"Rio! Rio!"
What the fuck?
"Rio!" Rita yelled, knocking on his bedroom door.
"Huh?" he answered, eyes squinted to block the sun shining through his window.
"Natalia is on the phone for you!"
"Tell her I'm sleep."
"Uh, I think she can hear us. I don't know how to quiet the phone."
"Oh my God." he sighed. "I'll call her in a second."
He figured he would get a good night's sleep away from Natalia, but he was wrong. He worried about what she'd do if she found out about what happened between him and Beth, he worried about how Beth was feeling after what they did. Then when he finally got all those thoughts out of his brain, he thought about how she tasted, how she felt in his mouth, the way she moaned and tried to keep herself from coming, how she tried to stop herself from basically humping his face but couldn't.
Then he got his, what felt like, 50th FaceTime call from Natalia and he finally accepted it.
"Where have you been?" she asked before he could get a word out.
"I told you I was staying at Mami and Pop's last night." he answered, holding the phone in front of his sleepy face.
"Well, you left yesterday morning and you're still gone. You don't think I should know why?"
"I had a lot of shit to take care of. Comin' home would've been outta my way."
"Were you with that woman who had you acting crazy?" she asked him.
"You told me not see her again so I haven't."
"Were you with someone else?"
"What is wrong with you? You see where I am. I stayed here all night." he explained.
"I'm so close to reaching my breaking point, Rio. And you don't want that." Natalia told him, hanging up immediately.
Rio sat and thought about if that's what he really did want or not. At this point, he didn't have the slightest idea about what he really wanted when it came to his relationship with Natalia, but one thing he did know for sure was that the housewife was weighing heavy on his mind. And if he could beat her out of there, he'd run his head through a hundred walls, but that just wasn't going to work.
A quick knock on his bedroom door pulled him out of his thoughts. He got up and opened it and was greeted with his mother's smile.
"I have breakfast ready for you, mijo." she said.
He threw on a navy blue graphic tee that harshly clashed with his green and red plaid pajama pants, then followed Rita to the kitchen. He sat down in front of his full plate and mostly just pushed his food around while Rita sat next to him, reading a book. She bit her tongue for about twenty minutes, then she just couldn't take it anymore.
"I want you to know that I take this as an insult." she said without even looking up from her book.
"It's not the food, Mami."
"Then what is it? Is something going on with Natalia?" she asked.
"Not really."
Rita closed her book and sat it on the table in front of her.
"You're lying." she deadpanned.
"What?"
"I am your mother. I know when something is bothering you and I usually know what it is." she explained. "You let her answer your phone at dinner the other night."
"She's insecure. You know that."
"You know that I love Natalia like she was my own daughter, but I have watched you two get worse and worse. So unhealthy."
"She ain't wrong this time, Ma." Rio said, finally putting his unused fork down.
"Rio, you wouldn't do that to her. You're not that kind of man."
"I don't know what kinda man I am no more. This woman got me outta my head, crazy."
He wouldn't look at Rita while he was telling her this because he could already picture the disappointed look on her face. She was right, she didn't raise him to be the kind of man he was now. She told him that all the time. But she loved him no less and deep down, he knew nothing would change that. Didn't make disappointing her any easier though.
"Who is she?" Rita asked, lightly tapping her petite hand on the table, signaling Rio to look at her.
And he did.
"I don't know. We crossed paths and she's been on my mind ever since."
"Rio."
"I know, Mami. If I could get her outta my mind, I would."
"I don't think you want to." Rita said bluntly. "But you can't keep tugging Natalia back and forth. All she's ever done was love you, even more than herself."
"I know." Rio said again.
"You keep saying that, but it doesn't mean anything without actions."
At the risk of repeating himself once more, he just sat quietly and looked at his still full plate for a few more minutes.
"I gotta get ready to meet Shaw at Cloud 9. You need anything?" Rio asked.
"I thought you'd never ask." she said, getting a laugh out of her sulking son. "Let me grab my list."
Rio got into the SUV Shaw was driving once he pulled into the Cloud 9 parking lot.
"I thought you wanted me to handle this." Shaw said.
"Yeah, man. I just...wanted to make sure everything was goin' okay."
"Smooth as fuck. And I got a feelin' them washin' the cash at places like this is gon' work."
"What made her even bring this to you? Y'all cool?" Rio asked, nonchalantly, scrolling through his phone.
"The ladies are nice, man."
"I ain't lettin' you handle this so you can be friendly with a few suburban bitches, Shaw. I gave it to you 'cause I thought you was capable of keepin' 'em on their toes, not so that housewife can run ideas to you. And whatever else y'all doin' together." Rio said, looking over at Shaw now.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You tell me."
Before Shaw could say anything else, they both saw Beth, Ruby, and Annie walking into the store. Rio didn't feel it was important to mention to his mother that the housewife he couldn't stop thinking about would also be at this meeting. As he sat next to Shaw on one side of the table while Beth, Ruby, and Annie sat on the opposite side, he couldn't take his eyes off of Beth's mouth while she was pitching an idea about how to wash the fake cash. All he could think about was how her soft lips had felt on his and how eager she was for him to caress her tongue with his own.
Yeah, their plan was good, but he'd much rather think about how painfully pleasurable it felt when she dug her heel into his back as he went down on her. He spotted a face he really hoped he was imagining from across the store, but not before she spotted him and began making her way to the table. Natalia's face getting closer and closer pulled him right out of the mental flashback he was enjoying so very much.
"Well." Natalia said as she approached the table, everyone's eyes on her.
"What are you doin'?" Rio asked her.
"Rita told me you were here."
"Now you see me. Now you can go."
