The slums of Mexico that is where I grew up. Im not Mexican, My step dad is. I am full Italian. I hate where I live. Number one reason…I was jumped into a gang that ruined my life. La Eme. More commonly know as the Mexican Mafia…I am currently on my way to a small town my mother is sending me to live…My step dad having friends up here…New Mexico of all places…They have a daughter my age…Which is okay I guess but im not in the mood to work on their damn farm… My mother thinks it would be "Good" for me to move away… I just want to sleep in my own bed I want to wake up to the smell of cookies and the feeling of my baby brothers fingers curling around my finger…I just want my old life back…
Troy closed his journal as the captain of the plane said they were landing. He sighed and placed the small leather book into his book bag. Pulling out his wallet he flipped to the back picture. It was of his baby brother and him. Troy already missed him and he had only been gone for 5 hours…Troy glanced out the window and smiled…A new place a new start…
AN HOUR LATER….
"Carlos?" Troy asked from the passenger seat of the Montez truck.
"Yes troy?"
"Um well… I'm thankful for you letting me stay with you. My mom would want me to be nice the entire time but I cant promise I wont get into any trouble…I attract trouble…Im sure my mom told you about my past." He nervously rambled.
"Troy I know all about you. Trust me not everybody will be perfect." With that Carlos slid a hand off the steering wheel and as they came to a stop sign in the middle of no where and rolled up his sleeve showing Troy the same tattoo he had on his Bicep. Troy gulped. "I was jumped out as well bud. I know how it feels." He continued to drive and smile when Troy sighed in relief. "What you think Alejandro would send you back into a gang house. Yeah right. Im surprised Alex didn't shoot you himself." Carlos laughed when troy curtly nodded.
"What did they call you?" Troy asked trying to get more of the story.
"Fucker mostly." Carlos smirked.
"They called me Scorpion. I know that sounds really weird…but they thought it was funny when I would just pull back my hand in a fight and snap it forward as if I was a scorpion." Troy said laughing a bit. It was the most he had talked in a good 3 days. He felt comfortable with Carlos.
"My family knows the outline of your story…You don't have to tell them the entire thing if you don't want to. But just know we all understand. Your father would be proud you are starting over. You deserve that." Troy's head snapped to the man next to him.
"You knew my dad?" Troy lost his father about 5 years ago the same amount of time he had been in La Eme. Jack Bolton had disappeared along with 3 other US Marines.
"Well yeah…He was in the mafia with me…" Troy winced. He knew his father was in the mafia he just didn't want to believe it. But there was that slight pain of losing your father to the thing you came to live with.
"Oh..Isnt that where you to met Alex?" Troy asked looking out the window.
"Yeah." Carlos said reluctantly. Carlos glanced at troy and abruptly stopped the car. "Okay I knew you were high in ranking but right hand man…you had it bad. How did you possibly get to be that high?" Carlos asked.
Troy sighed for what seemed like the third time in three minutes. "The usual way. Killed the one that was there before me." Carlos nodded.
"Sorry to bring it up but I saw the tattoo and I just…It shocked me. Why were you jumped out then?" They were now just sitting in the car…On a street in the dumb fuck of no where.
"I saved a kid from getting jumped in. Turns out doing that isn't very smart. I did it because I knew I would be jumped out. But I never imagined how much getting jumped out would hurt." He said trying to lighten the mood. Carlos laughed.
"Well no shit. How'd they do it for you? They just shot me in the stomach and left me to bleed out." Troy winced subconsciously touching his scar.
"Crowbar and three shots to the chest. The higher up you are the worse getting jumped out gets." He said numbly.
"Alrighty then." Carlos said again starting to drive.
"Can we talk about something else. Im not in the mood to talk about this." Truth be told Troy never wanted to talk about it again.
"Yeah..What do you want to talk about?" Carlos was already warming up to Troy. Troy wasn't all that bad had a little ups and downs in his life but nothing some good old country couldn't fix.
"Whats your daughter like?" Troy asked honestly interested.
Carlos smirked. "Open the glove compartment. And pull out the picture that is in there." Troy did what he was told but smiled at the phto.
"She beautiful." He simply stated.
"She would be blushing so bad right now." Carlos said laughing. "she turns twenty-four this October." Troy smiled. His exact age.
"What day?" Troy asked still smiling at the photo.
"The thirteenth." Carlos said laughing at his new house guest's shocked face. "What?" He asked laughing when Troy smiled.
"We share the same birthday." He stated running his fingers over the photo.
"You can keep that. Also she just got out of a relationship so don't try anything right away. And I should warn you she has a 2 moth old son. And the dad is a total ass." Troy frowned.
