The Diaz Brothers

Triangle Choke -- Chapter 4

I looked up to three smiling faces. "What are y'all doing?" I questioned confused. "What's it look like? We're going with you." Ace said matter of factly. He seemed to remember something and looked down at my stomach. "It's gone. Stop worrying so much. God." I said quickly. He glared at me. "Problem?" He evened out his expression. "Sorry. It's habit. You like to lie to me." "I do not!" I defended myself offended that he would even think that I lied to him. "I have never lied to you. Ever. Why the hell are you being suck a jackass?!" Nick held up a hand to stop him from talking. "You two stop. You're gonna make her mad and you already offended her once. I personally don't want to see her get mad. I've seen her afraid and I can only imagine how bad it is." I looked at Ace with a sadness in my eyes. "I'm sorry." "Haliwista." I said calmly.

Nate and Nick looked confused. "It's Cherokee for stop. She doesn't like when people say they're sorry." Ace said and hugged me. No one had pushed the elevator button so I reached over and hit it. I put a foot on the bar that goes around the perimeter of the elevator and backed up as close as I could get to the wall. By the time the door opened on the bottom floor I had stretched out both legs and my shoulders. I walked out to my car and got my headphones then to the edge of the parking lot. I looked both directions. "Do you remember which way the café is from here?"

"Yeah. Right down three blocks then left two blocks there first store past the apartment complex." I nodded and took off running at almost a sprint. They all followed me a few feet behind. I slowed as I reached the stop light to turn at. The light was red so I sped back up and they followed suit. We ran at the same pace as before all the way to the café. Once we got there I took a knee outside. "You okay?" Nate asked. "Yeah. You guys need to sit or take a knee too. Slow your heart before we go in there to the air conditioning and get cold drinks. You'll have a heart attack if you don't. Your body will go into shock then you die. Not happening on my watch." I said pulling him down by his hand.

After we all caught our breath and slowed our heart rates we stood up and went inside. I stood up too fast and the blood ran out of my head. I blacked out and stumbled. I hit something and closed my eyes leaning on it. I felt arms steady me and I opened my eyes with a slight headache. "What happened?" Nate asked and Nick cocked his head to the side. "I just stood up too fast. I'm alright." We went inside and were seated at a booth by the window. Out of habit I scooted as close to the window as possible giving him as much room as possible. I wasn't allowed to sit beside her unless I won a Grand Supreme title at a pageant. That happened a lot when I had no choice. Once I got older and could say I didn't want to do pageants anymore it became a rarity. I only ever did them to get him off my back for a while. Nate slid in next to me breaking my train of thought. He pulled me closer to him by my waist and I looked at him seeing my father's angry eyes. My eyes got wide and I started breathing heavy.

"Kinley?! Hey hey! I promise you're fine! It's not him it's Nate! Close your eyes sis." Ace said and I did. When I opened my eyes All I could see was Nate and his worried yet sad expression. "I'm so sorry. He used to pull me to him and put his arm around me then subtly choke me out so he didn't have to pay to feed me. He'd tell the waitresses I was sleeping and wasn't hungry... I can't believe I just did that to you... I-I'm so sorry." I closed my eyes to keep the tears that were burning my eyes from falling. Nate hugged me and I calmed myself down. I sat back up and the waitress came by a few minutes later. "Hi, can I get y'alls drink order goin'?" This lady was not from Tennessee. Probably somewhere in southeastern Oklahoma or Texas. She had a thick accent and I couldn't place exact states.

"Sweet tea." "Sweet tea." "Water" I looked at Nick disgusted. "Water." I shook my head as she walked off. "Y'all are weird. I feel like I'm gonna be really disappointed with the tea in California." Nate laughed as Nick said "I have no idea. I don't like tea." My jaw dropped. "Why?!" "There's just no taste difference between tea and water." "What country are you from?!" I half way yelled. "I'm from the same one as you." The waitress brought our drinks by and I handed my tea to Nick. "Taste that and tell me you honestly don't taste a difference!" He took it slowly and took a drink of it. he handed it back to me and Nate took a drink of it after I did. "Okay, okay. There's a difference." After we finished and ate a little we ran back to the hotel and got ready for the fight. "Just so you know, I will hurt you if you don't defend." I said when Nate followed me downstairs to get my bag from my car. He nodded. "I will be holding back. I didn't challenge you to fight you."