The air inside the Santo Padre Public Library is thick with the scent of old paper, fresh ink, and the faintest trace of lemon-scented cleaner.
Rows upon rows of tall, wooden bookshelves stretch towards the ceiling, their contents a mixture of well-worn novels, encyclopedias, and neatly organized reference materials.
The glow of the midday sun filters through large arched windows, casting long golden streaks across the carpeted floor.
It’s your first day as a Digital Archivist, a position you worked hard to secure.
All be it in this small boarder town, apparently some big wig philanthropist has funded the position to the local council.
The title alone carries a sense of importance—you’re not just shelving books or checking out library cards, you’re preserving history, digitizing rare texts, and maintaining both a hand picked and online record of Santo Padre’s past.
You’re proud of it, a chance to preserve something for future generations.
When your not in your office, most people naturally assume you’re a librarian.
Which is exactly what you let the two Reyes brothers believe.
You're behind the front desk, carefully scanning and cataloging a set of old town records for the archive, when the sound of heavy boots against the wooden floor pulls your attention.
Their entrance is a sharp juxtaposition to the quite of the library—Angel Reyes first, his stride confident and lazy at the same time, followed closely by his younger brother, Ez Reyes.
You clock them immediately they are a contrast to each other as well. Ez, with his thoughtful expression and quiet intensity, browses the bookshelves with purpose, while Angel...
Angel is looking at you.
You meet his gaze before returning to your work, sorting through a selection of old records brought in by a lovely older woman thirty minutes ago.
Angel's dark brown eyes, sharp but amused, scan you like he’s already decided you’re something interesting.
There’s something off-putting about the way he carries himself—relaxed, but predatory, like he’s already planned five different ways to mess with you.
And then, just like that, his full lips curve into a smirk.
"Damn... the library got an upgrade."
"Can I help you?" you ask, keeping your tone polite and professional.
Angel leans an elbow on the counter, his body angled towards you in a way that feels far too familiar for a first meeting.
His scent—leather, cologne, and a hint of woodiness—lingers in the space between you, dispite your stuble lean backwards.
"I don’t know, cariño. Can you?"
His voice is low and teasing, like he’s never been turned down before.
Ez, still searching through books, rolls his eyes.
"Ignore him, he doesn’t get out much."
You bite your cheek to keep from laughing.
Angel narrows his eyes at you, like he can sense you trying not to laugh at his expense.
"You new?"
You nod, returning your eyes to your cataloging once more moving the triplet loupe over the old faded print. "First day."
"So, you just woke up one day and thought, ‘Damn, I wanna work at the most boring place in Santo Padre?’" he quipped ducking his head to try to catch your eyes.
"I don’t think it’s boring!" You offer politely.
He tilts his head, watching you.
"No? Tell me, what’s the most exciting thing that’s happened here? Some abuelita lose her library card?"
You cross your arms, finally looking up "I’ll have you know, libraries are important. They preserve knowledge, history, culture—"
"You’re in Santo Padre. We don’t do ‘culture’ here, we do tequila and bad decisions."
Ez, flipping through a book, doesn’t even look up.
"You do bad decisions. I read."
"Oh, I like you" You chuckle at Ez’s comment
Angel glares at him, then turns his attention back to you.
"So what, you just sit here all day playing with books?"
You hesitate, not bothering to correct him. "Yea we'll go with that."
Angels smirk returns.
"Cute. Guess that explains why you still look so..."
He gestures vaguely at all if you.
Ez, finally deciding on a few books, approaches the counter.
"She’s probably smarter than both of us combined, Angel. You could learn something."
"Thank you... " You trail off not knowing his name.
"Ez, Ezekiel" he returns offering his hand.
You shake it lightly, offering your own name in return as Angel scoffs and rolls his eyes.
As you check out Ez’s books, Angel continues to watch you. His gaze lingers on your hands, your mouth, the way you tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear. He doesn’t say anything, but you can feel his stare.
As they turn to leave, he calls over his shoulder—
"See you around, librarian."
Ez mutters something about Angel being annoying as they step outside.
And just like that, they’re gone.
The afternoon sun hangs heavy in the sky, casting waves of heat over the cracked pavement of Santo Padre.
The small town hums with a quiet sort of life—the occasional roar of a motorcycle, the distant laughter of children playing near the corner store, the faint smell of spices drifting from a row of street vendors.
You take your time exploring, letting yourself breathe it all in.
There’s something endearing about the town, despite its rough edges. It’s not a place that pretends to be perfect—it just is.
Eventually, your wandering leads you to a small shop with faded red signage and a hand-painted wooden board.
Carnicería Reyes.
A butcher shop.
You hesitate before stepping inside, the little bell above the door chiming softly.
