Sweat dripped from Ashe’s face as she strained to do another push up. She was finally cleared for light exercise, but she’d been recovering for over a month. Her muscles were weak as it was, not to mention how her injuries were still quite tender. The knife wound especially. She wouldn’t be doing any sit ups for quite a while.
Worse, she had a date set for when she would be returning to school, which was yet more stress being dumped on her shoulders. It was still almost a week out, and into the first week of May. At least she wasn’t having to deal with the assholes at school nearly as much as she would have been otherwise.
No doubt Gray was planning something, not that she really cared about his childish outbursts. She’d stared hardened killers in the eye and not blinked, a whiny little shit with daddy issues had nothing on that. That didn’t mean she was eager to deal with him however.
Things hadn’t been volatile on the street side of things. The Viuda were giving her some respect for taking down the bastard that killed Lily, which she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. One of her girls was still dead, and no amount of pandering was going to bring her back. Worse, she still had nothing to go on when it came to looking into the Viuda for a splinter faction that might be helping traffic girls.
The Patriots were all keeping their heads down, even with Ellington’s threats looming over her head. He could bring down hell upon her, but he hadn’t. He didn’t need to prove that he could put action to words, he had the reputation that Ashe didn’t dare think about intentionally antagonizing the man further than she already had.
Ashe knew she needed to get her strength back, pain and discomfort be damned. If shit kicked off, she needed to be ready to back her people up. A leader that didn’t stand with her people didn’t deserve to command others. She’d been out of action long enough and was determined to get back into the swing of things.
A knock at the door startled her, and Ashe groaned as she once again pulled the tender injuries. Pushing herself back to her feet, Ashe moved into the living room and checked the cameras. She heaved out a heavy sigh as she opened the door and greeted her mom.
“What a surprise,” Ashe said with a deadpan. “This is what? The third time this week?”
“You shush,” Mom said, bringing in a box of donuts while looking around. “Is Crystal not here?”
Ashe followed her into the kitchen, eyes glancing around to make sure nothing incriminating was sitting about. Her parents were keeping much closer tabs on her, which limited what she could get away with even when she was staying with Crystal. A delivery of pizza and wings by her parents had taken them both by surprise, and hadn’t been a one off, which made it difficult to just sneak away to the apartments.
It also meant they couldn’t leave any documents lying about, not that they made a habit of it in the first place, but it was a reminder that Crystal’s house wasn’t as safe as they thought. At least her parents hadn’t stumbled upon the hidden room, and she knew that they were snooping.
“She had to run an errand,” Ashe said, taking a seat. “Her friend Aubrey needed a hand with something.”
“Would this friend be Viuda?” Mom asked, eyeing her from the side.
Ashe sighed. “No, Aubrey doesn’t have Viuda connections.”
Brie did have a new flame tattoo on her right shoulder, however. Ashe had mentioned one of her own tattoo ideas offhandedly and her minion ran with the idea. A flame to show she worked for Inferno, much as the Viuda used the black widow. Ashe didn’t necessarily like the idea of people branding themselves with a symbol that represented her, but it wasn’t like she could stop them from doing so either.
That was the reality of what she had done. In avenging Lily, Ashe had shown that Inferno would look after her people. That spoke volumes to those with an ear to the streets. Recruitment had exploded in the last month, and Ashe had managed to put in a handful of appearances to let everyone know that she was alive and well.
“Hmm, I might have to meet this girl then,” Mom said, picking up a cake donut. “I just worry you’re getting involved with the wrong sorts.”
Ashe groaned, her head dropping to the table with a dull thunk. “How many times are we going to repeat this discussion? You seem to have deeper Viuda connections than Crystal, and she has the damn tattoo!”
“I have contacts and informants,” Mom huffed.
An accusatory finger was raised. “Bullshit, you’re the officer they go to when they need to snitch out their own dirty members. That’s like gangland one-oh-one and we both know it.”
