’ll always be you, amor.”

John walks out of the house and hears Mrs. Nuñez say, “¡Cuidate, Juan!”

John just raises his arm in acknowledgement and gets into the town car as Thomas closes the door behind him. John pulls out the Polaroid of his daughter and it has finally developed. He finally had a keepsake of his daughter, even if she wasn’t looking at the camera and was staring at him. He stares at it and smiles.

“Boss, what do we do with these guys?”

Vazquez snaps out of his day dream and realizes there’s business that still needs to be taken care of.

******************

Garret and Jay sit in a dimly lit empty room not knowing what to expect. The door opens and two objects are tossed into the room and the door is closed again. Jay scrambles to see what they have just been tossed.

“Awesome, I’m starving!” exclaims Jay as he unwraps something Garret can’t make out. “Here, boss, eat.”

“What is it?”

“Pop Tarts.”

“I’ll pass,” says Garret. Pop Tarts aren’t exactly his favorite food. He watches curiously as Jay devours 2 Pop Tarts at once.

The door opens again and the brightness of the light blinds Garret and Jay. All Garret can make out is a silhouette in the doorway.

“Garret, we need to have a conversation.”

Click here to read Chapter 12

El Chulo ends the phone call and turns to see his men ogling Veronica who's been tied up. She had a gag in her mouth, but strangely enough she didn't scream, she was silent. That rubbed El Chulo the wrong way because it made him nervous. Any other woman in this situation would be begging for mercy right now. One of El Chulo's men was getting a little too aggressive as he watched Veronica, so much so that he licked the side of her face. As he licked Veronica's face El Chulo barked, "¡Ya basta!"

Chulo's goon stopped and went back to just ogling Veronica as Goon #2 laughed at Goon #1. Immediately a shoving match started between the two goons. Why am I working with these amateurs, thought Chulo, I should've brought my primo on, at least he could control himself.

El Chulo had more important things to tend to than refereeing a shoving match. Garrett mentioned he had something they had never discussed and that El Chulo wants. What the hell could he be talking about? Nah, he's bluffing. But why, Garrett is smarter than that.

El Chulo was right, if Garrett was indeed bluffing, Chulo's goons would have no problem killing Veronica, while violating her first.

"Alright, vamos!" called out Chulo to his crew.

The crew picked up and gathered their gear. There was so much weaponry, you'd think they were prepping for WWIII and not just meeting Garret and Jay. As soon as all the gear was packed, they headed out to Las Cruces.

Jay pulled up to the meeting spot as clueless as he could be. What does Garrett have that El Culo could possibly want? "Hey, boss?" asked Jay.

"Yeah?" said Garrett.

"Do you really have something or are you bluffing? Not that I don't trust what you're doing, I just want to know if I need to prepare for another gunfight."

Garrett turned towards Jay, which hurt his shoulder a lot more than he let on, and said, "Don't worry, I'm going to take care of it."

Jay hated when Garrett gave vague answers like that; what did that even mean? Jay wasn't worried because when Garrett said he'd take care of something he always did. Like when Jay's mom couldn't pay her medical bills after her hospital stay, Garrett said he'd take care of it and those bills were taken care of the next day. Jay just wanted a little clarification so he wouldn't mess anything up. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Just hang in the truck and I'll deal with El Chulo," Garrett said.

"Are you nuts? He's going to have at least 3 or 4 guys as his backup."

"You seem a little worried, Jay."

"You're damn right I'm worried, El Chulo is crazy."

Just then a lifted '89 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck pulled in front of Jay's SUV. Two guys sat in the back with guns, another guy driving and El Chulo riding shotgun 

with Veronica sitting in the middle blindfolded.

Garrett leaned his head out of the window and said, "Hey Chulo, do you want to draw attention to yourself? You have two guys with guns drawn in your truck bed."

"Don't worry about me, just tell me what it is you have that you couldn't tell me over the phone."

Garrett hops out of the SUV and turns to Jay, "Wait here, it should be quick." Garrett walks in front of the SUV and leans against the hood still nursing his shoulder. "Are you at least going to get out?" Garrett asks El Chulo.

El Chulo opens the truck door and steps out with the two men in the truck bed hopping out and standing behind him.

"Really? Come on, man I have one arm, do you really need the doublemint twins with you?"

"Yes, now hurry this up and tell me what you have," El Chulo was losing patience.

