"We're heading out !" hollers Denzel. Tanisha calls me out of my room.
"Can I join ?" she asks her brother.
"Nah." answers Denzel. I come out of the room and I see Denzel, Cix, Wave and Rayan at the door.
She puts her hands on her hips and frowns her eyebrows. "Why not ? I'm also part of Silvers."
"After this dinner, you'll have plenty of opportunities to eat with them. We're going there to make peace with them, you ain't gotta tag along." continues Denzel.
"Your brother's right. This is just one of the many times we'll eat with them. You'll come along with us next time." adds Rayan.
Cix turns his head my way. "You aight ?" he asks me.
I wipe off the residue tears in my eyes and nod. "Yeah I'm good." The four adults look at each other before looking back at me.
"Take care of your sister for us, okay Sha ?" says Denzel as he taps her on the back.
Tanisha walks towards me. "What's wrong Titi ?" She asks before grabbing my hand and leading me into our room. "Have fun y'all." she says before closing the bedroom door behind her.
Keemo opens the door in front of him and sees Janet. "Where're y'all kids going ?" she questions as she checks them out.
"We're going out with some friends." answers Denzel. Janet nods.
"Alright then, be careful on the road y'all." She kisses Denzel on the cheek and pinches Kelvin, Wave's and Rayan's cheek before pushing them out of the house and closing the door. They leave in Keemo's car.
"How's the wedding planning going ?" asks Kelvin. Him and Denzel are sitting in the backseat while Rayan and Wave are in the front seats.
Rayan looks back. "We settled for two marriages to embrace both of our cultures. A Vietnamese one and an Egyptian one. We found the rings, the rooms.."
"The honeymoon room ?" adds Kelvin, grinning. Rayan slaps Kelvin's arm.
Meanwhile, Denzel inspects Keemo through the rearview window. The car stops at a red light. "Keemo." he begins to speak. Wave slightly lifts his head up looking into the mirror. "What are you thinking about ?" Rayan leans back into her seat and faces her fiancé.
"Are you sure about this ?" replies Keemo.
"Both sides agreed to make peace with each other." reassures Denzel. Keemo narrows his eyes.
"Why would Sniper finally decide to make peace with us now but not back when Ace was still our leader ?"
"People change. He had beef with Ace so making peace before must've been too much for his ego. We weren't involved in it. Him and I, we ain't got beef." Rayan places her hand over Keemo's hand.
"Let's trust him." she says looking at Keemo.
"I don't know man. Something feels off about this shit." replies Keemo.
"I trust your intuition Wave. If you want to cancel it, say word and I'll cancel it." Draco's tone changed into a serious one and instantly, the atmosphere in the vehicle changed also. The red light turns yellow.
"I'll trust you Draco." The light turns green and they start moving again. The heavy atmosphere lifts and the four of them arrive at the restaurant joyfully.
"He chose a restaurant with the sketchiest location." comments Cix chuckling.
"Makes sense. We need an uncommon place, you feel me ?" replies Draco.
"Word."
They enter the restaurant. "Are you four here under the name Silvers ?" asks the man at the reception. Rayan looks around. There's no one at the restaurant.
"Yeah." replies Draco.
"Right this way." The man guides them to a table that's hidden behind a large curtain.
"Did y'all see the person outside ?" whispers Cix.
"On the stairs? I saw something but I don't know what it was." comments Wave.
"Here comes more guests, sir." He moves out of the way, making the four adults visible to Sniper.
"The leader finally arrived ! Don't be shy, we're all friends now, sit down." says Sniper with a wide smile. All four of them sit down cautiously. "We merged multiple tables so that we can all sit at the same table." adds Sniper. On one side are Alpha, Sniper, Booboo and a few of his gang members. On the opposite side sits a few members of the Silvers gang, Draco in front of Sniper, JJ, Red, Cash and other members on his right. Cix, Rayan, Wave, Blu and Sky and more members on his left. "Let's order now, shall we ?" continues Sniper.
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Denzel leans in towards Jessie. "I've been excited to see you all day." he whispers in her ear before leaning back in his chair. Sniper gives him a sneaky glance.
"Why don't we start by getting to know each other, huh ? While we wait for the food. What do you say, Leader ?" asks Sniper.
"Sure, let's do that." replies Denzel. In the meantime Cash sends a text to Cix.
Shigeru: There's sum off.
Kelvin: For real. Did you tell anyone else ?
Shigeru: Sky and Blu. They agree.
Cash lifts up his head from his phone and catches Sniper glaring at him with fierce eyes. "Why don't we start with you Cash ?" suggests Sniper while smiling.
"My name's Cash."
"Come on, we all know that. What's your real name ? We're all friends here.."
"We're not friends." Argues Cash.
"He's right. We can't all magically become friends in one day, it takes patience." acknowledged Alpha. "I'll go. Hey, I'm Alpha and my best friend here is JJ. We might not be from the same gang but we're still very close. Right, JJ ?" continued Alpha with a softly spoken tone. Jessie nods her head slightly. "Also I'm single if any of you guys are interested..." Her eyes drift to Cash then Red then Denzel then Cix then Blu.
"How old are you ?" asks Diego leaning in.
