Chapter Eight
“Shorinda, this is Hunter and Zed,” Aliana said.
The nurse’s eyes were wide as she stared at the two men who towered over her. She swung her glance back at Aliana.
“Girlfriend, where have you been finding these men? Can I get a subscription? I have a little saved up. I’ve been a good girl.” Then she turned back to look at the two men. “But I know how to be naughty,” she teased with a slow smile.
Aliana knew she was turning forty-seven shades of red, but when she looked up at Hunter, his eyes were sparkling.
“Shorinda, I’m sure you are quite the package, but I’m loyal to my current subscriber.” Holy hell, now she was going to need a fire extinguisher to put out her blush. They all saw it too, and even Zed was grinning at her. Sakra.
“Actually, they’re here to help with the difficulty Maminka and I have been experiencing.”
Shorinda’s eyes went hard. “Don’t think I didn’t notice all these new bruises, little girl. What the hell happened? First, you come in with blood dripping off of you, and now you look like you’ve gone three rounds with Conor McGregor. Boys, you’re not doing your job.”
“We got into town after the bomb,” Zed said.
“Bomb?” Shorinda screeched.
“Shhhhh, keep it down.” Aliana looked over her shoulder to see her mother, her eyes wide open, looking at nothing. Still, just in case something might get through, she didn’t want her to overhear the conversation.
“Bomb? Bomb? What the ’eff? Tell me what’s going on. And you two, tell me how you’re going to keep my girl and her Mama safe.”
“We’ve got a 24/7 watch on Aliana, and we’re here to see what kind of security this facility has.”
“Basically, nothing. Did Aliana tell you about the threats to her mother?”
“Yes. She’s made her confession.”
“Shorinda, that’s old news, okay?” Aliana gave her friend a hard stare. She looked around the new room and saw it was larger. “Does Maminka like the new room? Does it bother her being on the third floor?”
“Honey, she was happy two days ago.”
“Shorinda, if money were no object, where would you put her mom for two weeks while this shit died down?” Zed asked, changing the subject.
“It’s only going to take two weeks for you to get this settled?” the nurse asked.
“If that,” Hunter said.
“Well then, I’d take two weeks vacation, rent a hospital bed, and bring her to my house. It’s a three bedroom bungalow about fifteen miles from here. It’s in a great little neighborhood, and I keep it neat as a pin. You’re welcome to come see it before having your Mama come stay with me. And it’s not a matter of money. I would charge the same amount as this place.”
Then she paused and sighed. “But that’s a pipe dream because there is no way I would make Aliana pay twice’ she’d have to pay for her Mama’s spot here, then pay me. That’s not fair.”
“Done,” Zed said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Hunter demanded. “I’ve got this covered.”
“Boys,” Aliana said, straightening up. “I appreciate what you’re doing. I really do. But now that I know this is a two-week deal, of course, I have this covered.” She looked over at Shorinda who shook her head.
“What?” Hunter demanded.
“There’s taking charge, then there’s being a steamroller.” Aliana reached up and pushed back her hair so she could see both of the offenders clearly. “I think you and Tarzan haven’t just crossed a line, I think you ran the race and managed to hit the finish line in the chauvinism race.”
“It’s sad, really,” Shorinda said. “I keep forgetting all those beautiful muscles come with a price tag.”
“How come I feel like I just met Vice Principal Novak?” Hunter asked.
“Welcome to my world Hunter,” Aliana drawled. “I feel like I just met a Jarhead.”
“Hey! Tarzan is acceptable, Jarhead is unacceptable. That’s a Marine. We’re Frogs,” Zed said.
“That’s not manly,” Aliana frowned.
“Just roll with it girlfriend,” Shorinda advised as she patted her arm. “I can take vacation starting tomorrow. I have so much saved up, they’ve been trying to boot my butt for months. This is perfect. I can get the ball rolling to coordinate the hospital bed and everything, and we can have her moved in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. You can arrange to have her signed out for a couple of weeks when you leave this afternoon. Now, go spend some time with your Mama while I entertain your admirers.”
“They aren’t my admirers,” she protested.
“Your protectors then or the hot men who are standing here in front of me. I don’t care what the hell we call them, let me talk to them while you talk to your Mama.”
“Shorinda, I think it would be best if you don’t objectify them. You should refer to them as Zed and Hunter.” Aliana was using her professional training.
