Caballeros

Shut up Liver you're fine (Edited)

Joaquin

I feel really fucked up feeling this way, I try to shake it off. I go over to her and her group of friends. I'm not sure where I fit in with her friends and her new life.

"That was fucking amazing!" She says full of excitement.

"Thank ya," I laugh at her excitement.

"Hey man congrats Bro! We'd like to take you out to celebrate," her tall friend says.

"Thanks, but I got my daughter with me. Remind me of your name again?"

"I'm Felipe, but these assholes call me Narizon." He laughs and I smile at him.

"Joaquin, go with them. I will take Trinity home and Abuela will watch her," Don Hector says.

"Are you sure?" I ask because I do not like to impose.

"Of course. She loves the baby."

"Okay than, I'm gonna go take a shower and I'll meet ya'll. Where at exactly?"

"We are going to a place called The South Forty."

"Alright, see ya'll in half an hour." I say handing over Trinity to Hector.

I get into my pickup truck and start it the sounds of Florida Georgia Line blares from the speakers. Fuck Joaquin why did you say yes? I get home and shower I sit on my bed with the towel around my waist for god knows how long. I try to give myself a pep-talk, Just one beer and you can leave.

I get dressed and put on my best Tejana cowboy hat and boots. I throw on some cologne and I am out the door. I sit in my truck staring out the window. I finally pluck up the nerve to start it. I get to The South Forty and everyone is waiting on me outside the bar. My eyes land on her first, she is wearing a sundress and cowboy boots. Damn I'm a sucker for a girl in cowboy boots.

"Ya'll ready?" I ask

"Yes!" They all yell at once.

"I'm ready to get shitfaced!" Felipe yells.

"Well damn, let's go!" I laugh.

We walk in and hear an old song that Jules used to make me listen to on repeat. She looks at me and giggles. I shoot my eyes to the dance floor not really thinking she'd take me up on it. She grabs my hand and practically drags my ass to the dance floor. We two step to Garth Brooks 'Ain't Going Down Til The Sun Goes Up' and boy can she dance. We finish up the dance and head back to the group who are now hooting and hollering for us.

"Wow Jules, you're really good at the two step." I say.

"You can take the girl out of Texas but you can't take the Texas outta the girl." She laughs.

Felipe hands me a beer and I happily accept it. I'm having a better time than I thought I was going to have. Felipe and Noel come back with two trays of shots of all kinds. Against my better judgement I do shot after shot with the guys. We watch as the girls try to line dance; it's funny as hell.

I'm feeling really drunk and I know I shouldn't have taken all those shots. Oh fuck it I will deal with that shit later. Jules and the girls come back and join us for more shots.

"I'd like to make a toast." I slur. "To friends that abandon their best friends when they need them the most and couldn't give a shit about it. To Jules."

"What the fuck did you just say?" She yells at me.

"You fucking abandoned me when I needed you the fucking most. No letters, no calls NOTHING!"

"What the fuck are you talking about Joaquin? I wrote you a letter every day for six months and I even called you."

"You never wrote me! You called me twice! That's all."

"Yes I did! You even wrote me back! Your Abuela told me to stop writing and calling you."

"Now you are sounding crazy, just like your mama," I say.

Her eyes fill with tears but I am so drunk that I don't care. She brings her small hand back and slaps the shit out of me. The sting of the slap and suddenly sobriety hits me like a ton of bricks. I realize the magnitude of what just came out of my mouth. The guilt hits hard when I see her crying face. She begins to run off and I try to chase after her but heavy hand on my chest stops me.

"Let her go Joaquin, she needs to be left alone," Guerro says.

"Alright," I say feeling defeated.

I wake up not knowing where the hell I am. I sit up quickly but lay right back down when the nausea hits. I feel horrible but I wish I felt worse for the shit I did last night. My eyes focus onto the room I'm in. I realize I am in Hector's spare room in the barn. How I got here I have no fucking clue. There is no way I drove like this. I get up slowly and head to the bathroom. I wash my face and notice blood on my knuckles. What the hell? I look to my right and see a hole in the hall. Shit!

I make my way over to the main house and enter through the kitchen. All eyes are on me. Hector stands up and walks closer to me. I take a deep breath.

"Let's talk," Hector says. I'm really freaking out because of how pissed he looks.

"Yes Sir," I say as I follow him outside to the porch.

"You hurt my daughter real bad," he says. It makes me feel like shit.

"I'm so sorry I don't know what got into me. All of these emotions hit at once and I didn't know how to react."

"She said that you didn't believe her when she told you she wrote to you. Well she did every day. She even got letters back. You know how hard it was for me to tell her that your abuela didn't want her to write to you anymore. It broke my heart when we came to visit that summer and your abuela told her that you moved away."

"Wait ya'll came back for a visit? I never knew that. She really wrote?" I ask and he nods. I never saw any letters or wrote to her."

"You didn't?"

"No Sir, not one. Man what the hell was my abuela doing? I need to make this right with Jules."

"Yeah, you go do that," he says hugging me. "And boy you will be fixing that hole in my bathroom. You hear?"

"Yes Sir."

I go into the kitchen and Trinity is eating eggs and papas, her favorite. She is sitting on Noel's lap as happy as can be.

"You going to make things right bro?" Noel asks.

"Yup, I am. At least I'm gonna try my best." I say pouring a cup of coffee.

"You better take this baby girl with you. Jules is least likely to beat your ass in front of your baby."

"That's a good idea." I laugh.

"Do you even know where she is at?"

"I have a pretty good idea where she might be."

I grab Trinity and put her in my truck, she is happy to be going for a drive. We drive down the road and stop when we see the high thickets. I hold Trinity in my arms as I navigate through. I look up and see Jules sitting on the logs by the river. I put Trinity down and she teeters over to Jules. She looks down at Trinity and smiles at her. She looks back at me and if looks could kill I'd be a dead man.

Damn.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading!

Please let me know how you like it by commenting and voting!