"First we negotiate what I get in return for this information."

"We give you your bitch back and you can ride off into the sunset together. Only if I deem the information worthy of such an exchange," El Chulo said.

"Okay, deal," Garrett wasn't worried. "Let me tell you a story of a guy who lost half a million dollars a couple of weeks ago."

El Chulo's eyes widened and Garrett knew he had him. "This guy, let's call him, El Chulo, was supposed to deliver a very expensive package to Los Angeles, but he returned to Mexico with nothing, no money and no package."

El Chulo's glare was growing more intense with every word out of Garrett's mouth. 

"I know for a fact that Vazquez gave you a lot of shit for losing him that much money and it's never been the same between you two. I even hear he's considering making someone else his number 2," continued Garrett. "What if I told you that I have that lost package that could restore Vazquez' trust in you."

"I highly doubt that, I looked everywhere for those putos that took it and couldn't find them."

"Then you weren't looking hard enough. I can take you to it right now," said Garrett.

"Okay, let's go," El Chulo motioned for his guys to get back in the truck.

"Veronica rides with us," said Garrett.

"No way, if she rides with you, then we both ride with you," offered El Chulo.

Jay wasn't exactly comfortable with El Chulo in his back seat, but that was the deal that Garrett made and at least they had Veronica in the truck too. Jay maneuvered his way through the uneven terrain, following Garrett's directions. Jay looked in his rear view mirror and saw Chulo's goons right behind them.

Veronica was still blindfolded, but was relieved to hear Garrett and Jay's familiar voices. She had no idea what the hell was going on and was just thankful that worse things weren't done to her.

"Okay, stop," said Garrett.

Garrett and El Chulo stepped out of the SUV and both looked up to see a helicopter headed in their direction. The helicopter stopped and hovered over the area where Garrett and El Chulo stood. The wind that the blades were creating was intense. Garrett yelled to El Chulo, "Are you expecting company?!?"

El Chulo shook his head and then BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM! rapid fire started 

spewing from the helicopter. Jay and Veronica took cover in the truck as El Chulo and Garrett dove under the SUV.

The helicopter started to descend and the rapid fire ceased. Who the hell is this? thought Garrett as he watched from under the SUV. As the helicopter touched ground, an older gentleman hopped out of the helicopter and made his way towards Garrett and El Chulo. Both men crawled out from under the SUV and dusted themselves off. Garrett got a better look at the man walking towards them. He was dressed very well and reminded Garrett of the Most Interesting Man in the World from the Dos Equis commercials.

The man stopped in front of El Chulo and Garrett and said nothing. El Chulo turned to Garrett and said, "Garrett, meet Mr. Vazquez."

Chapter 10

No answer.

Now Jay's getting frustrated, this is so out of character for Garrett, he's not supposed to get sprung. They have a job to do and Garrett's messing around getting his rock's off and was now messing with Jay's money. I want some ass too, thought Jay, but I'm committed to this job!

Bam! Bam!

Jay knocks again and this time Veronica answers. She didn't even try to hide the fact that she just jumped off Garrett's piece, thought Jay; then he vocalized it, "You don't even try to hide the fact you just worked my boy's piece, do you? What if I was your landlord?" Jay closed the door behind him. The place reeked of sex.

"I saw you through the peephole, dick."

All Veronica wore was a man's shirt, not Garrett's. Whatever, it's not like she was an angel or anything, plus she was wearing a thong and her ass cheeks peeked out from under the shirt.

"Stop looking at my ass, perv."

"But it's so nice," declared Jay.

"Isn't it though?" asked Garrett as he came from the bathroom. He walks up behind Veronica puts his arms around her and hugs her from behind. Veronica grabs Garrett's hands and interlocks her fingers with his.

Jay just stares at them. "What is this shit?" Jay points to their interlocked hands.

"Jealous?" ask Garrett and Veronica simultaneously and then they both laugh.

Jay isn't amused, "We have shit to take care of, let's roll, G."

"He's right, I'll hit you up tomorrow afternoon," Garrett tells Veronica.

The drive down south was always the same for Garrett, boring and uneventful. Jay was one of those guys that needed to concentrate on the road when he drove. The sound of the road was lulling Garrett to sleep, but he knew that if he fell asleep, it would make Jay sleepy and they needed to be on their game tonight. Garrett noticed that Jay was looking in his rearview more often than usual. "What's wrong?" asked Garrett.