“Nope, I like being objectified. It makes the day go faster,” Hunter laughed.
“I don’t think Zed appreciates it,” Aliana said primly.
“I bet you’re hell on wheels as a Vice Principal. I sure as hell wouldn’t have predicted this when I saw you sixteen years ago,” Zed’s voice was full of admiration.
“You saw me back then?”
He nodded. That made no sense. She thought back to who she was at twelve and cringed. Hunter must have seen it.
“Let’s go say hi to your Mom,” he said.
She looked over her shoulder at her Mother who currently looked catatonic. Introduce him? What was he talking about? But then again, she always believed part of what she said was getting through, even on nights like these.
“Okay.”
He snuck his arm around her waist.
“Maminka, this is Hunter Diaz, do you remember him?”
She didn’t move a muscle, not even batting an eyelash.
“She’s not always like this. Sometimes she’s asleep, sometimes she’s awake. Sometimes she recognizes me.” She wanted Hunter to understand her mother was so much more than who he was seeing at the moment.
“I know, Cariña.” She saw they had an IV set up. That meant that her mother had either been like this for a while or while she was cognizant, she hadn’t been eating. “Do you speak to her in English or Czech?” he asked.
“Czech.”
“She sings to her,” Shorinda called from across the room. Then she opened up a cupboard and brought Aliana her guitar. She looked at Hunter. “She sings like an angel.”
Just how often could one person blush before their face became permanently red?
Hunter frowned. “I didn’t know you played the guitar.”
“Babička taught Maminka how to play, then she taught me. I guess it’s a family tradition.”
“Play one of the songs you wrote,” Shorinda encouraged.
Aliana glared at her friend.
“I’m going to play one of Maminka’s favorite songs, it’s one she danced to at her wedding.”
Aliana plucked at the guitar chords and soon lost herself in the music. She really liked this song, it talked about how the couple was meant to be together in both this life and the one after. She knew how much her mother loved her father, and for her sake, she hoped they would one day meet again, and it would be like it used to be when Aliana was little and her dad was nice and kind. When she finished the last note, she looked down at her mother and saw a single tear dripping down her temple.
“Hunter, do you see?” She grabbed his forearm excitedly. “I think she heard me.”
“I see, mi Cielieto.” She warmed at the endearment. He reached up and touched her flushed cheek. “I love this blush. I know when you have strong feelings. You are a slice of heaven. You know that, don’t you?”
She ducked her head. He tilted up her chin.
“Sing another song,” he requested. “You have a beautiful voice.”
Sakra, her blush got hotter. She’d gotten many compliments in college, but none meant more to her than Hunter’s praise. How could he have come to mean so much to her again?
Because he was Hunter Diaz, her heart whispered. He would always mean the world to her.
“We’ve got to go if we want to make it back to the school in time,” Zed said.
She looked over at the other man, she had forgotten he was there. Shorinda was gone. She must have had to get back to other patients.
“School?” Aliana asked.
Zed walked over to them. “We’re going to question Nicolas, and hopefully, he can take us to his sister. Better yet, that scum of a brother.”
Aliana stood straighter. “Nicolas Garcia? My Nicolas? Why in the world would you be questioning him?” she demanded softly. She motioned for the two men to follow her toward the cupboard, so she could put away her guitar and not disturb her mother. She didn’t want to have a knock-down-drag-out in front of her mom.
“Why didn’t you tell us that Mateo was related to one of your students?” Hunter asked.
“I meant to, I just hadn’t gotten to it.” Sakra, how could she have forgotten? “How did you find out?” Then she sighed. “You talked to Lottie, didn’t you?”
“Damn right we did, and it was nice that she was more forthcoming.” Zed said menacingly.
“Back off,” Hunter growled at Zed.
“Quit being so damn soft on her. She’s a big girl. She’s proved it.”
“He’s right, I am. I screwed up not telling you. But really he’s not involved in this, not the way you’re making this sound, Zed.”. I don’t want you questioning him. Full stop, end of story.”
“Lady, you can’t know that. He’s probably part of this gang, so he knows.”
“You’re right, he is. But he’s a good kid. He wants out.”
“And you’re just buying that? You’re naïve.” Hunter and Zed kind of looked alike, with their Mexican heritage, same dark hair, and brown eyes, but Zed’s were looking almost black and cold, while Hunter’s were a warm chocolate. Zed was pissing her off and she glared at him.
