Slow burn PART 2

Chapter 59

        Dante surprised me today when he asked if I wanted to meet his dad. I know his dad is locked up in prison two hours away from here. I spoke to the man for a brief moment on the phone once. He sounds nice enough. Maybe a little intimidating. 

Or maybe I'm intimidated because the thought of walking into a prison frightens me a little bit. I don't know what exactly I fear. I know they don't let inmates roam around freely, so I doubt I'm in danger. Then again, didn't Dante get stabbed because the prison system was paid off to do a 'hit' or whatever the heck it is. 

        Maybe I just feel out of my element the same way I had when I first agreed to work at a gentlemen's club. I remember being scared to even meet the dancers because I didn't know what to expect. I was embarrassed in my own way.

Still, I thought it was nice that Dante wanted me to know his father. Dante is honestly my best friend now, and I know he wishes I could have met his brother, which I can't. And I know his mother is never around. Really, all he has is his father and even he is mostly unavailable to him. 

        I decided I wanted to meet the man who is so important to my best friend. I'm nervous about how things work inside the prison, but on our two hour drive up there I had Dante explain it to me. 

I definitely felt a little better knowing we wouldn't be going into a common area where other visitors are there to see their loved ones locked away. We would be isolated which helps ease some of my nerves.

I thought of the most silly things when deciding I would go. I asked Dante what one wears to jail. He found that to be very funny. He told me, "Well, pops is gonna be in a jumpsuit, so you don't have to get fancy on his behalf." 

I guess it is a silly question. I do like making good first impressions though, so I put thought into my appearance.

        "You know, my brother and I used to take this long drive up to see our dad so many times when he first got pinched. Dario always had his music blaring" Dante glanced between me and the road when he started speaking of his brother. "What kind of music? Let's put some on" I encouraged him. 

He laughed and I didn't know why until he said, "It's rap music, Kitten. I highly doubt you'll approve." I shrugged, "I know some rap." His head did a double take. 

"I doubt it's what Dario used to listen to" he chuckled again. "Oh hush, put something on. Go ahead" I waved for him to grab his phone. 

He connects it to the bluetooth in his car to play his music. Dante swiped a hand down his face to hide his smirk, but he agreed and told me to pull up a specific playlist he has. It's actually labeled as 'Dario' which tugged at my heart strings.

        "Shuffle something. Doesn't matter" he waved for me to press play. When I did, Dante made sure to switch the volume up. He started rolling down all the windows, which started to whip my hair around. I squealed and tried holding it in place, but gave up after a second and just laughed when my hair started to fly wildly with the force of the wind. 

"Remember this music was from 5+ years ago" Dante shouted over the start of the song. That's about how long Dario passed away. 5 years ago. Dante was only 23 years old and Dario was 25 years old when he was killed.

        When the beat started up the car was already filled with base. It was the kind of beat that actually makes you bob along. I had no idea what the song was or who sang it, but it was fun watching Dante start rapping along and doing little hand gestures like the gangster he really is. When it got to a specific part Dante started shoving me along to the beat singing,