"I'm probably paranoid because of what happened earlier with El Chulo, but I think we're being tailed."

Garrett flips his sun visor down and looks out the back window through the mirror's reflection. There was a black Escalade behind them, but Garrett wasn't sure if it was following them. "Pull off on the next exit."

Jay signaled and pulled off onto Cristianitos Rd, they were only a couple of exits from the weigh station and about halfway to San Diego. Jay made his way to the OC Tavern and pulled into the lot. Garrett remembered on one drive down to San Diego he and Jay stopped at the OC Tavern to check it out and they both ended up getting laid by a couple of hot chicks. It was definetly good times and ever since then, they try and make a stop there, either on their way to San Diego or back up to LA, but this stop wasn't planned. Garrett looked in the passenger side view mirror and the Escalade had disappeared.

Jay parked his truck and looked at Garrett, "Maybe I was just being paranoid."

"Maybe," said Garrett, but he wasn't convinced. "Let's get back on the road."

"But it's 'the tavern', man and we're already here," pleaded Jay.

"Business first."

Jay just thought how hypocritical of Garrett is was to say that, yeah, it's easy once you've already been laid today, but I had to leave before I got some action. Jay kept his thoughts to himself and just pulled back on the 5 South.

After a few minutes Jay noticed the same Escalade behind them again. "Boss, they're back."

Garrett looked and sure enough the Escalade was back and closing in pretty fast. All of a sudden, BAM! the Escalade hits Jay's truck from behind.

"What the fuck!?" exclaims Jay. He presses down on the gas to get some seperation from his truck and the Escalade. The Escalade swoops around to Jay's side, but the windows are tinted and Garrett can't make out who could possibly be messing with them. Slowly the passenger side window of the Escalade rolls down and Garrett gets ready to see these assholes' faces, but they have masks on. Ain't that about a bitch? The guy in the passenger side signals to Jay to pull over. Jay looks at Garrett.

"We don't stop for anybody, lose them," Garrett tells Jay.

It never ceases to amaze Jay how calm Garrett stays in adverse situations; that's why he's the boss. There weren't many cars on the road so it was going to be tricky losing these guys without exiting and putting innocent people in danger. Jay pulled into the slow lane and floored it, but the Escalade kept up with him, no problem. This was going to be tough and require Jay to do some manuevering.

Garrett just kept his eyes on the side view mirror and the Escalade. He noticed the passenger was moving towards the window and suddenly half of his body was hanging out of the SUV. This can't be good, thought Garrett and just as he thought it, a gun appeared in the guy's right hand.

"Jay, move!"

But Jay's foot is already to the floor and he can't go any faster.

BANG!

"Did they just shoot at us!?" screams Jay.

"Look, swerve in and out of lanes and don't give them a steady target to shoot at. We're lucky this guy's a bad shot," says Garrett. Just then Garrett undoes his seat belt and climbs into the back seat. He goes into this bag and produces a 9MM Glock G17 and rolls the back driver side window down

"Are you insane? Since when do you carry a gun?"

BANG! BANG!

More shots from the Escalade and the second one took out Jay's passenger side mirror.

"No time to explain right now," said Garrett as he leaned out of the window, facing the Escalade.

BANG! BANG!

The shots Garrett fired hurt Jay's ears, but he had to keep driving and concentrating. They were coming up on the 805/5 exchange and would be at the border soon. They needed to lose these guys now.

BANG!

"Got 'em!" said Garrett as he leaned back into the truck.

"You shot one of them?" asked Jay.

"No, I blew out one of their tires."

Jay looked in his side view mirror and sure enough a shower of sparks was spraying from the front driver side wheel. Jay was creating a little more seperation now, but the Escalade wouldn't quit.

Two more shots came from the Escalade and one of them broke through the back window of Jay's truck and out the front. Jay just stared at the bullet hole in his windshield and then snapped back to reality, "Are you okay!?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Give me a steady couple of seconds so I can take out the other tire and we'll lose these clowns for good."

Jay gripped so tight that his fingers were leaving an imprint on the leather wrapped steering wheel. He held the truck as steady as possible while Garrett leaned out of the window. Two shots fired off, one from Garrett and one from the Escalade. Jay looked in his mirror and saw that Garrett had taken out the other front tire and even more sparks were flying. The Escalade started to lose control and finally slowed down and pulled over. It was over as fast as it had begun it seemed.

