I follow him to his car, the silence eating at me as we get in.

He hasn't said anything, a calm expression on his face. The engine roars to life and all I can see is Ms. Miller standing in the hallway, flinching as I walk away. I'm a terrible human being.

"I'm sorry for what I said to Ms. Miller. I was upset and that doesn't justify my actions at all but I needed an outlet so I took it out on her." I blurt out, unable to take the silence any longer.

John sighs, "I'm upset about that but you're an adult now, you know right from wrong." I focus on my hands, he reaches over, his hand covering mine. "But you're also allowed to have a bad day every once and awhile."

He should be yelling at me. Lecturing me for ruining everything. For yelling at his girlfriend. Honestly, he could blame me for a lot right now and I wouldn't get upset.

I look out the window, the houses getting smaller and older. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

The car stops in front of an old house, white wood worn with age and a blue front door, covered by a metal layer. I pinch my brows, we're in Oak Hill, at a house just down the street from where we used to live.

Cautiously, I unbuckle my seatbelt. "Why are we here?"

I really shouldn't be here. Although, at this point I don't even think it matters.

He turns the car off, "You know almost every story of your parents?"

I nod my head as he opens the door. Every single last one, I've started to keep a journal so I won't forget the details. That way one day Saffron will have the real story, not an altered version.

"Well there's one they never wanted to tell you." He offers quietly before getting out of the car.

I follow him up to the door, jumping from the sound of knuckles hitting metal. Three times quickly, one soft follow up. What the hell is going on?

The door flies open, revealing the girl from Saturday night dressed in a cardigan and tank top, a wicked grin on her face.

Like an idiot, I just point. "It's you."

She laughs, "Little Letty, I'm hurt you don't remember me."

I bite the inside of my cheek, scanning the street again when a lightbulb clicks in my brain. "Manny?"

I'm engulfed in a hug, pulled inside the house. "God, it's been too long."

John steps through the door as I take in my childhood idol. Manny's known me since I was a baby, she babysat us regularly until everything happened. She was like my older sister, even going as far as to teach me how to do makeup. That was the only time I think mom ever got mad at her.

"Carmen, she can't breathe." A voice says and I pull away, finally recognizing the guy that was with her.

"Emmy."

I'm pulled into another hug, surprised how much older Emanuel looks. He should only be 20 but the buzz cut and tattoos make him seem much older. "Long time no see, Letty. I can't believe you could forget all this."

I roll my eyes at his arrogance. "You two didn't recognize me either and in my defense you, both look very different. The last time I saw you there was one tattoo on your body, not a whole sleeve. Which is beautiful by the way." I say, turning back to Carmen. "And you had acne and a bad perm. You certainly weren't a total babe."

Emmy puts me into a headlock, "You want to talk about us getting old. Imagine how surprised I was when Manny told me the girl with the hickey on her neck and the guy glued to her side was my little Letty, the same girl that swore she was going to marry me one day."

I tug on the drawstrings of my hoodie, very aware of the fact Uncle John is still in the room. Emanuel may have been my childhood crush but I'm proud to say that's long gone.

Carmen winks at me, "Ashton's a cutie by the way."

Uncle John rubs his temples, "Please don't encourage her to spend more time with the punk."

"How do you know his name?" I ask, ignoring my uncles antics.

They share a look, "Gabe and RJ."

I scrunch my brows, RJ I can understand, he loves gossiping. "Since when do you two talk to Gabe?"

I wasn't aware that he was still buddy-buddy with them, besides the night Bennett showed up at my house Gabe hasn't mentioned them.

She flashes her left hand, a ring on a certain finger. "Because I may be engaged to his cousin."

"Oh my God!" I hug her again, annoyed he never felt the need to tell me. Although, I haven't really mentioned them myself. Drew was completely obsessed with Manny in middle school then the tables turned in high school and she was head over heels for him.

That's actually how we became friends. He knew that she was normally watching me so he would bring Gabe over to play as an excuse. Last time I talked to her they had finally gone out on a date. That was over two years ago.

I take in the room I used to spend hours in, the same tan paint covering the walls, the entire thing feeling like a dream.

