Page 112 of Heartless Heathens

“Her daughter sent me,” I said and the gate froze.

It dropped down heavily again before another buzzer sounded out obnoxiously and the gate in front of us slid automatically to the side.

I anxiously pulled my car up to the biggest house in the compound, parking next to the lineup of motorcycles. I wasn’t supposed to say her name, unless shit really went south, but hopefully she wouldn’t mind. It didn’t look like they were going to give me another chance to even plead a case to come in had I not name dropped her.

A big guy looking like he was in his mid-fifties came stomping through double doors of the farmhouse-style home. His heavy boots creaked with each step he took while he made his way down the front porch.

“I dunno why you’re here pendejo, but the rules are different around these parts. You don’t get to barge into our very,verydelicate ecosystem and come fuck shit up for us with whatever rich puto shit you’ve got going on,” he said eyeing me up and down while toying with the glock in his hand like my outfit was a dead giveaway.

“I’m not here to cause trouble.” I raised my hands up in the air as a show of good faith and Romina mimicked me nervously.

“If you weren’t here to cause trouble then the first word out your mouth shouldn’t have been Desidera’s name.” He scowled. “Get your ass inside, and don’t mention the president’s daughter again unless you wanna lose your tongue.”

“Calaveras,” A female voice called from inside. “Let the kids in.”

She cut his amusement short and I held back a smirk. I liked toying with danger, but this dude was at least six foot seven and I didn’t drive all this way for a beatdown. We followed her in, and she led us down a set of stairs to a life-sized replica of a hospital room. From the shiny white floors to the smell of recently sprayed bleach wafting in the air, I could have mistaken it for the real thing… had I not come in through the saloon style double doors,

There was a faint beeping of a heart monitor, and a curtain was pulled around one of the beds, letting me know there was another patient in here with us. The doctor turned quickly on her heels to face us.

“So, what do you need, Son of Satan?” She read my eyebrow like it was a joke between the two of us.

“Birth control.” I narrowed my eyes and pushed Romina forward.

The red-headed doctor raised an eyebrow before speaking.

“Must be nice. It’s not cheap,” she muttered, reaching into a cabinet.

“Must be. Can’t imagine what life was like before all of this went to shit.” I reminded her we were living in the filth of her generation.

I tossed the envelope, with a fat stack of cash inside it, down on the hospital bed.

She was looking at me with nothing but judgment in her eyes, like whatever she thought she knew about me from just how I looked, was leaving a bad taste in her mouth. It didn’t matter. It didn’t hurt my feelings. None of this was my fault, people just wanted someone else to blame.

“Just get on the bed, so I can get you both the fuck out of here,” she said with a biting snark.

“You’ll do it?” Romina spoke for the first time, her voice so sweet like a flower petal blowing through the wind.

“I don’t deny women the ability to choose what they do with their bodies. Regardless of whether or not they come knocking on my door with a jackass wearing that tattoo on their face and my daughter’s name in their mouth.”

“I take it you’re not on good terms.”

“Tell Desidera her father is looking for her.Still.” She filled a syringe and tapped on the vile with her fingernails. “This will sting just a bit.”

“Do you want to know where she is?” I asked but the doctor shook her head.

“No. Leave me out of it. She’s broken my heart enough.” She grabbed Romina’s bicep and jabbed the needle into the inside of her arm.

“Ah!” Romina gasped and instinctively recoiled for a second but relaxed for the doctor to finish.

“This is to numb your arm,” she explained. “Now I’m going to insert the device under the skin. You can distract her to make it easier.” She side-eyed me like my mere existence annoyed her.

“What’s your problem with me? If you don’t want me here, why help me?” I asked her, not fighting the scowl forming on my face.

“I don’t like entitled little boys with daddy’s money who waste it however they can instead of putting it towards fixing the shithole world we live in. But if I can stop you from procreating, I’ll take it as a win,” she said, like she was so much better than me.

“I don’t havedaddy’smoney. It was my mom’s. And it’s the worldyoucreated.” I reminded her and she scoffed.

“I’ve had as much say in this as you have, Santorini.” She spat my name out, shocking me that she knew exactly who I was. “I’m not going to refuse her care just because I think you’re a foul little shit.”