Notorious

20

Tyler was nervous.

Something that didn't happen very often.

We all had different ticks when we felt on edge. Nikki twirled her hair, Michelle bit her nails, Seth couldn't stop bouncing his leg, Scar got all jumpy, Mark would randomly hit things, and I would whip out my switchblade; flipping it back and forth and making everyone else around me paranoid.

Tyler's nervous habit? Not saying a damn word.

He sat in complete silence, making you wonder if he went mute somewhere in the past 24 hours.

Which is exactly what we were doing at three in the morning in the garage. Me, Scar, Tyler, Mark and Seth. There was a huge hit on the Southside Bloods, taking a few of our brothers in the process. The Crip's were getting ruthless, attacking in broad daylight for no valid reason. We had rules about territory that we followed at the beginning, but over time I noticed those lines were blurring and the violence becoming more and more ruthless.

"We have a problem." Mark said, crossing his arms.

"No shit we have a problem." Seth snapped and that made me look up in surprise. Seth never got angry or impatient. The happiest go-lucky guy around was even making me anxious with how he was acting.

"We're in the middle of a goddamn war is what's going on." I said, looking at Tyler who still hadn't said anything. "We were in the slums last night and I killed a damn Crip. This is getting out of hand."

"You what?!?!" Tyler snapped out of his silence. "I'm sorry, Scar. Did I hear my brother right?"

"Yeah man, you did. We had to. He pulled a gun on us and kept going on about how the slums was Crip territory. He's also the one who tried to kill Nikki and bragged about it and that's when he," He motioned to me, "Snapped and you know the rest."

"Jesus Christ." Tyler put his head in hands.

"Well we'd better think of something." Mark replied, "What are they after? Territory? They want our drug connections? Business?"

"All of it." Tyler said. "They're not going to stop. Us jacking their drug shipment was just the tip of the iceberg."

"What are we supposed to do? Kill them all?" Seth asks, "Seriously, when does it stop?"

Scar and I exchange a glance, shrugging.

"Brandon wants to meet with you." Tyler said, looking right at me.

"Me? Aren't you the one who's in charge of us?"

"I'll be there but he specifically asked for you."

I suddenly had a strange feeling about what this meeting was about to entail.

"When are we doing it?"

"Tomorrow."

I nodded.

"Well, this is maybe a good thing," Seth cut in, "We can try to negotiate something or work something out."

Tyler and I looked at each other, both knowing that this might be too deep to ever fully get out of.

I'd killed so many of his own that I knew the only way Brandon would fully accept a truce is if I was dead.

Dammit.

"Yeah Seth," I said, patting his back, "We'll figure something out."

Nikki was sleeping when I climbed into bed, my mind racing.

I knew that Brandon wanted me dead.

But if I didn't die, how many of my family members would?