Garrett pulled himself back into the truck.

"Nice shot, man!" Jay gave Garrett a pat on the back and Garrett pulled away.

"Damn it!" yelled Garrett.

Jay looked back at Garrett and saw that he had been hit in the shoulder. "Dude, we need to get you to a hospital, quick!"

"No, we keep going, it's only a flesh wound. Hurts like a bitch though!"

Jay looked up and saw the big red "Mexico" lettering.

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

"Bueno, I'll let him know, but he's not going to be happy."

Garrett closes Jay's cell phone and throws it in the glove compartment.

"Hey, be careful with my phone."

"It's a piece, man, who uses flip phones anymore?" says Garrett.

"I do, dick and if it wasn't for that 'piece', we wouldn't have been able to give Vasquez' people a heads up. What did they say?"

"That he would give him the message, you know it's tough to actually talk to Vasquez."

"Did you let them know I had nothing to do with this?" asks Jay.

"Calmado, everything's cool", Garrett reassures Jay.

Garrett can't stop thinking about Veronica and how much he was into her. It wasn't supposed to go down like this. They were suppose to go golfing and Arturo was going to transfer the stuff to Garrett's truck. Garrett was then going to walk Veronica to her car, say he had a good time and meet Jay in Long Beach.

"So how much does she know?" asks Jay, interrupting Garret's thoughts.

"Not a damn thing as far as I know."

That answer wasn't good enough for Jay, he needed to make sure she knew nothing because El Chulo would have no problem sticking his foot in Jay's ass and leaving it there for a good while.

"As far as you know? I'm surprised you're not popping mints like a mad man."

"I ran out."

"Well, she better not know a damn thing because I'm pretty sure we'd be castrated if she gave us up."

"I highly doubt she suspects either one of us," but Garrett didn't even believe that himself. They would need to be careful and tactful with every move from here on out until the delivery was made.

The hot bright light was shining directly into Veronica's eyes and she had to squint just to make anything out. She finally gave in and put her hand up to shield her eyes.

"Is this bright light really necessary? I can't see anything."

Sgt Howell moves the light out of Veronica's eyes and continues flipping through a file.

"Look, it's almost 6 in the morning and I've been up all night. Is there anyway I can go home and come back in a few hours?"

Sgt Howell gives Veronica an annoyed look, "Sure, Ms. Nuñez, we'll let a whole drug cartel keep running rampant because you need your beauty sleep."

Veronica didn't take sarcasm aimed at her very well and since she hadn't been to sleep was understandably cranky, "Look, Sargent, you've kept me here all night, I've told you everything I know and now you're pulling this sarcasm shit with me? What's to stop me from getting up and leaving right now?"

"You're absolutely right and I apologize, Veronica, may I call you Veronica?"

"No."

That answer caught Howell by surprise and he knew that if he didn't make her more comfortable he was going to lose his sure way in to Vasquez' operation.

"Can I refresh your coffee Mrs. Nuñez?"

"I think that's a good idea, it's the only thing keeping me up."

"Sanka, right?"

Veronica couldn't help but smile at the Sgt's lame attempt at a joke. She played along, "Exactly."

Sgt Howell takes Veronica's coffee cup and walks out of the briefing conference room. The morning shift officers are just getting in and the police station is just waking up. The break room is crowded with cops getting their morning coffee and donuts. Howell hated walking in there at this time of the morning because it was a cliche. He maneuvered his way through the officers to the coffee pots and refilled Veronica's cup.

As he walks back to the briefing room he spots Sgt Johnson and stops her in the hall. "Sgt, can I borrow you for a minute? I need some help prepping someone for a sting."

Sgt Johnson's green eyes light up, she's been looking to get into something juicy for months now, "Absolutely."

Veronica was struggling to keep her eyes open, where was Howell with her coffee. The door opens and Howell walks in with a female officer, great, more cops.

Sgt Howell slides the coffee cup towards Veronica, "Ms. Nuñez, this is Sgt Johnson and she will brief you on the sting operation."

Sgt Johnson extends her hand, "Good to meet you Ms. Nuñez."

Veronica shakes Johnson's hand, "You can call me Veronica."

Jay parks the Tahoe behind the In-N-Out Burger and places the place mat on his lap. Garrett watches him and laughs.

"What?"

