Mea Culpa

Chapter 2

Mateo announced his mother's arrival at the clubhouse by bounding through the doors at top speed. When Roxy finally caught up with him she had a deep frown on her usually cheerful face.

"Hey," she greeted Taza. She was warm but clearly frazzled. "You guys seen Coco around?"

Taza shook his head and glanced over at Bishop and Hank. "You guys seen Coco?"

"What's going on?" Bish asked strolling over to Roxy. "You good?"

"Uh, not really," she huffed. "I just walked over here from the corner store, the one like 15 blocks from here, cause my car got towed. I needed a ride and I need money to get it out of the impound lot."

"Querida," Bish groaned.

"I know I'm sorry," she huffed.

"I don't give a shit about the tow," he told her. "Why didn't you call the yard or anyone else?"

"I called the yard," she huffed. "Line was busy. It's 2018, Tio, how did I get a busy signal?"

He shrugged. "We all have cell phones."

"Yeah but my phone is in my car," she told him. "I was already pissed and I figured the walk would let Teo work off some of that energy."

"Didn't work," Hank commented. He strolled by them casually and gave the boy a high-five.

"No shit," she groaned. "Anyway, that's why I'm looking for Coco."

"Like I said," Bishop said with a shrug, "We haven't seen him."

"EZ here?" She asked.

"Just us," Taza winked. "I can give you a lift."

"And I can front the cash," Bishop added.

"Thank you," she said with a pout.

Hank smiled and shouted from across the room, "We don't do it for you."

"You do it for El Padrino," she finished their usual joke. Her Spanish wasn't great, her Rs were never rolled and each word sounded clunky and unnatural.

"Christ, Coco needs to teach you how to really speak Spanish." Bishop teased her as he pulled some cash from his pocket.

Chucky bounced into the clubhouse, almost as amped at Mateo, and waved at the group. "Hola!"

"Chucky," Bishop said in a serious tone, "You leave the phone off the hook?"

"Not me," he said quickly. He held up his hands. "I'm innocent."

"He's innocent," Bishop said jokingly. "You see Coco today?"

"He was here earlier, left in a hurry," Chucky shrugged.

Roxy rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Come on," Taza said. "Let's go."

They all knew how Roxy could be when people were distant or unreachable and describing it as sensitive would be putting it mildly. Her past left her terrified of abandonment and even the mere thought of it or a few unreturned calls made her anxious. They knew and they sympathized but they wanted her to deal with it away from them.

"I can take you," Chucky offered. "I have to make some stops."

"Can Mateo stay here?" She asked Bishop. "There's no car seat and he's too little to be bouncing around the truck. I'll get my car and come right back, I swear."

"Sure," Bishop said with a smile.

They didn't seem like the type but not one of the Mayans didn't enjoy children in general. Ones like Mateo Alvarez were even more special as he was blood related to both Alvarez and Bishop.