The cool air inside is a relief, carrying with it the rich, savory scent of freshly cut meats, spices, and something vaguely smoky.
Behind the counter, an older man with weathered hands and a measured expression looks up from where he’s wrapping a cut of beef.
"Buenas tardes, señorita. First time here?"
You nod, offering him a polite smile. "Yes, I—uh, I just moved here for work. I was just exploring the town."
His dark eyes study you for a moment, quiet and knowing, before he gives a slow nod.
"Good. People should know where their food comes from."
There’s something steady about him—like a man who has seen too much, lost too much, and has learned to speak only when necessary.
It’s oddly comforting.
As you browse, he speaks again.
"So what kind of work brings you to Santo Padre?"
You glance up from where you’re inspecting a pack of chicken thighs. "I work at the library, archive work mostly."
The corner of his mouth lifts just slightly.
"That must be important work."
You nod. "It is. I love it."
There’s a flicker of something in his eyes—approval, maybe, or respect.
"Not many young people are interested in history anymore. It’s good that you are."
You smile, a little surprised by how easy the conversation feels.
"I think history matters. It reminds us of where we came from."
The man’s hands still for just a fraction of a second before he resumes wrapping a fresh order.
"Yes," he murmurs, "it does."
The bell above the door chimes again, and the moment is shattered by the sound of boots on tile.
"Pops! You got any—"
Angel Reyes stops mid-step.
You turn just in time to see his expression shift—from casual indifference to something else.
"Damn. First the library, now Pops shop? If I find you at the bar next, I’m gonna start thinking you’re stalking me."
Felipe, calm as ever, wipes his hands on a rag and nods.
"I see you've met my son, Angel."
You glance back at Angel, who’s now grinning like he just won a bet.
"Small world, huh?" He grins
You smile politely. "I guess so."
Angel leans against the counter, studying you like you’re some kind of rare curiosity.
Felipe doesn’t react, but you catch the hint of a smirk as he hands you your bag.
You thank him, pay for your order, and turn to leave.
Just before you step outside, Angel calls after you—
"See you around, querida."
You don’t look back, but you can hear the grin in his voice.
Traditions - You and Angel make your own traditions this Christmas
Felipe knows you’re pregnant.
You’ve tried to hide it over the past few weeks, the morning sickness, the exhaustion but Felipe sees it. He remembers Marisol being the same way when she was carrying both Angel and EZ. Reyes babies are not easy on their mothers.
It’s the shift in Angel’s behaviour that tipped him off. His oldest son had always been attentive towards you but it’s different this time. His palm comes to rest on your belly more often than not, when he looks at you with moon eyes, like you’re giving him the entire world.
Felipe understands why you haven’t told him, you’re still trying to come to terms with it yourself. Your life has changed since the shooting. Before, you were fiercely independent, juggling everything on your own to the point of it being detrimental. During your recovery you’d been forced to make changes, to rely on the people around you. You’d learned that there was no shame in asking for help, and you’d leaned into it because the truth was, you needed it.
You’d been hoping to get back on your feet, immerse yourself back in the business however now you were pregnant and that meant bigger concessions because you couldn’t be around the buds you farmed. That’s the other thing that tipped him off, you suddenly stopped going to the farm. Instead, you spent your days cleaning up his backyard, developing it into a place where Valeria would be able to play when she finally got her legs under her.
He tries to do little things to help with your morning sickness, he stocks the cupboards with ginger tea and crackers, he takes Valeria off your hands in the morning, allowing you to rest a little longer.
“You’re going to have a brother or sister soon.” You overhear him telling the baby as he feeds her in the kitchen. “Mama just needs to get through her first trimester and then she’ll be as right as rain.”
“It’s a boy.” You tell him as you step into the room. You root around in your handbag for a second before withdrawing the sonogram to show him. “We got the ultrasound yesterday.”
Felipe takes it from your hand, studying it intently. His thumb chases over the shape of the tiny jellybean, the edges of his mouth tipping up into a smile.
“It’s going to be a busy house.” He remarks as your hand smooths over Valeria’s dark hair before you place a kiss on her forehead.
“Are you still ok with that?” You ask him, your palm coming to rest upon your abdomen. “We can look for another place if its too much, the sale on Angel’s house is going through this week.”
“You’re about to have two kids under three, you’re gonna need all the help that you can get.” Felipe tells you in that low, grumble of his as he places the sonogram on the fridge, pinning it in place with a magnetic. “Besides, this is my grandkids home, your home and it always will be.”
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Angel Reyes & EZ Reyes & Felipe Reyes & OC Lucrecia (Lucky) Fuentes
Bishop Losa x OC Lucky
30 Day Fic Challenge
Word Count: 6.2k words
A/N: My Lucky girl <3
Warnings: All my fics are 18+ regardless of content.