Mom scowled, then bit the shit out of her donut, looking away as she did. The back and forth was getting old and Ashe knew she was going to have to draw a line at some point, she just wasn’t sure yet where it would be.
“Look,” Ashe finally said, forcing herself to relax. “I get it. I kept things from you, and I won’t lie, there’s still things I’m still keeping close. Someone tried to kill Jason, yes we were tipped off that something fishy was going on.” Ashe took a breath, then decided to play one of her cards, but she could do it in a way that proved a point. “Apparently the guy that Crystal capped at the end was on Inferno’s shit list. I got a thank you delivered through your buddy Taylor for that.”
That managed to break her character as Mom’s jaw dropped lightly, her focus drifting off in thought before finally returning to the moment and she groaned, sitting forward as her face shifted to thunderous anger.
“I’m going to kill Inferno,” Mom snarled. “She really sent you after that man like that?”
“No,” Ashe said quickly, holding up a hand. “All I was told was that the people following Jason were more dangerous than they appeared and that they were linked to the event. Crystal was stuck with the Senator, so I offered to keep an eye on Jason until he met up with his security detail.”
There was a reason the video shown to her parents had started at the confrontation, not sooner. If they knew she had arrived hours earlier? Well, the conversation would likely be very different to the one they were having at the moment, and probably with more threat of some sort of house arrest.
“Which was reckless as hell of you!” Mom shouted. “You went into that event on the advice of a gang tip! You should have told us that something was going on!”
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“You’re right,” Ashe said, causing her mom’s head to jerk up in surprise. “I should have let you know, and I’m sorry I didn’t. Trust me, I’ve learned several lessons from this whole shit show, but the sudden helicopter parenting isn’t helping. Just… I know I nuked the trust you had in me, but overcompensating is just making me resentful.”
“We just want you safe,” Mom whispered.
Ashe’s heart almost cracked at the raw sincerity that her mom had poured into that statement. That she planned to jump right back into illegal activities despite that only made it worse. Ashe didn’t have much of an appetite to begin with, but what little she did have vanished in a torrent of churning bile that threatened to rise up.
The guilt that came from manipulating her parents was lessening with time, but it still fucking hurt to know that they still cared so damn much despite what she had done. Worse, Ashe still had no intentions of stopping. Oh how her past self from the start of the year would be appalled at her actions.
A common train of thought for her had always been how her younger self might be proud of the woman she had become, despite the pain and adversity she endured in the process. That illusion was now thoroughly shattered. Her past self was still idealistic, she hadn’t seen how cruel the world could be just yet.
“I don’t think ‘safe’ is in my future,” Ashe answered just as softly. “Not while the city remains a bastion for fascists.”
Mom was silent for a moment, not meeting her eyes. “That’s not something you can solve on your own.”
No, but she could enforce change with enough support. Ashe might not have that level of help, but Inferno was getting there. She needed to be seen by the new members more often, start building a report with them. Her gang needed to grow large enough to hold her territory. Sutton was largely abandoned, and she was determined to turn it into something the rest of the city would envy.
That would take time and a not inconsiderable amount of money. She would need to invest into community initiatives, places people can go and do things without spending much if any money. Libraries, parks, community centers, there was a lot she could establish that would benefit people. Maybe even expand on the sort of self defense classes that the Viuda offered. She doubted that she could poach her own instructors, but she could get more of her own people trained up to be able to teach others. Offering those services at the community centers would allow for the best outreach.
The problem was that her path to being able to do so was paved beneath a rising drug empire. For every person she planned to help, a dozen more might be lost to addiction. Maybe establishing an addiction center would also be prudent, along with safe places to use their drugs. Anything to reduce the danger to the people living in her territory.
“I know that look,” Mom said, eyeing Ashe critically. “You’re thinking of ways to do just that.”
“Maybe,” Ashe admitted. “I don’t have the resources to manage it, however.”
“That’s the bitch of it, isn’t it?” Mom said, surprising Ashe once again. “I became a cop to try and help people. I can count the number of people I’ve actually helped over the years on the digits I have left.”
