CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Not a lot of people knew what the Garcia-Santiago sisters did when they would have their day off together. But it wasn't the typical day out for movies and mani-pedis, no. Being the daughters of two very esteemed cops, their parents insisted that they knew how to protect themselves somehow. That meant hours of taking Judo classes ever since they were both little kids.
They drove to this gym in downtown LA where their mom used to take them before Nina went off to college. When the Prophet$ situation happened to Victoria, Carmen insisted on being more strict with them when it came to these self-defense classes. Ever since Nina came back, they've been doing this at least once a month. As said, on their special days off together.
They've been doing the same thing back in New York. Their father knew a guy who knew guy to teach them. In the opinion of the two sisters, they were pretty good at it. They knew how to take a punch or two and definitely knew how to hit back with the damage they wanted.
When they reach their teens years and both their parents got promoted, there came a time where crime was hot where they lived and their family had been receiving death threats. Their father, Arturo, made it a point to teach them how to handle and shoot a gun. Again, for protection purposes. So not only do the sisters go out for these self-defense classes but they would sometimes go to the shooting range to brush up on old skills.
And to be honest, the best time to go was when one of them had pent up anger. They would be more focused that way. All in all it seemed pretty bad ass. And no one knew about this routine except for their parents and the two of them.
After their morning class of Judo they had already spent a good thirty minutes in the shooting range. Nina watched her sister shoot the target over and over again, each fire of the gun led to a very lethal shot in the chest area. Damn was Victoria angry.
"Stupid. Fucking. Andrew. And. His. Stupid. Fucking. Wife," she growled with every bullet that she fired. Nina could only watch with her eyes growing wide by the second. Yup, her sister was furious.
"So let me get this straight. He claims he's a single dad raising his daughter until the so-called wife comes in unannounced so that she and him could bone?" Nina asked the moment Victoria took of her ear muffs.
"Yea! He said that they were divorced. The mother fucker forgot to mention they've been fucking ever since we started going out. The fuck?!" Victoria said angrily as she reloaded her pistol.
Nina had never seen her so angry. "Are you even gonna shoot or what?" Victoria snapped at her making Nina scoff and reload her gun before proceeding to shoot. And just like her sister, she had landed the same pattern on the chest of her target.
"Honestly, men are trash. That just goes without question," Victoria sneered as she continued firing and so did Nina. At that point a couple of males came walking past them causing the two of them to just glare at them as they laughed at Victorias comment.
"I rest my case," Victoria added as se emptied her pistol yet again. "Anyway, how are you and Oscar?"
At the mention of the Santo's name Nina missed the target causing her to curse under her breath. The men not far from them caught sight of her mistake and started chuckling at her. Nina reloads her gun and fires again. Three clean shots to the chest, two to the forehead, and she emptied the clip directed to the balls. The men watching were simply in awe though they were speculative on who these girls were.
"I'm sorry did you guys say something?!" Victoria asked loudly at the men making them shut up. "Yea, I thought so," she rolled her eyes.
"Are these men bothering you?"
The sisters turned to see an old family friend, the men took noticed and officially backed off. "Hey, Captain Cortez," Nina greeted with a handshake. Victoria followed pursuit as well.
"So what brings you two here today? Or same training exercise from Detective Santiago like the usual?" he joked.
"Just the usual," Victoria shrugged.
Cortez took a look at their shots and whistled in awe. "You ladies are getting better and better every year. I mean, I wouldn't expect anything less from Arturo's kids," He smiled proudly causing the girls to nod.
They ended up missing their father.
"Listen, if you guys need anything at all please don't hesitate to call. Especially if you're looking for space to get out of Freeridge-"
"We appreciate your concern, Captain, but we're okay right where we are," Victoria answered. They hated these kinds of favors from people. It made them feel like they weren't capable of doing things on their own.
"Alright. I gotta bounce," Cortez nodded before checking his phone. "I was wondering if I could bust out a few rounds but you know, duty calls," he smiled at them. The sisters nodded in understanding.
"It was nice bumping into you two. Take care of yourselves," Captain Cortez smiled before leaving.
