Page 24 of Nocturnal Sins
CHAPTER EIGHT
Santana
The way things ended with Sammie weighed heavy on me the entire time I sat in Pop’s office. I was going over the contacts in his pagers and I had three pagers memorized. There were three more left.
I created a system in my head of area codes and layered them in my mind from least to greatest. I had to put them in some kind of order or I’d go crazy. Pop seemed proud of my progress so he let me weigh in on how distribution would go for the newest town he acquired.
There were rumblings around the table but those assholes were just street soldiers and Pop shut them up with a single glance. Seeing the power he held made me want to study under him even more. I wanted to learn everything he had to teach.
Sammie would eventually figure everything out though.
I was seconds away from fucking her when everything came crashing down. She had so many questions and she had a right to know the answers. I had a right to know even before being brought into the operation.
After the meeting was over and everyone split their money, Pop gave me my first cut. My eyes widened when he slapped three stacks of cash in my hand. He chuckled at my expression, the cigarette between his lips moving with his laugh.
“It’s just three grand but there’s more where that came from if you keep playing your part and learning at the rate you are, mijo.”
“Thanks, Pop.”
Dom sat tucked away in the corner while Pop counted out the rest of the money. He handed Dom his cut then went to the main restaurant to feed some of the money into the registers. Once he did that and it changed hands with customers, it wasn’t dirty. He’d been using his restaurant to wash money ever since he got big enough to distribute drugs outside of our city.
To the eyes of the law and everyone else, he looked clean as a whistle. Nobody questioned why Pop had so much money they all assumed it was becausePapa’swas the most popular restaurant in town. They were right and wrong at the same time.
“You’re moving up the ranks fast, Santana,” Dom remarked as he studied my face.
“I’m trying to be quiet, calm my temper down, and learn. Hopefully, I can run the business one day,” I mused out loud. I kept thinking about Sammie though. I hated seeing the hurt in her pretty eyes. I wanted her smile back. Shit, I wanted her to look at me the way she did when I was on top of her, pressing my cock against her hot pussy.
The vision made my dick jerk. I shook it off and focused on the present moment. I’d talk to Sammie in the morning.
“What’s on your mind, Santana?” Dom asked.
“I was thinking about my sister,” I answered honestly. I loved that I could talk about her out loud without anyone knowing the sinful shit that was brewing between us.
Sinful.
Wrong.
“Sam? How’s she doing? I haven’t seen her in a while.” Dom’s eyes brightened at the mention of Sammie.
“She’s fine. Getting ready to graduate high school.”
“That’s good. Man, time flies. I remember when she was a baby. Now she’s all grown up. Does she come by the restaurant during the day?” Dom asked.
“She does whenever she’s not busy with cheer practice after school,” I replied with a slow nod. I thought about anything and everything so that the image of Sammie in her white and yellow cheerleading uniform didn’t infiltrate my mind.
“I’ll have to come see her then.” Dom held my gaze for an extra beat. “If you’re thinking about Sam then why do you look so glum?”
I glanced around the office like my father would jump out any minute. “I’m kinda torn, Dom. She doesn’t know about any of this shit and she keeps asking me questions about where I’m going with Pop at night. I don’t know what to tell her because I’m sworn to secrecy.”
A sigh weighed Dom’s shoulders down as he rested his elbows on his knees. His brows furrowed and he said, “Alina and Chris never wanted you kids involved in this life. It’s messy, kid. People set you up, people get killed, and people go to jail for a long fucking time. If your dad wants to keep her out of it, then respect his wishes.”
Out of all the words Dom spoke, the only thing I heard was my mother’s name roll off his lips. I didn’t budge. I didn’t launch into a barrage of questions either. I sat silently and nodded at him then I thanked him for listening.
Pop came back in and we knocked back a few drinks, as had become tradition over the past few weeks, then we headed back home.
I didn’t unload everything until I was alone with Pop in the quiet confines of his car. The moment we pulled away from the restaurant, I railed into him.
“Mom knew about this shit?” Anger painted red streaks along my words. “She knew about the operation?” Pop tensed immediately, his knuckles turned white as he strangled the steering wheel.
