SATIVA ✞ ON MY BLOCK [OSCAR DIAZ]

II. SEVENTEEN

Oscar quickly exited the car, slamming the door shut as he entered the restaurant. Jamal, who was sweeping the floor, dropped the broom to the floor at the sight of the Santo.

He put his hands up, in a surrender position, "My dad already took the money for the night."

"Screw you," Oscar squinted his eyes at the boy as he picked up the broom, "Where's Ximena?"

"She's doing inventory with Logan in the back," Jamal pointed towards the back of the store. Oscar rolled his eyes at the teenager, making his way to the back, making sure to check every room to see if she was in there. When he got to the last room, he found Logan there, by himself. He was stacking food on the shelves when Oscar grabbed his shoulder.

He roughly turned the boy around, scaring the living shit out of him.

"Where's Ximena?" Oscar questioned, pushing Logan back into the shelf, knocking some items over.

Logan cleared his throat nervously, shaking his head, "I don't know, man, she went outside to talk to you about twenty minutes ago, I thought she was still out there."

"No," Oscar backed away from the boy, "She's not answering the phone, I'm worried."

"She probably went on a walk or something, dude," Logan suggested, straightening up the items on the floor, "clear her head."

"She knows better than to just 'go on a walk' around this neighborhood, coño," Oscar snapped at the boy, pulling out his phone, trying to call her one more time.

As the phone rang, the same voicemail haunted Oscar's ears, "Hi, This is Ximena, I can't get to th-" Oscar hung up, dialing up another number as a man answered.

"Yo, qué onda, Miguel? Soy yo, algo pasó con Ximena."

"Tu jeva?"

"Sí, necesito a todos los chicos en esto ahora. Sé que están detrás de esto."

"Por supuesto, jefe. Te tenemos."

Oscar sighed, leaning over the hood of his car as his phone began to vibrate. He quickly snatched it out of his pocket, placing it up to his ear as Miguel began talking,

"Nada aún, jefe."

"Trabajar más, la tienen en alguna parte." Oscar hung up the phone, hearing soft footsteps approaching. He reached into his pants for his gun, turning around. He lowered it as he looked at Cesar.

The boy was dirty, he was wearing a weathered down hoodie and his face had dirt smudged all over it. He was panting like he was out of breath.

Oscar rolled his eyes, turning away from him, "Get out of here. I'm not trying to deal with this right now."

"I need protection," Cesar pleaded, stepping forward to his brother.

"You came to the wrong place," Oscar shook his head.

"I found Latrelle," Cesar said, making Oscar look over his shoulder at the boy, "I went to go finish the job."

Oscar raised his thin brow, "And?"

Cesar sighed deeply, his shoulders going up and falling back down, "The gun jammed."

Oscar chuckled dryly, shaking his head again in disappointment, "You're O for two, ain't gonna be number three. Go."

Cesar scoffed, holding out his arms as he raised his voice at his brother, "Where? I have nowhere to go!"

"Not my problem," Oscar's voice empty with zero emotion.

"Not your problem?"

"There's nothing I can do for you," Oscar explained, "It's not just about you anymore. Everyone you care about is in jeopardy if you stay, so leave, and don't come back."

"You know what, Oscar?" Cesar took another step forward, turning Oscar around so he could look at him, "You should've handled this for me.!You're not just my big brother. You're my big homie."

The Santo rolled his eyes, "Shut the hell up."

"You could've taken out Latrelle. But instead, you sent me! You sent me to do it!"

With Cesar's now raised voice, Oscar decided to get in his. Frustrated and angry, Oscar spat at him. "Hey! Do you know what the hell you did? How badly you messed up? Ximena is missing right now! You put me in an impossible situation with Cuchillos!"

Cesar stared blankly at his brother, "What do you mean, Ximena is missing?"

Oscar scoffed, walking away from his brother. He scratched the top of his head, pacing back and forth in worry. "The pinche Prophets," he cursed, looking at Cesar, "they grabbed her about two hours ago. I got the guys looking right now. Look what happens when you don't finish your shit?"

The boy's face soon became red and flustered as tears appeared in his eyes. "Oscar, please," Cesar sobbed, "I don't know what to do."

Oscar grabbed his brother by the back of the neck, bringing him in for a hug, "Hey, hey." Cesar wrapped his arms around Oscar as he did the same, both missing how good it felt to have each other. They stayed in each others arms for a few short seconds before Oscar pulled away, his hand on his brother's face. "I love you, mano. But you're done. Happy birthday."

for all my non spanish speakers the phone conversation between oscar and miguel is basically oscar asking miguel to get everybody out there to look for ximena and miguel was like i got you, the second conversation miguel tells oscar they haven't found out anything yet