Navarro Suarez

By Lolly Walter

Family first.

In a bleak future destroyed by climate change, family is all that matters to Navarro. He'll do anything to protect those closest to him, including violate his own moral code. Then one bloody day, he finds himself the caregiver of a fragile boy who threatens everything Navarro holds dear. He knows what he has to do. The only question is, can he do it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lolly Walter
• Release date: Feb 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393353935

Book preview

Family first.

In a bleak future destroyed by climate change, family is all that matters to Navarro Suarez. He'll do anything to protect those closest to him, including violate his own moral code. Then one bloody day, he finds himself the caregiver of a fragile boy who threatens everything Navarro holds dear. He knows what he has to do. The only question is, can he do it?

To Brian, all my love.

NAVARRO SUAREZ

Navarro Suarez expected to lose.

His fingers tightened around Chicho’s hand, and he crouched low, keeping his weight on his back foot. The sun peeked out from the clouds. Everyone tensed, waiting for the direct sunlight to pass. The new dermal fortification injections worked better, especially on cloudy days, but no one wanted to take a chance on getting burned off-duty. The blisters that popped up after an unprotected minute or two hurt and kept them from work. Nobody wanted to pay for sex with a runner covered in blisters.

Hazy clouds drifted over the sun. The crowd breathed.

Chicho’s lips twitched, exposing two rows of white, uniform teeth. "We doin’ this, old man?

The nickname had rankled Navarro when he was young. Now twenty-three, he relished having stayed alive long enough for the words to fit. We were waiting on you, brother.

Chicho laughed like a donkey and flexed his fingers. His muscles popped under his shirt, and Navarro rolled his eyes indulgently. Chicho winked at his girlfriend in the front row of the circle around them. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.

It’s good you’ve got one thing to flaunt, Navarro said.

The crowd ooh-ed and laughed. Two girls stood on an overturned refrigerator — one that had been dumped in the middle of the street a few years ago — and took bets on who would win.

Serious now, knee to knee, foot to foot, Navarro and Chicho squared up. The rules of the game were simple: the first one to take a step lost. Navarro didn’t like to lose. He no longer worried about saving face; he’d led the group for three years now and no one had come along to challenge him yet. But still, winning mattered.

Liliana, her red-tinted hair a haze of fire in the heat of the day, strode forward and kissed first Chicho’s cheek, then Navarro’s. On three, she said to both of them, then leaned in close again and whispered to Navarro, Kick his ass.

Three came fast.

Navarro used his legs, dug low. His arm locked, and he leaned away from Chicho, whose wide, easy grin morphed into a steel-strong line. They grunted in unison, and the crowd laughed. Already, Navarro’s weight was shifting, sliding forward onto his front foot. A few more seconds, a minute if he was lucky, then he’d lose.

Come on, Navi! someone yelled from the crowd.

A chant rose, quiet at first, a few people. His name, over and over. Louder and louder, until the crowd shouted it. Na-vi! Na-vi! Na-vi!

The pressure, God, even in a silly game played to ease the boredom. Pressure to lead. To win.

Out of the corner of his eye, Navarro caught sight of Liliana. She growled.

Chicho, his eyes bulging, face gone red, brayed. Señorita likes you acting an ape.

Señorita likes a fight, Liliana said. It’s fun to see a musclebound lunkhead get taken down by a—

Skinny-ass motherfucker? Chicho wiggled his brows.

Not falling on his face occupied enough of Navarro’s concentration that he couldn’t talk, but he chuckled internally. Lithe, his mami had called him. Tall and lean. He had five years on Chicho, though, and muscles or not, he held his own.

Sweat slicked their hands, coating Navarro’s palm and fingers. If he hung on a bit longer, played it smart...

Pop. Pop. Pop. The sound rattled around the broken concrete of the city block and hurt Navarro’s ears. Chicho’s grip loosened, and Navarro pulled hard.

Chicho took a step.

Son of a—