Another Lifetime

Chapter 64: Cesar's POV

"I can't. I gotta deal with some stuff later." I tell Monse when she asks me if I can take care of the kids tonight. "What?" She sighs. "I can't-" she stops me. "Let me guess, you can't tell me 'cause you wanna keep me out of it? Whatever." She hangs up. "Damn, he really isn't gonna tell her shit?" Eby asks Odessa. "He's trying to keep her out of it. I think it's sweet." She defends me. "Come on, that's bull shit. You're basically doing what Latrelle did to her." Eby shrugs. "What the hell did you just say?" I get in her face and she rolls her eyes. "Try again when you're not holding a baby." She laughs. "I don't try to control Monse. I'm nothing like Latrelle." I remind her. "Or maybe you're exactly like him. She wanted to be a Prophet and help her family but he stopped her so he could "protect" her. Your sexist bull shit isn't better than his. Monse can take care of herself, that's why we want her to be a Reina." She explains. "Can we change the subject?" Odessa asks. "You still want her?" I ask. "Obviously. Y'all are wasting her time and it's stupid. I've seen her take care of you and you still act like she's weak." Eby ignores Odessa. "Ok, don't y'all have other shit to worry about?" She tries changing the subject again. "Come on, we both know why you don't wanna talk about it." Eby laughs at her. "Excuse me?" She crosses her arms. "You won't even tell her we're dating! Why can't you guys just trust that she's grown enough to handle her own shit? Monse's not gonna break 'cause y'all have your own lives." Eby's been acting different ever since Oscar and Venom left without saying anything. "Fuck you. You're just being a bitch 'cause we all know you don't have a plan for tonight." Odessa storms into the house. "And she thinks I'm the bitch." Eby laughs under her breath. "She's right. We're just gonna go talk to Sapo without a plan. It's stupid." I say and now she's really pissed. "How are we gonna plan? This isn't a business meeting or some shit. Did you forget what we do?" She asks. "I've been doing this shit longer than you. I know how it works and if we don't know what we're gonna deal with when we get there, we're gonna get killed." I yell. "You heard the deal, just the people running shit and no one else. We're all bringing guns and there's two of us and one him. Sapo should be worried about us, not the other way around." She yells back. "What if he lied?" I ask. "That's the difference between me and you, I'm not worried about that what if shit." Eby says. "I have kids. I have to be worried about it!" I say and she raises her eyebrows. "I have a kid too. Everything I'm doing is to get my daughter back. If you don't wanna lose your kids, stop being a pussy. Everyone told me you weren't shit but I swore you were gonna be like Oscar. I was hella wrong." She says and I get quiet. "I'm watching Mona and Kyrie." Odessa breaks the silence when she walks out.

We leave when it gets dark and Eby drives. We meet up at a park that no one's claimed. "What's good?" Sapo asks from a bench when we get there. "Heard what happened to your place. That shit's crazy." He laughs. I walk towards him but Eby sticks her arm in front of me and stops me. "What do you want Sapo?" She asks him. "Damn, why do I have to want something? We can't just hangout?" He smiles. "Told you this shit was gonna be a waste of time." I tell Eby. "You wouldn't have hit me up for nothing." She points out. "True." He gets up and we both reach for our guns. "Relax. We all lost our homies, I thought we could work something out." Sapo shows us that he didn't bring a gun. "Like a truce?" I ask. "Yeah." He nods. "Nineteenth street is worse than the Santos, Reinas, and Prophets put together, we all know that. So I was thinking y'all can give something and we'll back off." He suggests. Sapo's right, we've been peaceful and they've been killing us. I think about it for a second but Eby made up her mind before we even got here. "No. You don't wanna truce, you want our shit and the second you get it you'll ask for more. You think we're being too nice, we'll go back to how it used to be. All of us." She takes the lead. "All of you? So a bunch of little girls, wannabe cholos, and Prophets who should probably be in a retirement home?" Sapo asks her. "At least we didn't kill our homies for power." I tell him. "I didn't do shit to Cuete." He tries to defend himself. "That's not what I heard. If that shit gets out it won't look good. I mean it was either you or your girl, right?" This is why we needed a plan. Eby's always saying shit without thinking. "Let's go." I grab her arm and drag her back to the car.

"What the hell was that?" I yell. "I don't know." She admits. "We were supposed to get stronger but we're weak. Maybe it's time for us to really go back to how it was." She suggests. "After you pulled that shit?! We're gonna get killed!" I point out. "Or we'll be able to worry about one gang instead of three." She says. "You can but I still gotta look out for the Prophets." I remind her. "Do you? What the fuck are they doing for you besides start shit?" She asks. "You've been a pain in my ass but I stuck with you." I say. "I'm talking to the girls and whatever we decide is what we're doing. We're still gonna be cool but I can't worry about your soft ass Santos." Eby makes it obvious that I'm not gonna change her mind. "This isn't a good idea. Splitting now is gonna make us even more vulnerable." I tell her and she shrugs. "You're not gonna have to worry about me getting y'all in trouble anymore." She has a point. We drive back home in silence. I don't know what we expected but it wasn't this.

"You got a place to stay tonight? I don't think you should be around for this." Eby talks to Odessa while I play with my kids. "Marcus G. pushed me on the playground." Kyrie tells me when he shows me a scratch on his arm. "Next time you gotta fight back." I tell him and he nods. "His parents know he's a little bitch?" I ask. "Mommy had a talk with them and the teacher." Ky says. "He still didn't stop?" Lola usually has a way to handle this shit. "Nope." He sighs. "I'm taking you to school tomorrow, he won't bother you again." I promise. "Really?!" He smiles. "Of course mijo." No way in hell I'm letting some kid bully my son. "Start getting ready for bed, I'll be there in a minute." I tell him and he gives me a hug. "Gracias." He says. "Aye, when did you start speaking Spanish?" I laugh. "I don't know." He shrugs. "I'm staying here tonight." Odessa says when Eby leaves. "She tell you what happened?" I ask. "Yeah. She's being stupid." I'm surprised she agrees with me.

Monse doesn't come home for a while. I start to get nervous when I hear her old ass car coming down the block. "Hey." I say when Monse walks in. "Mona and Ky just went to sleep." I tell her. She lays with me on the couch. "Are you ok?" I pull her to my chest and run my hand up and down her arm. "I love you." She looks up and kisses me. "I love you too." I sound confused but I am. "Can you tell me what's going on so I can fix it?" I ask. "I'm a bad person. Vero was telling me how she doesn't blame me for what happened and all I could think was how lucky I was that you chose me. I love that you keep choosing me." Monse explains. We've had a bad week since the shooting and hearing that made me happy in a weird way. I felt like we were growing apart and it was killing me. "I'm gonna stop keeping shit from you. I got called out on some stuff today. You're apart of the life as much as I am." I admit and she kisses me. "I don't think I am anymore." She says.