"Why would the father leave? If I was in that position I would be by her side as much as possible." Carlos smiled. Troy was starting to grow on him.
"Your mom was right you didn't belong in Mexico you belong in a romance novel." Troy grunted.
"She always says that." Troy smiled as they pulled up to an amazing house. "This is your house!" He said unbuckling his seat belt. He placed his ray bans on and got out of the old truck.
"What did you expect a small house. I do own a farm which means I have money…you do know why I live in America now don't you?" Troy shook his head staring up at the beautiful white Victorian house.
"I won the lottery." Carlos laughed when Troy just laughed and pulled his book bag out of the bed of the truck. Carlos already had his suitcase.
"Now onto meet the new family." Troy nodded eagerly and all but ran to the front door.
"Slow down young grasshopper I may be only 48 but im not that fast." Carlos grumbled.
As they walked up the front steps the screen door opened and out came two Pit-bulls.
"Those are our dogs we have four. The black one is midnight. Gabi named him and the white one is Floppy. You will find out why." Troy help the door open for Carlos as he lugged in the suitcase.
"I could have gotten that." Troy said laughing
"Nonsense Troy. It's not even that heavy." Carlos whistled and two more dogs came trotting into the room. Wolf hounds. Or in Troy's mind. Big ass fucking dogs.
"Holy shit. These aint dogs they are horses." Troy yelped when one jumped up to come face to face with him.
"Did you just yelp?" Carlos asked raising an eyebrow at Troy.
Troy cleared his throat but just ended up nodding. "It scared me." Carlos shook his head and started for the kitchen but stopped and turned down a hallway at the end of the hallway was a set of stairs. He walked up them and opened the door. Carlos set the suitcase inside the door and closed it. Troy stared in confusion. "Aren't we going in there?" Carlos just shook his head and head back down the hallway. And troy followed like a lost puppy. Making Carlos laugh. They made it into the kitchen finally and to be greeted by laughter and people talking about how someone's shoes could look so bad but so good at the same time.
"Hello family!" Carlos said happily. Troy just smiled.
"AH!" A small child yelled running from the room.
"Do I smell that bad?" Troy asked sniffing his shirt.
Everybody else in the room laughed. A baby even let out a small giggle.
"No she just wasn't expecting you to walk in with- oh never mind…Im Sharpay…Best friend and soon to be daughter-in-law." She said proudly.
"Well congrats to you." Troy said shaking her hand.
"Im David. The oldest of the kids and Sharpay's Fiancé." A tall male said shaking Troy's hand also.
"I'm Marge…The mother." She stated hugging Troy. "And the kid that ran out was Danielle. She is sort of afraid of meeting you but I bet she will warm up in about 4 hours." Troy laughed and looked at the last two people he had yet to be introduced to.
"Oh um in Gabriella…Second oldest Kid. And this little peanut is Luca." She said shaking Troy's hand then going back to feeding Luca his bottle.
"Well nice to meet you Gabriella…And you to Luca." Troy smiled a real genuine smile. One he has smiled in a long time.
"You to Troy." She was about to say something else when the door bell rang.
"Now who could that be?" Marge grumbled walking to the door. Everybody was silent but was interrupted by yelling.
"Oh Shit. Kyle's here." David said looking at Gabriella.
"Shit." She said looking at Troy then her dad. "What do I do?" Troy looked around confused.
"Who's Kyle?" He whispered to Carlos.
"Luca's dad." Troy tensed and looked around the corner. There in all his glory stood the man himself. He was about the same size as Troy but looked like he just stepped out of a fashion Magazine.
"He looks like a douche." He mumbled and Gabriella giggled. "You want to get away from him?" He asked her and she nodded. "Hide in my room." Everybody left in the kitchen stared at him. "What…You want to get away from him…The only way he wont see you is to walk into the dinning room into that hallway and then up the steps to my room." He said bluntly.
"How could you possibly know that you've been here all of what 5 minutes?" She asked.
"I was in a gang. You always have to know a possible way out." He said smiling at her when she smiled.
"Touché." She said doing exactly as he said. As soon as she shut his bedroom door an irate Kyle burst into the room.
"Where is Gabriella…I want my son." David stepped forward and stood taller then Kyle.
"She's not here right now. Why don't you leave message and she'll get back to you." Troy smirked and stifled a laugh. Kyle's eyes focused on Troy.
"You think this is funny Mexican?" Everybody stopped breathing and Troy stared at Kyle.
"Excuse me?" Carlos tried to stop Troy but next thing you know Kyle is in his car with a broken nose.
"Damn pretty boy." He mumble hold the ice back Marge handed to him.
"Is he gone yet?" A small voice asked form the hallway. A little head poked around the corner and the small child from earlier walked in. "Sorry I ran out…I just wasn't expecting such a…big person?" Danielle tried.
