Chulito by Charles Rice-Gonzalez Read Free Book Online

detectable but emphasized their fullness.
    Kamikaze’s unusual beauty and irresistible charm made it easy to like him. He was open and happy, not like typical dealers or thugs who were all dark and moody.
    Chulito stole a glance at his torso, which was smooth except for a small mass of hair in the center of his chest that trailed down the center of his stomach. He pulled the thin white sheet over his head, but in his mind’s eye he could still see Kamikaze’s long body hugging the pillow, facing him. “Yo, Kaz, keep it down.”
    He apologized and continued to tell Chulito about the night. How at one point Chulito got up on the low table in their booth to dance with one of the strippers.
    “I danced? I don’t dance, bro,” Chulito protested, defending himself.
    Santo, one of the Tats Cru guys, said that he used to strip in a gay club in Puerto Rico and got up on the table to demonstrate. The fellas joked and gave him shit, calling him a fag.
    “Shut the fuck up,” Santo had said. “I don’t let the patos touch nothing, pero I used to make good tips.”
    Chulito had shoved him off table and tried to imitate him. The German twins from Tats Cru said that they went to a club in Spain where the patrons licked the dollars and stuck them to the stripper’s skin. Chulito then pulled the front of his shirt over his head so that it rested on his shoulders and exposed his stomach and chest, and the guys licked dollars and stuck them to him. Even Veronica the stripper licked one of her tips and stuck it on Chulito. After management made him get off the table, he gave his tips to Veronica.
    Chulito recalled the evening in small flashes. He remembered feeling jealous when he saw Kamikaze flirting with a blonde dancer with long legs. He remembered that Chin-Chin cried because he hadn’t seen his daughter since his ex moved to Florida a year ago. He remembered how the women in the club were all over the German twins because they are blanquitos with blue eyes.
    Damian, one of the auto glass guys, was a great dancer and tore up the small dance floor with one of the strippers. He remembered Damian kissing her hand like a gentleman when they finished then rejoining the group, saying that he would eat that dancer alive starting with her pussy.
    The three guys who founded Tats Cru—BIO, Nicer and BG—basically hung together and did their fair share of tipping. One of the dancers, a Latina with huge hair, told BIO that he was the man of her dreams. He jokingly told her to keep dreaming ‘cause he was already taken, but that she could live a little of her dream right then. She responded with a lap dance. Orlando, the young guy who worked at the corner bodega, showed up to wish Chulito well and had a couple of drinks and a lap dance before leaving. Several other guys from the neighborhood did the same.
    Chulito remembered that with each shot of Patron, with each Corona, with each Jack and Coke, with each Cuba Libre he thought of calling Carlos and cursing him out for not calling back. He remembered going to the bathroom to text him: sorry sorry sorry please call me or hit me back. Chulito checked his phone. No texts from Carlos.
    Chulito knew that at that very moment any of the guys who were not hung over like him were at the corner or at Tats Cru’s offices buzzing with stories from their night out.
    “Hey, Chulito, I’m going to take a shower. I made some coffee if you want, but I gotta get something to eat. You wanna come or you can just chill here?”
    “I’ll go.” Food was the last thing on his mind.
    “Cool, buzz your mom. Someone’s been calling your cell all morning, probably her and she won’t relax until she hears your voice.” Kamikaze tossed Chulito’s phone over to the bed. “Yo, Chulito, I got Veronica’s number for you. I told her you were twenty one and she believed me. So if you want it I could do you the favor…”
    “Don’t do me any more favors, and what do you mean if I want it? You into