All For Us || Oscar Diaz

32: Family

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Cesar winced as Monse tried dressing him. His wounds were healing but the poor kid was still left black and blue after the beat down he took from the Santos. He had a cast on his forearm, which Monse had to cover every time Cesar had to take a shower. His lip was still busted and the strikes he took on his abdomen were turning purple. It took him awhile to actually move on his own.

Initially, he had sought haven in Monse's house. Fortunately for him, her dad was still on the road doing business but that didn't stop Monty from finding out about what happened to Cesar. As long as Monse and Cesar didn't mention anything to her dad then they were in the clear.

Monse couldn't help but stare at her battered boyfriend. Just like the past times, she was beginning to tear up. "Your brother's a real asshole for leaving you like this," she cursed for the nth time since Cesar arrived.

"I got what I deserved," Cesar muttered under his breath as Monse rolled her eyes.

"You seriously blaming yourself for this?" Monse argued. "You refused to kill a person and you get beaten to pulp because of it. On what earth does that kind of logic make sense?"

"I didn't pull the trigger on Latrelle, but look what happened to Ruby. Look what happened to Olivia," Cesar retaliated angrily.

"You can't seriously be blaming yourself for what happened?"

Cesar refused to look at his novia. Of course he did. If he had only followed what his brother said then they wouldn't be here. He wouldn't be homeless. Ruby wouldn't have gotten shot. Olivia would still be alive.

"Think about it Monse," he began turning to him, wincing in the process. "If I just gotten rid of Latrelle, Olivia would still be alive. Ruby would be celebrating Christmas with his family. Latrelle hasn't been seen since and the cops aren't doing shit!"

"So you shoot Latrelle and then what?!" Monse raised. "You become a killer, Cesar! An innocent kid's life would've been on your hands!"

"He shot and killed our friend!"

"What happened after that was just... a stroke of bad luck," Monse said gently grabbing his face in her hands. Cesar furrowed his eyebrows at her resulting her to sigh.

"Okay, maybe bad luck doesn't come close to what happened," she corrected. "But no one would've anticipated what happened that night at Olivia's quince," she pointed out.

"And just because you couldn't pull the trigger does not mean what happened after was your fault," she added sternly as Cesar brushed away her touch.

"Spooky was supposed to be looking after you. First he jumps you into joining his gang and then he tasks you to kill Latrelle. What kind of brother puts that kind of weight on his own blood?" Monse spoke angrily leaving Cesar quiet. Deep down he knew her words rang true.

"It wasn't his call to make. It was his boss's," Cesar blurted.

"Bullshit! He's your older brother! He's one to talk about family when he kicked his own brother out and had him beaten up and left him for dead!"

"You think I don't know that?!" Cesar had finally snapped. "Monse, I'm not exactly happy with my situation and I'm mad with what happened. I don't need you reminding me of how fucked my situation is," he seethed as Monse pulled away a little.

With a sigh, Cesar quickly apologizes for his outburst. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No it's fine," Monse sighed looking to the floor. "You don't need to be reminded by it. It's not like it helps your situation."