"As happy as I am to see you guys, why am I here?" I ask, confused by my uncles sudden decision to walk down memory lane.

The smiles fall off their faces as a bald man appears in the kitchen doorway, a solemn look in his face. "That would be to see me."

"Uncle Ricardo?"

He steps into the room, a graying beard offsetting his brown skin. The same warm eyes he's had since I was a kid. "If I still get to keep the title?"

I hug him, tobacco fills my nose. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too kid but I think it's time we had a talk."

I let Manny and Emmy lead me to the couch while John and Ricardo pull up chairs. Why does this feel oddly like an intervention?

"I hear you've run into trouble with the Widows, care to elaborate?" He starts, his nonchalant tone not fitting the topic of conversation.

I gulp, this conversation can't be headed in a good direction. "Bennett and I broke up a little over two years ago after... differing opinions."

Emmy snorts, cracking his knuckles. Something tells me he already knows the real story.

"After that, I cut off all contact with the West Side. My sole focus was getting the kids out of Karen's house and into an environment where they could heal. I also knew I wasn't welcome back after what happened that night. The widow I found on my windowsill the next morning confirmed what I knew the second Sage threw a punch."

We were dead meat to him. It was an insult to do that to someone like Bennett.

Carmen squeezes my hand as I continue, I can do this. "My plan worked for a while. Life moved on, I threw myself into raising the kids. After a while, it got less difficult to let this place go until one day I stopped thinking about it. When we played Steinborn this year though, reality came back. Before that game, Ashton and I had been... flirty you could say. I had no idea Bennett would be there, let alone on the team. He targeted Sage all night, knocking him on his ass. After the game he followed me when I dropped Saffron off with her friend, I had repressed everything so deeply that I couldn't even recognize him. Granted, he still wore his helmet."

If only I had paid more attention to the game, listened to the names the announcers called. Maybe I wouldn't be in this situation right now.

"We went to a party that night, my first one since freshman year actually. I had gotten into a fight with Ashton so I stormed away, ended up in the kitchen alone when he found me. He said some things, clearly unhappy I had moved on from him and tried to touch me. I hit him with a flashlight before he threw me against a wall. My ribs and face were bruised for a week. Ashton, James, and Sage found us and beat the shit out of him."

I risk a glance at Uncle John, his face contorted in rage as he hears this story. It's safe to say I left this part of my life out of our visits. When everything with Bennett originally went down he was too far gone to even care. Then when he came back I felt like it wasn't important. If I forgot about it then it never happened.

"Two months later, Scotty showed up with a threat and then nothing happened until the weekend before the baseball game when Bennett showed up at my house."

John freezes at this but Emmy and Manny share a look, they already knew this part.

"He had been watching us, he knew exactly where everyone was and when to sneak up on me. It proved he was still just as crazy as he was when I broke up with him. A boy that's been given a false power. It was just a distraction. After today, I've lost custody and it's all because I chose a shitty first boyfriend."

Manny runs a hand soothingly through my hair, something she used to do when I woke up with nightmares. "None of this is your fault Letty"

Of course it is.

Ricardo nods his head, "Why not let John take custody?"

Fighting a cringe, I glance at my Uncle, who eyes me expectantly. How can I put this in a nice way? "That could be a last resort but I want custody. No one can really manage them the way I do and while John is great, I would just have another barrier in my way."

I expect my uncle to look hurt but instead he smiles, "I told you."

Before I can question what he means Ricardo clears his throat, leaning forward in his chair. I focus on him, completely at a loss for words.

"What if we could offer you protection?" He asks, resting his arms on his thighs.

"What do you mean?"

Like cops or something? It's not exactly uncommon for people on this side of town to have a good relationship with the law.

"Scarlett, have you ever heard of the Angels?" Manny asks, pulling my attention away from her dad.

I let out a laugh, "They're a myth. Mom used to tell me stories of guardian angels that would protect the streets. And that I shouldn't get out of bed or else they would mistake me for a demon."

It's an old wives tale.

No one else laughs.

"Oh, boy." Uncle John murmurs, leaning back in his seat.

"What?"