Mayans Taglist: @drabbles-mc @justreblogginfics @narcolini @danzer8705 @keyweegirlie (have been a bit inactive on tumblr so this might not be up to date, if you'd like to be added to my Mayans taglist please shoot me a message!)
Angel started to tinker with the mechanism that cooled the butcher counter’s selection of cuts. It had been emptied out, all of the meat now living in the walk in cooler in the back. The noise followed by tinkering was a loud crack and then instant whooshing which was quickly drowned out by the yells of Angel as water from a broken pipe spit out into his face and all along the floor.
“Fuck!” Angel was stepping up and wiping the water off his face and lifting his feet as if that was going to save his shoes from the puddle of water on the ground. Luckily the pipe only had a small amount of water in it, all of it now residing on the shop’s floor but the pipe itself was just dripping verse spilling out now.
“I told you I ordered a new part for this.” Felipe grumpily approached as he took in the mess his eldest child left on the ground.
“I was just tryna save you a few bucks, Pops.” Angel didn’t even bother looking at his father, he was more concerned with the gunk and water on his shirt and jeans.
“Well now you’re costing me more, go to the market and pick up more towels, I don’t have any more here.”
Angel nodded and started to make his way over the puddle and around the counter until he frowned and turned around. “I don’t think Fuentes Grocery has towels for sale, Pops.”
Even though Felipe was turned around, his sigh could be heard crystal clear to Angel.
“I meant to talk to Lisabeth, ask her to borrow some.” Some days the father of the Reyes family felt his children were still 10 years old despite them having moved out and having their own lives.
Angel nodded and made his way out of the shop and walked a couple feet to the right where Fuentes Grocery was, it was the carniceria’s neighbor, only sitting two stores away from it. The Fuentes family, who owned the store became close friends with the Reyes family over the years. There were similar family dynamics at play. Single parent, two kids, one of them who tended to get into more trouble than the other. Years ago that would have been the way Felipe described Angel, but considering his younger son just got out of prison, he’d have to give that title to Ezekiel. Although, with Angel’s involvement with the local MC, he was tailing pretty close.
“Lisa!” Angel called out as he entered the store, the bells on the door ringing as an additional signal someone was here, not that it was needed in addition to his voice.
“This isn’t your fuckin’ clubhouse, Angel. You can’t just yell and expect attention.” A woman’s voice sped past him with a box of produce.
“Sorry, Lucrecia.” Angel smirked knowing the use of the girl’s full name would bother her.
“Only mom calls me that, Reyes.” She was placing the box on the closest counter before turning around to roll her eyes at him.
“Speaking of your mom, I’m looking for her. She here?” Angel lifted his head to see if he could see the elder woman who he had called out to originally.
“No, she went down to the municipal building, some shit about our permits.” The girl was wiping her hands on her apron that had her name tag pinned to it. “Lucky, General Manager.”
“Permits? They’re still bugging her about that?” Angel frowned.
“They’re always bugging us about something. Our permits, our labor works, our inventory. If it’s not one thing it’s the other. All a part of the county’s push to gentrify shit.” The frustration in Lucky’s voice was apparent.
“Look, Bish, he knows the mayor, I could pull a few strings.” Angel’s voice was determined and hopeful. He knew the girl knew Bishop, but wasn’t sure if she was aware of his connections.
“I don’t need you rescuing me, Reyes.”
“Not you, Fuentes.” Angel rolled his eyes. “But this place, it’s one of the last few latino grocery stores in the area, not to mention it’s got a lot of memories.
It was true, between here and the carniceria there were tons of memories for them as young kids, teenagers.
Angel broke his arm in aisle 5 when he was 12. Lucky was the one who pushed him, not without motive though. He was throwing lentils at her, trying to get them stuck in her hair.
EZ would come over on inventory nights with Lucky and help her take stock so she could place product orders.
The three kids constantly found themselves at the halfway point between the grocer and the carniceria after school pretty often. The Santo Padre Arcade. Most of the high scores on the machines inside had the initials LKY, ANG, or EZ.
Lucky would bring over fresh spices and produce for Felipe every week so he could prepare marinades and dry rubs to sell, all courtesy of her mother, Lisa. He’d send her back with meat for the week.
Every Wednesday night, they had dinner together, both families. The Fuentes would be lucky if the younger sibling would show. Tómas had a tendency to be caught up in his own mess, it started out as small petty issues. Stealing, fighting, acting out. But then as the group got older, he started doing more serious crimes. Drugs, robbery, battery and assault. It was expected, the Fuentes family came from a really dangerous town in Guatemala, once their father had been killed just from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the matriarch of the family, Lisabeth, made the decision to take her two kids out of the country and somewhere she thought would be more safe.
