Page 31 of Privilege

But he didn’t want to have to do any of that. He didn’t want to resort to breaking someone’s face just because he needed to survive. That was the thing, though—this was life for him. And yet, he found it was extremely easy for him to want to absolutely slaughter this man in front of him. Consequences be damned, they would be worth it.

The only thing that held Renzo back was thoughts of his siblings. Rose would be screwed out of her private schooling, and Diego would likely go into the system the first time someone found him alone without their mother because she fucked off to get high again.

“Listen, if you want to meet up or something,” Renzo started to say, “then let’s figure out a way to do that, but I am busy today. I have to go pick up Diego, and—”

“How’s the little bastard, anyway?” his father asked.

Renzo felt the pain in his chest at that question. It bloomed fast, and harsh. Entirely unforgiving as it wrapped around his heart to crush it like a dead weight that meant absolutely nothing.

How flippant and cold Charlie could be whenever he decided to ask after little Diego. The only one of the three Zulla kids that didn’t belong to him, Charlie liked to make sure none of them forgot it whenever he did come around to show his unwanted face. Usually, he just outright ignored Diego, which made the boy confused because even though Charlie wasn’t his dad, Carmen tried to say he was.

They didn’t know who Diego’s father was.

“Diego,” Renzo said lowly, “his name is Diego.”

“Yeah, that one.”

Renzo clenched his fists so tightly at his sides, that his fingernails cut into his palms. It was only that little shock of pain that kept him from flying across the sidewalk to break his knuckles on his father’s face.

“Hey, Ren?”

The call of his name drew his attention to the payphone again, and his guys loitering there. He tipped his chin as a silent greeting and acknowledgment which Perry returned.

“Head out, yeah?” Ren called back. “We’ll meet up tomorrow instead. Shit came up.”

Clearly.

The guys nodded, grabbed their backpacks from the ground, and headed down the street. Although, not without looking back a couple of times. Renzo really didn’t need people thinking he had problems—personal or otherwise. That was not the image he wanted to project when he came out onto these streets to work.

People saw weakness, and they exploited it.

That’s just how it worked.

“So, what do—”

Renzo swung back to his father before the man could even finish his sentence. “What in the fuck do you want?”

Charlie’s gaze widened momentarily before he smirked a bit. Maybe even appreciatively.

Renzo didn’t care. He was done with this man, and playing whatever games Charlie wanted to play. He had better shit to be doing, and more important people to take care of—simple as that.

“Your mother, actually,” Charlie mumbled around the toothpick.

“What?”

What the fuck would he want with Carmen? The two never spoke, and didn’t even hang around the same junkie circles. In a way, Renzo considered that a good thing because it was one less thing for him to worry about.

Sort of.

Charlie pulled the toothpick from between his lips, and flicked it to the ground as he looked at his son again. “Your mother—she owes people money, Ren.”

Not that he didn’t already know for what, but he still asked, “What does she owe for, then?”

“Probably for whatever shit she’s smoking or shooting into her body lately, but that’s not the point. They’re coming to me for it because they know at some point, I took care of her. They know she pushed out a couple of my kids, so they think I’m still …” His father gestured with one hand as if to wave at him, saying, “Coming around, looking after you all, if you get my drift.”

“Too bad for them, then, I guess,” Renzo said, deciding he was done with the conversation. He turned on his heels, and started down the sidewalk again, leaving his father behind. “Good luck with that, Charlie.”

Renzo probably shouldn’t have turned his back to the man—he likely wouldn’t have done that on any other day but today was just one of those. He was tired, not thinking right, and he had better shit to do than stand there and chat with an asshole like Charlie.