Chapter 22
Sacrifice? What's this coward know about sacrifice? He left his daughter and her mother to fend for themselves and now wants to come back and play hero? He has no right to ask him what he's willing to sacrifice.
"With all due respect, sir, which is none, you have no right to ask me that question."
Jay was in mid bite when he heard Garrett say that to Vazquez and slowly pulled the fork from his mouth while swallowing his bite of mole covered pollo.
"What did you just say to me?" sternly asked Vazquez without taking his eyes off Garrett. If looks could kill, Vazquez' would be that alien weapon they used in District 9 that turned you into nothing but a red mist. Garrett wasn't intimidated one bit; he'd been running from this man for too long and had had enough.
"You heard me."
Vazquez lunged at Garrett and grabbed him by the collar. Garrett's plate and fork crashed to the living room floor, demolished. Jay jumped up and drew his gun from behind him which prompted all 5 of Vazquez' men to draw their weapons as well.
Garrett was as calm as he could be and looked Vazquez straight in is eyes, "I was eating that."
Vazquez chuckled at the cojones this kid had, "You're only alive because I haven't given the word."
"No, I'm alive because if you kill me, your daughter will not only not speak to you any more, but you'll be nothing but a failure in her eyes on top of that and you're too vain to let that happen."
Vazquez hated to admit it, but the kid was right. He has a chance, a slight one, but a chance nontheless to make things right with Veronica.
"John, what the hell are you doing?!?" Adrianna came out of the kitchen with refreshments and was greeted to 6 men pointing guns at eachother. It was like a scene out of a movie.
"Relax, Adrianna, me and the boy are just talking," assured Vazquez.
"Then why are you holding him by his collar?" Adrianna wasn't stupid.
"He just had a little trouble hearing me."
"¿Y eso?" Adrianna pointed to the broken plate of mole.
"Maybe he's full," Vazquez' gaze went back to being fixed on Garrett. Adrianna went back into the kitchen to get a mop and clean up the mess. "Tell your boy to put the gun away," Vazquez demanded.
"You're the one that has five pointed right back at us," said Garrett.
"Looks like we have ourselves a little situation here, fellas," chimed in Jay.
"Jay! Shut the hell up! I got this," shouted Garrett without breaking his gaze from Vazquez. "So what's it going to be, old man, you going to kill us or are we going to work something out for your daughter's sake?"
Just then Adrianna walks back into the room with a mop and a trash bag. She kneels down and starts picking up the broken pieces of glass. She is right in between Vazquez and Garrett and is starting to get on Vazquez' last nerve.
"Can you clean this later?" asked Vazquez.
Adrianna looks up at Vazquez, "You want to clean it?"
Silence.
"That's what I thought, keep it up and I'll show you how good I can clean house around here," Adrianna went back to cleaning up the mess. Vazquez waits until she is finished and leaves the living room.
Guns are still drawn and Vazquez still has Garrett by his shirt collar. "You're ruining my shirt and it wasn't cheap," says Garrett.
"I could give two shits about your shirt. Now apologize and I won't hurt you and your friend...too badly."
"If I didn't have any respect for Veronica's mother or her household, I would head butt you in the face right now," Garrett wasn't scared of this prick anymore.
BANG!
A shot rang out and the mirror on the living room wall shattered. One of Vazquez' men stood looking guilty.
Vazquez let go of Garrett's collar and walked over to his guy who let the shot go. He stood in his face for a good ten seconds without saying a word. Then--
SMACK!
Vazquez' swift back hand bitch slapped the man so hard that the man's eyes began to tear up. "Oh, you're going to cry now? Get him out of here!" demanded Vazquez.
"Actually you can all get out!" screamed Adrianna as she walked back into the living room. "I was sitting here quietly minding my own business when you animals showed up! Now get out! Now!"
"Adrianna, what about Veronica?" asked Vazquez.
"I've been fine up until now, John, I think I can handle this myself. You need to go."
Vazquez knew Adrianna was serious and didn't want to put her through anymore than he already had. "I'll send you another mirror, sorry," said Vazquez to Adrianna on his way out. "To be continued, Garrett," he said as he stepped out of the door.
Garrett and Jay were left with Adrianna in the living room. The silence was extremely awkward.
"I guess we should get going too," said Garrett and signaled for Jay to follow him out, but Adrianna stepped in front of him.
"Actually, I have something to show you," said Adrianna. She went into the bedroom and reappeared with a package and her cell phone. "A few days ago, Veronica sent me this text," she handed the phone to Garrett.
Mom, sent u a pkg don't open til Garrett arrives.
How the hell did Veronica know that he was going to be at her mother's house?
"Are you sure this was from her?" asked Garrett.
"It's from her number," said Adrianna.
"A few days ago?" asked Jay, "she had her cell taken away long before then."
"Then who sent me the text," asked Adrianna.
"More importantly," said Garrett. "What's in the package?"
*Editor's note: Next installment will come in 2 weeks on Inez' The Businez on 8/28/09.
“So how do you propose we find her mother?” asked Jay.
“What about her lame ass cousin? He’s got to know where she lives," thought Garrett.
“Maybe, but we don’t even know where to find him.”
Garrett knew Veronica’s cousin Arturo could be gone by now, probably out of the country. He has to try though; Veronica was in some hospital in Mexico alone. Garrett asked Jay to borrow his cell phone since he had no idea where his was. Garrett punched in the memorized number and waited.
“Name?” said the voice on the other end.
“Arturo Nuñez,” responded Garrett.
Garrett listened for a few seconds and hung up the cell phone. “Okay, let’s go pay this puto a visit.”
