Chapter 5 : Do Me a Favor, Mi Amigo

"Gentlemen," he clapped his hands together and summoned the group of men who just walked in. "Why don't we show this young lady around the place?" It felt like less of a request and more of a command. Immediately, my stomach dropped as four men surrounded me. I had nowhere to escape to this time. I could shift, but if they weren't shifters themselves, that might cause them to resort to using guns—something I wasn't prepared to take on. And regardless, I was drastically outnumbered, and I had no head start to help me. It wouldn't have done any good. "Go easy on her," El Lobo, as they called him, instructed. His command didn't reassure me as 'go easy' usually implied that whatever they were going to do to me was the exact opposite of that. I kept calm and didn't make a run for it because I knew that would only lead to more aggression. Luckily, the men, all four, who were quite scruffy and unkempt, didn't put their hands on me, except one who was a bit heavy set with a beer gut. He started sniffing my long hair. "George! Knock it off! What did I tell you about scaring the assets?!" El Lobo scolded. George backed off and pouted his lips like a child. Assets? "What type of establishment are you running? A prostitution ring?" I accused, not thinking much of my statement at first until El Lobo responded. "Yes, that's exactly what it is." He jumped down off his barstool to get his footing—I guess he was shorter than I expected—and walked towards me. He opened his arms wide and spun around. "Welcome to El Lobo's, darlin'," he introduced proudly. A cold shiver enshrouded my body and my hands felt jittery. I could feel George's breath blowing onto my shoulder, and the moist sensation made my skin crawl. My skin felt so exposed, and I moved my hands in front of my crotch, not wanting any of these lustful men to see my most vulnerable area. However, that also left my backside exposed. I had to get out of this before I found myself in an even worse situation than I had back with Agustin and Efrain. Efrain. That reminded me. Maybe these scumballs knew of the other scumball. "You might want to think twice about taking me anywhere," I declared defiantly. All of the men looked at each other and let out maniacal laughs. George chimed in with his lisp, "Or whatcha gonna do, little girl? Kick our a*sses?" Then El Lobo walked forward and slapped George across the face. "She looks like she can kick your a*s, and I know your twisted a*s would like it!" The rest of the men laughed on George's behalf. El Lobo then shifted his glance towards me and clamped down on his cigar, freeing his hand to touch my chin, which he pulled down so I could meet his gaze. "Darlin', I don't think you know who you're entangled with, okay?" he said, puffing words out through his clenched teeth. I shook his hand off of my chin, his touch repulsing me, and with a firm voice I said, "I'd say the same thing about you." His eyes opened, seemingly intrigued, as he removed his cigar and shushed the butt of it in a marble ashtray on the bar counter behind him. "You familiar with an Efrain?" I asked, remembering I didn't know Efrain's last name. "A lot of them, so what?" he retorted. I needed to think of a way around not knowing. "You know, Efrain, Agustin's boy, from 'The Pound'?" As I revealed the extra information, El Lobo began taking a seat on the barstool only to quickly stand back up. "You talkin' about El Cuchillo here?" I nodded. El Lobo's posture became shaky as if an apparition of Efrain had appeared right in front of him. Did the two have a bad history? He stammered, "Y-y-yeah yeah I-I-I know him. Wh-wh-what about it?" "I belong to him," I said firmly, before adding, "I'm his girl." I was surprised by El Lobo's change in behavior when he let out a small laugh. "He's got a lot of ladies, darlin'. None of yous is special to him." "Oh, really?" I scoffed. "Not even his fated mate?" El Lobo started choking on his own breath, and after bracing the barstool for support, he finally regained his composure. "You said you're his what?" El Lobo repeated. "You heard me loud and clear," I shot back. "Now, it'd be in your best interest to let me go before El Cuchillo himself comes and deals with you all." I heard El Lobo gulp, and I knew immediately he was terrified of Efrain just by the look in his eyes. "Well, you heard the lady. Return her!" he ordered his men. "I think I can find my way out," I insisted. "I'm an adult." El Lobo sighed. "Darlin', you think I was born yesterday? Let's really see if you are the woman you claim to be." The four men each latched on to me as El Lobo watched them take me away through the back of the cantina. They led me into a white van and tied me up with restraints as if they had done this on a regular basis. El Lobo walked through the door soon thereafter, swinging a pair of car keys around his finger before he entered the driver's side door. My mind was swirling, and I knew I'd be dead if I ever returned to Efrain. After all, that's what he told Fidel he'd do to me. I felt nauseous by El Lobo's erratic driving as well and wanted to throw up, but I hadn't enough food in my system for anything to come up. Cold sweats began trickling down my arms, and all the blood was rushing to my wrists and ankles where I had been tied. The only pain that seemed to decrease was my chest pain, which subsided the closer we got to 'The Pound.' My mind immediately jumped to the morphine. Celeste gave me a way to end everything should I ever have been caught. Now would have been the time to use it if I wasn't tied up, damn it. That's when it dawned on me: there was no way out of this one. My fate would be decided by Efrain, the one they called El Cuchillo, The Knife. The van slow-rolled to a checkpoint, which was just two men dressed in body armor, armed with pistols, and they asked El Lobo his purpose. "We returnin' your Alpha's lost goods," he informed them. The two guards looked at each other, seemingly dumbfounded. El lobo instructed, "Open the door for these kind men, George." George shifted in his seat and unlatched the sliding door. The two guards approached the open space and peeked their heads in, their