Me, You, and Mason

13

Sage was exhausted.

He'd been awakened only an hour after he'd settled in after a night with Darcy. Ken reminded him that there was a trip to be taken.

The day began with hours worth of being intimidated and interrogated. After all, he was an unfamiliar face, and faces such as those made people nervous. There had to be a way to ensure he was built for whatever Ken had signed him up for.

So while Sage was tried by fire, Ken negotiated terms with his boss, who was more than happy that Ken had finally come around to filling the slot he had open for him. After all, Ken was one of the best worker bees within the underground hive. It was time to see what he was really made of, and soon enough, his effectiveness and loyalty would be tested. Starting today.

As Ken explained his desire for more money, he was met with only one reminder.

"If you wanna make big money, you gotta do big jobs, and those aren't as easy to step away from. So, if that's really what'chu want, just know that you ain't done until I say you are."

It was a fact Ken already knew, and why he was so hesitant to ask for anything in the first place. But this was the only resource he had on such short notice. So, he agreed.

His trial run began.

Sage was spit out of the wrath of an early morning hazing. Ken was given a pair of keys and instructions, and the two set off for a day and a half's worth of driving.

Very casual driving as they rolled with drugs laced throughout the entire car— in speakers, under seats, in doors, under floors, everywhere.

"Just be cool," Ken shrugged.

Sage followed suit, attempting to treat this as any other road trip, where he would relax and doze off.

But he couldn't sleep. Not when they were ridin' dirty.

So he was up.

And he and Ken talked. It'd been a minute since they had really done so.

They reminisced about Chico, about school days. About flunking out and getting rejected from college, how they ran this city's streets that whole summer after, at least they thought they did.

It was the easiest the two had felt in a long time. The weight of loss and the tension that laced their business relationship had put a strain on their friendship.

This was just the thing they needed to get back to the basics of their so-called BAM Fam.

They made it to their destination, dropping off their car and having a meal.

They picked up another car, which awaited them in an alleyway with keys hidden in the grille.

And after Ken did extra checks to make sure this was the right car— filled with money rather than drugs— the two were off, back to Mason.

Sage was up again, thinking of Darcy as the sun set.

"You ever think about... where we'll all be, four or five years from now?" he asked.

"Rich, hopefully."

"Besides that, man," Sage kissed his teeth.

"What else is there to think about?"

"Bruh, come on. Be serious. You don't think about havin' a family or somethin'? Gettin' married?"

"Is this your proposal to me?" Ken glimpsed at him with a chuckle.

"Har-har," Sage deadpanned before gazing out of his window again. "Forget I even said anything."

Ken looked over again, rolling his eyes with reluctance as he watched the road ahead wind. "Of course I think about that shit, man. Who doesn't?"