"Who are your friends?" she asked, no longer looking at Rio. Her eyes were burning holes into Beth, Ruby, and Annie.
"Nat, we got business to handle." Shaw interjected.
"You and her are already on my shit list so calm down." she said, pointing at Beth.
"Me?" Beth asked.
"I remember you from the other night at the warehouse. Disrespecting Rio like he isn't the reason I'm sure everyone at this table is getting paid."
"Beth, maybe we should go." Annie suggested.
Rio looked at Natalia and hoped to God that she hadn't done a little digging of her own. But by the way her eyes turned to him and she cocked her head to the side, he knew she had.
"You're Beth?" she asked, her sight now back on the woman she was talking to.
Beth didn't answer.
"You're Beth." Natalia said, definitely not asking this time.
The tension at the table was thick because Rio, Shaw, and Natalia herself knew how fast she could fly off the handle. But her reaction shocked them. She just smiled, which was sometimes the calm before the storm, then put her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. Then she just outright chuckled.
"If I had seen what you looked like before, I wouldn't have been so worried about Rio being around you." she said.
"Excuse you." Ruby said, taking full offense on behalf of her best friend.
"That's enough, Nat." Rio said, standing up from the table.
"I'm just so confused about what it is about her that has you so fucking obsessed."
"Let's go."
Rio put his hand on the small of Natalia's back and guided them away from the table.
"I told you to stay away from her!" she yelled once they reached her car in the parking lot. "Have you been lying to me this whole time?"
"No! I stayed away from her until now!"
"I'm trying really hard not to punch you in fucking face right now! This is bullshit!"
"I don't know what to tell you, Nat."
"Tell me you can get your shit together and cut her off!"
"I don't know if I can." he told her, being completely honest.
"Fine. Then cut me off."
"Wait, baby." he stopped her, grabbing her hand. "You know I love you."
"Not enough if you can't stop whatever it is you have with her."
"I don't have nothin' with her."
"You're lying to yourself and you're lying to me! All I asked is that you stay away from her and you couldn't even do that!"
Rio felt like his head was going to explode! He pulled Natalia closer to him by the hand he was still holding.
"You fucked her, didn't you?" she asked.
"I swear to you I didn't."
"I don't believe you! You can have her, I'm done."
She snatched her hand away from him and he hadn't realized how much that'd hurt him. All he could do was watch her get in the car and drive away and it was killing him. He had thrown this years long relationship with the girl he's known since he was a teenager away for a woman he didn't even know. And the fact that he had no say in it made it all the worse. Maybe his mom was right, maybe he didn't want Beth out of his head.
Maybe Natalia did the dirty work for him and it gave him one less thing to worry about, one less thing to feel guilty about. Then he realized that not only was Beth upset with him, she was married with four children. An apology might make up for mentioning her husband right before she came, but it definitely wouldn't make her husband go away. He didn't even know if he wanted her husband out of the picture. He didn't know what the hell he wanted!
"What was that about, man?" he heard coming from behind him.
He turned around and saw Shaw walking towards him.
"I wish I fuckin' knew."
"Bullshit. You just tried to accuse me of fuckin' around with her and that's why. 'Cause you're doin' it."
"You really actin' like Nat, just pullin' shit outta nowhere." Rio said, walking away from Shaw.
"Rio, we're not the crazy ones. You are for thinkin' nobody would find out, especially Nat."
Rio ignored him and just kept walking to his car. When he finally did look back, he saw Shaw going back into the store. He got in the car and just sat, contemplating whether or not he should go back in as well or go home and fix things with Natalia. He sat there longer than he anticipated and ended up deciding to go get some clothes from home, then stay at his parents' until Natalia calmed down.
He pulled into the driveway and shouldn't have been surprised when he saw a very angry Natalia with an armful of his clothes.
'What the fuck is wrong with you?" Rio yelled, stepping out of the car.
"You can get all of your shit and take it to that housewife bitch!" Natalia replied, throwing the clothes in her arms onto the front lawn. "You had her in my face at the warehouse and you didn't tell me!"
"'Cause it's not a big deal!"
"You fucked her and I'm done putting up with this!"
"I promise I ain't fuck her!" Rio defended himself as he followed Natalia into the house. "Will you stop for a second?"
"What did you do then? I know you like the back of my hand, Rio, and I know something happened. And I wish you would stop lying to me."
He could see the hurt on her face and couldn't bare to tell her what happened with Beth.
"You got every right to be pissed, Nat. So I'll leave for the night if you don't want me here and we can figure this out. I got love for you, you know that."
"Yeah, but I don't think you love me. So just go." she said before walking away from him.
He picked his clothes up off of the lawn as neighbors watched. Every day had been nothing but trouble since the moment he laid eyes on the other woman. So why was he driving through her neighborhood to see if she had made it home? He didn't know. But she had. He stopped in front of her house and told himself that this would only make this crazy day even crazier, but it was like he couldn't stop himself.
She opened the door after a couple of rounds of knocking.
"What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to say sorry." he answered in a quiet voice.
"Oh yeah? Again?"
He deserved that.
"For bringin' up your husband and for what my girl did today."
"Honestly, fuck them both right now." she spat.
He was taken aback because for some reason, he didn't expect her to talk like that.
"Your husband do somethin' wrong?" he asked, treading lightly.
"He brought her here. I found her underwear in the guest room. I asked him about it and it was recent, he was honest about that while I was kicking him out." she explained while she fidgeted with the wedding ring on her left hand. "So what your girlfriend did today is the least of my worries."
"Can I come in?" he asked before his brain stopped his mouth.
"Why?"
"I wanna make you feel better."
She didn't say anything, she just looked at him for a few seconds. She moved aside so he could step in, then closed the door behind him.
...
