When The Wrong One Loves You Right 1: A New Life

Chapter 21: My World

I climb back in the car waiting for Matt to finish. About ten minutes later two big black SUVs pull up behind Matt's car as he walks around the side of the house. Matt exchanges something with the driver before getting in the car. It is evident Mark will be safe here without me.

"For somebody that's not part of a gang anymore you sure have some really obedient friends." I say as Matt closes his car door.

"You couldn't understand Ana. When you don't have a family, you make one, then look out for each other."

"Right." I mock him as I talk. "You can't understand. It's too complicated. No Ana. Stop. You have to do what I tell you when I tell you to do it. It's like listening to the same broken record over and over with the two of you."

"Ana you need to understand, we are different. My brother and I were treated differently because of the color of our skin. Our mother was American, our father was Mexican. We tried to fit in, but we learned the hard way the world isn't always a nice place. Nobody gives you a thing. So, you have to make yourself respected or feared. You have to learn how to never show weakness and keep your mouth shut. I pushed my brother to do what he wanted with his life. I paid for his schooling. I didn't want us both to end up alone. I've always tried to protect him. It's hard because he has always been stubborn. Those guys that took my brother believe different things than we do. They live in a neighborhood that the police don't go in to unless they are feeling suicidal."

"So, you'd rather risk your lives then find help? Are you going to wait for another warning."

"Mark and I don't rely on others. That's the way it's always been. You don't become part of a gang purely out of pleasure. But when you have nobody else to look up to those people kind of become your family. They show you how to survive. Making money in their world is easy. But once you see the other side and decide you want out it's not so easy. That's when things become complicated."

"Who was the guy in the yellow car. The one who took Mark?"

"His name is Diego. He thinks he has to make a name for himself. There is no real boss, some of them are more influential than others. His father understood that it's better we all get along nicely. He knows that I know a lot of things that have protected his family over the years. He promised me I could be out as long as I kept quiet about their business. Recently   there has been quite a turnover."

"Is Mark a part of the gang?"

"I always tried to make sure he wasn't part of it, I tried to protect him from it. We were very close when I started getting involved with the them. Almost inseparable. He got involved because I got involved. That's how things were between us. Where one would go the other would follow."

There is silence in the car as Matt drives. I stare out the window at the passing landscape. It's hard to place all the blame for the current situation on Matt knowing that Mark was a part of it too. I feel hurt. I'm angry at Matt, at Mark, and most of all angry at myself. I stare out at the lights of the city as they become blurred.

"Ana, do you need anything before I get you home?"

"No, I just want to go home." Tears run silently down my face.

Matt breathes out staring at me for a moment. I'm tired of fighting to get through the invisible walls the brothers put up all those years ago when they needed protection. I'm tired of striving and getting nowhere. For every inch I move forward with one of them I get knocked back a mile with the other. I fold my hands together and twitch my fingers nervously. The lights are becoming more blurred every second. Matt pulls the car to the side of the road. He turns to face me.

"Ana I'm sorry for tonight." Matt says sounding sincere.

I see his reflection in the window. He's staring at me waiting for a response.