“Nicolas is only fifteen. He’s not going to be questioned without a parent.”
Zed snorted. “Let me guess, he’s from a one parent home, and his mother is either working two jobs trying to keep things together, or she’s strung out on drugs. Which is it?”
How the hell did he know that? “Two and a half jobs,” Aliana admitted slowly. “Nicolas is incredible. His paper was a finalist in the Library of Congress literacy contest. That and the scores I expect him to have on his SATs, he’ll be recruited by colleges.”
“Only if a Vice Principal I know happens to be making a lot of phone calls on his behalf,” Hunter teased gently. At least this time, she didn’t blush because dammit, of course, she was going to make those calls. Nicolas deserved it.
“Anyway, he wouldn’t know anything about my townhome being bombed.”
“He has information about his brother, and don’t tell me he doesn’t know anything about Los Demonios,” Zed said.
“He’s a straight-A student,” she hedged.
Zed laughed. “Did I tell you I grew up not fifteen minutes from Bertrum High School? I belonged to a gang. I joined when I was twelve. I got As and Bs. I don’t even want to get into what I was doing by the time I was fifteen.” He sounded sad and bitter.
“I’m so sorry, Zed.”
“I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m trying to explain about gang members. Don’t stereotype us.”
She looked over at Hunter. She’d known him when he was seventeen in a gang. He hadn’t been that way.
“Zed’s right,” Hunter said to her.
“We need to talk to Nicolas, Aliana, he knows things. There’s no way he doesn’t have knowledge if not some sort of involvement,” Zed said. “We also need to talk to his sister.”
She hoped these two men who got out of the life, could do a better job of helping Nicolas out than she had.
“Have you guys read Animal Farm?”
“Huh?” Zed said.
“I think so,” Hunter said.
“He finalled in the Literacy Contest with a paper about Animal Farm. The book is about a pig named Napoleon, who is basically Stalin, and the other pig is Snowball, who is a compilation of Trotsky and Lenin. Nicolas compared the current gang leader of Los Demonios to Napoleon and he said he hoped he could be like Snowball and help overthrow the dictator-like leadership. He read this book six months ago. I think he’s been doing things to disrupt the gang for awhile now. He just told me about it.”
“Fuck me,” Zed said.
“We’ve got to talk to him, quick,” Hunter said.
“I know, I’ve tried to talk him out of it, but he’s committed to the idea.”
“We need to get to the school right now.” Hunter put his arm around her waist. He did it gently, cognizant of her bruises. He looked down at her. “Say goodbye to your Maminka.” Her heart melted that he used the Czech term for Mama. They walked over to her bed together. She bent over and brushed a kiss on her mother’s warm, dry cheek.
“I love you, Mama. I’ll see you soon,” she said in Czech.
Hunter led her to the door where Zed was waiting. “We’ve got to hurry.”
Their unease was blowing her anxiety levels through the roof. She felt like an idiot that she hadn’t realized how explosive this situation was. Lottie wouldn’t have made this kind of mistake.
Zed led the way, and Hunter took a moment to whisper in her ear.
“Don’t beat yourself up.”
“Lottie says I judge too much on stereotypes. She says I need to look deeper. I hate this.”
“We all have our blind spots.”
“I’m an educator. If I’m this naïve, maybe I should step down.”
He halted them in the hallway. Zed stopped out of earshot, pointing to his watch. Hunter waved him away. “Are you always this hard on yourself?”
“I suppose.”
“Is that a yes or a no?”
“It’s a yes. But Hunter, these kids are important. They’re in my care. Some of them have nobody in their corner. I have to stand up for them. If I’m this blind, then what use am I to them?”
“Are you or are you not helping Nicolas with his academics and a possible way out of East L.A.?”
“Yes, I’m helping him, but what will it matter if he ends up dead?”
“Did you learn from this? Will you have a better understanding of the next Nicolas?”
She slowly nodded.
“Well, there you go then. Cariña, you’re too hard on yourself. It’s a damn good thing I’m here to make sure you don’t beat yourself bloody.”
Aliana huffed out a breath. His words evoked different ways to get bloody, different ways to relieve the pressure, so she didn’t feel like such a failure.
Be strong. You’re past that.
“Alia, are you with me?”
“Huh?”
“You seemed in a daze.”
“Just thinking of Nicolas. We better get going.” They turned to Zed.