Angel tried his best to get Tómas to join the club, he figured it’d be a good place for him to feel welcome, feel that familial bond he was likely missing. But it never worked. He ended up getting arrested for arson and now resided in Stockton State County Corrections serving 15-20, with a chance of getting out on parole when the 10 mark hit.
Overall, the memories were flowing between these two stores, between each member of the family.
“Are they pushing you to sell?” Lucky’s voice got more serious now. It wasn’t a secret, with her mother’s old age, the store was becoming more and more of Lucky’s responsibility. She let her mom handle a lot of the business things, help her feel like she still had control, but to people like Angel and EZ, they could see Lucky was truly the one pulling strings and keeping the operation moving.
“Nah, I know they’re ripping up half the strip but the mayor keeps them off the shop. Pop, well, what he doesn’t know won’t kill him.” Angel explained.
It was obvious Lucky was considering it, with a new fine every month, people with suits coming even more frequently trying to push a check, it was getting exhausting, and hard to keep up with the other tasks to keep the grocery running.
“Let me talk to Bishop.” Lucky spoke up, it was clear her mind was going a mile a minute trying to think of the best way to go about it.
“You know you don’t gotta bother with all that, I can talk to him.” Angel moved forward and grabbed the box of produce knowing when he entered the girl was moving to restock the produce carts.
Lucky grabbed the tape dispenser along with the price tags she had clearly written herself and followed behind Angel. “So I’ll come by tonight?” Lucky was completely ignoring Angel’s statement. She wanted to be the one to talk to Bishop. Lucky wasn’t a shy or timid girl, she was honestly pretty aggressive and mean only when she had to be, but it never came with hesitation. She had been pretty independent, when it came down to it she had lost both of the Fuentes men in her life and as her mom grew older, a lot of the responsibility fell on Lucrecia. She took it all with stride though, not one complaint about her responsibilities, only letting them slip when people would doubt her or treat her like she wasn’t capable. On the other hand though, that just meant that with the people she loved, she was fiercely loyal. Angel fit somewhere in that description, the whole Reyes family did, and despite the annoyance Lucky felt that she had to repeat herself again, about talking to Bishop herself, the love for the Reyes family trumped that. It also helped that Angel knew the girl well to understand her.
“A’ight, come by the clubhouse at like 9, the group will be there, there’s a little party happening anyways, a few of the guys from Stockton had to make the trip down.”
That made Lucrecia laugh to herself. “Even if they weren’t here, the lot of you would find something else to party for.”
Angel smiled at that. “Ain’t wrong.” He had started to grab the tape and place the price cards in the proper places. A comfortable silence fell over the both of them for the next few minutes as they worked to label and price each box of produce that was recently set up.
“Wait, why were you looking for my mom?” Lucky broke the silence with a frown, her body now leaning against the slanting produce stand as she stared up at Angel.
“Fuck!” All of Angel’s thoughts came back to him as he scrambled to the back of the store. Lucky was close behind, not without a laugh and few comments about if his head wasn’t attached to his body. She followed him in the back inventory section, dodging palettes, making mental notes of all the other things she needed to get to this week, the list starting to scroll down which always made it difficult for her to breathe when she thought about it. To her surprise, they ended up at the custodial room as Angel quickly collected a couple of the folded towels that were stacked on the shelves.
“Wanna tell me what’s going on?” Lucky asked but Angel was already moving back out to the store. So she simply grabbed two towels herself and followed him out the store. As they reached the door, she turned to the group of cashiers, two busy ringing people up but the other was price tagging a few items for the manager’s special shelf as she waited for her line to build.
“Ana, can you keep an eye for the next few minutes? I’m popping over to Felipe’s really quickly.”
The girl smiled, nodded, and waved her out, making it a lot easier on Lucky to go help Angel deal with, well, whatever was happening.
“Hello?!” She called out to Angel who was multiple feet ahead of her now. Between the headstart and his long legs, she’d have to jog to catch up to him, which wasn’t happening.
Finally, she approached the carniceria, Angel was already inside and as she opened the door she saw the puddle through the glass case.
“Woah.” It was said breathy as she caught her breath. She might not have jogged to keep up with Angel, but she did pick her pace up. “You bullshit your time away knowing this was over here?”
“Of course he did.” Felipe’s voice could be heard behind the girl as he re-entered his shop with a metal part in his hand. Even with the annoyance in his voice, it didn’t stop him from smiling and placing a kiss on the girl’s head. For all intents and purposes, Lucky was like a daughter to Felipe, he was probably the only man in the world who treated her delicately and that was because it was the only man in the world Lucrecia would let treat her that way.
