PROMISE ME (OSCAR DIAZ x OC)

Chapter Thirteen (Oscar)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Oscar

New Year's Eve

Cesar started begging for me to take him back in. Standing there acting like he has the right to fucking be in the house. Like he didn't lie to me. Like he didn't beg Alana to lie to me. And she almost covered for his ass until the moment Olivia died in front of her.

"Please, Oscar. You're my brother. My family. Let me come home!" He begged and pleaded with me but I couldn't even look him in the eyes.

All I could see was the day he told me what happened over and over again. How he sat there at my kitchen table with Alana next to him. She looked horrible. Not because she had no makeup on or because her hair was in a messy bun and she wore black sweats with my black hoodie. No... She looked perfect that way.

She looked horrible because she had been crying nonstop and hadn't slept in days. Hadn't drank any water and hadn't eaten in who knows how long before that had happened. She was tired and she looked so fucking hurt. A pain that I couldn't just take away by holding her. A pain that would only fade slightly with time.

Hearing the words "I'm sorry, Oscar... I lied to you... Latrelle isn't dead. And he... He promised me he'd leave Freeridge but he... He shot Ruby and killed Olivia."

I covered my mouth and felt myself ready to throw up. The worst part? That bullet was meant for Cesar. No one else. Two people got shot. One lost her life. All because my brother lied. If he couldn't have pulled the trigger, he should have told me, and I would have done it. I would have done it so fast and helped him but instead he lied to me.

Now I'm standing here, smoking a cigarette, and feeling the same anger and rage that I did the day I found out that my brother was nothing but a liar and a pussy. He tarnished my name. But worse than that... He did so much worse than that.

"I told you I'm sorry!" Cesar was crying as he spoke to me. "I'll make it up to you! Please, Oscar just let me come home! You can't let me sleep on the streets!"

I jumped down off the porch and tossed my smoke into the walkway and pushed him as hard in the chest as I could. Knocking him backward but he stayed on his feet. I pushed him again and it was just all the rage inside of me building up.

"I don't owe you shit." I seethed and then spit at the ground in front of him. "Do you know what could have happened because of your lies?"

"I-"

"You had Alana in your arms!" I shouted so loudly it made some of the homies jump. "If that bullet did to you what it did to Ruby, Alana would be dead. Not Olivia. Do you understand that? My girl- my girl almost died because you're a liar. And she still stood by you and supported your ass. She's not speaking to me because I won't just suck it up and baby you again. Well, I'm done Cesar. Done. You're dead to me. You're not my brother anymore. So go sleep on the streets I don't care. As long as they're not my streets."

Cesar started to cry and all I could do was turn away from him. Pretend like he was dead to me. It was hard to be a leader. And even harder to be a brother and father all wrapped in one. Cesar has no one but me. We have no mother. No father. Nothing. I'm it for it. But I have hundreds of people who look to me for protection. I can't shelter Cesar and let him keep making these mistakes and put more people at risk.

That just ain't right.

We were all supposed to party for new year's, but I ended up just going in my bedroom and slamming the door shut. Laying there with the lights off staring up at the ceiling and fighting the urge to go after Cesar. To bring his stupid ass home and hold him and cry with him and tell him it'll all be okay.

But I can't do that.

I tried to call Alana again but like she's done for the last three weeks she's ignored my calls and all my texts. I made a post on Instagram on Christmas just to say how much I love her and how I was hoping I could see her and give her the best gift ever but nothing. Not even a like. I know she saw it because she posted pictures of her and her mom, her little sister and even pictures with Ruby.

I don't blame her for being mad at me. I'm mad at me too. The moment I told Cesar to get the fuck out of my house and go be homeless she tried to fight with me. She told me I was wrong.

"He needs you more than ever right now!" She screamed in my face. "If I knew you'd put him to the streets I would have just kept his secret!"

"If you kept his secret, you'd be dead to me too. Even just for saying that I should dead you to me in every way." I replied out of anger. I didn't mean a single one of those words. She could never have been dead to me, but my mouth just moved faster than my brain.

She stood up from the table and kicked the chair to the ground and whipped the door open. "You are dead to me Oscar Diaz. Don't ever call me again. Not unless you plan to forgive your brother and let bygones be bygones."

"Your prima is dead! Your brother got shot! How can you just brush it off?" I argued with her when he hand was on the door. "I could have lost you."

"Now you're losing me. But it'll be even more painful because I'm still alive. But I'm not yours anymore."

And now I'm sitting the dark and wondering if I should just give it all up. Give up Alana. Give up who I am. Give up everything I've built. My empire. My world All of it. I rubbed my temples as I stared at my ceiling and then I heard my phone vibrate.

Incoming call from Mi Amor...

I answered so quickly I dropped my phone onto my face. "H-Hello?" I breathed out and then swallowed the bile that burned the back of my throat. Sitting up on bed and staring at the door. Hoping that she'd walk in the moment I answered.

"Oscar..." She was crying. "I want to talk it all out. I- I can't do this. My parents know... I'll explain when I see you. I'm on my way now."

"Alright..." Was all I could say to her on the phone. I hung up and breathed out heavily thinking to myself all the things I could say to her. All the feelings I've built up inside of me. The side of me that only she is allowed to see.

She said it best herself. "You're losing me."

How long could we continue this back-and-forth game? I mean... Yeah, her parents know about us now but... That last fight we had... It was different. It was a fight built on lies and some really hard fucking feelings. We became a tragedy. A sad song. We're too far gone now..

The best of me... I gave her the best of me and yet somehow, she still managed to bring out the worst in me. And she cut me so deep and all I did was bleed even though I did my best to be brave for her. All the time.

I started thinking back to all the little fights we had before. I told her in front of a group of people that I'd marry her. That had set her off. And if I saw myself through her eyes... I wouldn't want to marry me either. I'd run. I'd run for the fucking hills and never turn back.

As I waited for her, I got another text.

MI AMOR: Running late. Be there in 30, maybe 40.

ME: I love you

MI AMOR: Read.

ME: I said I love you.

MI AMOR: Read.