“About goddamn time. I’m going to have to do some creative driving in that piece of shit rental to make it. Now, get a move on.”
***
Hunter watched as Aliana put her hair up in an intricate bun. She did it easily, without a mirror and with a few bobby pins she had in her purse. When she was done, it was as if she took on a whole new persona. She was now Ms. Novak. He didn’t know if he was scared or put-off, but one thing was sure, he was sure as hell turned on.
For God’s sake, the reason he had come back was he could no longer stand not knowing why she’d sent him away. She had been his best friend, in some ways, she had been his savior. Now here he was feeling lust? What the fuck? Get it together, Diaz.
They parked two blocks from the school. They all agreed having Zed or Hunter approach Nicolas would freak the kid out. They also thought because of Aliana’s injuries, she couldn’t approach Nicolas either, so she arranged to have Lottie bring him to them.
Nicolas was taller than Lottie by an inch even though she was wearing those ridiculous red heels. He was a good-looking kid. Didn’t have that cocky attitude Hunter had been expecting, instead, he looked curious until he saw Aliana, then his entire demeanor changed.
“Ms. Novak, what happened? Are you all right? Dios Mio, should you be in a hospital? Sit down.”
Right then, he knew he liked the kid. Aliana was standing outside the passenger door, and he opened it for her when he took note of Hunter and Zed. Nicolas ignored them for the moment and gave Aliana his hand to help her into the car.
“Nicolas, seriously, I’m fine,” she laughed.
He crouched down in front of her. “Tell me what happened,” he demanded.
She sighed and looked at Hunter in the backseat. “I see you were right, still waters run deep.” She looked back at Nicolas. “My home was bombed three days ago.”
“Joder!” Nicolas said with feeling.
“Nicolas,” Aliana reprimanded.
“Leave the kid alone. Fuck is the appropriate word,” Zed said.
“Who are these men?”
“They’ve come to protect me, my mom, and my grandmother.”
Nicolas eyed her knowingly, sadly. “All of you have been threatened. By who?”
She didn’t want to tell him. She couldn’t.
“If you don’t, I will,” Hunter rumbled from the backseat.
She stayed silent.
“It was your brother, Mateo,” Zed answered.
Nicolas closed his eyes and stood up. He walked away from the car. Hunter bolted out of the backseat.
Nicolas turned to face him. He looked him dead in the eye.
“I’m not leaving, I just need to think a minute,” he said fiercely.
“Wanna take a walk?” Hunter asked in Spanish.
Nicolas nodded.
Hunter saw Lottie walk toward the car as he and Nicolas began walking down the block.
“Who are you?” Nicolas asked after they walked two blocks.
“I’m an old friend of Ms. Novak’s.”
“You look like a cop or something.”
“I’m a SEAL.”
Nicolas stopped in the middle of the uneven sidewalk. “For real?”
“Yep.”
He blew out a breath and started walking again. “You probably think I’m scum.”
“Why do you say that? Do you think I would judge you because of something your brother did? That’s bullshit.”
“Didn’t Ms. Novak tell you I’m part of my brother’s gang. I’m in Los Demonios. That means I’m part of something that did this. Fuck. Why didn’t I see this possibility?” Kid sounded just like Aliana with the way he beat himself up.
“Hell, dude, I was part of Las Nuevas Espadas. I didn’t get out until I was almost eighteen and joined the Navy. I wasn’t responsible for everything my gang did.”
“Yeah, but gangs are worse than what they were in the olden days.”
This time it was Hunter who stopped walking as he barked out a laugh.
“Olden days? Jesus, Kid, just how old do you think I am?”
“Forty-five?” he asked tentatively.
“Try thirty-one. I need to start wearing a higher SPF sunscreen.”
“So maybe they haven’t changed much. Drugs?” Hunter nodded. “Hookers?” Hunter nodded. “Shakedowns?” Hunter nodded. “Turf-wars?”
“Oh, yeah. Somehow I managed to keep my hands clean. I never killed anyone. I dealt a little, but I stayed away from the hard stuff. I took a lot of heat for being a pussy. I was an enforcer, but mostly just intimated people because of my size.”
Nicolas looked him up and down. “Yeah, I could see how that would work. But you got out. I’m going to get out. I have Ms. Novak. Most of the good ones don’t have anyone like her. They don’t have my opportunities, but I’m helping them.”
