Chapter 8: Fear Is Where The Heart Is
Jesse sat on his bed; the dark room was softly lighted by the glow coming off of his laptop. He typed furiously on the keypad, cursing every so often. He stopped suddenly, reading the screen intently.
He was currently hacked into the local hospital's database, looking up Matty's medical records. When he first met her, he recognized something in her that he saw in himself. He didn't know if it was the lonely look in her eyes or the slight fear she kept at bay, but there was something there.
Through her hospital records, he found her mother. Her medical records claimed that she was dead. She had died at the age of 35 from blunt force trauma- the murderer was never found. While her father's medical records stated that he was still alive. Manuel Ricardo Alonso. At the sound of that name, bells and whistles went off in his head, but he couldn't recall why.
Jesse stood up from the bed and exited the room, making his way towards Mia's bedroom. He found her stretched out on her bed, a med textbook in her lap. "Mia, who's Manuel Ricardo Alonso?" He asked, his hands trembling slightly.
"Umm... some famous attorney guy, makes judge in a while. Why?" She asked not bothering to look up from her book. By the time she finished her sentence he was already down the hall. "No reason. I heard about him on the radio," he replied, slamming his bedroom door shut.
Jesse found himself in front of his computer again, digging further into Matty's life. He lifted an eyebrow slightly, upon seeing the different amount of times she was taken to the hospital. Most were for bruises and broken bones, the last couple drawing him in further. Psychiatric evaluations.
There it was. The connection that had bonded them together. Jesse thought that she was nice to him because of his "condition" but he realized that she too had a "condition" like him.
He printed out what he had found out and proceeded to Google her father. He clicked a link that seemed interesting and almost giggled to himself. One of her father's main points in his campaign to run for judge was putting away the street races that endangered the city streets. "Dom's going to shit bricks," he said, but thought about it.
Sharing Matty's information with the rest of the team would be violating her trust. Dom would confront her and he wouldn't like the fact that her father was a lawyer/soon to be judge, let alone one that was trying to get rid of racers.
He looked at the printouts, knowing that he could easily lie and say that he only found the bruises and broken bones visits, but then again Dom was his family. He had taken him in when he had nothing, much like they had done with Matty.
He stretched out on the bed, thinking his dilemma over. Betray his family or betray someone that's in his similar situation- which would be like betraying himself. Jesse glanced down at the printouts and folded the papers in half. He took in a deep breath and placed them in between his mattresses- secretly hoping that what he was doing wouldn't make shit worse.
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Matty stretched out on the bed, closing her eyes. She felt like she was suffocating, her nose was still clogged up with a wad of cotton and her room was hot as hell. As her bedroom door opened up, she popped an eye open and sighed softly.
Letty entered the room and shut the door softly behind her. "Hey chica, how you living?" She said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, stretching herself out. "Life sucks pretty much," Matty replied. The other girl scoffed and grinned from ear to ear. "Tonight's the big night, girla. You really think he going to pop the question?" Letty asked.
Matty shrugged. "I'm scared, Let. What if he asks me and I freeze?" She asks, shaking her head softly. "What is there to be scared of? This fine ass man asking you to marry him, move you out of this shit hole town and to a better place?" Letty said, standing up from the bed and stretching her body out.
"In a sick, twisted way, Let, I feel safe here. This is what I know right now. If I move, I'll have to give all of this up. I hate change, Letty," Matty said. She felt a rush of movement near her, and popped an eye open.
Matty watched as Letty ran around the room, collecting stuff. She placed the sundress that she previously bought on the bed and began pulling out jewelry from Matty's dresser. "Stop bitching and just flow with everything. Just cause you might move out of the hood don't mean we ain't going to see each other any more," she said, grabbing Matty's leg and pushing it off the bed.
"Now shower, change, and let Mia come down here and do your hair and makeup. You gotta knock this guy's drawers off," Letty said, exiting the room. Matty stared after her, an eyebrow cocked. She stood up and looked in her mirror. "Ain't nothing a little makeup won't cure," she muttered, grabbing her towel off the back of the door and heading towards the bathroom.