I'm beginning to get annoyed, what don't I know? Emmy takes his shirt off, fully facing me so I can see his chest. He points towards a tattoo. A set of carefully drawn angel wings spread across his left pectoral.

"Holy shit." I mutter in disbelief.

I've seen that tattoo before.

Mom and dad both had it. Moms on her back shoulder blade while dad's was in the same place as Emmys. I stare over at Uncle John who unbuttons the top four buttons of his shirt, revealing a matching tattoo that I've seen a thousand times before and never gave a second thought.

I wait for someone to jump up, screaming that I've been pranked but no one's smiling. They watch the gears shift in my mind. There's no way...

I jump from the couch, pacing the length of the room. "You mean to tell me that not only are the Angels a real thing but that my parents were part of this... this gang?" Emmy opens his mouth but I keep going. "And what are you guys, the leaders or something. You do realize this is not a funny situation to put me in? I'm under so much stress that I might just blow a gasket and you want to throw this fucking curve ball at me."

I'm slightly panicking. Nope, I'm completely losing my marbles.

Ricardo lets out a laugh, "She's just like Kitty."

John joins him, watching me stress out with a smile. "It's uncanny."

I throw my hands in the air, giving them an incredulous look, Now is not the time to compare me to my mother. "Someone explain what's going on."

"Sit down." Ricardo orders, pointing at my now empty spot.

I plop back on the couch, waiting for them to continue. 

"First of all, I don't use the word gang. It's a group of people who look out for one another." He explains carefully and I nod, the tiniest ounce of panic evaporating. " I inherited the Angels when I was 18. I was young, it was a shock, and I had a few decisions to make very quickly." Ricardo starts.

And I thought raising four kids was hard.

"Back then, there was only one option in the West Side, join a gang to survive. High school attendance dropped lower every year as drug use sky rocketed. I lost my best friend to drugs and I decided to create a second option. One that got people out of the West Side instead of locking them in."

"Your dad was a year younger than me, a smart guy who was supposed to go big places. A rarity for this side of town and that made him a target, John right there beside him."

The smile vanishes from my uncles face, his eyes lowering to the ground.

"The Widows offered to keep his mom happy and your mother safe as long as they worked for them."

"What did you offer?" I ask, Ricardo never seemed like a demanding guy.

He shrugs, "I offered them a life. I wanted them to leave this place, get an education and do something with it. I was ecstatic when your dad made it pro, do you know how many kids saw sports as a get away instead of a hobby after that?"

I shake my head.

"Dozens."

Wow. I knew dad always wanted to make a change. People used to stop and talk to him every time we went for a walk. I just never knew how much.

"After you guys came along and your parents made the decision to leave, I didn't dream of stopping them. This place was home but you deserved better. A better education in a place far away from crime and danger. The reality is while I may be a lesser evil, there's no true way out."

That's why dad tried so hard to convince Bennett to look at schools. Practically begged him to view it as an option. He wanted to create a better future for him.

"So you're a gang, just like the Widows?" I ask, trying to make sense of everything he just told me.

Ricardo shrugs his shoulders as Emmy snorts, Manny slaps his arm.

"Definitely not, we're a group pf people committed to helping each other. I'm here to do nothing but help and protect. I ensured your Abuela spent the rest of her days here without a single person bothering her. RJ's family is still able to run their mechanic shop while he is out pursuing a better education."

The second tattoo RJ has is a set of angle wings, that's why he got so defensive when I made the joke about the story. Oh my God and he didn't think to tell me.

My mind goes from trying to understand how I never noticed RJ's tattoo to remembering how Gabe kept his shirt on at the lake. "What about Gabe?"

Manny rolls her eyes and Ricardo laughs, "Gabriel was an addition for precautionary measures. While his mother left the West Side before she had him the fact that he's Drew's cousin earned him extra attention."

"That and the fact that Bennett hates him." Emmy adds.

That he did, part of me wants to feel guilty but the look on Manny's face shows enough for both of us. Gabe went through all this and I didn't even care enough to be nice to him.

I'm at a loss for words when Uncle John clears his throat. "Ricardo didn't just save our asses when we were teenagers. After the accident, when I fell off the wagon, he was the one who sent me to rehab."

