Chapter 18
"Nothing wrong with having high standards, but make sure you meet those standards you're setting for somebody else. You can't want you and someone to get together and buy a thousand dollar house and you only have a dollar in your pocket. That's what he's doing, setting the bar high for her, when he's nowhere close to it." —Money
I couldn't believe it was time to go home already. I've been in Cartagena for four months and was a little torn. Thirty percent of me felt a little sad, I kind of liked it here and the money I'd been getting paid by Emilio was crazy. It made me want to stay longer; but I couldn't deny that I missed my home and my wife much more.
There was a knock on the door and I knew it could only be one person. She doesn't even wait for me to give the okay before she sticks her head in, followed by her whole body. She closes the door behind her and rushes over to me, hugging me.
"Do you have to leave so soon, Dinero?"
I was throwing some of my clothes back into my suitcases. María takes a seat on the edge of my bed just watching me, pouting. Over time we had gotten really cool. We had one of those relationships where there was chemistry there, but neither of us crossed that line.
"I don't want you to go." She whined.
I look at her to see those full pouty lips poking out at me. She was wearing her reading glasses, her hair in a ponytail. She often had them on but they didn't look like prescriptions.
"Sorry, but I gotta jet. Gotta go back to my own city."
"Pero va a ser tan aburrido aquí sin ti..." She mumbled, tossing herself back on the bed dramatically.
I chuckle and fold a pair of pants before placing it into the suitcase. "English."
"I said but it's gonna be so boring here without you."
"You don't have to worry, I'll never forget you."
She busted out laughing, turning on her side. "Dinero shut up."
Emilio was in his office speaking to someone right now, he usually stayed in there for two hours. I knew his schedule to a tee, so I was confident he wasn't coming this way soon. I didn't know how he would feel about his daughter and I being together. Not that I ever thought about it, because I would never allow myself to even entertain that idea; but she had a natural flirtatiousness to her and I wonder if he never saw it.
"Are you gonna think about me while you're in Miami?"
"Of course."
"How much?" She said.
"How much you want me too?" I flirted back, licking my lips. I've still never called her anything other than her name. It was so I didn't slip up and say something slick in front of Emilio. I wasn't scared but I didn't need this man thinking his daughter and I had something going on. That would be bad for business.
María sits up on the bed and folds her legs, sitting Indian style. She picks up a shirt and starts folding to help me pack. Her breasts were huge but I could tell they were natural. They sat in her top nicely and she probably had to hold them when she was riding dick.
I have to force myself to stop fantasizing and look away.
"Dinero," She says, suddenly looking at me, "Why do you cheat on your wife?"
I freeze and just look at her. I even glance down at my ring finger to make sure I didn't have it on. In the four months I've been here she's never gave any indication that she knew I was married. I wondered how she guessed a wife and not a girlfriend. And what impression did I give her that I cheated? I didn't bring up women once since I've been here.
"Wife? What gives you the impression that I'm married?" I ask her.
"I heard you on the phone the first night you came. I heard you speaking to a woman, you said you loved her."
"So. It could've been my cousin."
"Not the way you said it."
"Could be a girlfriend."
"The way you said you loved her was how a husband would say he loved his wife. You meant it, too. I could tell. So why do you cheat on her?" She asked.
I blink, searching the bed with my eyes to see if I had anything else that needed to be packed. I was mostly done. "So you stood in front of my door and listened to me?"
"Yes." She said.
I don't say anything, she puts her hand on top of mine. She has on white nail polish. It was a color she wore a lot. I wonder if this meant something different in Colombia, but usually white nail polish equaled to good pussy. "What gives you the impression that I cheat?"
"The way you look at me. Your eyes roam my body way too confidently for a man who doesn't cheat on his wife."
I chuckle, she was actually really good at reading people. Either that or I was starting to think she went into my cellphone or some shit when I wasn't around. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Hm. I bet."
"Is she a bitch or something?"
"Don't call my wife a bitch." It was instinct for me to get irritated when someone mentioned Angel in a negative way.
María pulls her head back, her mouth turning into an o. I had never snapped on her like that and it surprised even me.
I shake my head. "My bad."
"So you are married...and I didn't call her one, I asked if she was one. If that was a reason you cheat on her."
"No and I still don't know who told you I cheat." I say. I wasn't going to confess to that.
She playfully rolls her eyes at me but gets up and leave, making me watch her and shake my head. At first I thought she was one of those spoiled broads who acted like they controlled the world because her pop's was big time. It was the exact opposite with her. She was playful and goofy and didn't cry to daddy even when someone got her mad.
I finally zip up the last of my luggage and start pulling them behind me. I get to the front door and at the same time Javier, Hierba and Gustavo walk in.