“Hola, Lucrecia.” He smiled before dropping his frown as he looked at the mess.
“What happened?” She carefully stepped to throw the towels she had down on the ground to soak up any of the puddle possible before turning to Felipe for answers because she had tried and failed with Angel even before they got here.
“My angel of a son was trying to save me money.” Felipe called out as he disappeared into the walk-in freezer.
Lucrecia turned to give Angel a look and all he did was wave it off and moved to soak up more of the liquid. With an eye roll she got down to look at the bottom of the glass case. “Oh you just need to replace this.” Her voice was so shocked as she expected to see something worse based on the mess.
Angel’s eyes closed as he fully accepted his defeat, knowing now that there were two of them against one, he wasn’t standing a chance.
Felipe could be heard again as he walked back through the small hallway from the freezer to where the main part of the store was. “I told him.” He grunted as he placed the black crate filled with different odds and ends of meats on the bookshelf perpendicular to the glass case.
“Do you have the part? I can fix this.” She turned her head to look at Felipe who was picking it out of his apron pocket.
“That? That’s the part?” Angel stood there shocked as Lucky went to grab it.
Lucky let out a laugh, knowing Angel was realizing how big he messed up and she immediately grabbed the wrench to move to the ground to install the new part while Angel stood there still dumbfounded, fully understanding the reality of the mess he made.
As she twisted the washers around the pipe, the sound of Angel’s phone echoed and faded as he stepped over Lucky to go take the call outside. She let out another laugh, this is usually how it went. Lucky was always fixing Angel’s mess, she did it willingly, a lot of the time without Angel even realizing it. Ever since EZ went to prison, there was kind of this unspoken bond between the two. They both had siblings that went to prison, parents who were struggling to make it by, the eldest children of the family who were required to step up even if they weren’t asked. It created an unstated understanding between them.
“Sorry, that was E, I gotta go. See you later tonight, Lucky.” Angel walked back into the shop to grab his kutte which was hanging on one of the counters, likely taken off when he was attempting to fix the cooler.
“You weren’t doing anything anyways!” Lucky called out with her head half under the cooler still adjusting the part with the wrench so there was no chance of another leak.
Felipe let out a laugh at her comment and waved his son out.
Angel left with a head shake but no time to argue.
“Thanks for your help.” Felipe walked over and sat on a crate to Lucky’s left.
“Should have called me from the jump!” Lucky was still yelling since her voice was muffled by the cooler.
Felipe laughed again, “You should know how it is with Angel. He does before he thinks.”
Lucky pushed herself out from the cooler and smiled. She sat up so her elbows were resting on her knees and her back was leaning against the cooler.
“Should work good as new now.” Her head pointed to the open slot of the cooler.
“I can see it on your face.” Felipe said as he looked at her. “What’s going on?”
Lucky knew it wasn’t worth brushing off what was on her mind. “Feel like we can’t catch a break. If it’s not our permits, it's our warehouses, the price jumps, I’m drowning.”
“You’re doing too much.” Felipe spoke up, he wasn’t going to turn this into a pity party, it wasn’t what Lucky wanted and it definitely wasn’t what she needed. She needed facts, she needed advice.
“We’re doing the same?” Lucky spoke confused.
“It was too much then when it was you and your mom working the same but it's definitely too much now that it’s mainly you.” He wasn’t looking at the girl as he spoke, his eyes were on the counter as he leaned over to grab a handful of something. As he turned back to see the look on her face, he laughed. “I’m old, not stupid.” Leaning over he held his hand out and Lucky met him halfway extending out her own hand. “Your mom’s getting up there, it's harder for her.”
Lucky’s eyes dropped down to see the few pieces of chocolate fall into her hand and she grinned both at that and his comment. “Don’t tell her that.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” Felipe chuckled.
“You opened up that florist section a couple years ago. Is it bringing in cash?” He was asking so nicely but Lucky could tell he knew the answer to his question.
“Same thing with the bakery.” Lucky took a deep breath.
Felipe just nodded, waiting for a full response from the girl.
“If we closed down the floral department and the bakery, downsized our selections, we’d be above water easily.” She thought back to the spreadsheets she spent so often looking at. There was the added piece of the permits and fines, but after tonight she’d hope that’d be settled. “But I don’t know if my mom would be on board for that, she worked hard to open up those departments.”
“Let me chat with your mom, she’s coming for dinner tomorrow night anyways.” Felipe offered up with a soft smile. “She might just need some convincing that taking the backseat is what’s best.”
“She’s going to call you out.” Lucky tried to bite back her smirk, as she finally dropped the pieces of chocolate in her mouth. She knew her mother so well that she’d push the cards back on Felipe.
