“Had a neighbor once when I was a kid,” A said, waving toward his knee height. “Had this dog chained out. Day, night, blistering heat. Didn’t fucking matter. And when he got wasted, he’d take a bat to it. And the dog took it and took it and took it until one day, that chain didn’t work so good. And the fuck came out with a bat again. And got his throat torn out. Watched that shit from my bedroom window like it was the best show on TV,” he added. “Those screams sounded a fuckuva lot like justice to me, yeah?” he said.
“So, what I’m saying here is, you being here, this is you breaking off the chain. And you,” he went on, looking at Cary. “You’re the one going to tear out Raúl’s throat.”
“He’s not wrong,” Dezi said, moving behind Andi to look at the tamales on the stove, despite the warnings.
“I’m just here for any information you might be able to give me,” Cary said. “I’m not asking for your help in handling it. But I’ve heard it from several sources now,” he said, nodding over toward Andi and Niro, “that you’re a man who isn’t opposed to assisting our organization.”
“Don’t want a fucking thing to do with your organization, man,” A said, making my stomach drop once again. “That gets into who has a marker over who shit. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time for that. But here’s what I’m thinking. I saw some shit I didn’t like a couple years back,” he went on, looking over at me. “Shit I didn’t handle because that wasn’t the situation I was in at the time. Now? My situation has changed. I’m not helping you Henchmen fuckers. I’m helping lil’ mama over there,” he said, jerking his head toward me as he looked at Cary.
“Okay,” Cary said, tentatively. “You’ll understand if I’m a little suspicious, though. You and Raúl—“
“Deal drugs?” A cut him off. “Yep. And see, I’m doing a little math in my head. And I’m thinking if I subtract Raúl, I somehow end up adding his distributors to my books. And that, well, that sounds like a win-win to me, don’t you think?” he asked, smirking devilishly.
“You’ll help us?” I asked, my voice tight as I absentmindedly became aware of Dezi offering the dog some cheese from his tamale. Like we weren’t in the middle of the most important meeting of my life.
“Yeah, guess I will. But if the word gets out, I did it for selfish reasons, yeah? Can’t let it get around that I’m some sort of good guy,” he said, shooting me a smirk.
“Heaven forbid anyone knows you aren’t a monster,” Andi said, shaking her head at him.
“If you think I’m not, mama, that’s you looking through rose-colored glasses,” A said, moving toward his kitchen table and sitting down, waving a hand out. “So, what do you want to know?”
“Everything that would help me take the fucker out,” Cary said, moving over toward the table, pulling me with him.
“You know the insides of the place, yeah?” A asked, looking at me. “Figure that’s how you managed to get away.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I studied everything for a long time.”
“So you got that covered. What I can offer is the structure of his organization, the major players, how you can get in and out of the country without someone sniffing you out. Can maybe even hook you up with someone down there so you have someplace safe to stay.”
It almost seemed too good to be true.
But the next thing I knew, A had papers spread over the top of the table with really intricate drawings he’d come up with on the spot. There were notes in the margins—names of people, addresses, passwords to use so those people would know A sent Cary.
By the time everyone stood up again, it all seemed so, well, foolproof. So… possible.
And I finally, truly started to believe that there was a future for me without fear, without having to look over my shoulder, without worries that someone might drag me back to my own personal hell again.
“Thank you,” I said to A after Cary said his own thanks. “Really. Thank you.”
“Just sorry I couldn’t help sooner, mama. Men who do shit like that…”
“Deserve to get their throats ripped out,” I finished for him.
“Exactly,” he said, eyes twinkling at the idea, giving me a hint of the monster Andi said he wasn’t but he clearly could be. “That one,” he said, voice low, jerking his chin toward Cary who was talking to Niro in low voices. “He treat you right?”
“Yes,” I said, nodding.
“He don’t, you know where to find me,” A said before turning around and disappearing out the back door, whistling for his dogs.
“Jesus Christ, Dezi, you can’t steal his fucking dog,” Niro snapped as we started down the front path and we all became aware of the dog still happily draped over Dezi’s arm.
“I want him,” Dezi said, shrugging.
“Her,” Andi piped in.
“For fuck’s sake. I want his car over there but you don’t see me stealing the goddamn thing.”
“She likes me,” Dezi insisted. And, to be fair, that dog looked up at him with her heart in her eyes.
“What do you want? You gave her table scraps within moments of meeting her.”
“Handle this,” Niro said, sighing, as he looked at his woman.
“Hey, Andres!” Andi called, walking toward the side of the house to meet the man when he appeared, and having a short conversation with him before he disappeared again, and she made her way back toward us.
“He said he stole it out of someone’s backyard because it was left out in the yard when the family left town for vacation,” Andi said, angry for the little thing, as, I think, we all were. “And she doesn’t get along with most of his dogs. He said you can keep her if you treat her right. And, Dezi,” Andi said, eyes serious, “he will be checking. As will I.”
“Listen to these fools,” Dezi said, hiking the dog up on his chest, and the dog immediately started licking at his beard. “Thinking I’d treat my girl as anything other than a princess. She’s not a baby cow,” he said, glancing over at me, “but I think the chicks will dig her too.”
“Especially if you get her a cute puppy cut,” Andi agreed. “You need to bring her in to see me this week, okay?”
“She’s gonna stab things in your butt,” Dezi told the dog. “Won’t even buy you dinner first or nothing.”
“And you need to get her supplies at the pet store. Savea has little pamphlets when you walk in the door. Grab the So, you just got a puppy… one. It lists literally everything you need for a dog. Then get all of it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Dezi agreed. “You hear that? We’ll get you all the treats.”
“Dezi,” Andi snapped, using a teacher voice at him. “She can not eat like you eat. She’s little. Treats are an occasional thing, not an all the time thing.”
“Don’t listen to her and her mean words,” Dezi cooed at the dog as he climbed into the back of the SUV. “I know what you need,” he said as he closed the door.