Page 37 of Chula
“What happened to them?”
“Macro didn’t tell you?” I shake my head. “His mom killed his brother and then herself. Damion and Marco found them dead. She hated that he wouldn’t talk. Hated he was the way he was,” he says, shaking his head as my eyes fill with tears.
“That had to be bad,” I whisper.
“It was worse than bad. Marco still wakes up having nightmares about finding them. It’s broken that man.”
“He hates me.”
“No, Luna, he doesn’t. He loves you. He just has a hard time showing it. He’s going to come around, I know he will.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then you move on. You do better things with your life. You’re smart. You have more opportunities now.”
“Because of Damion?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, but at what cost? The cost of losing Marco? Those aren’t the odds I want.”
“Then let’s spin the odds in your favor, Luna. Marco’s smart. He could do something with his art that no one else could. Bring him along for the ride.”
“What about crew?”
“What about it? We aren’t shit in the grand scheme of things, and we all know it. Yeah, we’re here and not going anywhere, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take your man and live a good life.”
I snort a laugh now because I can’t picture it in my head.
“Could you really picture Marco living in the big city?”
“In the suburbs with the van,” he laughs, causing me to laugh. Then it all stops. The laughs stop because there’s no way we could do that. Neither of us belongs there. Neither of us would make it.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Luna. I can see the look in your eyes, and you deserve more than this. Your mom fucked up with you and your brother. You both deserve more.” I turn and pull him into a hug, and he hugs me back.
“Thanks, Tony. I mean it. And thank you for coming over. It’s been so fucking lonely here.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. We’ve been busy and shit. You know how it is,” he says when he pulls back.
“Yeah, I get it.”
“So we’re going to do this?” he asks, rubbing his hands together as he licks his lips.
“Yeah, let’s do this. It might do me some good to get my hands dirty anyway.”
“I know that’s right! And I want to watch you fight. I haven’t seen you really get down,” he says.
“You fight?”
“No, just Marco.”
“You should try it. It’s such a rush, and you get all that frustration out of your system.”
“You talk like fighting is a good thing,” he laughs now.
“You’ve never watched an MMA fight? You’re missing out, Tony. They make thousands of dollars doing that shit.”
“No shit? Maybe I do need to learn. You going to teach me? We can get all sweaty?” Now I laugh again.
