G.A.B.O.S. (Original Version)

Chapter XXXI

Joaquin's eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at his cell phone. He went into the string of texts between him and his sister in hopes of seeing a message that he may have overlooked, but he only saw the eight texts he'd sent her after he and Anthony finished eating lunch the day before. At first, he figured that she was with December or Val but, after several hours passed and she still hadn't gotten back to him, he began to worry. Nina always made time to speak to him. She texted him every few hours to make sure he was okay, and she always called him at around ten p.m. so that they could say their prayers together.

After getting off of Anthony's couch, Joaquin went into the kitchen, where Anthony was sitting at the table. "Chris, where's my sister?" he asked.

Anthony looked up from his bowl of cereal. "I don't know. She hasn't called me, and she's not answering her phone. You haven't heard from her either?"

"If I had, I would have asked her where she was." Joaquin rolled his eyes and started to leave the kitchen, but stopped when Anthony called him.

"You haven't eaten since lunch yesterday. Have some cereal or something," Anthony offered as he stood up and took his bowl over to the sink.

"I don't want your cereal. I'm gonna call a cab and go home."

Anthony walked over to Joaquin and grabbed the back of his shirt. Effortlessly, he lifted him a few inches off of the floor and pulled him over to the table. He sat him in down in a chair and pointed to the box of Honey Smacks and the bowl he'd sat out for Joaquin earlier. "Have some cereal or something."

Joaquin shrugged Anthony's hands off of him. "You don't get to boss me around just because you're screwing my sister."

"No, I get to boss you around because your sister isn't here right now and you're in my house. Understand that I'm not Marisol. When I tell you to do something, you do it. I don't negotiate with children. You're not going to disrespect me the way you disrespect her."

"My relationship with Marisol isn't your business, nigga. You're just the guy who's having sex with her."

"To be such a smart kid, you're really fucking stupid." Anthony shook his head and sat down next to Joaquin. "I didn't marry your sister just so I could sleep with her. I love Marisol. I've loved Marisol for a long-ass time. Normally, you'd be right. Your relationship with your sister isn't my business. But your disrespectful-ass attitude towards my wife is my business."

"You obviously don't understand how my relationship with Marisol works. If you did, you'd watch how you talk to me. All I have to do is shed a few tears and tell Marisol that I don't like how you treat me when she's gone. She can't stand seeing me unhappy. It messes with her head. Anything that I don't like eventually goes away. It may not happen immediately, but it always happens. If you really love her, you better choose your words wisely when speaking to me, because she won't choose you over me."

"I'm not trying to take your sister away from you, Joaquin."

"Good, because you're not going to."

"I don't want to. I'm not interested in competing with you for Marisol's attention. That doesn't mean that I'm going to allow you to keep taking advantage of her love for you."

"I'm not as nice to my sister as I should be sometimes, but so what? You know as well I do that no one's gonna fuck with Marisol and get away with it. Not if I can do anything about it."

"So, you can treat her like shit as long as no one else hurts her feelings?"

"I didn't say that."

"That's exactly what you said, actually. Now listen to what I'm saying. Marisol is my wife. You are a child. I am not going to allow a child to disrespect my wife. Do you understand?"