“We became their competitors. They considered us taking Gabe away from them as a challenge,” Royce agreed, sounding frustrated.
“Why don’t they put all that determination and energy into something good?” Jared mumbled angrily.
“Gabe told me the leader is not as bad as the punks we have been dealing with,” Royce spoke up, thinking back to one of his past discussions with Gabe about the gang. “If we got the leader to meet with us we could at least try to end this thing peacefully.”
“Do you really think he would listen?” Tom didn’t sound very enthusiastic about that idea. “One of them was willing to shoot you in the back and did shoot Jessy, a defenseless woman.”
“I know it’s a long shot, Tom,” Royce admitted with a sigh. “This has to end once and for all. The way I see it either we move to a different location or we live on the edge, always waiting for the next bad thing to happen.”
“Well I bought this building when it was worth something twenty years ago. Now with the neighborhood crumbling I am not so sure I would get anything if I sold it,” Jared spoke up seriously. “I think we should give it a try. Lucia and Gabe will be coming by a lot now. Jessy comes in alone and stays late a lot. We can’t watch them every second. We’ll never concentrate on the fights. Adam is fighting Bryce Logan in the next few months. That’s a championship fight for his division and he needs to concentrate.”
“Okay then,” Tom gave in. “Do we have Gabe contact them or do we do it ourselves?”
“We can have Gabe go through Chico to set up a meeting. I don’t want to send him in person and risk him getting hurt.”
Jared agreed. “Yeah, I agree, Royce. Lucia wouldn’t be happy with me if I let something happen to that boy.”
Tom nodded, still looking doubtful. “Okay, but have the meeting here, early in the day when not many people are around. At least it’s not in some dark alley where you can be ambushed.”
Royce went to call Gabe and came back an hour later.
“It’s set up for tomorrow morning,” Royce told Jared and Tom.
“I hope we can end this once and for all,” Jared grumbled, looking pensive.
* * * *
“Why do I have to stay hiding in my office?” Jessy asked Royce angrily. Her arms were folded across her chest and she was frowning. She had heard about the meeting Royce set up from her dad. She knew everyone was worried.
Royce leaned in and kissed her until she was breathing hard. She sure was cute when she got grouchy. “Because I love you and I want you safe. We want to squish this fight with Los Diablos. If they see how beautiful you are, they might just try to kidnap you. Then I would have to kill them all.”
Jessy didn’t look very convinced by his remark. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, then at her father, who was being quiet and letting Royce handle her.
“Fine. But I want to hear all about it when they leave,” she insisted. She looked at her dad. “If not I’ll tell Lucia what a chauvinist man you are being. Does she know what is going on?”
Jared laughed and hugged his daughter. “Yes, Gabe helped us set this up, but we did it while he is in school to avoid confrontations between him and them.”
Jessy went to her office and Royce let out a sigh of relief. He had expected more of an argument from her.
Jared slapped him on the back. “And you were scared to order her to stay put.”
“It wasn’t an order, Jared. It was a request. That works better with the females.” Royce smiled. “I learned to never give them orders, otherwise they will agree, smile, and do what they want anyway.”
“Good to know.” Jared chuckled as they went out into the main part of the gym.
Royce, Jared, and Tom were handling the meeting alone. Santiago entered the building with two young men in their late twenties. Royce was surprised to see that Santiago was about thirty.
The group shook hands and sat on the bleachers. Jared had already told Royce to do the talking. He was afraid he would lose his temper and start yelling. Jared was still angry one of them had shot Jessy. Royce was too, but he also knew they had to find a way to end this. They couldn’t live being stressed and on alert every second of the day.
“I want to start off by saying I don’t like what Benny did, trying to shoot you in the back,” Santiago said. His brown hair was cut very short and his brown eyes were cold and hard. He wore regular jeans and a T-shirt but he sported tattoos down both arms. “I don’t like cowards and that was cowardly. Then he shoots a defenseless woman. He knows I am pissed and hopefully he won’t be out for a long time.”
“He shot my girlfriend and his daughter,” he said, pointing to Jared.
Santiago nodded to Jared and told him he was glad she was better.
Another
man looked at Royce. “Chico tells us that your daughter has treated him and Gabe like a friend from the very beginning. We did not know how bad things were getting here.”