"I want to see him."

"For the last time, Alejandro. I do not want you near him."

"El es mi padre."

"He is a monster," Mamá corrects, the word hitting me like a punch in the gut.

"Por favor, Mamá. I need to see him – we all do."

She sets the iron on the ironing board and looks at me with her serious face. I shiver.

"I said no. Now go give this to Valentino and make sure Santiago is awake," she hands me the shirt she ironed and gestures for me to go. I want to stay and try to convince her to let me see him, but I know it won't get anywhere.

I aggressively push open the door to Val and Santiago's room, and throw the shirt at Val. Santiago is unsurprisingly still asleep. I start to shake him but all he does is moan.

"I tried that," Val comments, watching me but not helping. Instead, I yank the covers off of him. "Harsh."

"Te odio," Santiago hisses and pulls the covers back over him.

"Get the fuck up."

He doesn't really hate me, and we'll be fine later. He probably knows that i'm just having a bad day, caused by my mother, who is stopping me from seeing the only person who understood me. Sure, maybe he was always out and was really suspicious, but he was doing it for us. I close my eyes and lean against their doorway. I can't keep making excuses for him. He has done something so unforgivable – I feel sick thinking about it. But he didn't have a choice.

"Alex?" My eyes snap open to see Ray standing in front of me. "You... alright?"

I stand back up straight and clear my throat. "Yeah, just got a headache."

"Can I ride with you today?"

"Fine, but i'm taking Marco to school too."

Ray nods and I walk back downstairs, but this time into the kitchen and away from mi madre and her make Alex pissed pills.

I freeze in my tracks when I see Amelia in the kitchen, reaching up to a cupboard and pulling out a bowl. She wears black leggings and a denim jacket, the leggings showing off her perfectly structured ass. The memory of her naked body pops into my mind – wet naked body. She's hot – there's no doubt about that. Everyone knows it. She knows it – or at least I thought she did until I saw her sitting with a couple of nerds and not pouncing around in front of the soccer team.

"You got back late last night," she says while I pour myself a glass of water.

"Thanks for telling me, I had no idea."

"What happened? You couldn't get the girl off?"

I scoff. "What makes you think I was with a girl? You don't know anything about me."

"I'd like to think I know enough."

"No, you've assumed enough. You know nada about me."

"I know that you scare people so they won't talk to you, and you think you're the shit so you can say anything you want. And I know about your dad-"

I slam the glass down on the counter, making her jump, and step closer to her. "What do you think you know about my Dad?" My voice is low and I can tell she's afraid of me. Good.

Her eyes bulge as she looks up at me. "That he did something bad, and he's in prison."

"But you don't know what he did. You don't know why. You don't even know him. So don't even think for a second that you fucking do."

She steps closer to me this time and we stand with our bodies just a millimetre away from touching. "You can't talk to me like that. I am so sick of guys like you who treat girls like shit."

I figure she's had some pendejo boyfriends in the past. I probably remind her of one, and that's why she thinks she knows all about me.

"Stay out of my way, and I won't have to talk to you at all."

"Fine. Let's just not speak at all," her blue eyes bore into mine and I almost feel intimidated.

Yasmin gasps when she opens the door and sees us, Valentino behind her. Amelia and I step away from each other.

"Sorry to interrupt," Yasmin smiles.

"No hay nada que interrumpir."

"Stay away from my mamacita, Alex." Val throws his arm around Amelia and I grimace.

"Whatever." I walk out and shout Ray and Marco from the bottom of the stairs. They come down a moment later and we leave.

The drive is silent until I drop Marco off at his school, then when Ray and I are alone he talks.

"What's with you this morning?"

"Nada," I stare ahead, my grip on the steering wheel tight.

"I still haven't met Amelia."

"Lucky you."

He raises an eyebrow when I say this. "Is she hot?"

"See for yourself."

"Max was talking about her. It's obvious he likes her."

My grip on the wheel tightens. "He doesn't like her." My voice is louder than I intended it to be. "He wants to fuck her."

