May to December

Chapter Eleven

Me and Angel smoked the entire joint on my couch before either one of us made any attempt to start the conversation.

"How's your face?" Angel asked as he popped the top on his beer.

"Hurts like a bitch."

"Good."

We both started laughing. I don't know why. Nothing remotely funny had been said. Maybe we did it to ease the tension in the room.

"I'm sorry, Angel. I never meant for any of this shit to happen. I just wanted out." I put myself at his mercy. "I didn't expect for this shit to touch you. I didn't expect to fall in love with Letty. I didn't know that I'd come to value the club as much as I do."

Angel nodded. "Shit gets in your blood after a while, becomes a part of you."

"Yeah." I didn't know what else to say. I'd already said everything.

"If I forgive you, you think we'll be square for you getting locked up?" Angel said with a guilty look on his face.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I was the one who shot that cop, not Angel.

"I gave you the gun when I knew you were green to that kind of shit," Angel explained, but he couldn't bring himself to look at me. "You wouldn't have shot that cop if I didn't give you the gun."

"Bullshit," I shook my head. "I was determined to get the guy who shot Mom. I would have found someone else to get a gun from. I still would have pulled the trigger."

"For my peace of mine, can we just say we're even?"

"Why not?" I relented. "Sure."

"I'm gonna be a dad," Angel said before polishing off his beer.

I choked for a second on mine. "You knocked up the freedom fighter?"

"Not on purpose, but, yeah." Angel puffed up his cheeks to blow out a deep sigh. "I need this shit with Emily to go the way that the feds want it to. It's the only way to bring down the cartel completely."

"The only way to get Adelita off her warpath." I figured out the rest.

"I'm getting' fucking sick of not knowing where my girl is from one night to the next." Angel ran a hand over his face. "Now that she's carryin' my kid – she needs to be with me. She needs to see a doctor on the regular."

I couldn't help but smirk. "Have you told her you loved her yet?"

Angel laughed. "Yeah. You told Letty?"

It was my turn to laugh. "Yeah."

"You know we're fuckin' whipped, right?" Angel opened another beer.

"Right." And I was amazingly cool with it.