"You actually use that thing? Maaaaaas puto!" says Garrett laughing hysterically.

"Whatever, man, that's what it's for and these jeans are Gucci."

"Once again, maaaas puto!"

"Give me my burger!"

Garrett hands Jay his Double Double all the while laughing. Jay's phone rings and Jay picks it up to look at the caller ID screen. He doesn't answer it.

Garret notices and asks, "What's wrong?"

Jay holds up the phone so Garrett can see the ID and it says "Veronica".

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

"Jay, your stupid friend packed the car half assed! The stuff fell out and she found it!"

Jay tries to process what Garret has just said to him.

"Jay!"

"I heard you, boss. So what happened?" asks Jay already knowing the answer.

"She called the cops and I'm sitting in a damn interrogation room with a cop who thinks he's Colombo!"

Jay looks at Nicole who sits on his bed with nothing but socks on.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Fix it!", screams Garret and then nothing but silence.

Jay looks at his phone and flips it closed. He then turns his attention to Nicole who pouts on the bed. Jay loves it when she pouts because she puts on this cute face that he can't resist. Her brown eyes look up at him and damn near melt him. She pushes her perfect Scarlett Johansson lips out to the point where he can't help but kiss them. She also lets her locks fall in front of her face, which she dyed brown from blonde because she says there are too many blondes in LA already. Jay always reassures her that there is no white girl with a whooty like hers. That is definitely Jay's favorite part of her perfect brick house body.

Jay kisses Nicole and she immediately stops pouting and smiles. Jay walks over to his dresser and puts his watch on and starts to gather his wallet and belongings.

"Who was that, baby?" she asks.

"Business," says Jay as he lights a cigarette.

Nicole stands up and walks over behind Jay and hugs him. She rests her head on his back.

"I don't like when work stresses you out, baby."

"I don't either, but I have to handle this. I'll be back in a couple of hours," explains Jay.

"Can I come--"

"No!" interrupts Jay.

Nicole looks at the ground and Jay changes his tone. He walks over to her and gently raises her head up.

"You know it's not safe and I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you," Jay pauses and smiles, "or that ass." He turns Nicole around and gives her playful smack on the ass. Nicole laughs and turns to face him.

"I just want you to be careful," she says.

Jay kisses Nicole and walks towards the door.

"I'm serious, be careful," says Nicole.

"Always," says Jay as he grabs his coat and walks out the door.

Jay walks out of his small East LA apartment into the nice LA night. It was about 70 degrees out and not a cloud in the sky. There's times when Jay wonders why anyone would want to live anywhere else. The only place that rivals LA in weather is San Diego and that was just too close to business dealings for Jay and he wasn't the most liked guy down there.

Jay hops into his black 2009 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid that he just purchased and the only reason he got a hybrid was because of Nicole. He couldn't care less about global warming and all that other stuff, he figured he was leaving this life earlier than he was suppose to anyway. He also didn't have any kids that would "inherit" his world, but making Nicole happy was a top priority, right behind making sure Garret was taken care of.

Jay pulls out of his car port and heads down Olympic towards the 5 and the Valley. At least he could avoid that 405, but it was still a long 40 mile drive that he had to make. He owed his life to Garret and this deal was a crucial part of expanding their business.

Garret ran a small, but profitable operation and had been looking to expand into Mexico, but it wasn't easy. There were plenty of offers to buy him out, but Garret didn't want to sell, he wanted to grow and for that to be possible he would have to partner with one of the biggest dealers in Mexico. Jay had no idea how Garret pulled off a meeting with Vázquez, but it didn't surprise him. Vázquez was often described as the second coming of Pablo Escobar.

Tonight was their first delivery into Mexico and it needs to be in Rosarito by morning. The switch from Veronica's car to Garret's truck was suppose to go down while they were golfing. Veronica's cousin Arturo had made a copy of her car key and was going to make the switch. After golf Garret was going to meet Jay in Long Beach and they were heading down. It shouldn't have been a problem, but Arturo isn't the most thorough guy and didn't pack the stuff tight enough and now Jay has to figure out how to clean it up.

Simple, Jay would pick up Garret from the Devonshire police station and they would have to take a loss on the weed and ecstasy and pick up some more. It wasn't too big of a loss considering they were about to expand anyway, but if this delivery didn't get made tonight, it would all be over.