Ricardo grasps his shoulder and I want to hug him, he's never opened up about those months. Never really admitted the demons that haunted him.

"Scarlett, your parents never wanted this for you but there is no other option. I've tried to think of every possible path we could take but all are dead ends." He looks me dead in the eyes, "Please hear them out before making a decision."

Slowly I nod my head. "What does this have to do with us?"

"You're 18, Sage is 17. Both of you are eligible to join. You will be granted full protection under us, the kids falling under our jurisdiction until they turn 16."

My heart rate picks up at the offer he's placing in front of me. He could help us. Protect us. "Will we still have to go through child services?"

Ricardo nods his head, "I can't make the case disappear, but I can ensure that the tides run in your favor."

I process his words, the situation seeming too good to be true. Protection for the rest of our lives. Bennett could never bother me again.

I'm about to say yes when a conversation I had with Bennett once pops into my mind.

Everything has a price, Cutie.

"What's the cost?"

Ricardo eyes me warily, scratching his beard with an impressed look on his face. "From you, Scarlett, I only request a few things."

I tense waiting for him to list them, slightly afraid to hear what they are.

"I want you to go to college, none of this, I don't have time for an education, bullshit. You are far too bright for that and if your parents were alive they would give you the lecture of a lifetime."

John gives me a triumphant look, I could've seen that one coming. Education was one of dad's biggest focus points at home.

"Secondly, I want you to be happy." I look away from him, Manny pulling my hair into a bun so I can't hide my face.

"Self sacrifice is honorable until it becomes suicide. Never in a million years would they have wanted you to sit on the sidelines, letting life pass you by." I open my mouth to protest but he points a finger at me. "I don't want to hear that it's not possible to do both. You have an army of people waiting to help if you would just let them in."

"And lastly, it wouldn't kill you to visit every once and awhile. Two years is far too long child."

"Hell yeah it is." Emmy agrees, grabbing my shoulders.

I think over his promise, I could have everything back in a matter of seconds. I just have to say the words -

Glancing back over at Emmy's chest one last thought pops into my mind, the design of his tattoo seems familiar. "What did you ask of my mom?"

Ricardo smiles, "I asked her to design our tattoo. A new era called for a new symbol."

Mom's art.

"What do I have to do?"

*****

I end up in the garage with Emmy and Manny. The former grabbing a tattoo gun while the other spreads a towel down on a chair.

I eye the needle warily,  "I'm not gonna get a disease, am I?"

I've always wanted a tattoo but I never imagined that I would be getting it in the middle of night in a dirty garage I used to play in.

Emmy snorts, "No, I know how to take care of my stuff."

I study his tattoo, the delicate handy work. There's no way he did that himself. "How do I know you're not gonna fuck this up. After all, it's a permanent marking on my skin."

Am I stalling or just taking precautionary measures? At this point I'm not really sure.

"Jesus Christ, Letty, I forgot you were so annoying." He complains, reminding me of when we were younger.

I just raise an eyebrow at him. He points at Manny who takes her sweater off, turning around so I can see her shoulder. I whistle, if anything, hers looks better.

Cautiously, I pull my top off before I sit in the chair. He lets out a group of swears as he sterilizes my back. I blush, remembering the hickeys Ashton left all over my torso. They're faint but still there.

"Rainbows and unicorns and glitter. Rainbows and unicorns and glitter." Emmy mutters, handing me a hair tie.

"What are you repeating that garbage for?" Carmen demands, slapping him upside the head.

"I'm trying to remember my little Letty, who was so innocent and pure."

I roll my eyes, "Shut up, you were younger than me for your first time."

He slams a few things around as he gets ready, clearly not pleased I remembered such details. "I agree with John, I don't want to meet this punk."

I roll my eyes, he would get along perfectly with Ashton. Then again, I don't know how much arrogance I can handle at one time.

The needle hits my skin before I can respond.

*****

I'm so sorry for the confusion! I didn't know editing would cause so much panic so I'm updating early to make up for it.

Anyways I love Carmen and Emmanuel with my whole heart and I hope you do to. Just like Gabe they wormed their way into my heart and I'm obsessed.

XO-Mo