Manuel's POV
Antonio is gonna come home soon and will eat lunch. Then he'll do his homework and later eat dinner. That's my hermano's routine now. No more sneaking out. No more secrets. No more Michael.
"Do you think it's a good idea to not bring reinforcements? These guys are kinda aggressive." Rafa said.
"Jack is dumb but not an idiot. He knows that if he attacks, he'll start a war. Did you get the gun?" I asked Rafa.
He held up the small pistol in his hands. "Yup!" He said.
"Don't pull it out. Just keep it hidden." I warned him.
I put on my coat and kissed my future wife on the cheek. She blessed me before I left and off we went. Rather than take the car, Rafa and I decided to just walk the way there.
"Soooo... have you talked to Antonio?" Rafa asked during our walk.
"Not much. Can't really look at him right now." I responded.
"Do you... hate him?" He warily asked.
"Hate him?! Nah, I don't hate him. But I'm disappointed that he would do such a thing. It broke me, ya'know? Knowing that my brother was screwing the enemy."
"But what about the fact that he's gay? You're only angry about the fact that he's screwing a Jewel and not that he's screwing a guy." Rafa said.
I stared at him. "Rafa, I kinda always knew he was queer." I replied.
"Wha- how. You always teased him that he liked Dina. If you knew he was gay, then what was with those remarks?" He asked.
"I'm his brother, dummy. We play like that. But when he hit puberty, I noticed the changes. Sometimes when we would watch a movie, he'd always have his eyes on the guys. Marshall Cromwell was his favorite guy to look at." I chuckled at the memory of Antonio's eyes so emerged in those movies.
"Maybe he just thought the guys were attractive in a not-homo way." Rafa said.
"I found his stash of magazines that had men in them. And he and Dina were always like siblings, not a couple. But I never called him out on it because I knew it'd bring humiliation to Antonio. I kept my mouth shut." I said.
"Hmm. Interesting..." Rafa said.
We slowly began to approach Park Plaza, the meeting place. The meeting would occur in the fourth parking lot, the farthest from shop goers. As we got closer, I reminded Rafa that should any of them threaten or hurt us severely, to pull out the gun but not shoot. Just scare them off.
Jack was sitting on the dilapidated bench and smoking a cigarette. Surrounding him was Archie, Bandit, Monty, and two guys I can't remember. Maybe Rafa was right and we should've brought extra reinforcements.
"Where's the rest of your crew?" Jack asked loudly.
"We agreed on it being just us two and our right hand man! You seem to have gone overboard." I replied.
"In case your head is in your ass, my right hand man is the guy fucking your little brother." Jack said.
"Was Michael really that strong that you need to compensate with 5 other weaker guys?" I jokingly asked. Rafa giggled next to me.
"Watch your tone, spic!" Archie, one of the most hot headed people I've ever met, spat back.
"Arch, calm down." Jack said. "No, I brought these guys just as a... precaution." Jack said.
"Precaution that we'll attack you? We're fighters, not savages." Rafa said.
"Enough! That's not what we're here for!" Jack loudly said. "Why did you call this meeting, Manuel?" He asked me.
"I"m here to tell you to control your fucking dog and keep him away from my little brother!" I angrily said.
"Me? Michael is his own person! I'm not gonna tell him who not to fuck! Maybe you should control your fruity brother not to handle guys bigger than him!" Jack replied.
"Antonio is safe, no thanks to what your guys did to him in the morning today." I said, referring to the incident my guys told me.
"He only made it out because Michael came and protected him! Not even your guys could do that. Michael had to come and protect him. It's kinda funny how defenseless your brother is. How's it feel to have a spic and faggot brother?!" Jack and his crew bursted out laughing.
I directly walked towards Jack, standing in front of him. "Don't you dare talk about my brother!" I growled at him.
"What're you gonna do about it? Huh! Nothing!" Jack replied.
"Manuel, don't do it!" Rafa said. He tried to pull my shoulder to go back. I gave one last angry look at Jack before walking away.
"Go back from where you came from!" Jack angrily yelled.
"Don't listen to him!" Rafa told me.
"And take your faggot brother and bitch of a girlfriend!" Jack yelled.
Something in me snapped. I've felt rage before, but not the kind that I felt when Jack insulted my brother and future wife.
I quickly turned around and began running to Jack. Before he could respond, my fist landed on his face and knocked him down on his ass.
"Don't talk about them, you fucking yankee!" I yelled and landed a few more punches on Jack.
Jack tried getting up but my weight on top of him prevented that. Rafa tried screaming for me to stop but I had my eyes set on ripping off Jack's arms.
I felt some punches on my body from his crew but that didn't stop me. The final blow was when I felt some sort of metal pipe hitting the side of my head.
My body collapsed onto the floor and Jack managed to get up and started kicking my stomach.
My eyes kept trying to see but with the blow to my head, my vision got dark. And soon, my world turned dark.
I woke up a bit and saw a vision of Rafa crouched to me on the ground, holding out the gun and pointing it at whoever he was while screaming.
Then I went out again.
The next time I awoke was when I was being carried by people wearing white and a red cross on them. Rafa was walking alongside me, looking like he was on the verge of exploding.
And then I blacked out again.
My eyes slowly started to open again. I felt myself laying on a soft mattress in a bright room. I'm not home. I vaguely remember this place. The place where I came to when I had to identify my parents' dead bodies. I was in the hospital.
"Manuel! Manuel! Can you hear me?!" Rafa's voice urgently shook me. I turned and saw him looking down at me beside my bed.
"Rafa? What's going on?" I groggily asked.
"Jack's guys hit you in the head. Don't worry, they're gonna find them! Just hang on!" Rafa said. I pulled on Rafa's hand for him to come closer.
"Rafa..." My raspy voice called out. He looked down and got closer. "Take care of Dolores and Antonio for me. Tell them I love them." I said.
Rafa looked like he wanted to object. "You're gonna be fine!" He responded.
"As my final order, do what I told you, Rafa. Keep them safe just in case." I said. Rafa nodded.
The perimeter of my eyes began to darken. And soon, I would fall into a sleep, not sure if I would ever wake up.
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<3 <3