Page 32 of Chula
“Tonight? You can do it tonight?”
“If there’s a way in, yeah.”
“They’re having a party. Mainly their crew. I’m a bad man, Luna. A very bad man, but I don’t condone rape, nor do I want that shit in my neighborhoods. Add to that, they’re kids?” he shakes his head. “We don’t touch kids.”
“I agree.”
“If there’s a kid in there, it’s on you to get them out,” he adds, nodding at me. Fuck! Why didn’t I think of that? I’m going to go in and feel it out before I can do anything.
“I can do it,” I tell him.
“I’ll give you everything you need in a backpack to blow that place to hell. You wire it up exactly how I tell you, and then you meet me on the rooftop over on eight. You got that?” I nod my head.
“I got it,” Pete calls a few more people into the room to start getting things together as he explains to me exactly how he wants me to do it and how to blind in. It shouldn’t be that hard. I’ve never met any of those people, and they sure as hell haven’t seen me that I know of. I keep to myself mostly.
“Alright, then. This is all on you, Luna. You fuck this up, I’m going after Marco.” His words are meant to scare me, and they do. I don’t want anything to happen to Marco because of me. He doesn’t even know I’m doing this, and I’m pretty sure if he did, he would be pissed and try to stop me.
I grab the backpack and hoist it over my shoulder before walking out of Pete’s house. I take a deep breath and start the walk over to the building.
Once I arrive, I go in smiling like I belong there. There are a lot of people, but like Pete said, they’re mainly crew. I can see the tattoos on them.
I move through the house basically undetected and set shit up just as Pete and his guys told me to. When I’m finished, I’m back out of there in less than an hour. I made sure to check every single spot I could think of to ensure there weren’t any kids in there, and I thank God when I didn’t find any.
I jog over to the building Pete told me to meet him at and up the fire escape to the roof, when I see him standing there waiting for me. He had to have been watching for me.
“That was fast. You sure you got it right?”
“I got it right.” Dropping the now empty backpack onto the roof, I move to stand next to Pete. He passes me a switch, and I’m not sure whether to take it. This is it. This is when I kill someone. You would think the reality of it all would hit me harder than it is, but all I can see is Marco’s face when they shoved him into the back of that car.
My chest rises and falls rapidly as I look at the switch in his hand, my insides trembling as I think about what I’m about to do.
“It’s not going to flip itself,” he says. I reach for it slowly, taking it in my hand before laying it flat against my palm.
I blow out a breath and whisper the words, God forgive me.
Then I do it.
I flip the switch and close my eyes as the explosion rocks the neighborhood. Pete and his guys roar before he grabs me and forces me to look. He grabs my chin in his hand and holds tightly.
“Hope your little boyfriend is worth it,” he says as I watch the flames lick the sky. Tears slip down my cheeks as realization slams into me, and I bend over, throwing up. My stomach trembles and my insides shake.
Pete thrusts another bag into my hands, and that’s when I leave. He doesn’t need me here to celebrate this shit with him, and I don’t want to be here any more than I have to be.
I climb down the fire escape, and I run. And I don’t stop running. I don’t know how I do it. I don’t know how I made it to Damion’s, but here I am.
I step into the elevator and press the button for his floor as sobs shake my body. When it stops, I walk out and knock on his door. When a girl opens it, I deflate. I open my mouth, but words don’t come out. So I shake my head and turn, walking back to the elevator. I’ve never felt so stupid, so lost, so alone in my life. What did I do? What the fuck did I do?
“Luna?” I hear Damion behind me. “Luna, stop.”
“I need to go,” I say through the sobs.
“It’s not what you think, Luna. She works for me, too. She’s just here to pick up a new laptop.” My shoulders slump because why should I care? Why does that bother me so much? It’s not about the girl being here. It’s about Marco. What I did to him. What I’m doing for him.
Damion’s hands come to rest on my shoulder, and I immediately spin around and grab onto him. He pulls me in and holds me there as I cry hysterically into his shirt.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know what to do, Damion. I shouldn’t have done it, but he needs me, and I did it anyway. What am I doing?” I cry harderas he holds me. At some point, he lifts me off the ground and carries me into his apartment, sending the other girl away.