Jay was so consumed by his thoughts that it took him longer than usual to realize he was being tailed. He looked in his rear view and saw a black sedan of some kind following him and not trying to hide it. Jay turns down an alley to lose the car and floors it. The sedan turns down the same alley and speeds up as well.

Jay looks into his rearview, "Damn it."

Jay turns his attention to the end of the alley and thinks about how to lose this car. That thought changed real quick because an identical sedan pulls right in front of the alley opening and stops.

Jay slams on his brakes and his tires screech to a halt. The sedan behind him also screeches to a stop. These are the times when Jay wishes he carried a gun, but there's nothing he can do about that now.

The passenger door of the sedan in front of him opens up.

Jay stares in shock, "Son of a..."

So it's been exactly one whole year since I started blogging and have grown from 0 followers to a baker's dozen (one of you hasn't signed up yet, you know who you are). Also, Earth Day is today and I encourage all of you to do your part. I have now switched almost all my bulbs to energy saving bulbs and still bring my own bag to Trader Joe's. I hope to invest in a hybrid vehicle as well, but we'll wait and see.

How are you all doing your part? Leave me a comment, I'm interested.

Also, thank you so much for supporting The Court Chronicles and log on for the newest chapter this Friday!

*Please forgive this post for being so short, but typing on a Blackberry can get uncomfortable fast and I'm waiting on my shrimp at Red Lobster :-)

Check out Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4.

And now, chapter 5...

Did I just admit that I was a total dick to an old girlfriend AND call myself a puto all in the same breath? Well, at least she's still here, but get a hold of yourself, dude. This date got kicked off just right, a bitter ex and a tampon tale, who could ask for more? Whatever, at least she was cool with me suggesting some place else and it was really cool of her to tell that story to make me feel better. It's not that I'm embarrassed, because I don't get embarrassed, it's just that you want to make the best impression on the first date. I'm not saying be someone you're obviously not, but just be real and hold some things back, like how much of a jerk you were to a girl.

"I think your breath is fresh enough," Veronica says.

"What?"

I look down and realize that I'm popping mints like crazy. I have like 3 left from a 30 count box.

"Oh, yeah, I'm a little obsessed with mints."

"I can tell." She flashes me a smile that should be illegal and I think might be in 34 states. I can't help but smile back and share this extremely cheesy moment with her.

"Hey guey, here's your ride, eh."

I turn around and see a Hispanic man standing by the door of my truck. Did he just call me "guey"? What kind of valet service is this? I don't care and although I would usually say something, this is neither the time nor the place.

I turn to Veronica, "Did you valet as well?"

"No, I'm, parked right over there." She points about 50 yards away.

"Oh, I can give you a ride to your car, hop in." I open the passenger door of my truck and make sure she's fully in before I close the door. I come around the other side and find the Hispanic man, with the Jaime badge on his vest, holding my door open. I slide him a 5 spot and get into my truck. Jaime proceeds to rest his elbow on my window frame and says, "You should get some 20s for your ride, mang. I have a tio that can hook it up."

"Um, no thanks, but have a good night."

I pull off in the direction of Veronica's car and I can hear her laughing.

"What's so funny?"

She looks at me, "Seriously, you can't find the humor in that whole exchange with the valet?"

"Of course I can, but I think it's more sad than anything, but you know what, if he feels comfortable enough with his clients to address them in that manner, then more power to him."

Veronica just kept laughing. We pull up to her car and she opens her door.

"So how do I get to this place?"

"Just follow me," I say with confidence.

She smiles, "Okay."

We jump on the 405 north and surprise, surprise there's traffic. I activate the bluetooth in my truck and call Veronica. "Hello?" she answers and fills my truck with her voice. I turn the volume down a little bit.

"Hey, sorry about this traffic," I apologize.

"No worries, it's the 405, there's traffic at 3 am."

We share a laugh, but the fact is that she's right. This damn freeway is the bain of my existence.

I try to make it better by switching subjects, "Have you ever been night golfing?"

"No, but I've been wanting to try it. It seems like a lot of fun."

"Oh, it is and we can share my clubs if it's alright with you."

"That won't be necessary, I have mine in the trunk," she says.

Now I can't say that I'm not impressed and that Veronica just gets more and more awesome. There has to be a catch though. Maybe she has 6 toes or webbed feet or something.

I attempt to make a joke, "Ah, the old keep my clubs in the trunk in case a date decides to go night golfing trick?"