Yep, it was just like Aliana had suspected.
“What have you been doing?”
“I’ve skimmed a little off some deals and got them on buses out of town. I got three of them off to different families in the Midwest through a church program. We got one girl, a working girl, into a rehab center up in the Valley. She should be getting out next week.” There was such pride on the kid’s face. Hell, he should be proud, but scared. Why wasn’t he scared?
“Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?”
“I’m doing the right thing. Ms. Novak does the right thing. She stands up to gang members at school. She expels them. She tries to make the school a bully-free environment. It doesn’t work, but she tries. I’m just following in her footsteps. Plus, I read this great book,” he said excitedly.
Hunter pressed the bridge of his nose. Holy fuck, if this kid was caught, they’d make an example of him for sure. He was going to be gutted.
“Let’s table this for the time being.”
“Okay. You want to talk about Mateo, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Look, he didn’t bomb Ms. Novak’s house.”
“I know he’s your brother, but he attacked her. Five days before her house blew up, he attacked and cut her. It was him.”
Nicolas stopped short. “So she wasn’t in a car wreck, she should have told me then.”
“You know that’s not her,” Hunter said.
“He is a dead man walking,” he said in an ominous voice.
Hunter put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Don’t say things like that.”
Nicolas shook off his hand. “He’s a dead man,” Nicolas said tightly. “What did he do to her?”
“He used a knife on her. He cut her.”
“Goddammit, she’s the one good thing in my life besides my mother.”
“Then he bombed her house.”
“No, he didn’t do that,” Nicolas sounded tired. “If he wanted her dead, she’d be dead. There is no way that the bomb wouldn’t have worked.” Nicolas raked his fingers through his curly hair. “He was trying to kill her in a way I wouldn’t associate with him. But if Mateo had planted the bomb, she’d be dead for sure. He’s offed at least three people, one a social worker with a bomb. There was nothing left to identify.” Nicolas shuddered. “This wasn’t him, he might have ordered it, but he didn’t execute it.”
“What are you thinking?” Hunter asked.
“Somebody wanted her to live. Somebody in Mateo’s personal posse, my guess it’s Rafael Lopez. He came up on me and Maria talking. I think he overheard us, but it never went anyplace. I was sweating bullets for a couple of days.”
“For fuck’s sake, you should have been.” Hunter squeezed his shoulder. “You need to stop this happy horseshit.”
“I can’t. It’s what I was meant to do.”
“Fine, tell me about Rafael.”
“I think he lives in the apartments on Eastern and Belhurst. Sometimes, he picks up some extra cash by working as a valet at a hotel downtown. It’s a swanky one near the Staples Center. He gets wax impressions of car keys, so they can steal the car later, or if the guest is local and just doing a getaway weekend, he’ll steal their house keys and break into their home. You should be able to find him there.”
“Do you know the name of the hotel?” Hunter asked.
“It’s the Blue.”
Hunter nodded. He had to try again.
“Nicolas, this has got to stop.”
“No. I’m on a mission.” God, the kid sounded like Cesar Chavez or some shit. A real revolutionary.
“Nicolas, I understand what you’re saying, but until Ms. Novak is in the clear, you need to halt all activities. She’s in too much danger, and the shit you’re pulling will just make her more of a target.”
“You think what I’ve done has something to do with her house being bombed?”
“Yes, I do. Think about it. I’m guessing the kids you got out of the gang go to Bertrum High, right?”
“Yep.”
“So, they’d lay that at her doorstep, wouldn’t they?” The kid’s eyes got wide.
“Fuck. I never considered that. I would never put her in harm’s way.”
“I know you wouldn’t.”
“Can you protect her? What should I do? How can I help?” The kid sounded fierce.
“Let’s go back to the car.”
“Who’s the other guy?”
“He grew up around here. Now, he’s really from the olden days, so you can tell him he looks fifty.”
Nicolas gave him a sideways look, “I’ll pass.”
Yep, a smart kid.
“Zed is another Navy SEAL, I’ve got a third buddy who is over at her grandmother’s right now watching her place.”
“Is―”
“Yep, he’s a SEAL, too.”
“Damn, but still, unless you have all of Las Nuevas Espadas, I don’t think you’re going to be able to take down Los Demonios,” he warned.
Zed was standing outside the car and overheard what Nicolas said, Lottie wasn’t there anymore.
