RIDE OR DIE ➸ OSCAR DIAZ [1]

THIRTY TWO

SAM AND I slowly walk a few feet behind Cesar and Monse with a can of coke in our hands. I wanted to go for a nice walk in the evening by myself, but Cesar somehow found out about that and wouldn't let me go on my own. And along the way, we were joined by Monse and Sam, who were just bored.

"I don't know why he's wasting his time with Olivia," I mumble to Sam, finally allowing the words that I've been thinking about for weeks, to leave my mouth. "Him and Monse are like meant to be together."

"Amen." Sam scoffs before taking a swing of his coke. "They'll figure it out eventually." He says with a shrug of his shoulders, briefly glancing over at me.

"Yeah." I sigh softly as I bite down on my bottom lip. If Oscar finds out that I'm walking around the block at night without him, he'll throw a fit. I should've told him before I left. Things have actually been so great between us for once and I don't want to ruin that. I inhale a sharp breath as I force a smile onto my face, and look over at Sam. "What about you? Any special lady that I should know about?"

Sam exhales a deep breath as he pretends to think. "Well, does my mom count?" He asks with a smile, playfully bumping his shoulder against mine.

"No, she doesn't," I say as I jokingly roll my eyes at him. He responds by sticking his tongue out like a five year old, which makes me smile lightly. That is until I spot the green car that's slowing down beside us. I recognize Latrelle through the open window and gulp nervously, as I glance over at Cesar. This is exactly what I was afraid of happening.

He smirks at Monse, leaning out the window as he checks her out. I look over at the driver but I don't recognize him. "Hey yo, what's good with you ma?" I cringe and move towards Sam after hearing Latrelle's words. He definitely learned that from Elijah. "You lookin' good. Lemme get that ass at pimp lane." I nervously look over at Cesar who's starting to get annoyed. I can only hope that he doesn't have his brother's temper. "Yo Monse why you still hanging out with these broke ass Santos?"

Cesar responds before Monse can even say anything, "Oh you spend some time at juvie and now you think you're balling?" Monse gives me a nervous look, almost pleading me to jump in and say something so he'll leave them alone. Oscar's going to be so pissed.

"Yeah. Where you think I knocked off a bunch of yo punk ass homies? Ask about me go ahead!" Latrelle exclaims angrily. Cesar throws his can across the street making me flinch. Monse tries to calm him down but it doesn't work.

"He's just like his brother," I mumble to Sam as I anxiously watch the scene unfold before me. If I say something, Oscar will get mad at me for starting shit and the whole situation will just escalate. But if I don't say anything, Cesar's going to lose his cool real fast, and things are going to get ugly.

"Hey, you know what side you on? This is our block, you feel me! They call me lil spooky, I'll blast on your ass." Cesar shouts at the dark-skinned boy in the car, as Monse tries to hold him back. That's it. I shove my can into Sam's hands before grabbing one of Cesar's arms and pulling him backwards. He doesn't even look over at me, he just continues to glare at Latrelle.

"I don't care what side I'm on," Latrelle says as he pulls out a gun. My breath hitches in my throat as Cesar pushes both Monse and I behind him. Oscar is going to be so unbelievably mad at me. I feel Sam's arm go around my shoulder's but I can't even move my head to look at him. My eyes are fixed on the gun before us in fear. I promised Mario I wouldn't die yet here I am, staring down the barrel of a gun. Latrelle's dark eyes drift over to me and his frown deepens. "You lucky Elijah's bitch is here. Cause when I catch you slipping next time, imma put a hole in you!" And with that, the bright green car speeds away from us, leaving the four of us a terrified mess.