eyes locked on me. "Never seen this girl before," one of them said. The other added, "Yeah, can't say I have either, but we got a lotta girls down there. I suppose it's possible." "Yo Dan," the shorter guard spoke, "You think she's the code 313?" The taller guard raised his eyebrow and replied, "It's possible. Let's send them in." He slammed the door shut and pounded on the side of the metal twice as he ordered, "You're clear to go." "Thank you gentlemen," El Lobo said, not sounding appreciative at all, and continued driving. None of the streets looked familiar, but that was because I had escaped through the alleyways and didn't take any main thoroughfares. I tried to keep attention to my surroundings in case I had the opportunity to escape again, but realized that was foolish thinking. Of course, there would be no second chance. The van crawled its way up a slight incline, and at the end of it was the facade of the bodega I had first entered with Celeste. Goddess, I hoped she was still alive. We took a turn around the bodega and stopped in front of a parking ramp where we waited until the doors opened up. They must have been awaiting confirmation from the two guards we saw earlier whether or not to let us in. El Lobo knew exactly where to drive, which made it apparent that Efrain and him indeed had a working relationship, even though it seemed Efrain had much more power over him. After winding around five levels of the parking ramp, we arrived on the ground floor where Efrain was standing with at least ten different men at his sides and a couple of pitbulls on chains for good measure. Efrain clearly dressed differently when he had business to attend to. He was dressed in a crisp charcoal colored suit that showcased his muscular figure, and he towered over the rest of the men. His black shoes reflected the fluorescent lights in the garage. His dark eyes were staring directly at the van, waiting for me to walk out. George and the three others pushed me out of the van after they had undone the restraints. I fell to my knees in front of Efrain. I didn't dare look up at him. My knees drew blood as they scraped along the concrete. My bathing suit did nothing to protect me. "Jesus Christ, George," El Lobo screamed as he exited the driver's seat. "You trying to get us killed? That's his girl!" Efrain released a low growl, seemingly displeased. I wondered if it was because he felt protective of me or because El Lobo associated me with him. I watched El Lobo approach Efrain, as I kept my gaze fixated on him instead of the man who technically held claim to me. I heard Efrain's baritone voice initiate the conversation. "We meet again, Oscar." It seemed Efrain had no use for nicknames. "Mr. Rodriguez, always a pleasure," El Lobo responded, reaching out his hand only for it to be left empty. I sensed sarcasm in his voice that dealing with Efrain and his pack was anything but a pleasant time. "She says she belongs to you," he continued. "Technically, you'd be right," Efrain chuckled, and it was unsettling how gravelly it was. The conversation momentarily paused while Efrain was enjoying his amusement. "Technically, huh? She said you two are fated mates," El Lobo clarified. The statement only caused Efrain to laugh louder. "HER! This wh*re, my fated mate! Ha, that's comedic. You know me, Oscar. I'm not ready to settle down this young. There's still a lot of fun to be had out there," Efrain said. I saw El Lobo's eyes dart directly to mine as if he wanted to call me a liar. El Lobo muttered, "That lying b*tch." Efrain sighed, "Oh, Oscar. This is why you're always stuck at the bottom. You can't trust anyone. I learned that, and now I'm untouchable. F*cking untouchable." I heard Efrain's dress shoes take a few steps forward and his body came into view. He walked right next to me and placed his long fingers on El Lobo's shoulder like a father would to a son to teach him a lesson. "I know we have had a… troubled history to put it lightly," Efrain began, and I heard El Lobo gulp. I finally looked up and could see Efrain's straight neck which was covered with tattoos that screamed 'don't mess with this man.' "But, I appreciate what you did today," Efrain added, his tone lightening up now. "So, I'd like to reward you for it." Dramatically, Efrain lunged down, resting the back of his thighs on his calves, like he was doing a squat; his arms were on his knees. He forced his gaze right into my eyes. The corner of his lip smirked, and it was clear he wanted me to see his face, to show his level of power. At the moment, I was disgusted by everyone and didn't know who to hate most, or who to fear most. My mind raced back to my papa, and even though he was nowhere near the evil these guys were, he was the one who had sold me—dumped me into these gangsters' laps. Right now, my heart loathed my papa the most. Efrain stuck out his pointer finger and ran it down my thigh, tracing my curves like a stencil. His touch was rough, his fingers cold. My leg, as af it was a natural reflex, shuddered when he made contact with me. He lifted his finger back up and brought it to his tongue. "My father was right, the b*stard. She is sweet." He shook his head and paused. Nobody said a word. The air in the underground lot was suffocating and sterile. "Oh, what's this?" Efrain took his hands and approached my breasts. He ripped the metal chain out. "I noticed they were bigger than before." He immediately searched the pouch and held up the vial of morphine. My heart was thumping, and I felt the whole room could hear it too. He swirled it around, and then, with all his might, through it against the concrete wall. The glass shattered, my last hope to die peacefully going with it. Efrain tsked a few times and laughed with a gravelly tone. It sounded like he was gargling motor oil. "Too easy." Then Efrain turned to El Lobo and exclaimed, "Take her off of my hands for me." "Wh-wh-what?!" El Lobo's voice nearly cracked. I was equally shocked by Efrain's request. "For how much, Mr. Rodriguez?" El Lobo's voice was laced with shock. Efrain's voice became cool, and he glared at me, his eyes empty while he spoke. "No cost, mi amigo. You're doing me the favor."