Celeste
"You know, sometimes I worry about what goes through that head of yours, Celeste."
I glanced up from my book to glare at my life-long best friend, Lana. She couldn't see my eyes through the tinted lenses of my sunglasses, but the sudden movement was enough to make her eyebrows raise in a knowing tone. Her hand was hovering above her brows to shade her irises from the scorching Las Angeles sun; her slender body lathered in tanning oil as she laid reclined in her sun lounger. Lana was stunning, but it was overshadowed in this moment from her persistent need to be question me.
"You wouldn't be the first and you certainly won't be the last, LaLa," I mutter as I turn my attention back to my Sylvia Plath book.
I was quite enjoying it before I was rudely interrupted by Lana's persistent tone in my ear. It was a scorching day so Lana & I decided to spend it in the only acceptable way; lounging around my pool doing absolutely nothing. We were unlikely to get disturbed since my Papa was away on 'business' somewhere and Lana's father had accompanied him. Lana disliked staying at her family home when her father was away because she didn't feel safe there, despite the security system they had fitted. Our fathers were continuously away on business trips so Lana pretty much lived me with me full time; we had one of the guest wings decorated for her so she felt at home.
Our families were pretty well off to put it politely. We never needed for anything and lived comfortably. Lana was clueless to our families businesses, but I wasn't as naive.
My Papa was the head of the Delgado's.
I'm Celeste Delgado, daughter of Antoni Delgado.
The Delgado's are an infamous underground gang that control a lot of Los Angeles criminal activity. Anything from importing and exporting drugs and weapons, organised crime, street races, money laundering. The Delgado's run it all. Well, Papa does.
He wasn't too happy about me finding out about the family business but after Mama died the sheltered life I lived ceased to exist. I had to learn about the family business in order to protect myself. I became a target the minute Mama died at the hands of one Papa's most trusted men. It shook his whole operation, men were fired left, right and centre, an initiation process was put in place, men had to take oaths of loyalty. Papa wasn't going to let anything slip through his fingers again. I was put through rigorous training sessions with his most lethal hit men to make sure I could handle my own if it ever came down to it.
I'm pretty fucking good at it, too.
Papa would never put me in the literal field of work and I was grateful for that. I'm 21 years old with the whole world at my finger tips. I never had to fight for what I have because Papa never made me. He did, however, offer me the position of owning and running one of his numerous night clubs, Haze, to which I gladly accepted. It was a high end strip and poker club, full of obnoxious men with more money than sense. It was a front of course for one of his money laundering operations, but I didn't mind.
It all looked good and legal on my front.
I didn't know the intricacies of Lana's family affairs and quite frankly, I wasn't particularly interested. The less I know the better.
I knew I could keep her safe if needs be; I was the feisty one of out of us, where as she was the more quiet and reserved type. She was hot as fuck, but it was often overshadowed and masked by her cute naive tendencies.
"I just don't understand why you wouldn't want to go to Sinners on a Saturday night, Celeste. It's a fucking Saturday night, you have a closet full of unworn smoking outfits upstairs yet you're being a bore," Lana practically combusted opposite me, sitting forward with her arms flailing around.
"For the last time, Lana. I don't like it at Sinners," I uttered back, placing my book over my face to block her out.
I heard her groan in annoyance as she padded her feet over to me, snatching the book out of my grasp and discarding it on the nearest sun lounger. She gripped my face and got eye level with me, her brown irises boring into mine.
"I politely couldn't give a flying fuck whether you like Sinners or not, CeCe. You're going to get your arse out of that chair, remove the stick from your ass and get fucking ready," she told me in a cold, level voice.
"And what if I don't?" I muttered back, grabbing her hands on either side of my face and keeping my eyes level with hers.
"You will."
I scowled at her, pushing her away by her hands as I got up from my sun lounger and marched my way into the house. I wasn't going to win with Lana; she was going to be relentlessly annoying if I persisted any longer. I heard a triumphant giggle from behind me as I made my way into the property. Taking my perfectly black manicured middle finger I flipped her off, keeping my gaze ahead of me.
I guess I'm going to Sinners.
|. Hi everyone!! This is the first official chapter of Sinners!! How do you like our girls?
