With his hands in his front jacket pockets, the look on the tattooed man's face was bored with a small side of amusement. Val looked back and wondered if this was some sort of joke or just a big misunderstanding. Money? When she realized that he wasn't going to clarify any further, she pushed him.
"Money? What? You think—you think that I stole money from you?" She stuttered her way through the response, more out of confusion and disbelief than fear. If he came to collect, she figured it must be a large amount, which still didn't make sense. If she had stolen a chunk of his money, wouldn't she be in a nicer apartment? Or be driving a better car?
"Guess I should'a specified, darlin'. Meant my product," He didn't seem to be joking, almost looked even more bored than earlier, but then Val couldn't help but smile. This really was a misunderstanding, a miscommunication of someone, somewhere, and she's not even sure how they roped her into it all.
"Don't make me laugh, your product? Does it look like I go around stealing and sampling someone's product? I work at a Pre-K for Christ sake," She huffed out a laugh, and settled one hand on her hip.
The man sighed and pulled his hands out of his pocket before he folded them in front. One glance at his boys and they walked back in and stood guard in front of the door menacingly.
"Look, I'on wanna have to do somethin' drastic. So how about you try bein' honest with me, yeah?" Val looked at the two men at the door once, to see if their face gave anything away, and her eyes swiveled back to him. She cleared her throat and crossed her arms, they couldn't scare her because she didn't have anything.
"I am being honest. I don't have anything, look anywhere you want." She clipped out, with an eyebrow raised high. He wasted no time and took another step forward, in turn forcing her to take a step back as well.
"I'on have to look," He said as he crossed his arms, her eyes momentarily drawn to the muscle of his arm that was outlined through his jacket. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and softly chewed, not understanding what he meant.
"And why is that?" She carefully asked, and thought about taking another step away from him but felt the counter dig into her back. His own eyes fixated on the lip in her mouth and she slowly let it slide out.
"'Cuz, Valentina, that old as hell Honda is sittin' right ou'side, plain as day." He gave her a full smile, and her heart palpitated for two reasons. One—he knew her name, her full name, and two—why did a gang member need to be that attractive?
"What does my car have to do with this?" Annoyance had replaced any other emotion she currently felt. She had gotten off a long shift, with toddlers no less, and needed alcohol and TV to binge watch. Val watched as he pursed his lips, how could this be irritating him?
"Y'mean my car, mine. You stole my product, and I wan' it back." His voice reached gravel level once again, and she pretended it did nothing to her. Val was more focused on the irrationality of the entire situation.
"I'm not in High School anymore, I don't go around stealing cars," His eyebrows raised at that statement, and she mentally scolded herself for spilling the tidbit. That was another story for another time that did not include a gang in her living room.
"I'm serious, I didn't steal anything! And I paid fair and square for that car, so take it up with the idiot who sold it." She pulled out her phone and scrolled until she found the right contact—Dean Boland (Boland Motors). Val faced her phone towards the man and his eyes flitted down to read it before they found hers.
"Look, I'on care about some dumbass car man. I'm here for my product, and I'm gon' get it right quick, too." She noticed halfway through his response that his hand was reaching behind his back. He pulled something out from below his shirt and if the severity of the situation wasn't clear before, it was now. A gun settled against Val's head, the golden stock glimmering in the sunlight that beamed from her living room.
"I'm not giving you my car," She stated firmly, her voice unwavering under the gleam of metal. His eyes narrowed and he almost smirked, almost, before he peered back at his boys with a shrug.
"Mamí, you know wha' I'm holdin'?" He murmured, he was toe to toe with her, and the barrel lightly brushed against her forehead for effect.
"Unless you're going to give me ten grand for it, you're not taking the car." What he didn't know is that she had actually paid nine thousand for it, but that's a small white lie. Also, guns didn't scare her, she grimly thought.
"Bitch, y'think I care 'bout the car? I wan' what's innit," He said through gritted teeth, the gun pressed tighter to her head. She rolled her eyes, confused as to what all of this drama was about, if not about the car in question.
"If you don't want the car then why are you here griping about the car?" She motioned around the room, at the gun and the terrifying men, before tangling in her brown hair. Val was frustrated, she didn't have anything of his besides the car, or "product" should she say, wait a minute—
"Oh my god, what the hell is in my car?" She spit out through her clenched jaw, her hands fell quietly to her sides. God, she had known that man was shady as hell when he had given this car for a few thousand less than what she should have paid for it. She would buy a car full of illicit drugs, how fitting.
