Page 25 of Nocturnal Sins
“Who the fuck told you that, Santana?” He gritted out.
“Dom! Someone that’s not even in our fucking family circle told me something about my mother that you should have told me.” My chest pounded with rage and confusion. I wanted to smash my fist through something. Blackness as dark as the night sky edged in on my vision. I hated getting that pissed.
“Listen, mijo…”
“Nah, Pop. Don’tmijome right now. I don’t want to hear that shit. I want answers. I’m tired of the secrets they don’t make any sense. You can’t keep chunks of your life from Sammie and me.
I was cool with you bringing me into the fold and teaching me the ropes but I’m not cool with lying to my little sister and I damn sure should have known about my mother’s involvement in this.”
“Watch how you speak to me! I’m still your father regardless of how hurt your feelings are, Santana!” His voice bounced off every surface in the car.
I stewed in my seat, needing to release my anger some kind of way.
I needed to sink my teeth into something and let venom flow like a black mamba.
“Your mother and I didn’t want to tell you kids. You two were so innocent and we wanted to keep it like that. Well,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, “Iwanted to keep you out of the know forever but Alina wanted you to find out once you were grown and had your own lives.”
“So once she was gone you decided to ignore her wishes and push ahead with your own.” My shoulders ached from my muscles being wound so tightly. We pulled into the driveway and rage propelled me out of the car. I didn’t want to finish our conversation without Samira. Fuck that.
I’d kept enough from my sister and I was ready for her to know what was going on and what had been going on since we were kids. “Santana!” Pop shouted after me, his feet rushing behind mine as I raced for the front doors.
My breathing was rapid as I unlocked the house and punched in the code on the alarm system. “We will not have this discussion in the house. We could wake Samira,” he hissed.
“That’s the point,” I gritted out. “Do you know how close we are? I can’t lie to her. The best thing you and mom could have ever given me was her. I’m done hiding this.” My heart thumped against my chest. I’d never professed my love for her that way but it was true.
Sammie and I were best friends and anyone that tried to stand between us got crushed every time. If I was going to work with Pop then she was going to know about it. I wasn’t going to tell her behind his back or any shit like that. I was going to tell her right in front of him and let him answer for everything.
“Yo, Sammie!” I shouted upstairs in a thunderous boom. Pop grabbed my shirt and slammed me against the wall so hard the drywall beneath cracked under my bulk. A slice of pain pushed through my spine and I growled, shoving him off me. He slid back on his feet and regarded me with wild eyes.
Are you really going to fight me because I’m tired of the secrets?” I fumed. I didn’t want to fight my father but if he kept pushing me, my testosterone wouldn’t let me remain docile.
My brows furled together and the sound of rushing blood crowded my ears. My hands begged to be made into fists but I refused to hit Pop. I took a step back and looked into his bright green eyes. They were clear and they were fucking angry. He bared his teeth and got ready to speak but there was a creak in the floorboard by the steps.
“What’s going on?” Sammie’s sleepy voice made Pop deflate. It had the same effect on me.
“You happy now, Santana? You woke your sister up.” Pop tossed his hand in the air and shook his head.
“Iamhappy. That was the whole fucking point.” I clenched my teeth so hard my head throbbed.
“Santana, what’s going on?” Sammie walked over to me and touched the side of my face. Jasmine filled my nose and I took a second to breathe them in. She was the epitome of stopping to smell the flowers.
“You wanted to know what me and Pop have been doing every night when we leave. You wanted to know what we were keeping from you, right?” Her eyes went wide like she couldn’t believe I was bringing that up in front of Pop but fuck it. My patience had completely evaporated in a mist of heat when Dom inadvertently let me know that my mother was in on the entire operation.
“Santana, this is not your place,” Pop growled at me and stalked over until he was a wedge of tension between my sister and me. At least right then she was still my sister. We hadn’t fucked yet. Maybe lines were crossed but at that moment if we wanted to turn back and never mention what happened between us again, we could.
“What is going on?” Sammie asked for the third time in a row. Her voice was a high-pitched squeak that caught Pop’s attention immediately.
“Listen to me, Samira, Pop isn’t who he’s pretended to be our whole lives. I mean, he is but he isn’t. He’s been leading a double life.” The thought must have been so outrageous for Sammie because she tipped her head back and laughed. Remnants of sleep still clung to her tone.
“What? What do you mean, Papa’s been leading a double life? Like he has another family or something?” She quizzed. The smile started to fall away from her face when she noticed neither Pop nor me were laughing with her. “What’s the double life, exactly?” She asked.
“He’s using Papa’s as a front to sell drugs. He’s one of the biggest drug connect in the state. We’re not talking lower level street soldier shit. Pop has an entire ring of men under him including most of the staff at the restaurant.
He’s been doing this shit since we were kids. That’s why he has so much money and we have such a nice house and cars and can afford to go to an Ivy League school.”
Silence settled into the cracks and crevices created by the nuclear bomb I dropped in our foyer. Sammie’s green eyes sharpened to emerald daggers as she stared at Pop. Her full lips drew together tight forcing her words to turn staccato.
“Tell me he’s lying, Papa.”