“Who were you just talking to?” asked Jay.
“No one, I was getting Arturo’s address.”
“Why didn’t we just call him? I have his cell number,” said Jay.
Garrett stares at Jay for a minute and shakes his head. “Why didn’t you mention that information earlier?”
“You didn’t ask, boss.”
"But you said we don’t know where to find him.”
“True, but I never said we couldn’t contact him.”
Garrett tosses the phone back to Jay, “Get him on the phone.”
*************************************************************************************
The joint smelled like cheap beer and cigarettes, just the way Arturo liked it. He was king here and anything he wanted he could have. He stood at the entry way and waited for his hostess to greet him. A big breasted Latina with big brunette locks and more curves than a race track walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Long time no see, Mr. Nuñez,” she said.
“Please, Carmen, I’ve told you to call me Arturo.”
Carmen leaned in real close to his ear and whispered, “What if I don’t want to?” She then licked his ear lobe and smiled at him. Yes, Carmen was Arturo’s favorite and even though she never took her clothes off, she drove the men wild.
She led Arturo to his usual table that already had his requested bottle of champagne on ice sitting on it. He sat and enjoyed the scenery of the strip bar.
“Is there anything else I can get for you, Mr. Nuñez?” asked Carmen as she poured him a glass of champagne.
“No, not yet at least,” said Arturo and with a wink and a smack on the ass, he sent Carmen on her way. He sat back and drank his bubbly and just thought what a great life he had. He had enough money to have any woman in the joint. Plus, he felt like he deserved it after all the hard work he did that week. Another beautiful woman dressed in a bikini and six inch heel clear stilettos walked toward Arturo. Her face was too pretty to be working here, Arturo thought.
She sat next to him and put her arm around him. “Hi,” she said.
“Hello”.
“What’s your name, handsome?”
“Arturo and yours?” asked Arturo.
“I’m Nautica” Nautica held out her hand.
Arturo grabbed her hand and kissed it, “Nice to meet you, Nautica.”
“So can I dance for you?”
“Look at you, right to the point.”
Nautica giggled, “I don’t beat around the bush, unless you want me to.”
“You can beat around something else,” said Arturo laughing. He grabbed a glass and poured Nautica some champagne. Nautica took a sip and put the glass back down on the table along with her purse. She then turned towards Arturo and straddled him face to face.
“Come on, daddy, let’s have some fun.”
Arturo could do nothing but nod his head. Nautica began to grind on his lap slowly. Arturo rested his hands on her hips and guided her. She leaned forward and rubbed her torso across his face, breasts first, then navel and stopping just above her bikini line. You couldn’t slap the smile off of Arturo’s face and she wasn’t even naked yet.
T Pain’s “I’m in Luv With a Stripper” played in the background and Arturo could do nothing, but laugh. Nautica smiled at him and stood up in front of Arturo. This is it, Arturo thought, when the clothes come off!
He was right; Nautica turned her back to him and glanced over her shoulder at him. She smiled and winked as she undid her top. She turned around still clutching the top to her chest and then the reveal. She had the most amazing breasts that Arturo had ever laid eyes on.
“How have I not seen you in here before?” asked Arturo.
“I just started a couple of weeks ago.”
Nautica pushed Arturo back against the sofa and began to straddle him again.
BRRRRRRRRRING! BRRRRRRRRRING!
Nautica gives Arturo a look as he reaches for his cell phone. He finally gets it out of his pocket and sees “Jay” on the caller ID. He thinks about sending him to voicemail, but knows better than that. He looks at Nautica who stands topless in front of him with an annoyed expression on her face. “I need to take this, sorry.” Arturo plugs his left ear to hear better and answers the call, “Hello?....yeah, why?.....I can’t do that, man….okay, okay, fine…..you need to pick me up though…..I’m at my usual spot….later.” Arturo ends the call and turns his attention back to Nautica who has now put her top back on.
“Whoa, wait…why’d you put them away?” asked Arturo.
“Well, the phone call was obviously more interesting than me and I have to get back to work.”
“But we weren’t done.”
“I am,” and with that Nautica left Arturo to his champagne.
***********************************************************************************
“Yes, we’re almost there,” said Arturo.
Garrett was getting nervous about meeting Veronica’s mom and having to tell her that Veronica was in the hospital. One thing he knew was that there was no time for small talk, they would introduce themselves and then get to the point to be able to get back to Veronica quickly.
Jay noticed Garrett was in deep thought and sensed something might be wrong other than the obvious. “You alright, boss?”
“Yeah, just thinking about how to word things to Veronica’s mom. What’s your tia’s name, Arturo?” asked Garrett.
“Adrianna, my Titi Adrianna. I’m not exactly her favorite person, so I’ll stay in the car,” said Arturo.
They pulled up to this small house with a couple of cars parked out front. “It looks so quiet,” said Jay.
“Yeah and here we are to mess it up. Let’s go,” Garrett motioned for Jay to get out of the truck.
The walk up to the front door seemed to take a lifetime and Garrett could hear his heart beat with every step he took. He wiped the sweat off his palms on his jeans and cracked his knuckles. He popped two mints and ran his hand through his hair.
Jay and Garrett finally arrived at the front door. Garrett just stood there going over what he was going to say in his head. What if she’s not home, he thought. Well the cars out front tell a different story, so she has to be home. Garrett rang the doorbell.
BRRRRRRRRRRRING!
Garrett and Jay waited and they could hear footsteps coming towards the door.
The door opened and there stood Vazquez.
“Gentlemen, we’ve been expecting you.”
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.”
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.
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.