These were my shooters, they were with me whenever I made a drop. I could handle myself, but I didn't have a problem having them with me in case anything went wrong. Nothing did during my time here, no client tried to pull one over on me just because I wasn't from this country. They knew I was under Emilio so didn't test their luck.
"What's good Money?" Hierba said, giving me dap. He had a thick accent. His name actually meant Weed, because he smoked so much. He was the most talkative out the trio, too. Covered in gang tattoos with long hair slicked back in a ponytail. He wore wife beaters all the time and was intimidating enough at six foot one and one hundred eighty pounds of muscle. "You leaving already?"
"Yeah, I gotta touch back down in my parts."
"Aight, so when's the next time you coming back up this way?"
"When Emilio requires my services again." I say truthfully.
Heirba nodded.
"Wait! Daddy said I come come!"
Everyone looked at the top of the grand staircase to see María standing there with two suitcases in her hand. She was dressed down in a yellow t-shirt dress and sunglasses perched on her forehead. I could smell the tropical island fruit perfume even from where I was standing.
"Come where?" I cock an eyebrow.
"To Miami with you."
She had went to grab the handles of her luggage, but some maids that were passing her decided to grab her stuff for her. She walked down each step slowly, smiling from ear to ear as she allowed her sunglasses to fall over her eyes. The maids struggling to carry whatever she had overpacked in the Louis Vuitton suitcases.
I pull my head back, looking at her like she was crazy. "Slow ya roll, you not coming with me to Miami. You must be out your mind, what you even coming with me to Miami for?" I liked María, I even considered her a friend. Which said a lot because I didn't have friends, let alone female friends. But I considered her my Colombian friend. Not the friend I brought down to Miami with me so her father could put her life in my hands.
María put a hand on her hip and I think she got offended because her smile disappears and she frowns at me. "Relax, I'm not going to be chilling under you the whole time. I have friends down there, it would just be easier if we travelled together. When we touch down, I'll be out of your hairs."
When she comes down the staircase, I think she surprised me and everyone else when she all of a sudden grabbed me in a hug, putting her arms around my waist. She was whining, bouncing up and down on her tiptoes, making her breasts squish against my chest. "Please Dinero, please, please?"
I quickly push her away, but not rudely. I hold her at arms length. "María what for?"
"Well that would be my business now, wouldn't it, papi." She said brushing under my chin.
I don't know why but my gaze goes toward Gustavo. Ever since I met him I noticed he had a little crush on María. He was an alright dude, efficient when he was doing business with me, but he seemed standoffish besides that. I think he was jealous of me because María may have had a crush on me. I couldn't control that she didn't like him. I was sure everyone knew she liked me, even the gardener. Only person who was in the dark was her father.
"I'm going down in two weeks, you can come with me when I go." Gustavo offered.
"No, I want Dinero to take me." She said.
Javier was the only quiet one, hardly ever spoke. Which was my type of dude, but it made it hard to read him sometimes. "Okay papi, how about this...I already have a present for you in Miami. I picked it out and my daddy bought it. If you don't take me I'll take my present back."
"How you know imma like what he got me anyway?"
"Trust me I think you'll like it. Let's just give you a hint to what it might be. You use it on the road and you'll definitely get stares when your outside."
I didn't need a rocket scientist to figure out it was a car. Not throughly convinced she was telling the truth about being able to come with me, I pull my cellphone out and call her father. I wanted to make sure he knew about this because she thought she was slick. María was a grown woman, but it was clear Emilio still kept tabs on her. The conversation doesn't last long as I find out he in fact did give her permission. I slide my phone back in my pocket and look at her.
"You fetching your own shit."
********
We land in a jet and María points down the landing strip. Sitting in the direction of her long slender finger was a car. Not just any car—but a lime green 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo. It wasn't even suppose to be out until another few months. My mouth fell open but no words came out. It was a convertible with no roof. I was in awe.
"Well...you just gonna stand there or you gonna ride your woman around in your new car?"
My head slowly turns and I look at her. I couldn't believe this was real. I scoop her up and spin her around so fast she starts laughing uncontrollably. I was so happy I could kiss her and I almost wanted too, but I put her down before I could cross that line. She held the keys, dangling it in my face. This was a half a million dollar car and it was all mines?
María leaves me standing there and goes swishing toward the car, hips swinging from left to right. She opens the passenger door and gets in. I just stand there in disbelief for another full minute before I could will myself to move again.
I knew our stuff couldn't fit in here, but I was told another car would be here to transport our things later. Fifteen minutes later I'm flying down the streets of Miami back to my side of Florida. I didn't like to brag but I was going pretty fast and was well in control of a type of car I've never driven before. María herself looked well relaxed, her long black tendrils flying crazily in the wind.
