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Chapter One Hundred-Two
Point of View: Narrator


Brian was sitting in the cafe, holding a cup of hot coffee, glancing around the room at the patrons filling it, making sure Desi hadn't slipped in and sat down somewhere and he hadn't seen him. He blew into the coffee, cooling it down, and crossed his legs, leaning back in the chair to watch the door closely.

Desi was late.



As much of an asshole as Leon was, Desi felt somewhat obligated to him. Leon had never particularly been an asshole to Desi; quite the opposite, Leon had helped Desi get out of countless tight situations. Once, Leon had even saved Desi's life.

That was why, before meeting Brian in the coffee house across the street before going to tell the true story, Desi went to see Leon.

It had taken four hours to get through the line, but Desi had planned on waiting awhile. He was seasoned in the process of the waiting and the background checks. He'd visited brothers and his dad in jail almost all his life. He was the youngest son in a hard-knock family - Desi had seen it all, Desi had been through it all.

Leon was led in and sat down opposite of Desi. Leon glared at him. "This fuckin' better be worth it, I'm missing rec time and I had planned on having a little chat with Nick during this time," he said pointedly when he sat down across from Desi.

Desi hesitated, "Well, I came to-- to let you know, I uh...." Desi paused. He hadn't expected it to be so hard to tell Leon. He looked at his friend. "Leon, we've been friends like ten years now, right?"

"I guess," Leon answered carelessly.

Desi nodded, "Yeah, ten years. Look, man, I owe you. I owe you big. You're my best bud... But... this thing with Nick Carter..." Desi paused as Leon's eyebrow went up. "I don't- I guess what it is is that I don't really understand it fully. I mean I know ---"

"What the fuck do you mean you don't understand it?" snapped Leon.

Desi sighed. "Kayla chose him because you were treating her like a sex toy," Desi said carefully. "You told me yourself a ton of times you didn't care about her, you were just wanting to get into her pants 'cos she was a virgin."

Leon stared at Desi. "That's not the only reason that I wanna kill that little bitch Carter, you know."

Desi hesitated, "Why else then?"

"Well it started because he was stealing my woman," Leon said, "But since I've met him, I want to kill him because he's a fucking arrogant asshole and I can't stomach his stupid fucking face."

Desi nodded, "I can understand that. Don't forget, he was with my woman, too."

"Yeah but he had her first and she went back to him," Leon said, "That's different than coming along out of no where and fucking taking her away, like he's a fucking luxury jet."

Desi took a deep breath, "Leon--" he paused. He swallowed. "I'm helping Nick."

Leon's eyes turned to Desi. They were like black ice. "Helping Nick?" Leon laughed coldly, "Why the fuck would you do that?"

"He didn't kill Krystal," Desi said smoothly.

"He beat her," Leon said pointedly.

"Look, I believed Krystal at first, but the more and more I've thought about it all, she -" Desi closed his eyes, forcing him to say the words, "I believe that she was lying. Krystal went back to him too quickly, she trusted him too much. She said he'd be safe for her and the baby. I don't believe it anymore. And I'm not letting him be put in jail and killed by you because of something he never did."

Leon stared at Desi. "Don't you fucking dare fuck up my access to him."

"I'm going today. In just a few minutes," Desi said.

Leon stood up and, as he’d done to Brian, except much tighter and with more intent, he grabbed Desi by the throat, faster than anyone in the room could react. He squeezed Desi, cutting off his windpipes. Desi grabbed at Leon's hands, clawing desperately, tears coming to his eyes.

Officers sprang into action, jumping into the center of the room and pulling Leon off of Desi, who collapsed and fell to the ground, dizzy from the restiction of oxygen.

"Fucking remember that," bellowed Leon as the officers were attaching themselves to him, dragging him down the corridor, back to the jail cells. "There's fucking plenty where that came from. They'll kill you," Leon yelled, and just before the door closed, Desi just barely heard him yell, "And they won't fuck up this time."



Desi was still coughing when he got across the street to Brian, almost 45 minutes late for their meeting.

Brian looked relieved when Desi approached the table. "Oh thank the Lord, I was starting to think you'd changed your mind," Brian said, frowning.

"No," Desi croaked. "I didn't change my mind... Nothing is going to change my mind."