"Hey its okay kiddo im used to people screaming when I walk into a room." Everybody frowned at how open Troy was.
"You shouldn't have to be." Gabriella said walking in with a wide awake Luca. Troy smiled at him.
"Comes with being in a gang I guess." Everybody nodded understanding.
"So what's for dinner." Came a voice from the front door. Shortly after two guys walked in one with and afro and on taller then Troy. Kind of Intimidating. They stopped short when they saw Troy though. "Are you the guy everybody has been talking about. Troy right?" The one with the afro said.
"Um yeah." Troy said confused.
"Oh" He laughed. "Im Chad and this is Zeke. We are Gabi's friends." Troy's mouth formed an O and everybody laughed. "So Marge what's for dinner." He asked again making everybody laugh.
Later that night….
Troy was on the front porch leaning against the railing drinking a beer. He just hung up the phone after talking to his mom. He missed her and Trevor even Alex.
"Need any company?" Came a voice from behind him. He turned to see Gabriella and Luca. She never put him down unless he was sleeping.
"That would be nice. Thanks." Troy said taking a sip of his beer.
"What does that Tattoo mean…If you don't mind me asking?" Gabriella said blushing slightly.
"Which one, I have five." Troy laughed. Knowing which on she meant just wanted to mess with her.
"The one on your neck." She said touch it lightly before retracting her hand. Troy couldn't help put miss the feeling of her fingers.
"It means I was second in command. Basically the Boss's right hand man." Troy said finding himself looking at Luca again.
"You want to hold him?" Gabriella asked softly.
"I don't know." Troy said uneasily.
"Here." She said placing Luca in Troy's arms. Both of them noticing how he fit perfectly. Troy slowly walked over to the Porch swing. Sitting down he supported Luca and held out his fingers like he did with his baby brother. Luca Quickly toke a hold of Troy's middle finger. Putting it in his mouth, But Troy didn't care. "He's never done that before." Gabriella said shocked.
"Hasn't done what?" troy asked looking at Luca.
"Grabbed onto someone's finger. How did you get him to do that?" She asked sitting next to him at Lucas head. Running her hand over his head. Luca just stared right back Troy. "I think he likes you. If anybody else tries to hold him he cries." They both laughed which made Luca giggle. This made them smile at each other.
Unknown to the two outside a certain young girl was watching for the window. Dannie walked back over to he parents and sat in between them. "They like each other. And Luca likes Troy." Carlos looked at her confused.
"What do you mean? Luca likes Troy?" Chad said looking out the window smiling. "Well she's right." Chad laughed as he sat back down taking a sip of his beer. "Troy's holding Luca and Luca isn't crying they are sitting on the swing looking like an old married couple." Chad laughed but stopped when he saw Marge and Carlos's face.
"Oops. Im sorry…you guys aint old." Chad said trying to save himself.
"Mhm…that's what I thought." Marge said laughing at a blushing Chad.
Everybody's head snapped to the door when Troy and Gabi walked threw Troy still holding Luca. "He's tired," Troy stated looking at the sleeping baby in his arms.
"Here I'll take him." Gabi said.
"Nah I'll do it. I know where to go." Gabi nodded and watched troy walk to her bedroom. She looked back at the group of people but found them all staring at her. She just laughed and sat on the floor by the fire place. Five minutes later Troy came back out but in Sweat pants and a plain white wife beater. Showing off his muscles and some of his tattoos. You could just see the tip of one that was on his left peck. Troy sat next to Gabi absently started playing with her curls as the talking continued.
"What does this say?" Gabi said pointing to a tattoo on his wrist. It was in Spanish.
"It say's La Vida no Vivió, meaning life not lived. It's for my baby sister who died…5 years ago…she was 5 and walking with me when I was jumped into La Eme. They didn't let her live." Troy said not letting tears come to his eyes.
"I'm so sorry Troy…I bet she would be exactly like you…Nice, funny, not afraid to punch someone ex." Gabi said making Troy laugh.
"Yeah I guess your right." Troy said and played with her hair…
"What's up with you?" Chad asked looking at Troy. "Like why are you here?"
Troy sighed and sat up. "I lived in Mexico, I was jumped into the La Eme. Did the gang stuff. Got almost too the top when I was caught saving the new kid. He was 15…Ended up getting jumped out. Almost beat to death with a crowbar. I was shot three times in the chest. Spent 4 months in the hospital second day out La Eme came to my house and threatened if I didn't get out of Mexico my family would be killed. So my mom and step dad sent me here. And here I am." Everybody frowned, It was the outline of what happened to him. He still had his walls. But only time will heal him.