"Where you going?" I yell so she could hear me over the wind lashing us in the face.
"What?!" She shouted back at me.
I come to a stop when I see an upcoming red light. I'm a whole car length away from the traffic light, but I wasn't about to play with this car. It was my new obsession. I think seven people already took a photo of it and it's been on the road for less than fifteen minutes.
"I said where are you going? You said you had somewhere to be down here. I'll take you to wherever it is your going."
She shrugs, twirling a thick strand of hair around her index finger. "Just take me wherever it is your going."
I close my eyes and turn my head toward her, eyes still closed. I try to tell myself that she's only playing. That in three seconds she'll laugh and say sike or something like that, but she doesn't. I open my eyes. "María, you said you had somewhere to go."
"Yeah." She said. "I lied. I told my dad I wanted to come spend some time with some friends. He believed me, I mean I am still grown. He doesn't ask questions, he just wants to make sure I'm safe. I just wanted to come down here with you." She smiled.
I don't even say anything and pull off once the light turns green. I didn't know what to say. There was still the beef of the Savage Boys down here that I hadn't yet handled. Having her far away from me might be really smart right now; then again if she was closer, it could be safer because I had an eye on her. I didn't even know what was better at this point. She should've stayed her ass in Colombia.
"Aww, please don't be mad papi," She said with an index finger brushing under my him, "You know you love having me around."
I jerk my head away, "You play too much to be the age you are, you know that right?"
*********
I'm laid back on the couch with María nearby, losing her mind over some phone call she had with a friend from back in Colombia. Something about her friend dating this guy she really liked, but he dumped her after finding out she wasn't a virgin because he only liked virgins.
Thankfully I had a garage, I hardly used it because it was easier to park the car on the street. Now that I had a Lamborghini it was inside the garage with the doors down. I didn't need anybody trying to break into it or do something worse like slash the tires or key the car because they were jealous.
Some kind of chauffeur or whoever worked for María came by and dropped our luggage off over an hour ago. I wondered if he was going to report to Emilio that his daughter was staying at my house. Not that I cared, I just hoped he didn't get the wrong idea.
Angel was still with Capri and I know Capri also had the Wyatt kid tucked away somewhere. I hope he was starving his dumb ass in a basement or something. I'd get Angel tomorrow right after I found somewhere for María to go. But for now I wouldn't call to tell her I was here. We spoke here and there in Colombia, but usually I was so busy and always on the move.
"I hate men like that! It's so ridiculous!" María complains, she was sitting on the ground, drawing something on a blank sheet of paper across from me. "Typical double standard male bullshit. Who the hell is he to dump her because she's not a virgin?"
I glance over at her because she was displaying the typical feminist bullshit. "That's not a double standard, it's called a preference. Who the hell is your friend to think he has to date her? If he likes virgins he likes virgins."
"What's wrong with not being a virgin?"
"Nothing, but that's not what he likes. Let me ask you this, if a dude that's three feet off the ground wants to be your boyfriend and you say no, wouldn't that be wrong of you? Or it wouldn't because your preference is taller men, right?" I say back.
She looks at me and huffs. Like one of those huffs someone does when they realize the other person is right. She runs her fingers through her hair then finally glances in my direction but not at me. "I understand what you're saying Dinero, but this is different. It's such an objectification of women."
"How?"
"Why do men put such emphasis on a women and if she's had sexual partners before?"
"I don't think it's an objectification. To some people that's very important, to both men and women. Some people don't care, some do. When a woman cares about it ya'll say she has respect for herself, when a man wants the same of his woman he's creepy and sexualizing her. Now is this dude looking for her to be a virgin because he wants to marry her? Or does he just seek out virgins to have sex with?"
María shrugged, "I guess he's trying to settle down, that's what my friend said. She's older than me, thirty four and the dude she was seeing was forty. So I guess he's looking for a wife and it's mandatory she's a virgin."
"Nothing wrong with a man wanting a virgin wife."
"Was your wife a virgin?" She asked, eyebrow raised. Somehow I knew that question was coming.
I smile proudly. "Of course."
"How do you know?"
"Childhood love...been attached at the hip since sandbox days. Married her at eighteen. Trust me, I know."
María looks at me and I see her tucking her smile away, which meant I must've been giving a goofy smile or something.
"I mean, do y'all know if this dude a virgin himself?" I ask.
"No he's not."
I tilt my head from side to side, now having a different perspective. "Okay now that's a different story."
"Oh now it's a different story?" María says looking cocky, waiting to give me the whole 'see I was right speech.'
"It's only wrong because he is not one himself, but he's making it a mandatory requirement for her. It's different if he's not a virgin and prefers virgins, because it doesn't mean he's excluding non-virgins. But the fact that he isn't even one himself but making it a mandatory requirement for her is backwards."
