Tempted by the Sinner

Diego made an uncertain gesture, shaking his hands side to side. “The Gulf is strong, and we’re stronger up north these days than anyone else. But you want us to start a war.”

“This is how these things go,” I said. “You fight for what you want. I know you’re considering it, or else you wouldn’t have come down here.”

“True enough,” Diego said.

“We’ll fight by your side,” I said. “We’ll die by your side if we have to.” I leaned toward him and felt a surge of anger. “They tried to kill me, Diego. All because they wanted to try and control our business here. You’ve never once tried to kill me, have you?”

“Not that I know of,” he said, a little sly smile on his lips.

“I want them gone,” I said. “They attacked me. They almost hurt Mona. And I’m not the kind of man that lets that sort of shit slide.”

Diego put up his hands and I leaned back. He dropped them again and took a breath.

“All right,” he said. “We’ll consider it. I’ll speak with my bosses down south. I’ll be honest, I believe this would be a good war, a worthwhile fight. It would weaken the Jalisco up here and down south, and it might give us some space to grow in both regions. But if you fuck me, Vincent, there will be repercussions.”

“You know me, Diego,” I said. “I’m a businessman. You keep up your end, I keep up mine. Have we ever had any problems? Even when you raise prices on me?”

He laughed at that, a rare little smile on his lips. “Fair enough,” he said then pushed off the bench and stood with a grunt. He was out of shape and I wondered how much the guy weighed at this point.

“Talk to your bosses and get back to me,” I said, standing with him.

He nodded, his eyes flicked to Mona, and then he looked back at me. “Why’d you bring the girl?” he asked.

“I wanted her to meet you,” I said. “This was her idea, after all.”

He grunted and thrust a hand out. I shook it briefly, eyes locked on his. He released my hand then turned and walked off, hands shoved into the pockets of his too-tight jeans.

I watched him go then sank back down onto the bench.

“What do you think?” I asked Mona.

“I think you did good,” she said. “He seems interested.”

“What kind of vibe do you get from him?”

She shook her head. “Hard to say. I think he’s smarter than he seems.”

“You’re right about that.”

Ambrose walked over, shaking his head. “How’d it go?” he asked. “I couldn’t hear shit over there.”

“I think he’s into it,” I said. “He has to discuss it with the leadership in Mexico. But I think he’ll do it.”

“Fuck, yeah, he will,” Ambrose said, grinning huge. “This is going to make us all a lot of money.”

I grunted and shook my head. “This is going to cause a lot of blood to flow.” I took Mona’s hand and stood up, drawing her up and against me. She stared into my eyes and I frowned at her, squeezing her hand. “But we’ll get through it anyway.”

Ambrose sighed and rolled his eyes like he’d heard that a million times.

“Don’t be dramatic, boss,” he said, and started back toward the car.

“I need you back in New York,” I said to him. “As soon as possible. Go back and make sure the crew’s all solid.”

“All right, boss,” Ambrose said. “But you know the boys. They’re keeping their shit on lock.”

“Better be.”

I put my arm around Mona and headed back to the car.20MonaVince spent the rest of the day on and off the phone, talking to guys in the family. I lounged around on the couch watching TV and trying to keep myself calm.

I tried to think back over the past few days, back to the attack, back before that.

I tried to remember the point at which I stopped being a journalist and started being a participant.

Maybe it was that day on the pool table, when Vince fucked me deep and hard. Or maybe it was after, when we were in and out of bed together, sweating and moaning, exploring each other’s bodies like we’d never have another chance.

I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment. But somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking about what was happening as something outside of me, something outside of my control, and started thinking about it as something that directly involved me.

It was a scary thought, but I couldn’t shake it.

“You look haunted,” Vince said, leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed.

I blinked and looked up at him, surprised to see him staring at me.

“Sorry,” I said. “I was just thinking. Half asleep, you know.”

“Sure,” he said. “Thinking about what?”

“All this.” I gestured around me. “How weird it is.”