"Get smart," she replies.

This girl is getting all my references and it's kind of hot. "Now the real question, old school Get Smart or the Steve Carell movie remake?"

Without hesitation she replies, "Old school of course."

This woman knows her stuff.

After way too long on the 405, we finally arrive at the golf course. It's a cool little place in the Valley with an executive course which has 9 holes and a couple of par 4's and a full 18 hole par 3 course. I thought it would be fun to do the back 9 of the par 3 and that's pretty much all we would have time for anyway. I often come out here to do some driving and release some stress. I always want to play the course at night, but can rarely find anyone to come with me. Jay came out once and I beat him pretty bad. I think he was more frustrated that he wasn't very good at golf because he's good at a lot of things. He hasn't been back since, what a wuss.

I pull into a nice spot and Veronica pulls in right next to me. I meet her at her door and help her out.

"So you gonna feed me first, Garret?"

"Of course I am, there's a cool spot down the street if you don't mind walking a little ways."

She shakes her head and says, "A little walking never hurt anybody."

We make our way to the roach coach with the neon green "Tacos" sign shining brightly. Veronica pauses and gives me a look.

"I vouch for this place, trust me," I reassure her.

"Okay," she says skeptically.

I ran across this taco place back in college in much crazier times. My roommates and I decided it would be fun to go around town and take bus stop bench adverts. We ended up taking about 6 different bus bench billboards. Everything from Janet Jackson's new album at the time to A Knight's Tale. What were we going to do with these 6 adverts? Nothing. We had no plan past acquiring them. Anyway, we came across this little roach coach and decided to give it a try. It was nothing short of awesomeness and Martha, she owns the coach, has been taking care of me ever since.

We walk up to the order area and Martha greets me, "¿Hola, mijo, como estas?"

"¿Muy bien, Martha, que tal?"

"Aqui, tratando de sobrevivir," she responds.

Martha's catering truck has taken a hit like everything else in this economy, but she has a loyal customer base and she's never raised prices on us. Martha's like a second mom to me and even when I didn't have any money to pay her, she would still feed me. Martha is cool peoples.

"Is she your friend?" Martha asks in broken English.

I totally forgot to introduce Veronica, "Yes, sorry, Martha, Veronica. Veronica, Martha."

"Pleased to meet you," says Veronica as she extends her hand towards Martha.

Martha shakes Veronica's hand and says, "You take cuidado of my hijo here, okay?"

Veronica nods her head and smiles at me.

"Do you like horchata, Veronica?" I ask

"Who doesn't?"

Awesome, so I order us 3 tacos each and an horchata for each of us. I was very impressed by the fact that Veronica didn't try and hide the fact that she was starving. She put it down on these tacos and tore up her horchata. I think we finished about the same time. We dumped our trash and I turn to Veronica, "Time to kick your butt at some golf."

"Whatever, dude, you don't even know," she says.

"I'll see you later, Martha!" I wave at her and she waves back and says, "Adios, y dile a Jay que me debe diez dolares."

I laugh, "Okay, I will."

We get back to the cars and I open my liftgate remotely and pull out my clubs. I close my liftgate and join Veronica at her trunk. She opens the trunk,

"What the..." we both say in unison.

That’s all I got is: wow. She’s wearing what I think is a pea coat and she’s looking at me. I ask, “Veronica?” She nods and we walk to meet each other.

Handshake or hug? Handshake or hug?

Damn, it, involuntary erection and I’m wearing slacks. Really, you’re going to be chillin’ this whole time and decide to pop up now and see what’s going on?

Handshake.

I cover myself up with my jacket so it’s not so noticeable and extend my hand as I approach her. We meet, she takes my hand in hers and her hands are freezing, but I don’t mind.

“Hi, Veronica, I’m Garret, nice to finally meet you in person”

“Same here. You don’t look like I imagined.”

I’m not sure how to take that, so I ask, “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, I expected—“

“A white guy?” I finish her thought.

“Well, yeah.”

“No worries, I guess naming me Garret was my parent’s way of assimilating. At least they didn’t name me Goofus or Gallant.”

“Highlights!”, she exclaims.

Nice, I like this woman already. She’s hot and got my Highlights reference.

“Yes, I like you 10% more already”, I joke.

“What?”

“Nothing, bad joke”, I pop another mint.

