Miss Bala

Chapter 7: Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Gemma and I headed inside as the sun started setting.

"Im going to wash up real quick." I told her, and she nodded, walking to the balcony door. I spotted Jose walking towards her.

Upstairs in the bathroom, I washed my hands and splashed a little water on my face.

"Hey, chula,"

Lino startled me, I didn't even hear him come in. He leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sorry," he had a small smile on his face, realizing he snuck up on me, "I got a call from Tucán. Apparently there was a firearm accident involving Irene's car."

I dried my hands with a towel and looked at him, "hm, no kidding." I shrugged. He had this smirk on his face, and I'm guessing he knew I had some sort of play in it. He let his arms fall to his side and walked up to me, pulling my body close to his. The gesture caught me off guard, but I wasn't exactly complaining.

"Well, she's coming back here again tonight." He signed, trying to hug me before I pulled away.

"Why?"

"A little celebration for Jose and the crew he took. Tucán is inviting her over. Home coming welcome, I guess." He hesitated that last part. There was more to what he was telling me. I gave him a questioning look.

"And they have some of the girls on the way." Girls?

It clicked for me, the girls he was talking about were the ones they used to make money off of. The same way they were trying to use Suzu. Or how they did use her.

"I figured you didn't want to be here." I could tell by his eyes, he was trying to search for any kind of hint on how I was feeling. Truth was, I wasn't in the mood to see young girls be handled like that. I didn't say anything, I just stared at my shoes like they were the most interesting things in the world.

"Let's go," he stepped back and gently pulled me by my wrist.

"Where?" I asked.

"Anywhere than here, right? Well, for now of course."

I didn't say another word as he led the way downstairs. There was already so many people here. Mostly members of the cartel. I did notice some new faces but they seemed pretty aquatinted with everyone so I'm guessing they were the ones who went with Jose. A few females were around too, everyone of them actually enjoying being around. In fact, I would have thought this was a regular get-together kind of thing. I noticed the own guest of honor was missing. Gemma, too.

We walked outside to a parked motorcycle. I quickly looked at him, were we taking this? Did he even know how to drive it?

"C'mon chula. You can't expect to come to Puerto Rico and not own one of these." He smirked at me, handing me the only helmet hanging from the handlebars. I smiled to myself, embarrassed, I was thinking out loud.

"Lino! You got a phone call!" Someone came running out, pointing inside the house.

"I'll wait." I sat up against the bike.

"3 minutes." He took a step towards leaving but came back, giving me a quick kiss.

I pulled out my phone, dialing Suzu's number. I didn't press the call button, I know these things can't be tracked, but I just stared down at the screen.

A minute later, a car pulls up. The loud music stopping as they shut off the engine. I looked back down at the phone, not really caring about who it could be.

"Uh, shouldn't you be polishing that bike, sweetie?" A girl, who looked to be 19 or 20, walked passed. She had on some jean shorts, a black cropped jacket with a white tube top underneath. She turned to look at me one more time, "Lino likes it nice and shiny."