Queen of The City

5: Mm, Mothers

"You had sex with him!" Nayeli shouts then immediately places her hands over her mouth. "You had sex with him?" she repeats but quieter.

Nayeli is my best-friend. I'd be lying if I said I remember how we met but it doesn't matter. Twenty-some years later and I love her to death.

"No! We didn't have sex but I wanted to," I groan and fall back onto the bed. "I'm telling you, that man was heavenly, but he just fingered me. That's it." Nayeli knows every detail about my life so sharing sex details seems like second nature.

"Bummer," she says as she plops down next to me. "What's his name again?"

"Dimitri Escobar."

"What kind of last name is Escobar?" she questions and I have to agree. "Anyways, I have good news!" she perks up and smiles brightly. "I found our shooter from the other night."

"C'mere," she says as she runs downstairs. It is too late in the night for her to have all this energy. I lazily follow her downstairs and into my grand office.

Entering, I'm met with the bodies of Evelyn, Brea, Pedro and Marcos. What is he doing here?

"Baboso? What are you doing here?" I ask as I stroll over to give him a hug. "Actually, what are all of you doing here? I don't remember convening a grand panel."

"We're here to help," Evelyn says and they all nod in agreement. "We know about Xochitl and well, here we are."

I hesitantly sit down and watch as Nayeli goes through her powerpoint that she made.

"First things first, our shooter was Diego Benavides. Twenty-nine year old male with a pretty hefty rap sheet. He got caught up in Marcos' drug cartel back in twenty-seventeen but now he's with Xochitl. Now," she moves into a new slide, "as all men are, he's a fucking idiot. I caught nearby street footage from a bar down the street and here is Diego running into a blacked out BMW minutes after the shooting went down." Nayeli plays the video and it shows a man jumping into a BMW and speeding away. "What they didn't know is..." next slide, "their license plate was in perfect sight of the camera. I ran the plate and it belongs to Miguel Benavides, his younger brother. Now, they both live in Queens. I say, we pay them a visit and let our guns speak for themselves."

"We gotta be careful, though. People in Queens don't fuck around, have you seen those crackheads?" Pedro adds.

As they talk amongst themselves, my phone buzzes in my pocket.

Dimitri: Thinking of you.

I roll my eyes and begin to text back.

Mariana: I heard it's not good for the soul.

Dimitri: Everything about you is good, mama.

Mariana: Be careful. Play with fire and you're bound to get burned.

"Ana?" Marcos snaps me out of my trance and I glance up to everyone staring at me.

"What?"

"You and I are going tonight, alone. Given that Brea and Pedro don't participate in murder, we leave the clean up job to them. Is that okay?"

"You guys okay with that?" I ask Brea and Pedro. Personally, I hate cleaning so I'd never want to give a job that I'd never do. They both nod reassuringly and it's all the confirmation I need.

—

Marcos and I arrive in rundown Queens at the home of the Benavides. Rats scurry around the porch and feast on their garbage. Their porch is about ready to fall apart with the weight of my brother and I. Loud Mexican music plays from inside and I glance over at Marcos. And right before he speaks, I feel this rush of excitement. Revenge has always been my favorite dish.