"Didn't you have a crush on him when we were little?" Nina pointed out when he was gone. Victoria only glared at her joke. "Too soon?"
-
Later that day they were back home drinking a bottle of red and singing to old Ne-Yo songs like the nutcases they were. As Nina was dancing all over her room Victoria took a look outside her window to see Oscar staring at her.
"Your man is watching you," Victoria nudged her sister making her look out the window as well.
Nina smiled at him making him give a subtle smile in return before heading inside his house. "You too really have it for each other don't you?"
"No. No. We're not talking about me, we're focusing on what you want to do," Nina whined taking a sip of her red.
"And what I want to do is talk about you and your love life," Victoria smiled at her little sister. It's been four years since she tried dating anyone new. Victoria was the mom, yet she had more action than her little sister.
"You mean the absence of my love life."
"Nina relax about this. I can clearly see you're happy with him, give him a chance."
"How can I give him a chance if he doesn't feel the same?"
"Ay Dios mío. ¿Pense que eras lista? Stop making excuses Nina and just go for it," Victoria continued to convince her. "Literally, the only person stopping you is you."
Her sister did have a point. The time that Oscar and her have been together, nothing bad has happened to her or to her family. Living right across the Santos house was worth any lack of the trouble their family has been experiencing for the last four years. She really couldn't fight what she was feeling any longer. She might as well shoot her shot and see what happens from that moment forward.
"Alright fine," Nina sighed giving in making her sister jump and down on her bed like a kid. "Hey, hey watch the drink!" she squealed lifting her wine glass.
"Yea, but before I shoot my shot, we gotta pick up the kids," she reminded before getting up her ass.
They walked over to the Martinez house to be greeted by Geny. They walk in to pick up the kids who were snacking on the table with Marisol. Victoria walked over to her kids while Nina took notice of the bummed out teenagers of the couch.
"Last time I checked there used to be four of you," Nina joked walking over to Ruby and Jamal.
"Monse is still in writing camp, she gets back in two more week. And Cesar-"
Ruby puts his hand on Jamal's chest to stop him from talking. "We don't talk about Cesar anymore," Jamal cleared his throat.
"What are you guys talking about? You three were okay a few days ago." Nina points out crossing her arms.
"Well that was a few days ago. We've moved on," Ruby replies staring down at Nina.
From the corner of her eye she saw Jamal breaking a sweat. She knew he wasn't good in keeping secrets and she knew that something wasn't adding up. "Alright Jamal out with it."
"Spooky jumped Cesar into joining the Santos. Just awhile ago. Damnit Rube, I'm sorry. I can't keep my mouth shut," Jamal rambled making Nina's mood turn 180.
"Oscar did WHAT?!"
After that moment Nina and Victoria marched home with the kids. Nina did most of the marching. The poor confused twins couldn't understand why their tía was mad. Victoria suddenly felt ashamed of the conversation they had awhile ago about her sister shoooting her shot. But the way he jumped his own brother into joining the Santos goes to show how Nina had her right to be skeptical.
"Ay, Nina just stay out of it," Victoria tried pulling her sister into their house but Nina was having none of it as she stomped her way over to the Santos house.
Nina started banging on Oscar's door and not long later Oscar opens the door with a gun in his hand. "What?!?" He yelled.
After seeing it was Nina he puts the gun away. "Nina, what are you doing here?"
"You jumped Cesar into joining the Santos?!" She raised her voice stepping into the house, not noticing a small group of Santos in the living room.
"So you came over to pick a fight with me?" He joked following her into the house.
"I ain't playing!" She yelled turning to him. "What were you thinking?! He's a kid with so much potential. You're his brother, you were supposed to protect him and get him out of this life. Just because you're stuck in it doesn't mean you have to drag an innocent kid into this shit!" Nina pushed Oscar by his shoulders.
She was beginning to push his buttons yet he was surprised to how strong Nina actually was. "He's my brother which makes him a Santo. All that shit you're talking about is pretty rich when we've been protecting your family's asses this entire time."
"Being a part of this goes beyond protecting!"
