May to December

Chapter Five

EZ made sure that he was awake and dressed early the next morning, which was a good judgment call. Coco showed up not even an hour after the morning sun did. He was outside, leaning against the side of the trailer drinking a Black Bull energy drink when Coco rode up.

"Where's Letty?" Coco lit up a cigarette after he dismounted his bike.

"Still sleeping," EZ replied. "Everything taken care of?"

Coco gave a single nod. "Puta's buried and forgotten. Is Letty okay?"

"She will be." He'd make sure of it. "She has a lot of shit to work through. She's tough, though. She'll get there."

"You got her?" Coco raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?" EZ didn't want to answer incorrectly, and the question was vague at best.

"You claiming her as your old lady?" Coco clarified. "She can't stay with me. I'll just fuck her up more than she already is."

"I can't claim her until I'm at the table." While a lot of prospects had serious girlfriends, none of them were allowed to be called old ladies until their men were officially voted in. EZ still had a few months to go before he could shed his prospect's kutte.

"We're gonna vote you in, Boy Scout," Coco spoke as though this was common knowledge. "She your old lady or what? I need to know if she's staying with you or if I need to send her to live with one of my sisters."

"I'm staying with EZ."

Both men turned to find Letty exiting the trailer. She walked to stand in front of EZ. "I'm staying with you, right, EZ?"

EZ wrapped his arms loosely around her waist. He nodded and gently kissed her forehead. Then he pulled her to stand beside him, keeping one arm around her waist. "She's gonna live here with me."

"No, she ain't." Coco reached into his pocket and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. "This shithole's barely big enough for one person. My kid ain't living here." He handed the keys to EZ. "I bought the place to give to Celia to get Letty out of that apartment. You two can have it."

***

"What do you think?" EZ wrapped his arm round Letty's waist as they stood in the master bedroom of the small two-bedroom ranch-style house that Coco had given them.

"It's cute," Letty smiled and nodded, but she seemed distracted.

"Bebita, what's wrong?" He gave her a light squeeze.

"I want to live with you so bad so, please don't take this the wrong way." Letty turned to look at him. "I'm happy that you want me as much as I want you, it's just..." She trailed off.

"Just what, Letty?" He softly prompted, as he reached up to brush some of her hair behind her ear.

"Why doesn't Coco want me?" Letty looked down at her feet and refused to look back up.

"Baby, look at me." EZ put a hand under her chin and gently forced her head up so he could see her eyes. "Coco loves you. Every mistake he's made with you was done with the best of intentions. You gotta understand, mi amor, Coco's been through a lot of bad shit in his life, and it's fucked with his head. He's scared of ruining your life. That doesn't mean he doesn't give a shit. He let me claim you and gave us this place because it's his way of taking care of you and keeping you close but not close enough to do any damage." He gently cupped her cheek. "And even if he didn't love you, I'm always going to be with you. I'll always care." He stopped short of actually telling her that he loved her. She was an emotional wreck, and he didn't want to add any more pressure.

Letty was a bit teary-eyed, but she still managed to smile. Then she took the initiative and leaned in and softly kissed him.

End Author's Note: Black Bull energy drink is real. A lot of my hubby's family lives in Corpus Christi, Texas, and we travel to Mexico for day trips when we visit. I've only ever seen Black Bull in Mexico. When my mother-in-law, who has been a nurse for 30 years, read the label, she made me SWEAR to never drink it again because she was scared it could cause me to have a heart attack. I had one and was awake for the next almost 48 hours. I had to take a sleeping pill to finally sleep. Beware of the Black Bull...but not the ones sold in California, which is essentially Red Bull. My best friend who lives there drinks it, and it has completely different ingredients than the ones sold in Mexico.