Page 85 of The Mob: Shio Cuppacio
We had only passed trees, and maybe an overpass, but with the way Solana was peering out the window, you’d think I’d driven past Disney World. Mexico City was far more beautiful and most certainly had paved roads and luscious trees.
“I haven’t. It’s still surreal that I’m here. It’s beautiful.”
“It’s nothing.”
I could see her stiffen, so I cleared my throat to soften my tone. I wasn’t trying to scare Solana. I think I’d proven my point not to fuck with me on the treadmill a few days ago, but I didn’t need her to fear me.
“What I mean isthisis nothing. There are some stunning sites, even here in Jagoda Bay, but the intersection is just the same as it is everywhere. Crowded, cracked gravel, and muthafuckas that can’t drive.”
She diverted her attention from the window to me. “I haven’t been able to experience it… America. I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to experience it fully. But from what I’ve seen, it’s remarkable. I… I can’t explain it. The air smells different, feels different, and I probably sound like a mad woman sayingthat because I’ve only been inittwice. But, it just feels like… I don’t know what it feels like.” She shrugged.
Solana had been sheltered. Her father allowed her to run amok in Mexico City, but I could guarantee that she had a guard on her heels unbeknownst to her. She was his most prized possession. One that he held near and dear to his heart until it was time to trade her for his own selfish greed. She’d had a leash put on her back in Mexico, and even though she likes to sleep the fucking day away, I only have one motherfucker captive. That nigga was starving in the basement of the cabin, which was a drastic difference from her pretty ass being in my home. She was free to do whatever she wanted here, and I was just realizing that maybe she didn’t know that.
“You can do what you want,” I prattled.
Her lash extension batted. “What?”
“You can do what you want. Solana, you a grown-ass woman in a whole new country. If you want to get out and explore, do that shit.”
Solana wasn’t chained to my house. If she wanted to disappear until her father popped up, demanding that she return to Mexico, she could do that. She was free to explore all she wanted.
“I cannot do what I want for many reasons.” She drove her back into the leather seat, making her chest poke out.
“Yeah? Name ’em.”
Swiping her tongue across her shiny red bottom lip, she pondered as if she were grouping a list. “My father sent me here topreparefor marriage. That’s a reason.”
“You can still do whatever it is he feels like you should be doing, all the while living.”
“And I don’t know anyone out here. I don’t have a car. I don’t have any money. Remember… I was screaming at my father’s wife because of my credit cards.”
Rubbing my hand down my chin as I pulled into the venue lot, I waited in the valet line. The lot was full, and I’d already spotted four more Maybachs. Two of them looked like they were the same color as mine. Well, they seemed to be because my truck had been sprayed onyx, and you could see the difference when the moonlight hit it.
Sitting back in my seat, I crossed my hands in my lap. I was arriving at this event with a woman who was more trouble than a two-year-old. I would be taking Solana back home, all the while going into two different rooms. Solana was beyond gorgeous tonight, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t desire to pleasure her, as she calls it. But I wouldn’t. She was off-limits, and I was a man with restraint. The most I had for her was a prayer when she went back across the border to her fiancé. While she was in my possession, she would have the same privileges as any other woman who occupied space in my world.
“Aye.”
Solana had been watching a nosy-ass Pia walk into the building. I knew it was her from the Rose clutch folded in her right arm. Nel had mugged my car, but the nigga and his fiancée couldn’t see inside. The most they could make out was that I had someone in the front seat.
When I caught Solana’s attention, I noticed that she had a hair out of place. Reaching in, I tucked it into one of her curls before speaking. I didn’t miss the way she sucked in air, but I let it roll off my back.
“I have five cars in the driveway. All the keys are inside them. Money isn’t running out over this way. I’ll break you off. And as far as not knowing anyone, there are about seven women who are about to be all over you as soon as we walk through the doors. All they do is spend their niggas money and get into shit. You’re in mob-land, Solana. You’re safe here. You can dowhatever the fuck you want to do. Ain’t nobody tell you to be cooped up in the room, sleeping all fucking day.”
She winced at my last sentence, but it wasn’t my intention to blast her. She didn’t have to sit in the house all damn day like she was Rapunzel, though. I wanted to ensure she understood that no one was holding her hostage and that she was free to do whatever she wanted. It was my turn to move up in the valet line, so I did while keeping my eyes on her. When she still hadn’t responded, I tried to reason with her again.
“Look, I’m not trying to clock you or anything like that. But from what I heard about them Rodríguezes, they don’t fuck with the States. It’s your first time here, and it might very well be your last. Make the best of this shit.”
“So you are encouraging me to go out and party?”
“It’s more to life than standing on couches and choking on a hookah stick. But if that’s what you want to do, cool. I’m just letting you know that you’re free to explore. No harm gone come your way.”
I could see the wheels turning in her head. She was thinking too much. There wasn’t shit to think about, though. If she wanted to get out of the house, she could.
“How do you know? That I’m safe.” Her eyes rounded.
The valet stood at my door, so I opened it for him.
“Because a muthafucka not insane enough to play with anyone on the side of me. Whether that one be temporaryorpermanent.”
