Larry Sandoval was at his wit's end, miserable, unhappy, feeling like an animal trapped, living in a gilded cage, desperate to leave his troubled marriage when one night, quite by chance, after he finally gets the courage to leave his husband, he me...
As best he could, by the time Larry pulled into his garage, returning home, he'd managed to pull himself together. He was grateful that at least Manny wouldn't be home. He wouldn't have to answer a lot of questions about where he'd been, with who, and what he'd been doing. He felt bad enough having to leave Laurent. He wouldn't have been in the mood for Manny's interrogation.
After he turned off his car, he sat for a short while. He was already missing Laurent so much. Larry fell back against his seat and blew out a weary breath. He may as well go inside. As he gathered his things to leave his car, he noticed there seemed to be an almost eerie silence about the house. It was only about 11:00 p.m.. Even when he pulled up to the house, it seemed unusually dark.
He'd forgotten to give Sofia a call, but he knew that if there had been any problems at the house, she would have called him. Maybe Sofia had gone out? But before Larry had finished that thought, he knew that probably wasn't true. Sofia rarely ever went out this late. That immediately concerned him because if she'd been out and hadn't returned home yet....
The thing is, he knew she'd have left a light on for him in the front of the house if she knew he was going to be coming home a little late, which too was rare. Instead, everything looked dark. Maybe Sofia had dozed off early and forgot to leave a light on for him. Yeah, maybe that was it. Since Manny was out of town and she knew he was out, maybe Sofia decided to go to bed early.
Larry tried to shake off his suspicions, so instead, he gathered his things and headed into the house. As he entered the kitchen from the garage, he thought he saw a huge shadow in the distance. Who or whatever it was, it appeared to be sitting at the kitchen island. "Hello? Sofia? Miguel? Is anybody there?" The shadow moved. Larry gasped and quickly turned on the kitchen light.
There sitting at the island was Pedro, Miguel's brother. Between the two, Pedro was much more Manny's willing henchman, less personable and engaging than his brother, Miguel.
"Pedro? Wha...what are you doing here? Why were you sitting in the dark? I thought you were in Nicaragua, with Manny. Is he here?"
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A/N: This is a picture of Pedro Hernandez, Miguel's younger and less congenial brother. He's more average in height and build than Miguel, but what he lacks in brawn, he more than makes up in menacing hot-headedness.
"Hola, Larry," Pedro replied. He got up from his seat at the kitchen island. "No, Manny isn't here."
"He isn't? Then, where is he?"
"He's still in Nicaragua. In fact, he's waiting for you. He misses you, Larry. He sent me to come and get you, bring you to him, in Nicaragua."
Larry's brow furrowed in confusion as he stared at Pedro. "What do you mean, he's waiting for me? I'm not going to Nicaragua. If he misses me, then he'll be home Monday. He'll see me then."