“And I’ll mention that my two children combined aren’t as involved as you.” There was humor in his voice but also truth behind that. Angel and EZ had the club, the shop was second to them. For Lucky, this was her life, her first priority.
“Thanks.” She nodded before beginning to stand up. Dusting off her clothes and apron as she steaded herself standing.
“I should be thanking you. I can open for the afternoon now.” He brought her in for a quick hug before walking the woman out of the shop.
_______
Lucky was glad she set the alarm on her phone because otherwise she would have worked straight through the night. She was taking time to go through the paperwork and make rough estimates on the cuts. She kept reminding herself that it was better to cut the pieces of the business that were hemorrhaging money than cutting people.
She ran her hands over her face and through her hair before taking a deep breath and getting up out of the office chair. She shut her laptop and leaned over the desk taking one last look at the stack of folders and papers scattered around before turning the desk lamp off. As she made her way back to the lockers the employees used, she hung her apron on the hook by the door. As the locker opened she looked in the mirror she had zip tied to the locker and couldn’t help but chuckle. The bags under her eyes were dark and her hair was falling out of its ponytail. She grabbed concealer from her makeup bag that lived in the top part of her locker and covered up her under eyes along with a couple other blemishes while also taking out her hair and letting the curls fall in their natural places. Her last thing before heading out was changing out of the dirtied t-shirt she wore all day that smelt like the floor of the butchers shop, iron, produce, and sweat all together. Taking the opportunity she re-applied deodorant and then sprayed the cheap fruit perfume on her full outfit before grabbing her phone so she could call a cab.
It always made her laugh when she showed up to the clubhouse on party nights. She tended to stick out, not being a partier and more of a homebody whenever she got the chance. It showed in how she acted at these things. While others were drinking to obliteration, smoking, and fighting, she always was in the corner, nursing her beer and taking in the life around her.
As she stood on the inside of the gate with her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and took in the party in front of her, she heard her name being called. Turning to see where it was coming from she saw the Reyes brothers.
“Haven’t seen you at a club party in months, Luck.” Angel cheesed clearly a couple beers in already.
“Don’t get used to it.” She gave him a hug and quickly grabbed the beer he just opened before he took a sip of it.
“Gladly.” He huffed and took the steps to go grab another one from the bar inside leaving Lucky and EZ outside.
“Been a minute, Lucky.” EZ hugged the girl.
“Sure has. I didn’t want to bother you at your welcome home party, the neighbors were very excited.”
EZ smiled his signature smile at that and dropped his face to the ground. “The abuelitas love a comeback story.”
“That they do.” She laughed and pointed to his arms. “The biceps, too.”
After the two of them let out a couple laughs, EZ decided he’d address the elephant in the room.
“Tómas, he’s doing good, we weren’t cellmates or anything but he was on the same cell block as me, same courtyard and lunch times, work detail, saw him a lot, he’s–”
“I don’t really care about Tómas, EZ.” Her face hardened as she spoke to him, her arms now moving across her chest completely closing herself off to the conversation. “I don’t visit him for a reason.”
EZ knew the reason, it was because he cut his family off the visitors list. It’s where he got the idea to do it with Emily. He downplayed it to Lucky but EZ got close with Tómas in prison, they weren’t best friends by any means but they talked more inside than they ever did outside. It was on the tip of his tongue, he was about to say that it’s hard in lockup that Tómas took her off the list for a reason she’d never understand unless it happened to her but he just nodded.
“I’m happy you’re home, EZ.” She reached up and squeezed his arm.
“Yea, me too.” He rested his hand on hers and squeezed it back.
“I got business to discuss with your prez,” She shifted gears completely, her voice completely changing from the seriousness it was in before.
“Fuentes Grocer GM never stops talking business.”
“Or thinking about it.” She joked. “Do you know where Bishop is?”
“Probably inside telling drunken war stories with the other viejos.” EZ’s grin was contagious to Lucky.
Her eyes glanced down to the watch on her wrist and while it was completely plausible for that to be the case, she knew this early into the night Bishop would be sober and solemn, they likely had templo at 8, which is why Angel told her to come at 9. It was now 9:35, just like the business never slept for her, it was the same for the club president.
The music got louder as the door opened, there were more people inside than outside and it overwhelmed the girl a bit. She took a couple steps inside and looked around searching for Bishop over every face in the crowd. That was when Taza’s eyes caught hers. His face softened and his lips curved into a light smile before he pointed to the templo sliding door which was partially open. That gave her all the permission she needed to walk over and stand at the entrance. She stood there silent for a minute, she felt like she was looking at a mirror as she saw him with papers scattered all over the table, his hand resting on his forehead as he thought through whatever was on his mind. As he let out a deep sigh his eyes looked up to see Lucrecia at the stained glass door. Despite being mid-sigh, his smile grew.