Alpha grins slightly. "Why ? Will it change something between us, Blu ?" Blu leans back with a smirk before looking down at his phone.
Jessie: for real ?
Diego: You're jealous ?
Jessie: You don't know her like I do...
Diego: I ain't disagreeing.
Jessie: Are you genuinely interested in her ?
Diego : She's hot
They continue to wait for their food. After 5 minutes, there was nothing. Ten minutes later, there was still no sign of the waiter. 20 minutes later...
Skylar: Why's our food still not here ?
Jordan: I'm actually hungry now.
Keemo: I told y'all something was off.
Shigeru: There's a reason why Ace didn't do this type of shit with him. He can't be trusted
Rayan : What now ?
Jessie: Denzel ain't checking his phone.
Kelvin : Imma tell him
Kelvin whispers to Draco. "This shit ain't straight. Let's go." Draco's eyes shift from one Rox member to the other. They seem confident, some aren't even bothered by the fact that not even one plate has arrived. His eyes shift back to the middle of the table as he sees Alpha standing up.
"JJ, can we talk in private for a second?" asks Alpha with a soft smile.
JJ stands up and follows her friend further away from the table. As they get far from Draco's sight, he slightly gets up before being held back by Cix. As he sits back down, his eyes and all the other Silvers members' eyes are fixated on the gun. A gun that Sniper silently laid down on the table. "Let's let the girls talk while we converse here.." says Sniper while forcing a smile.
Meanwhile, further away from the table, Alpha and JJ stand in silence. "Are you going to say somethin' or you're just gonna continue gloating at me ?" Jessie's arms were crossed and her eyes were wandering around, avoiding her friend's eyes.
Alpha lets out a loud sigh. "You used to be skinnier...Is Denzel making you fat ?"
Jessie rolls her eyes and scoffs. "What about you ? Are you still tryna be Sniper's wife ?" Alpha grins, she draws herself nearer and hugs her friend tightly.
"I missed you, Jessie." she said. JJ nods but stays silent.
"Why are we here ?" asks JJ, letting go of Alpha.
"To make peace with your gang-"
"Evelyn, don't play with me !" exclaims Jessie, interrupting Alpha. "Ever since we got here, there has been no talk about the future of our gangs. We ordered over twenty minutes ago and not even one plate showed up !"
Alpha's eyes narrow as she gets closer to JJ. "Don't call me that.." Jessie backs away.
"What ? Evelyn ? It's your fucking name ! And back off from me !" Alpha's expression regains its calm.
"I just want to protect you-"
"I told you not to get closer ! Tell me what I need to know !"
Suddenly they both turn their head to the right, alerted by a commotion. Alpha's eyes widen and she looks back at her friend. Jessie looks back at Alpha and they stay in silence for a few seconds. Her breathing begins to accelerate as tension fills in the space. In an instant JJ attempts to run away but her wrist gets grabbed by Evelyn. She tries to pull it out but Alpha's grip is far too strong. "How long ?" She asks. Alpha pulls her closer and grabs her upper arm.
"..Since the beginning. Sniper asked me to betray your trust but I can't do that."
"I don't believe it. You hurt people, that's all you're good at."
"Do you think I liked hurting you ?" sobbed Evelyn.
"Tell me what I need to know." demanded JJ.
"There's gonna be blood. A lot more than any of us want to see. Sniper is determined to take over the South side. He'll slaughter all of y'all if he has to. Ace included."
JJ looked at her friend confused. "That makes no sense. Ace left a while ago. Why now ?"
"Draco is weaker." continues Alpha before getting interrupted by Jessie.
"Draco is far from weak." she argues.
"In Sniper's eyes, he's an easy target compared to Ace. I kept you here because I knew it was gon' happen. We may not always get along but you're the closest thing I have to a family. You and Jordan." confessed Alpha. After listening to her words, JJ goes in for a hug.
"I guess.. This is a lesson in not trusting people, right ?"
"Huh ?" Alpha tries to get out of the embrace but JJ has her tightly locked.
"If we had never met, it would've saved us both some grief." JJ grabs onto Evelyn's shoulders and kicks her in the stomach with her knee. She falls down placing her hands where the hit occurred.
"I know you don't mean it" Evelyn looks up but she soon notices that Jessie had already left. She tightened her jaw as she got up and left through the rear door. The door led to the street where her motorcycle was. She climbed on and left for the battle ground.
Coming back to the table JJ sees chairs scattered across the room but no sign of anyone. On her way out of the restaurant, she sees the waiter on all fours covering his ears. His body is shaking and his eyes are shut tightly. JJ gets down. "What happened ?" she asks while removing his left hand from his ear. His eyes widen as he opens them.
"Please... Please don't hurt me..." He weeps as he crawls back.
"I'm not going to hurt you, just tell me what happened. "
"Leave me alone !" he shouts, pushing her away. Jessie gets up and runs out of the restaurant. She takes out her phone and calls Denzel. He doesn't answer. She tries calling Kelvin, Rayan, Keemo, Skylar and even Shigeru. No one. None of them answer. The pressure is getting to her, she sits down wondering what to do next. "Shit. Shit ! Shit ! I can't call him !" She takes out her phone once again and calls one more person, her last hope.