“We’re not looking to take down your brother’s gang. We’re looking to keep Aliana safe. Does that mean taking your brother off the board? Yes, but we want to do this the easy way,” Zed assured him.
“Prison isn’t easy,” Nicolas said.
“It’s better than dead,” Zed said harshly. “He tried to kill a woman who has been nothing but good to you. Look at her,” he motioned to Aliana. She was sitting back with her head against the headrest. She looked pale. She should never have put her hair in that bun. It had probably given her a headache, then with this heat, she must be really hurting. She needed to go home.
“We also want to talk to your sister, Darla.”
“Why?” Nicolas asked. It was clear he was not happy with the idea.
“Ms. Rodriguez suggested she might have helpful information,” Hunter said.
“That makes no sense. She’s been sick. She wouldn’t have anything to say.” He sounded protective.
“Nicolas, if Ms. Rodriguez thinks Darla might have something to offer, she probably has a good reason why,” Aliana called out softly from the car window.
All three males looked at her.
“How far do you live from here?” Hunter asked Nicolas.
“About a mile.”
“Zed, why don’t you take a slow walk with Nicolas, while I drive Aliana home. I’ll meet up with you in thirty minutes at Nicholas’ house, we’ll talk more there.”
“Wanna go to the taco truck on Conroy? My treat.” Zed asked the kid.
“That wouldn’t be too bad.” Nicholas said.
“Make it an hour,” Zed said. “What’s your address?” he then asked Nicolas.
The kid rattled it off, and Hunter plugged it into his phone.
He got into the driver’s seat and turned to Aliana, who looked too pale for his peace of mind. He rolled up the windows and put the air conditioning on max. About four blocks from her grandmother’s, she started to look around.
“Take your hair down.”
“What?”
“Your hair, take it down.”
He pulled in behind Dalton’s truck.
“You really don’t like it when I wear my hair up, do you?” Her voice was husky from sleep. It went straight to his cock.
“Mi Cariña, you have been fighting a headache since we visited your mother, haven’t you?”
She didn’t answer.
“You already told me wearing your hair up in a bun, or whatever that hairdo is, just makes your head hurt more, so take your fucking hair down. This is not about me, it’s about you.” Her already big blue eyes got even rounder.
“Am I Jane?”
“Is this a Tarzan reference?”
She gave a quick head bob as she pulled pins out of her hair. He could give a shit what she called him as long as she wasn’t hurting. He watched as she carefully put them into a certain pocket in her purse. He wasn’t surprised she was so neat and tidy.
“There, are you satisfied?”
“Not quite.” He pulled her close, then pushed his fingers through the wheat, ash, and gold strands and massaged her neck and scalp. She went soft against his front and whimpered. Dalton walked up to her side of the car, peeked in the window, then walked away. Good man.
“Hunter, should you be doing this?” she almost moaned the words, her Czech accent thick.
“Making you feel good? Yes, I should always make you feel good. That’s my job.”
“There are things you don’t know,” she whispered against his chest.
“Don’t start with the happy horseshit,” he said softly.
His heart warmed when she giggled.
Now that she was soft, warm, and pliant, he wanted to ask her again why she had sent him away, but instead, he decided to enjoy the moment. It felt too damn good not to.
“I won’t start. I just need to enjoy this moment. I need it.”
“Good girl.” He stroked her hair until he reached the center of her back. He did it again and again until her trembling stopped. “Do you know how big of a piece of my world you were back then?”
She looked up at him. “Your letter said I was, but after dad, I stopped believing. I wanted to believe so badly, but I stopped.” She pressed her head against his chest. He could feel her tears through his white t-shirt.
“You shouldn’t have, Cariña. It was always true. Even now, what I wrote is still true. It was just you and Mamie and LL. And it was you and Mamie who made me feel clean and good about myself. But I… But down deep, I always felt dirty. Always.”
She lifted her head and stared into his eyes.
“Why? I would have remembered if you weren’t clean, so it wasn’t that. And you were always so good. You did good and were so nice to me. How could you ever see yourself as dirty?”
“I never told you about when I was younger. I didn’t want you to think less of me. I should have known it wouldn’t have mattered to you, but I was ashamed.”
She cupped his cheek, her thumb tracing the crease in his cheek. “Tell me.”
“Mamie isn’t really my grandmother, did you know that? She was the neighbor lady across the hall.”
“No, mi Cariño, I didn’t know that.”