“Aren’t I lucky?” He spoke up as he leaned back in the chair. The joke was one he always made when he saw her. She’d never admit that it made her unbelievably giddy. “Close the door.”
She didn’t even bother to look behind her as she closed the door, her eyes stayed on Bishop’s as her hand reached behind her and slid the door closed.
Lucky took her time to walk over to Bishop, letting her hand move lightly over the chairs that took up every foot between her and the man. Stopping at the vice president's chair where she took both of her hands and let them rest on the points of the backrest.
“You look like me 30 minutes ago.” She nodded at the papers as her body swung to and from the chair as her hands still gripped on the backrest.
“Busy night for us decision makers.” He was fully leaning back now, his arm casually draped along the arm rest as his body shifted to face the woman.
“Always is.”
“Rough day for you?” Bishop changed his demeanor a bit as he picked up on the girl’s tone.
“Always is.” She repeated the same sentence but this time it was spoken with humor as he eyebrows raised.
“Come here.” Bishop moved his head to the right but he was signaling for the girl to come closer to him.
Instinctually she turned to the door to make sure she fully closed it and then moved to straddle the man in his chair. Her legs sliding through the open space of the arm rests, and her arms moving to rest right on top of his shoulders, her hands meeting behind his head intertwined. Bishop’s hands instinctually moved to hold her securely on his lap which just meant they were resting comfortable on her rear. Moments like these with Bishop helped her balance reality, made life feel light and goals feel tangible. She’d never admit that out loud though. Admitting it would mean anyone but them knew about their relationship. If it even could be called that. Since know one knew they didn’t really give it a label, although Bishop wasn’t really the type to ask someone to be his old lady, it was a role someone just fit into. Taza was the only one from the club that had any knowledge of Lucky and Bishop, no one else.
Bishop leaned his head up and brought one of his hands to Lucky’s head and brought it down to meet his. Their foreheads rested on eachother’s for a moment and it was all Lucrecia needed to know despite their lack of ability to say it outloud, she was the same balance for him as he was to her. Their lips met for a quick second, just a brush against eachother’s until they met with full passion. Lucky couldn’t help but roll her hips on top of the man, squeeze her arms tightly around him in an attempt to get as close as possible to the man. Bishop’s hands got tangled up in her curls, then down the pink satin spaghetti strap that rested on her torso and then finally back down to her tight jeans.
As they stopped to catch their breaths, Bishop reached back up and tucked her hair behind her ear and quickly rubbed his thumb on her cheek. As his hands retreated back down similarly to how they were just minutes before, but now with less feral eagerness and more of a caring touch, his ringed ringers grabbed the spaghetti strap that must’ve fallen down the girl’s arm during their passionate kiss and placed it back on her shoulder. He placed it back with the lightest touch, one that sent shivers down her spine before he gripped her legs again and secured her on his lap.
“I know you didn’t come here just to see me, I’m not that lucky.” There was the joke again. It made her wish they were back at either of their normal stomping grounds, his place or hers where there was probably no free space they didn’t christen but she’d have no problem trying to find one.
“Why wouldn’t I be here just to see you?” Her voice was meant to sound jokingly but it had been drenched with allure.
“Because you only come to the clubhouse when I ask you to be here,” He had gotten her there, that was true, she rarely if ever did these random pop ins. “Since there was a party tonight, I knew specifically not to ask you.” His hands were now rubbing up and down her back sometimes bringing the fabric of her shirt up and he’d touch the bare skin, and sometimes it’d be the tickle of the satin fabric up and down her skin.
“I’ve been known to party.” She argued, leaning over and leaving a couple kisses on his neck.
“Oh, I know you can party.” It was a flirtatious line and Lucky knew exactly what he was talking about, down to envisioning it in her head.
She moved her mouth over to his now and kissed him, it took a lot for her not to start grinding on his lap again as she moved in sync with the kiss but before getting too carried away again, she cupped his face as she pulled back and let her hands rest on his shoulders.
“I do need something.” She closed her eyes, hating that she ruined the moment and hated even more that she had to ask a favor.
“I know.” He smirked and it was something that if Lucrecia kept her eyes closed she would have missed.
“What do you mean you know?” She was confused.
“Angel gave me a heads up.” It was spoken so airy with no weight to it that from context clues alone it shouldn’t have angered Lucky the way it did.
“Of course he did. I could kill him.” She let out an angered sigh.
“Be my guest, you’d be doing me a favor.” Bishop joked.