"Exactly! So what do you actually know about this life, Nina?!" He yelled back at her.
"I know that you're ending his life before it even begins. He never even wanted any of this to happen. Have you any idea of the plans he has for himself? For you? Your future together as brothers? What happens when he actually has to shoot somebody to save his own life?!" she continued yelling at him.
"You are going to get Cesar killed! His life is over and it's all YOUR FAULT!" Nina was red from screaming and Oscar had enough.
"HEY!" He yelled taking a step closer to Nina. "I'm sorry, I didn't plan on getting incarcerated for four years and missing out on Cesar's life. But I'm his brother, for a majority of his life I've been acting father. I call the shots in the Santos operations. I've been protecting this neighborhood even in a cell. So, don't tell me how to run things and protect my brother's ass when I've been doing it long before you came here."
He scoffed at her. "No one fucking asked you to play mother around Cesar. So don't go stomping around the block and into my house coming up to my face and calling me out for not knowing how to look after his ass when I've been doing it way before you fucking moved in across the street."
He had her backed up against the counter. "You're smart Nina but you don't shit about running this place. The reason why the Prophet$ are put in their place is because of me and what I do to protect everyone. To protect you and your family. Just like how I'm continue to protect it along with Cesar's ass.
Oscar's voice was low and trembling with anger. "So don't fucking tell me what to do. Stay out of my fucking business. If you can't handle what we're running here and what I do for a living then get your ungrateful ass the fuck out of my house."
As he told her to leave he pointed towards the door. Nina's eyes began to water, not because she was scared or anything but because she was angry.
Cesar deserved better. She deserved better. But she refused to cry in front of him. Not today.
"You're a real fucking piece of shit, Spooky," Nina said lowly as more and more tears pooled in her eyes but Oscar didn't flinch. Not this time. "Go fuck yourself," she huffed before walking out of the door.
Little did they know Cesar was in the living room when it all went down. At the slamming of the door, Oscar took a breath as he ran his hand over his mouth. He had forgotten that his little brother was even there. He had tried to contemplate what happened.
From his peripheral view he saw Cesar get up and attempted to go follow Nina. "Don't," he called Cesar out as he stood still in a few meters away from the door. "Go to your room, Cesar."
"But Oscar-"
"I said go to your room!" Oscar's voice boomed inside the house as he snapped his head towards his brother. Everyone in the room jumped at the sound of Spooky's voice. Cesar hung his head low as he shuffled into his room.
Cesar didn't know what the hell just happened. Even the Santos didn't know what the hell just happened.
Oscar had never seen her yell like that, let alone be so angry. He never even thought she had the will to get so angry the way she did. She was always so sweet and was usually passive when she was pissed. She'd snap at him, sure. But he never really saw that coming. Nor did he think she would care so deeply the way she did.
Now the house was quiet and the tension was thick with all the cholos in the room. As chitter chatter slowly started to come back it was slowly sinking in that Oscar had made Nina cry and that he had made her angry. But this was something that Nina could never understand.
Therefore, she could never understand him and what he does as Spooky.
Nina marched into her room, ignoring her sister who kept asking what happened and what was wrong. She had slammed the door in Victoria's face and locked the door behind her. She stood there for a moment contemplating at what just happened.
Her hands began to shake as she placed them over her face to muffle her cries. She slowly slid on to the floor of her room.
This was unfair. All she could think of now was how Oscar was so stupid for jumping his own brother into Los Santos. No way did she just protect this boy for this long knowing his ass was now on the line because of his stupid ass brother.
Stupid fucking Oscar Spooky Diaz. The stupid fucking cholo across the street. Someone whom she wanted to get to know and had thought of getting together with.
Fuck this shit, Nina thought. She felt betrayed and played even though it was in the context of Cesar. She was starting to trust that she could deal with Oscar and all his gang bullshit. She had thought wrong.
Suddenly all the talk about hopefully pursuing each other was thrown out the window.
---
sIKE!!! Okay I'm sorry for that but notice how the moment Nina leaves, the first thought that comes to Oscar was how he made Nina snap. Tell me what you guys think :))
VOTE AND COMMENT!!