“Says the woman with six toes on each foot,” Ashe said with a chuckle. “Still, it really does paint a grim picture, doesn’t it?”
“Unfortunately,” Mom said. “If you had the resources, what would you do?”
The words almost spilled out, but she caught herself. What would her mom think if she heard such focused plans? What would she do when she learned that Inferno was doing the exact same thing to Sutton? No, she needed to keep her ideas broader, less focused, at least when explaining it to her mom.
So, she mentioned how she could help those addicted to drugs, ideas for cleaning up the abandoned parks, and establishing affordable housing. It was all kept vague, more passion and thought than true idea and plan. When she finished explaining it to her mom, she was met with a soft smile.
“You have a lot of heart,” Mom said. “It’s unfortunate that heart isn’t enough to change the world. If it was, we might just get somewhere.”
“The world does like to stomp on those that try to do better,” Ashe said. “But if someone doesn’t try, then nothing will ever change. If enough people stand up, then change becomes inevitable.”
Mom sat silently, picking at her donut after that declaration. Ashe knew it was a bit much, but she didn’t regret the words. She was already known without being a gang leader, the entire city had been made aware of her when she joined Halsey High in her Freshman year.
“You’re starting to sound like a revolutionary,” Mom said, then chuckled. “You know those tend to wind up dead in a ditch before they ever make a difference.”
She wasn’t wrong, and yet…
“I’ve survived two attempts so far,” Ashe said. “All I can do is keep spitting in the face of everyone that tries.”
“That’s all any of us can do,” Mom said. “And who knows? Maybe between yourself and Crystal you can make enough of a platform to enact some of those changes, or at least bring more public attention to them.”
There were some chance of that, as Crystal’s name alone would allow her to get some attention from the media, especially with her reputation for being withdrawn from the general public. That was far from the truth, the media just couldn’t locate her when she took the wig off and blended in with the Viuda.
Even though Ashe had mentioned Crystal’s name at school, nobody even stopped to think she was the same Crystal Ellington that appeared alongside the Senator on his little propaganda pieces. People just refused to see what they didn’t want to see.
“Maybe,” Ashe said with a shrug. “I’ve got the last bit of High School to deal with first.”
This time, her mom smirked at her. “Don’t forget prom.”
“As if I could,” Ashe said, rolling her eyes. “At least I have a nice suit for the day, though Crystal is still shopping for her dress.”
“I have it on good authority that a certain tailor is making her dress as well,” Mom said with a twinkle in her eye. “It should match with yours just fine.”
Ashe smiled, and she was genuinely happy about that. Taylor would make sure she was taken care of, especially given their mutual Viuda ties. Ashe still wasn’t sure if there were people in the gang that were working with the Patriot traffickers, the longer they went without finding anything, the less she came to believe it.
“I hope she has a thigh holster under the skirt,” Ashe said with a smirk.
“Your mother has a dress she can do that with, not that she ever wears the damn thing,” Mom said, chuckling. “Because holy hell is it hot as fuck when a girl flips their skirt up to reveal the concealed gun.”
“Images of my mother aside, I can agree with that,” Ashe said.
They continued to sit in silence, and Ashe finally had enough of her appetite back to eat more of her donut. Crystal wouldn’t be back from the apartments for at least another hour, which meant Ashe had to endure the awkward distance that had grown between herself and her mom.
“Alright, I think we can ease off a bit,” Mom said, getting to her feet, “however, I want updates on what it is you’re doing, and if you get wrapped up in something else that is as dangerous as the mess you were just in, I want to know about it before I get a call that you’re barely clinging to life in the back of an ambulance.”
Her stomach still twisted, but it was becoming easier with each lie she told. Someday, assuming she survived long enough, she would probably tell that lie as easily as she breathed, with the same sort of delivery that she gave to the truth. Because how could she explain to her mom that she was a wanted criminal?
“I promise to do the best I can,” Ashe lied with a smile on her face.