Now we’re sitting through the inevitable awkward silence, but it’s okay because it gives me a chance to take her in visually. Is that sexist? No, I have to be physically attracted to her first, right? The first thing I noticed were her eyes, she has the most beautiful set of hazel eyes that just invite you in for a warm cup of hot chocolate. What am I saying, hot chocolate? Anyway, she has the most luscious lips I have seen in a long time. She’s a brunette with shoulder length hair and my favorite part of her face is that it’s not hidden under a bunch of makeup. That’s a huge pet peeve of mine…a face full of makeup. I can’t really see her body because of that pea coat, but it looks promising. The other thing this awkward silence does is give me a chance to think of unsexy thoughts and remedy this erection situation. Wait, she just looked down at my crotch. Did she notice? If she did, she’s not giving it up. Whatever, say something to break this silence.

“Nice weather, huh?” Stupid question.

“Yeah, not bad”, she smiled. I know she can sense my nerves.

“We’re a little early, but I think they’ll seat us. Shall we?”

We walk towards the restaurant doors and I open the door for her.

“And they say chivalry is dead” she says.

“Who does?”

“They”, she smiles and looks back at me.

I follow her into the restaurant and walk up to the hostess. She couldn’t be older than 19 and a little too uppity for me.

“Hi, do you have a reservation?”, she asked with a cheesy smile.

“I do, under Reyes.”

“That means ‘kings’”, she stated proudly.

I gave a half assed smile.

“Here you are, we can seat you right now if you’d like.”

“Yes, please.”

I look behind me to find Veronica, but she’s already a step ahead and following the hostess. We get seated at this awesome booth with great privacy and not so much restaurant traffic. I wait for Veronica to sit, but she takes her coat off first and I think I had to roll my tongue back into my mouth because her body is bangin’! I’m talking thick in the right places and she is working that dress. She hands her coat to the hostess to be checked and takes a seat. Let’s just say it’s a good thing I got to sit down because these slacks are not working with me right now. I also hand my jacket to the hostess, but only after I sit down.

We get our menus and I act like I’m really studying this thing all while sneaking looks over the menu at Veronica. I already know what I want, so a menu wasn’t really necessary.

“Hi, how are we doing tonight? Garret?”

I look up at our waitress and no way, this can’t be happening.

*Previous chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2.

Okay, so I never do this, but my boy, Jay, said I would like this girl. I'm here about 15 minutes early because you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. God, I sound like a commercial. At least we're at a steakhouse and I know I'll enjoy my meal. Wait, what if she's a vegetarian and was just being polite when I suggested this place?

Crap!

Oh well, fingers crossed she's a carnivore. We've had one conversation via phone and she sounded hot, whatever that means. Why didn't I suggest iChat or Skype? At least that way we could have seen each other and decided if we even wanted to be bothered. Then it would defeat the whole purpose of a "blind date".

Jay has great taste in women, so I trust him, plus he's been my best friend since 5th grade. Jay punched me in the nose for allegedly stealing his piece of cake. The cake was mine all along and not one to back down, I punched him back in the eye. We were both sent to the Principal's office and while waiting for our parents to pick us up, we started making fun of the principal and how fat she was and we've been tight ever since.

I asked Jay why he didn't send me a Facebook or a MySpace page of this girl, but again "blind date", which he reminded me of. I just feel like that's so old school; there's no need for blind dates anymore, but it is kind of exciting. Not knowing if you're going to meet a goddess or a monster. All I know about this girl is her name, Veronica.

I'm so nervous it's kind of ridiculous. I've had like 3 mints in the last 30 seconds. That's what I do, I pop mints when I'm nervous.

She said she would be wearing a black pea coat. I didn't even know what that was, but wanted to seem like I did, so I didn't ask. Wait, what if it was a test to see how fashion savvy I was. Maybe I should've asked what a pea coat was.

Stop it! I'm reading too much into this. I glance to the side and notice a woman giving me a "look". I guess my nervousness is pretty obvious. I pop another mint, pull out my cell phone and feign interest in it. Then I realize I better bring up the picture of a pea coat I downloaded earlier to refresh my memory of what I'm suppose to be looking for.

I glance at the phone, record the image in my mind and put the phone away.

I look up and there she is, right in front of me.......

wow.

*for Chapter 2, tune into The Businez next Friday March 20th. I hope you enjoyed and enjoy where we go with this novella. Please leave feedback in the comment area, thanks!