“Unfortunately I think his father would be rather mad at me if I did.” She squinted her eyes back at Bishop her way of addressing his sarcasm. But all he did was dish it right back with a raise of his eyebrows as if to say, ‘are you sure about that?’
“Alright, you got me there.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not much of a murderer anyways.”
“You’re right, I can handle it for you.” He teased. Bishop never realized the weight of jokes like that for Lucky, what they brought her back to, her father, her brother. The conflict in the fact that she hated her brother for pretty much the exact same thing that her best friends did, that the man she was with did. But it was different, at least that’s what she told herself every time the thought snuck into her head and she’d never let it sit there for longer than a minute and even that was 59 seconds too long.
“What did big mouth tell you?” Lucky moved to cross her arms now to show her displeasure to Bishop.
“Why don’t you tell me? It’ll sound better coming from you.” Bishop was working his charm on her and it worked.
“I need something.” She repeated again, her way of working up the nerve to ask even though it was clear the man knew something already.
He could have answered with another teasing comment but he opted to go the other way. “Whatever you need.”
“I hear you know the mayor.” She spoke.
Despite knowing a basis of what she was going to ask, It caught Bishop by surprise. The girl he was currently with asking about the one he was with previously. Angel had left out details and just mentioned that Lucky needed some help with business stuff at the grocery store. He thought he’d have to twist some arms at a warehouse, maybe rough up a supplier.
“I don’t care about how you know her, Obispo.” It was like she could read his facial expressions like a book. “I just need a favor. Angel told me you could do it, but I’m not stupid enough to rely on Angel’s facts.”
This made Bishop laugh. “What’s the favor?”
“We keep getting harassed about our permits, people keep coming by to try and push us to sell, for a very disrespectful price I might add.” She tilted her head in anger as she explained the situation. “Between the fines and then my mom going down to talk to the municipality, followed by me because she gets nowhere with them, I’m wasting so much money and time, which is money.”
Bishop seemed kind of relieved that was what the favor was, if he knew sooner of the issues Fuentes Grocery was facing he would have mentioned it to the mayor sooner without Lucky even needing to ask.
“Consider it done.”
By the look on Bishop’s face, it made Lucky let out a breathy laugh which made Bishop frown but the slight smirk on his face was growing. “What’s funny?”
“How something weighing so heavy on me is such an easy task for you.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s easy.” Bishop knew these business propositions down at the mayor's office were well above his pay grade, there was a line and he knew where he wasn’t able to cross it. But this, considering how close it was to the carniceria which he had already put on the mayor’s radar, this wouldn’t be close to the line. Now, Vicki’s, that was a different story and another problem for another day. “It’s just doable.”
“Thank you.” She softened her face and hugged the man. The power in her embrace was something Bishop could feel, he knew the importance of taking care of the store for the girl and this clearly had been a dark cloud looming over her for a while.
“Can I help you with your stuff?” She turned to look at the paperwork, not taking any time to really soak any of the info in without the president’s permission.
“Mapping our route up to Stockton. We’re working on expanding.”
It was two sentences but it was all Lucky needed. She knew there was issue with a couple clubs on their normal routes so a lot of the major highways would be off-limits, along with some of the back roads. The girl turned more to look at the map where Bishop had penciled through a couple routes and written down the issues as to why they weren’t travelable.
After she studied the map she picked up the pencil, she was leaning in not the most comfortable position and started to draw a route. “It’ll be 3 hours longer, but you’ll pass by some of the national parks, it’ll make for a nice drive.”
Bishop was in awe that he didn’t think of it, he was stuck in here making the list of the ride through calls he was going to have to make in order to secure protection, looking at the route Lucrecia mapped out it cut his list in half, and it was just a courtesy call, not protection.
“And if you need, I could loan you one of the grocery trucks to take something more direct for some of the guys to get there quicker.”
A full approached solution. It made Bishop chuckle and kiss the girl one more time.
“You wanna hang out, I was about to come out with the group anyways.” Bishop spoke as Lucky got up off his lap and they both started piling the maps and notes together on the table.
“Wish I could but I got a million things to do back at the store, you wanna pick me up later, though? Take me home? Understand if you gotta be here, though, entertain the boys from Stockton.”
“I’ll pick you up later. Never liked that you’d walk home that late.”
“I’m a woman not incapable, Obispo.”
“I meant I never liked it for the town, one person gives you the wrong look and you’ll send them to the hospital, I’m just looking out for Santo Padre, baby.”
With an eye roll she walked up the couple stairs of templo and turned her head one last time to get a look at him standing at the head of the table. “See you later, Obispo.”
He smirked knowing he was going to let out the same joke as earlier, one saved just for her that he’d never be able to say to anyone else.