Ray watches me for a moment, but doesn't say anything else.

"So tell me, Alex," Jace says when I sit down in math. "You are my closest friend, yet you didn't tell me that the sexy new girl is living with you. What is wrong with you? I feel betrayed."

I shrug. "It's not important." Why is it that everywhere I go I'm hearing about her?

"Are you kidding? Have you banged her yet?"

"No," I snap.

"I'd bang her."

"You'd bang anything with a vagina."

"Still. Hook me up."

"No."

"Why not? You're not gonna do anything with her-"

"Stop fucking talking about her like she's some object."

Jace is surprised, but shakes it off. "Sensitive subject then?"

Amelia walks in and goes to her seat. Mr. Aarons' eyes follow her ass as she walks and sits beside some dude. Fucking pervert.

She talks to the guy beside her and they laugh at something. My blood boils.

I don't even know why I'm bothered. I've came to the conclusion that everything about this girl infuriates me. It pisses me off that she's staying in our house, especially right now.

When school ends, Jace and I walk outside together where there is some big commotion happening. People are cheering and chanting, and it's obvious there is a fight happening.

I push past people to see who it is fighting, and sure enough, Ray is holding a guys collar and punching the shit out of him. Ray's nose is bloody and his clothes a mess, but the other guy has it worse.

"¡Basta!" I pull Ray back and Jace holds back the other guy. Disappointment erupts from the crowd and some people leave. "What is this about?" I look between them.

"It's better I don't repeat it or you'll be the one beating him," Ray tries to catch his breath.

"What did I tell you about fighting!" Yasmin yells as she pushes through people, with Amelia behind her. She reaches in her bag and pulls out a tissue and puts it on Ray's nose. He catches it and starts to wipe away the blood.

Jace let's the other guy walk away, then puts his arm around Yasmin. "Give him a break, Yas." She pushes his arm off of her.

"I'm telling Mom about this," she says and Ray looks at me for help.

"Leave Mom out of this. I'll deal with it," I assure her.

"Well is one of you going to introduce me to your new friend?" Jace says after a short silence, smiling at Amelia.

I take Ray's arm and pull him away. "Let's go." Santiago is smoking at his car when we get to it, looking over at where the fight was. "You saw that?"

"Didn't know it was him," he nods at Ray.

"Take him home. And get Marco." I walk over and take the cigarette from Santiago and put the end in my mouth, inhaling. I've had a rough day, and it's about to get worse. I deserve this.

"Where you going?"

I exhale the smoke and close my eyes. "Out." After another drag, I hand it back and walk to my car.

+++

The warehouse is busy today. Ryan Caligari's workers stand outside it, watching me warily as I walk inside. His office is placed at the back of the warehouse, making me have to walk past all the stock and try not to look bothered by the fact i'm surrounded by millions of drugs.

Caligari hands me a note with an address on it. "This guy owes me money. Sort him out for me. And tell him to stop by first thing tomorrow morning or you'll finish the job."

My breath hitches. "I won't-"

"Of course you're not gonna kill him – you'll tell him that. Johnny will do it if need be, since I am sympathetic about your Dad."

My fists clench at my sides. "I will never do anything like that."

He stands up from his desk chair, and straights up his suit jacket. "You will do what I ask, Fuentes. For now I won't ask that of you – you should be grateful."

"I'm not exactly grateful for having to go beat a guy up. But hey, it's my lucky day so I don't have to fucking kill him." My voice is loud, and Caligari steps towards me, slapping me across the face.

"Your pay just got cut to four-hundred." His malicious green eyes narrow. "Talk to me like that again and it will be one of your brothers who gets a slap. Understand?"

I nod, my body stiff. Caligari is not someone to be messed with, and he is true to his word. I turn around and leave, making my journey to the address with the guilt for this man already eating away at me.

+++

teaser: valentino throws a party and a of couple people get luckyyy

vote, comment, follow

ly

-e