Page 13 of Miguel

He let out a curse and the line muffled. There was quiet, then another curse. “My sister was supposed to pick him up for me today,” he replied. “Didn’t realize she’d texted with a work emergency and couldn’t.”

My body relaxed at the panic I could hear in his voice. Alright, so he hadn’t been purposefully neglectful.

“Look, Lorena–”

“Maestra Flores.”

He huffed. “Lorena, I’ve got no one else to pick Zeke up. If I text you the address, could you drop him off for me?”

I blinked, sure I’d heard him wrong. “Señor Lopez, that goes against school policy. Teachers aren’t allowed to leave school grounds with children unless it’s on a field trip.”

He sighed on the other end. “Nena, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have any other choice. I got nobody else.”

I paused. “What about your club brothers or whatever?”

He huffed a laugh. “All my hermanos are busy at the moment. At least the ones I jotted down on the school form, and I don’t trust a prospect to pick him up. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have anybody else.”

He didn’t say please, but I could hear the pleading in his tone. It slowly chipped away at my reservations, but not enough. There was a reason it went against school policy to take children out of school. What if we were in an accident and he got hurt? The school board was worried about being sued, but my conscience was worried about hurting a child. No. I couldn’t…

“It goes against school policy,” I repeated. “You’ll have to find someone else.”

I heard noise in the background. Raucous shouts and cursing. The line muffled and then the voices faded. “Nena,” he growled. “Level with me here.”

“Señor Lopez…” Besides it being school policy, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get involved with him beyond him being merely a parent to my student. I already felt like I’d crossed a line by calling him, by all the insinuations he gave at the drop-off line. I didn’t want to sink deeper into him. He was too convincing. Too seductive. That worried me.

“Let me talk to Señora Laura.”

I bristled at the command, but found myself obeying, turning to hand my cell phone off to the eavesdropping secretary.

She seemed startled a moment before she took it. “¿Bueno?”

I couldn’t hear his voice, but Laura’s eyes widened as she listened, occasionally murmuring back at him. “That’s most unusual, Señor Lopez…” She paused, tilting her head slightly to the side. She took her bottom lip between her teeth then blew out a breath. I watched as she pressed the phone between her cheek and shoulder, leaving her hands free to shuffle through papers and jot down notes at a rapid-fire pace. When she finished, she sighed. “Alright, Señor Lopez.” Then she handed the phone back to me.

“So what time are you coming?” I asked as soon as I got back on the line.

He chuckled. “Señora Laura added you to the file, giving you permission to drop him off.”

“I–what–I didn’t–” I stammered. Pero, ¿que carajos?

“Nena, can you bring him?”

There he went again, that pleading note in his voice. I sighed, looking down at Zeke, who was staring at me with those glossy eyes and that trembling lip once again. And I caved.

“Fine,” I conceded. “Text me the address.”

I could practically hear the smile in his voice. “On it.”

And he hung up.

Chapter Seven

Miguel

Thiswasn’thowtodaywas supposed to go, but MC life was fucking unpredictable. That morning in the drop-off line of the school, I’d gotten a call from Loco.

His rage resounded in an array of explicits, one right after the other to create unintelligible noises. But I’d known him long enough to be aware of what he was trying to say.

Our fucking shipment had beenstolen.

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