The Anatomy of a Broken Heart //Completed//

80. Santana

Running in the cold constricted my lungs and I was barely taking in oxygen when I reached my car. What the hell was I thinking by even sticking around for this stupid tutoring session? I was a masochist. A sadist! I knew how much it hurt him to even look at me. The look of betrayal he got whenever our eyes met, or whenever I caught him looking from the corner of his eye was like a punch in the gut. Over and over I felt the blows to my gut until they forced the words right out of my mouth. Last night I made up my mind not to come and see him. I'd turn tail and run the other way. But when class let out early, I found myself headed straight for the library, sat myself down, and waited anxiously for him to get there. When he finally did, every single one of my stone walls came up, but they were weaker than I thought and crumpled easily. That's why I ran. I ran straight to Jasper.

"You made it," he said almost with relief as I walked through his apartment and into his arms. I hugged him tightly and he buried his face in my hair. It wasn't until I dislodged myself from him that I noticed we weren't alone. There was a group of people sitting around us in the small living room, both familiar and unfamiliar faces.

Ricky was there, and Tommy whose arm was draped around Stella, sat next to some guys I didn't know. Each of them had a girl on their lap, showing too much leg and not enough fear to be around these guys. Fear that gripped me tightly as I scanned the room and my eyes fell on King. He sat languidly on the recliner, his arms on each armrest like it was his throne. They all looked at me like I'd interrupted something, except for King, who smiled lazily my way.

"I thought we were going to be alone," I whispered to Jas who was still holding on tightly to me.

He took a deep breath and looked around the room. "Soon, babe. Go wait in my room. We're just planning out some stuff right now."

Planning? The only thing I could think of that they would be planning was where they'd each be selling, but even that was always covered through curt texts.

"Yeah," said King. "Maybe you'd like to help us out with a little dilemma we're having."

"Nah, man. She's not here for that, I told you," Jasper said. He pushed me towards his room gently. "Go wait for me there." His look was loaded so I nodded and started going through the familiar little hall which led to a room at the end where I'd spent so many days.

"Wait." King's commanding voice stopped me in my tracks.

I turned to Jasper, but his face looked resigned like he knew it was unavoidable. His fists balled at his sides, but he said nothing.

"I wanna know what you think. See, our business ain't going like it's supposed to, know what I'm saying? Our return on investment isn't what it used to be." He got up off the chair and began pacing the small space like he was talking to his board of directors. "Now, I'm a businessman and I know that some things ain't adding up." At this point, he looked around at his boys, like he was sending a message. "I ain't blaming anyone in particular, of course. I know these fine gentleman would never do me dirty, but...sometimes, when we need to make ends meet, we need to venture into different markets. One market in particular." His eyebrows lifted slightly and his eyes traced my body from top to bottom. I moved closer to Jasper, suddenly terrified.

"The gas market. Namely, Johnny's Quick Gas."
"Ain't that the truth," Tommy chimed in, to the sound of everyone laughing. It was a terse laughter, full of tense expectation. Everyone was waiting to hear what King was plotting.

"We're paying old Johnny a little visit. To talk business." He walked closer to me. "So, Santana, guess who we've chosen as our emissary for Saturday night?" He turned his head towards Jasper, who in turn looked at his feet. "That's right. Jazzy here will be paying a little visit to Quick Gas Johnny and now that you're here, I want you to help him."