Down Chick 2: The Hunt

Chapter One: Lost Cause

"So, this is really it?" he questioned, his voice a burning abyss of anger and disappointment. "You're going to run away from this just as you do everything else? After everything that's happened between us? You're not the only one who lost something precious, Keish! We both lost our child. We both lost people we loved to Darius. You're not the only one. Everything doesn't just come back to you. There are others involved, including myself. What about me, Keish? Do I not matter?"

A single tear, followed by another slid down my cheek as the words of the last argument between Angel and I ran through my mind. Leaving him behind hadn't been easy, but staying hadn't been easy either. After Darius had vanished and I had lost my child, I had tried to make it with Angel for a month and a half. Maybe I hadn't fought hard enough to keep a hold of him, but pain and loss was the only thing going through my mind. Maybe that had been selfish, but I needed time away from that place. Time away from the memories that flashed through my head behind every street name, every glimpse outside. Not to mention the consistent run down of glimpses of what had happened all over the local paper and news. Locals still didn't know exactly what happened. They still just considered it to be a war between drug lords.

There I was a victim that needed to be treated fragilely. Everyone, even Maria hadn't treated me the same since I had been released from the hospital. Sitting in the bed on bedrest for that first week had been insane. The tears in her eyes, the sympathy in Viktor's, Miguel's, and even Tio's. I had been a total bitch to him and he had pissed me off, but seeing the pain in his eyes for me had been like the last straw. I couldn't stay surrounded by the tears, pain, memories and sympathy. There was so much more between all of us, than that.

Perhaps, I shouldn't have left so that we would have all been able to get through it all together, but seeing the look of desperation in Angel's eyes and the expectancy from Veronica and David was a pressure within itself. Eventually the tension had led to my conclusion that it'd be better for everyone if I moved to California with my grandparents. I hadn't learned everything necessary to be with him. Veronica could teach me all that there was to know about being involved with someone of Angel's caliber. That was my belief upon leaving.

It wasn't meant to be permanent.

Yet, being here wasn't what I expected at all. Veronica insisted that I move on from Angel. She didn't want to teach me anything involved with the game, until I tried college, dated other men and stopped associating with people who were involved with Angel. It was unacceptable to me. I had known all of them longer than her, and yeah she was blood, but I didn't know her. So, I wasn't exactly sure what her intentions were. Having Rome near didn't really help matters, but it soothed my nerves. He was the one who had helped me to leave without falling apart.

Ever since I had left over a month ago, I had felt like I had made a mistake in coming here. Meeting some of the guys that she insisted on me attempting to try only made me withdraw more. Some of the men she had introduced to me, had only convinced me that she didn't mind drug dealers. She just didn't want me with Angel. Some of them screamed cold blooded killer, just staring at them. One had become somehow determined to gain my attention.

If she was going to introduce them, then I may as well be with the man who haunted my dreams. Every face, every single small thing brought him to mind. It only confirmed that my feelings for him were stronger than I had thought they were. There wasn't anyone else for me. In the midst of this realization was the hope that he'd come for me. He'd told me running halfway across the country wouldn't solve anything. That he'd drag me back. And I hoped he would. Veronica didn't plan to let that happen.

Enrolling in college wasn't a favorite of mine and attending wasn't, any better. I found that in sitting there and listening to professors speak, I often zoned out of what was being said and thought back to the memories that I had run. It appeared changing scenarios hadn't changed anything other than the people around me. I missed being close to Maria. I hadn't thought this through. I wanted to go back so badly.