Afraid

Chp. 15

Amaya's POV

My boss was an asshole.

2 p.m. call to go in for an 11 p.m. job was the shittiest thing. Hours of sitting around and talking to lonely wait staff who try and hide from their bosses.

But getting that call distracted me from going up to our attic and searching for all my crap from when I was a teenager. It distracted me from thinking about Oscar.

After Oscar shut off the car I knew I needed to get dressed and leave fast. Work was just as I imagined, sitting around waiting. The fun thing was we were at an adult arcade so we got to fuck around with the games before people filtered in. This was the best part of my job plus the money, I felt like the Queen.

My mom thought it was stupid that I spent every free penny I had on equipment. She thought it was something I did just for fun.Couple hours of work for $200 per hour. I could leave any place with roughly $1000 or $1200 in tips and wages. 

Working one night a month paid my rent. Working as a teacher 5 days a week let me pay off my loans for school. This allowed me to not have to worry about making ends meet.

Finished my set just as 3 a.m. hit and it was my coworker Luke's turn to work the crowd. I managed the early hours of club life and he went on until 6 every time. Savage that man.

When arriving home I realized that just as promised there was no car lurking down the street. I appreciated that Oscar listened to me. Not like he had before, I thought to myself.

Quickly without realizing it I jammed my breaks. I started to remember more things about him. I threw my car into park and sat on the dark street gasping for air. 

Not a second too soon a car pulled up along side mine. 

A green and gold car.

"Hey AJ, how you doin tonight?"

Oscar's POV

Sunday mornings around Freeridge consisted of families piling into cars and going to church. Santos made sure while that was going on no one messed with our local businesses.

We took more of that protective approach when Tio Chivo came around again.

Crazy old man.

He kept saying Lil' Ricky would have wanted it that way. And with Cesar going rogue on me a couple years back, Cuchillos had to agree with that. No one wants to kill, harm or hurt someone but if its gotta get done then its gotta get done.

Cesar and I were making our rounds of the streets when I made sure to pull down Amaya's street. I wanted to make sure that she got home alright.

Her front door was tagged with gold and green spray paint.

Her car had all the tires slashed. And she was sitting on the stoop waiting. Waiting for something to happen.

Cesar swore under his breath before looking at me to get out.

"What the fuck happened?!" Cesar asked.

"D, happened. You might wanna warn your girlfriend, they said they were going to her house next."

"Great. That's just great. Her dad is actually gonna send her away this time."

"Chill. Just call her." Cesar took off out of our earshot and I walked up to her Mustang.