"Exactly."
"I do agree that on this part it is a double standard. I think he can want a virginal girl, but he can only make that mandatory of the woman if he is a virgin himself. If he's not than saying it's mandatory of the female is honestly weird and hypocritical. 'Cause he's judging her based off some shit he did as well."
"You think your such a Philosopher. What should they name you in the textbooks? Philosopher Dinero Carter?"
I chuckle and she rolls her eyes, blushing.
I lick my lips. "Nothing wrong with having high standards, but make sure you meet those standards you're setting for somebody else. You can't want you and someone to get together and buy a thousand dollar house and you only have a dollar in your pocket. That's what he's doing, setting the bar high for her, when he's nowhere close to it."
She's silent, like she's thinking about it. It was honestly something I've seen a lot growing up. Between men and women. Women wanting men that made a certain amount of money and didn't even meet half of what they were requesting of their partner. Men wanting a girl to look a certain way when he was in no position to have any say-so on someone else's looks. It was the most ridiculous thing ever.
"Men." María says.
"Women." I shoot back.
We both look at each other and bust out laughing. I shake my head and get up to go clean out the fridge. No one has been here for months, so there were more than overdue expired items that needed to be thrown out. Once I clean out I look at María where she still is sitting on the carpet, drawing on a random piece of paper.
"What you wanna eat for dinner? We're ordering."
"I can cook."
"Nothing to cook, I've been in Colombia forever, everything got thrown out. It was spoiled." I remind her. It was too late for supermarkets to be open as well. Plus I never ate María's cooking, she was a nice person but it didn't mean she was a nice cook.
"I'm in the mood for a restaurant, let's go out."
I didn't mind going out anyway so I nodded my head. She squealed and ran to the back to go get ready. My iPhone going off makes me reach for it in my pocket. I see Capri's name so I answer.
"Yo', what up? Everything cool?" I ask.
"Money, it's been a minute. Yeah everything's good, how you doing?" He asked. I could hear the smile in his voice.
"I'm good, that little mu'fucka started talking yet?"
Capri sighed. "Nah still mute, but I don't think you should take it out on him. He's a misguided—"
"I'm kinda in the middle of something." I say, not trying to hear none of that. If he didn't have anything worth listening to, I was ready to wrap this up.
"Actually, I was just calling to see if you left Colombia. It's been four months so you should be back soon, right?"
I wonder why he was clocking me so hard, until I remembered Angel has been living there with him for four months. He and his wife probably just wanted their home and privacy back.
"I just touched down today. I'll be over to get her first thing tomorrow morning." I say.
"Nah nothing like that, I was just calling because the women wanted to throw a surprise baby shower for Angel tomorrow."
I was sure I heard him clearly, but I was in such disbelief I was sure I didn't. Either my mouth went dry first, or I stopped having a pulse first. This couldn't be possible. I couldn't find the words to say. What the hell was he talking about? She aborted the baby over four months ago.
"Money? You still there?"
"Y-yeah," I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, "Uh...I didn't hear you the first time could you repeat that for me? Throw a baby shower for who?"
"For Angel, your wife. The one that's seven months pregnant, remember? The girl you left me with before you went to Colombia?" He joked. "Kianna and the rest of the ladies are throwing a surprise baby shower for her. I know you would want to be a part of that, so I was checking to see if you were back yet. This is life changing man, you're about to be a dad."
I suddenly have the strong urge to vomit, either from disgust or anger. Whichever one was worst, is the one I wanted to throw up from.
I was in such disbelief, seven fucking months. I couldn't believe that I just learned from another man my wife was still pregnant. The utter disrespect I felt couldn't be described. A major part of me still thought this wasn't real. That maybe it was some type of cruel joke.
"It starts like late afternoon, early evening time." He announces.
I have so many questions. I wanna bark, I wanna yell, I wanna scream. But I don't. I simply nod my head like he can see me, my tone eerily low. "Okay."
I hang up and toss my phone on the table top, shouting out for María. My mood was fucked up, I wasn't going anywhere. She came in with hair rollers in her hair and a dress halfway around her waist, so tight she was having trouble walking.
"Yeah?"
"We're not going out anymore, order something." I tell her.
She doesn't even look disappointed. She looks at me and must realize something is wrong. She slowly nods her head and even moves out the way when she sees me coming toward her. I walk past her and toward the back to my room.
"Tomorrow you go back to Colombia if you really don't have a purpose to be down here, or you go to a hotel." I say hoarsely.
"O-okay...um, Dinero, is everything okay?"
I lock the door before I go crazy and tear everything up out there.
"...No." I whisper from behind the closed bedroom door. And for the first time, things really weren't okay.