Page 10 of All Twisted Up
The man smirked as he looked Billy up and down before uttering a slang term for a gay man, one I’d heard before. I frowned, taking hold of Billy’s arm and tugging at it. He didn’t move, just dug in his heels.
The man repeated the slur then glanced at me, giving me the same up and down perusal. He grinned widely, showing off a set of white teeth including the gold one in front. Before I could say anything, he stepped forward and hooked a meaty arm aroundBilly’s neck. He dragged him into the apartment, laughing as he announced in Spanish that entertainment had arrived.
Fuck.I wanted to turn and run to get help, but I’d never leave a friend, especially one in the condition Billy was. Silently cursing my inebriated friend, I knew I had no choice but to follow him in. The sight that greeted us wasn’t encouraging.
Since I’d never been inside a drug dealer’s apartment before, I hadn’t known what to expect. But seeing six guys lounging around on couches and chairs in the room and another two in the kitchen, didn’t make me feel any better. No one was sleeping, even at this hour. I found that very strange. The whole situation was surreal. I stayed close to Billy as the guy who’d opened the door, disappeared down a hallway, leaving the two of us to be ogled by the men in the room.
Two of them stood up and sauntered over, smiling as they approached. They stopped in front of us, looking us up and down the same way their buddy had. The close proximity made my skin crawl. I was trying not to notice more tattoos that matched the ones on the other man’s neck. I realized we’d most likely stepped into an apartment full of gang members…the full-fledged, card-carrying type. These were the kind of gangs my students warned me about since many of them didn’t live in the best of neighborhoods.
“You’re here for Juan?” one of them asked. I didn’t like the way he was staring at Billy. He grinned. “I’m Juan.”
Billy looked around before returning a bleary gaze to him. “No, I—I was looking for a different Juan.”
The man frowned. “You don’t like me? But you said you were looking for Juan. Here I am.” He looked over his shoulder at the others before grinning at Billy again. Several of the men laughed.
I swallowed hard, taking hold of Billy’s elbow.
“We need to go. I don’t think your friend Juan is here.” I turned to the other man. “We’re just going to go now.”
For the first time, I noticed that Billy’s eyes were filled with concern. “Yeah, let’s go, Joshua.” He almost sounded sober.
We turned to go when I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder. I stopped in my tracks to pivot. “We’re going now,” I said, offering him my best smile. My mother always taught me a kind smile was the best way to disarm even the most fearsome creature.
His face changed. Gone was the frown as he smiled. “Your name is Joshua, right? Come on. Sit down and talk to me. My friend went to get Juan.” He took hold of my wrist and held tight. “Sit with me, Bonito.” He pulled me toward the couch. His grinning friend pulled Billy down onto the couch and slid over so there was room for me and the other guy. I ended up sitting way too close to him.
“Joshua is a pretty name,” he said, angling his body to face me.
I glanced around noticing the drugs, bongs, and half-empty bottles all laid out on a huge, glass table in the center of the room. There were ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts and the apartment smelled like every party I’d ever been to in college. One guy was smoking something hinky on the other couch. I turned to the man beside me and smiled, deciding I needed a strategy.
“What’s your name?”
He grinned. “Chico.”
I was momentarily distracted by a single gold tooth among the otherwise perfectly white ones. “Oh…you have a gold tooth too.”
He frowned, reaching up and touching it, as if to make sure he’d heard me correctly. I rolled my eyes. “Yes, that one.”
“Yeah…what?”
“Nothing.” I kept talking. “So…you’re named after a character in one of my favorite old time TV shows,” I said.
“What?”
“Chico.”
“What?”
“You said your name was Chico. Did you ever watchChico and the Manwith Freddie Prinze?” He opened his mouth to answer before I waved my hand. “Never mind. It’s not important. He was Puerto Rican anyway.” I pointed at him. “You’re not Puerto Rican…are you?”
He frowned and then shook his head, looking at me as if I was crazy.
“I didn’t think so. Anyway, there was this old show…well, never mind.”
He stared at me as I kept going. I reached up and brushed a lock of the man’s messy, black hair out of his eye, rubbing a few strands between my fingers. “You know, my friend, Delilah could do wonders with your hair. It needs conditioning, and a few highlights wouldn’t hurt.”
“What?”
“Delilah, right?” I chuckled. “Sampson and Delilah? She cut off all his hair to take away his strength, but with your hair, I think all it needs is a few highlights. It’d be stunning on you. It really would. Every girl who saw you would instantly fall in love.”
