Sleepily rubbing his eyes, Angel bumbled out of his bedroom in his boxer briefs, looking for Carrie. He found her on the couch, in one of his T-shirts, feeding Joey his first bottle of the day.
"Sorry," she said while stifling a yawn. "Did we wake you?"
"Nah," he grunted and cleared his throat. "I rolled over and you weren't there." Angel snapped his fingers, "Then I was just up."
"That sucks, sorry," she laughed.
Angel shrugged and dragged his feet into the kitchen. "You made coffee."
"I did, I was dying," she explained. "Do you have to be out early?"
"I got some time," he said, sitting by her with a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. "You gonna go home?"
"I have to," she huffed.
"What are you gonna do?" Angel asked her with a more serious tone.
Carrie chewed on the inside of her lip. "What do you mean?"
"Are ya gonna leave him?" Angel asked bluntly. "Ya ain't exactly happily married, Carrie."
"It'll get better," she said quickly.
Angel looked at her and laughed. "Even when it was you were still coming around."
"I don't know what I'm doing," she admitted. "Right now work is suffocating him. He closes this case and maybe we'll get our own stuff together, I don't really know."
He nodded, slightly somber, and quietly shoveled his cereal into his mouth. Carrie watched him, Joey having fallen back to sleep in her arms, until her eyelids grew heavy.
"Go back to bed," Angel said, gently scooping the baby out of her arms and placing him back in the pack and play.
—
On his way out the door that morning Felipe's found Kevin on his porch, awake but incredibly drunk, still sipping from a bottle.
"Breakfast of champions," Felipe grumbled. "Going into work like that?"
"I took a few days," he slurred.
"Come on," Felipe waved him into the house. "Your wife know where you are?"
"No," he huffed. "She kicked me out."
"And you came here, I'll have to thank her for that," Felipe joked dryly.
Kevin passed out on the sofa within minutes so Felipe went about his daily business after calling his weekend worker in to open that day.
While Felipe waited for Kevin to sober up, his eldest son pined for Kevin's wife as she snored softly into his pillows. EZ pulled up out front, startling Angel, and knocked on the door.
"Imma be right out," Angel hollered to EZ.
"Let me in," EZ replied, pulling at the door. He saw Carrie's SUV, he knew she was there, and Angel's behavior only made it more obvious.
"Nah man," he opened the door an inch. "Unless you wanna see my dick gimmie a minute."
EZ sighed heavily once Angel shut the door again. He wasn't nervous, he trusted Carrie and knew even if she were to tell Angel he wouldn't go to Bishop, at least not without talking to him first.
"I gotta go, mi dulce," he whispered into her hair after pulling his clothes on quickly.
"Mmm," she smiled sleepily at him. "Have a good day, be careful."
Angel smiled and kissed her cheek before slipping out the house. "Sorry, long night."
"Yeah," EZ laughed. "I'm sure." He glanced back at the house before shaking the thought from his head. He had other things to focus on until he could call Carrie.
"Bish send you?"
"Yeah, they need you in Templo."
Angel nodded and the brothers sped off toward the scrap yard to start their day, both with the same woman on their minds.
—
Long after lunch Felipe was growing impatient. He harshly woke Kevin and handed him a mug of strong, black coffee. He drank half a cup before they moved to the kitchen table to have a much needed discussion.
"What happened?"
"EZ has to get me something," Kevin said darkly.
"He's giving you what you wanted, the tapes, the notes," Felipe argued. "What more do they want?"
"They want Emily," Kevin admitted. "He'll never agree to try flip her."
"And you're carrying all that heat," Felipe said. "And your wife is feeling it."
Kevin nodded, although it wasn't that simple.
"You can't crack," Felipe said firmly. "You slip and my son gets hurts, if my son gets hurt your son gets hurt."
"What?" Those words did more to sober Kevin up than all the coffee and water in the world. "You would hurt my family?"
"I don't underestimate any man's capacity for despicable acts."
Kevin stared at Felipe, shocked by the usually peaceful man's sudden dark turn. "I should go."