Something eased at her whispered endearment.
“Tell me,” she encouraged.
“I remember things when I was really young. I mean really young. I was probably only two. I knew who my parents were even though there were three men and three women in the apartment. There were four other children living there and a baby, too. I remember they all got food, but when I was given food, my father would slap it out of my hands. I went hungry a lot. I never understand why this man hated me.”
“And your mother?”
“She got slapped or hit if she gave me food, so she just stopped. It was one of the other men who would give me food. He would yell at my father. Eventually, he left with one of the women and two of the children. Even though it wasn’t as cramped in the apartment, it got worse.”
“The adults each had a bedroom, all the children and the baby slept in the living room. The first time I snuck out of the apartment, I was probably four. Hell, Alia, I didn’t even know my real age.”
“Oh, Baby. What happened?”
She had no give for herself, but when he needed some solace, she was right there. Amazing.
“I left because I saw them take out the trash, and I remembered that there had been food on Ricki’s plate. I wanted what was in that trash bag. I went outside to find it and eventually, found the dumpsters for the apartment building. They were overflowing, so I was going through the plastic bags surrounding the dumpsters when Mamie found me. I tried to hide from her. It took her twenty minutes to coax me out from behind the bins. To this day she says it was a miracle that she was taking out the trash at midnight.”
“It wasn’t safe for her, was it? Why was she?” Aliana asked.
“Her cat was sick, so she said she had to get rid of the cat litter or be killed by the stench,” he said with a slight grin. “Spooky was a great cat. He lived for eight years after I moved in.”
“How did you get to move in?”
Hunter thought about that awful night.
“For the next six months, on different nights, I would sneak over to Mamie’s apartment. Things at my apartment got worse because the other family moved out. I didn’t realize what was going on, but I guess my parents couldn’t afford it on their own. All I know is there was a lot of screaming, yelling, and hitting. One night, Dad knocked Mom down and instead of her staying down, she crawled to the bedroom and came out with a gun. I snuck out the door just before I heard the gun go off. When I was at Mamie’s place, I heard sirens and more shots.”
“What happened when the police came and questioned you?”
“They never did.”
“How is that even possible?”
“Mamie explained it to me years later. She used to work with the county. My mom and dad died on Friday, she called a social worker friend the following Monday. She arranged for me to become her foster child. The social worker went back and found my birth certificate.”
“So, you’re her foster child?”
“Oh, hell no. Never underestimate Rosa Diaz. I was adopted before I was in first grade. That woman works miracles.”
Aliana’s fingers sifted through the hair on the side of his head.
“Why do you think you’re dirty?”
“I was eating out of the trash,” he bit out. “That night I went to the dumpster? That wasn’t the first time, I ate out of the trash can in the house all the damn time. I wore the same clothes weeks at a time. I stunk and didn’t even know it until I started going over to Mamie’s house.”
“I understand that as a child you felt ashamed and might not have been ready to tell me, but you don’t feel like that now, do you?”
He grasped her hand and brought her palm to his lips. “No. No, I don’t.”
“Good,” she said with a fierce smile.
“So, why do you still have some of your same tapes from childhood playing in your head? Why can’t I tell you you’re beautiful? Why can’t I tell you you’re my special piece of heaven?”
She tried to pull her hand away, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Hunter, let me go.”
“No. Answer me.”
“That was never who you were, those were just sad circumstances. And I’ve thrown a lot of those tapes away. I have.”
Her look implored him to believe her, but he didn’t. If she had, she wouldn’t have such a high wall built around her heart.
“So, it’s okay that I call you mi Cielito?” he asked.
She cringed. “You’re asking me to believe lies about myself. I have a mirror. I know me. I know the real me. You don’t Hunter. I know me. I’m no one’s piece of heaven. Especially yours. I would just drag you down. You don’t need that. You don’t.”
“Okay, Cariña, calm down. Let’s go back to the moment where you were playing with my hair, I really liked that.”
That stopped her short. She looked at him in confusion. Good. At least he didn’t need to hear her trotting out the same old shit. He picked up her hand and placed it back on the side of his head.
“Go back to what you were doing. You were giving me comfort, remember?”
She gave a shy nod.
“Now, can I hold you?”
“You’re a devious bastardo, you know that, don’t you?” she said as she melted into his arms.
“All’s fair, Cariña. All’s fair.”