“He lied about something, but it’s not anything huge,” she said with a hint of persuasiveness in her eyes that told Angel she’d already forgiven the guy.
“What did he lie about?”
“He has a brother, an older one his mother had with another man before Omar came along.”
Angel pinched his brows. “Why’d he lie?”
“Because his brother’s in jail. That’s why he didn’t want me to know about him. He was afraid I’d judge him or maybe I’d be reluctant to meet him if I knew he had a brother doing life for murder.”
“Murder?” Angel asked, feeling all the reservations he already felt for Leo jumping up to a whole other level.
“Yes, but he was convicted years ago, and ever since then, Leonardo swore he, too, would change his life around.”
“What do you mean him too? What was Leo doing?”
She looked away again only this time lifting an eyebrow, and he hated that because he knew her too well. Whatever it was, she was going to defend him.
“He didn’t lie to me about being in college. He lied to Omar about that, but if you remember the first email I got from Leonardo, he admitted school wasn’t for him and he was taking the semester off.”
“Was he ever in college, Sarah?”
Angel was doing his best to not be judgmental. He didn’t give a shit if the guy had attended college or not. A college degree didn’t mean shit unless you did something with it, and he knew a lot of people who’d never gone to school and done plenty with their lives. What he did care about was that this was lie number two, no matter how soon Leo had come clean about it. How many more were there?
“No.” She looked at him now and lifted her chin. “He wasn’t. He’s had a tough life, and he admitted he’s been in and out of trouble since he was very young. He was upfront about everything even stuff he didn’t have to tell me but he did.”
“Like what?” Angel sat up now, sitting against the head board.
“Like that he did some time in juvi and that he used to be in a gang, a gang that did illegal c**k fighting and then later graduated to doing underground fighting themselves for money. It’s how his brother killed someone and ended up in prison for life. But he’s not part of that anymore. His brother made him promise he’d leave the life and better himself, and he’s trying to.”
Angel stared at her in disbelief and a bit horrified. This was who his precious girlfriend had hung out with all weekend? A thug claiming he was no longer part of a gang? Angel may’ve never been in a gang, but he knew one thing about them. Once you were in a gang, it was pretty much a life sentence. No one just walked away.
“And you really think he didn’t need to tell you all this?”
“He didn’t have to tell me.”
“Of course he did, babe,” Angel said, struggling to keep from raising his voice. “He should. If you’re ever gonna be around him or his friends, you need to know what you’re getting yourself into.” He almost didn’t say it, but he couldn’t hold back. “He’s dangerous.”
“He’s my brother,” she countered immediately.
“He scared you, Sarah. You said it yourself, and now—”
“Look,” she said, reaching out to touch Angel’s tense arms. “I don’t wanna fight about this, okay? He didn’t lie when he said he was hoping to take the LAPD test, but he found out real quick there’s no way he’d get past the background check if he ever made it past the written test. Not with his record. So it’s not like he’s moving out here or will be anywhere near me too often. I’d still like to keep him in my life, but you don’t have to worry about me being around him or his dangerous friends.” She looked down at his arm and squeezed it, lowering her voice. “I know I said it was kind of scary. Seeing how violent he could be was scary, but I never felt threatened by him, and the one time I did . . .”
“What?” Angel insides were ablaze instantly. “He threatened—”
“No,” she shook her head, sitting up and taking his hand in hers and spoke quickly. “It was nothing like that. I just jumped to conclusions when he said he wanted to talk to me in private. We started driving out on the Jet ski to some secluded area of the lake, and I panicked. The moment he realized why, he had me kill the motor and he jumped off the Jet ski. Said he’d talk to me from the water if it made me feel safer. But other than that one moment, I actually felt very safe and secure having him around.”
She went on to tell him about the fights and how Leo had reacted the way he had because he was coming to her defense. “I don’t think he meant to hit them so hard.” Just as Angel dreaded, now Sarah was defending Leo. “I think he realized he spooked me a little because this morning when he came to see me off he explained to me it was just habit to hit someone that hard. It’s what his brother had taught him back in his fighting days.”
The guy was only nineteen. How long ago could those fighting days have been? “What did he do time for?”
“He didn’t give any specific reason. He just said he got in a lot of trouble in general. Being in a gang who ran a cock-fighting ring and stayed out late to fight, I’m sure there were plenty of reasons to lock him up. But he really is trying to change now.”
“How?”
Angel didn’t want to sound so pessimistic, but the guy wasn’t going to school and he obviously didn’t have a job since he and his friends had apparently just picked up on a whim this weekend.