"You should," Felipe said, getting up from the table. "You can see yourself out."
--
That evening, when she should have been on her way home from work, Carrie parked and let EZ in the passenger side. She offered him a cookie from the pack she picked up earlier but he declined with a chuckle.
"You okay?"
"Me?" She laughed. "I'm fine. Sorry about last night, that call was...an accident."
"Yeah," he dismissed it. "What's going on? You said we had to talk?"
"You know," she sighed heavily. "I think I need to take a step back from this."
"Why?" EZ turned his body toward her. "This got anything to do with my brother?"
"Your brother?" She asked with wide eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"I know you were at his place this morning," EZ explained. "I saw your car, I know your plates." He watched as she closed her eyes, knowing there was no denying it. "So how about we both share a little?"
Carrie swallowed hard and nodded. "Who goes first?"
"You," EZ said sadly. "What were you doing at Angel's?"
"Angel and I have been," she paused, "Uh, some type of together for the last 8 years."
"What?" He had never expected that, ever, and his look of utter shock was proof enough. "You and Angel? How?"
"It's your turn," she said forcefully. "How often do you see Emily?"
"Why do you wanna know about Emily?" He was angry now, defensive.
"Kevin and I got into it last night," she sighed. "Which is why I ended up at Angel's. When I got home he was still gone but his work stuff was there, I don't know where the hell he was, but I did some snooping. They want you to push Emily to turn."
"No," he said adamantly. "It's too dangerous, besides she wouldn't, she's been nothing but loyal to him."
"I figured," she huffed. "Something is gonna have to give, though, EZ and I'm scared of what that might be."
"Galindo's kid was taken," he said sadly. "Next time I meet with Jimenez I'll give him that, see if it doesn't buy some time or some fucking breathing room."
"The baby?" Carrie asked, appalled by the news. "My god."
"Yeah, The Rebels keeping upping their game." They say in contemplative silence for a minute. "8 years?" EZ said suddenly, still trying to make sense of it.
"Yeah," she pursed her lips. "I mean, technically it's 12."
"What?" EZ gasped, looking at her with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open. "He can't keep secrets, he tells me every time he takes a shit."
"This is a little bit different," she rolled her eyes. "When I first started coming around there were the looks and then," she smiled to herself. "We uhh, hooked up then Kevin took the job with the DEA and so he put space there, he knew it would be the best thing because of Angel and the club."
"Okay, that doesn't really explain anything," he huffed.
Carrie shifted awkwardly in her seat. "Your mom died and then you went away and we...reconnected."
"I'm glad I could help," he said sarcastically.
"Shut up," she laughed. "We started hanging out after we saw each other at the funeral and then one thing lead to another and," she shrugged. "I had such a crush on him back in the day and then we had sex and," she whistled.
"I don't need these details," he cringed.
"I'm not awful," she said seriously. "I'm not, but I love Angel, so much, it's just not exactly easy to up and leave."
"It is that easy," EZ said sagely.
"You know it's not," she whimpered. "I don't think I can really give you anymore insider tips, he's on edge and he almost caught me on the phone with you last night. Between meeting with you and seeing Angel, it's getting risky."
"You'd rather dump me than my brother, huh?"
"Uh yeah, definitely," she laughed. "If he tells me something huge, I'll call you but I think for now we should step away."
"I'm sure I'll still see ya," he smirked. "I'm glad you're happy, though, even if it is fucked up."
"Thanks," she smiled sweetly. "I really gotta go. Don't tell Angel I told you, just play dumb...if that's possible for you."
"Thank you, Carrie," he said softly with a kind smile. "I know you didn't have to reach out but I really appreciate it."
She gave him a crooked smile and shrugged. "Wish I coulda done more to help."
Her phone buzzed on the console. It was a text from Kevin.
"Where are you? Are you safe? We need to talk."
"I have to go," she grumbled. "See ya around."
—
Thank you guys for reading and commenting, it means so much! I was nervous about a Mayans story but it seems like you're all enjoying it so far! Xoxo