"Was startin' t'think you were dense," The cold barrel retreated from her head once he realized she wasn't feigning innocence. A laugh left his mouth when he waltzed over to his men as they mumbled something in Spanish that she didn't catch. Val took a deep breath and brushed dirt that didn't exist off of her front as they spoke.
"Glad I can impress a gang member with my intelligence," She rolled her eyes, letting her mind wander back over to the fact that she had been smuggling drugs in a stolen car around town for a month. Val zoned out for a split second before the tall man was inches from her, gun in his right, and his left hand held his wrist. The deranged half smile that adorned his face made the hair on the back of her neck rise.
"Boss," He said, the amusement in his voice was overly apparent.
"What?" She could smell his cologne and noticed the gold specks in his eyes. He stood so close that when she sighed, a lock of her long hair threatened to graze his cheek.
"This—" Gestured to his bird tattoo, "Means I'm a gang member," She jerked her head in a nod, not quite grasping at what he was attempting to imply. His voice dropped low again as he held up the golden gun.
"This means I'm the Boss," Val's brown eyes peered back at her through the reflection in his hand. She breathed heavily as hot strip of fear rolled through her body.
"Please don't kill me," Why else would a gang "boss" have made a house visit if not to kill her, she wondered. They could make it look so easy, she didn't live in the nicest area or in the nicest apartment. There had already been one reported break-in this year in her unit. Val knew gang leaders were too busy to be wasting time collecting petty cash—they had members specifically for that.
"I'm nah killin' nobody as long as you listen," Nodding frantically, she held up her car keys in front of him. His eyes traveled from hers to the hovering hand and for a second she thought he looked sympathetic.
"No car is worth my life," Val stated somberly, maybe she could Uber everywhere for a year and scrounge up some savings. She grew tired at the mere thought of the extra hours that would be needed.
"How 'bout this, we make a deal." He said as he returned the gun to his waistband, she saw a strip of his taut stomach in the process. Eyes searched his face once more as his brows furrowed, he chewed on a thought. He took a small step back, his hand went to scratch the stubble on his chin as he thought.
"'Kay, so here's wha's gonna happen. I take m'product today," Waiting for her response, and taking her silence as a cue to continue, he finished his thought.
"Guess I could forget 'bout the car this time," A shrug and a wink from him later and her lungs started to work again. Suspicion rose in her, if the car was legitimately his, wouldn't he take it back?
"Why would you do that for me if it's 'rightfully' yours?" This gang leader had no reason to be sympathetic towards her, no matter how much she had wanted him to be.
"Le's call it a quid-pro-quo," His hands gestured as he spoke, her eyes followed the rings on his fingers. She refocused before he could notice her trailing gaze on his fingers of all things.
"So," A pause, what did he mean quid-pro-quo, she seriously doubted he was the type of person to let this slide. Otherwise, what had this drop-by been about in the first place, she thought.
"So, like, you'll take the 'product' and leave me the car with no strings attached?"
There was no way he was serious, it wasn't smart to leave behind loose ends. She's seen people get killed for a lot less, Val expected more from a gang leader.
"Hey now, didn' say that. Just mean maybe you can help me out wit' somethin' sometime," A dark gleam in his stare made her blush as he looked over her body once more. He smiled at her reaction and motioned to his men to open the door.
"You want a favor?" Val questioned, her voice dripped with incredibility and she crossed her arms. He raised his lips in a slight smile as he turned back to face her.
"Ain' no such thing as a free lunch," His gaze seared her body one last time before he started for the door.
Before she can stop herself, she blurts out the one question that deemed itself more important than the other actual important ones. I.E.—can I have my keys back? What type of favor? Or, how did your car full of drugs end up in some second-rate dealership? How about—how will you get back into contact with me? Or maybe her favorite, she was psychotic to even want an answer—do you have more tattoos?
"What's your name?" He faced her, looking surprised for a moment before his bottom lip jutted out as he took the time to consider her request. She grew nervous again and pulled her bottom lip into her mouth to anxiously bite on. His eyes clocked the movement and he licked his lips in response. Half-lidded eyes slowly burned their way back up and she swallows.
"Rio," His voice was smoldering, and Val was almost too distracted to notice her keys soaring through the air. Her hand darts out and clasped around the key chain just as her front door firmly closed behind them.