Beware The Water

Rats and Pigs

Another long, exhausting night had Shorter nearly collapsing into bed, not before getting in contact with Lux though. Since making things official, he was really trying to make her a top priority so she wouldn't feel so expendable. It was the little things that he started doing again that made her fall for him in the first place like morning and night texts, falling asleep on the phone, and expressing how much she means to him. Things seemed bright for the newly formed couple but there was a lingering cloud in the distance.

Lux wasn't good at splitting her time amongst her friends. She let Oz fall through the cracks, led on Yuji, had been blowing off Fang, who was more understanding to the situation, but it still made her a little sad that her only friend was too occupied with her new boyfriend to even check in every now and then. The more Lux put herself in Shorter's grasp, the further away everyone else around her was becoming.

Then there was Shorter. He was happy again but the life he lived could only allow him to act his age for so long. The whole Sing situation was stressing him out, knowing that Hook and Viper had been keeping a close eye on the kid for a few weeks now. He prayed that everything would be fine, but sometimes it's your closest friends that wind up putting a bullet through your back.

A meeting was called to Chang Dai between Shorter, Hook, and Viper to discuss the matters revolving around Sing. It could only mean two things. One, Sing was clean. Or two, he was a dirty rat. "I've done my share of digging." Shorter began, "Either Sing's really good at keeping up a façade or the whole stash house thing was just a poorly timed coincidence."

The two boys both nodded. Hook gave a sigh and slouched against the wall. "The kid keeps to himself. All he does is follow you around like a damn lap dog, worry about his bone head brother, and just stays put at home. I gotta say, he's pretty fuckin boring."

Viper cupped his hands together to make sure the flame to light his cigarette wouldn't blow out. He held it between his teeth as he spoke, "Had two serpents follow him around when he did go out. All they reported was seeing him practice his aim with beer bottles and just take late night cruises. If Sing was really in bed with the feds, he would have had plenty of opportunities to meet up with them, and he didn't." The boys were really hoping to find something on Sing, but they couldn't argue with proof. Sing was clean. "He's cleared by me."

"Me too." Hook raised a low hand.

"Same here." Shorter agreed. "Alright. Back to business as usual."

As the boys headed out the backroom and made their way to the dining area, they took quick notice of a table occupied by four police officers. Nadia did say they always came around for the lunch special to scope out who from the Chinese Mafia was entering and exiting the building. A waitress came around the corner from the kitchen with a tray balanced on her shoulder and hand as she made her way to the officers table. Hook smirked and waited until she got close enough to put his foot out. The waitress, who doubled as one of the girls that would spend her time at the guys hang out, lost her balance as she tripped, tipping the tray full of food all over the table. Fried rice, wonton soup, egg rolls, and sauces splattered everywhere all over the men in uniforms. Before the waitress could hit the floor, Viper caught her by the crook of her arm, knowing what Hook was going to do for a laugh.

"What the hell?" One of the cops shouted, looking down at the mess that splattered all over him and his partners.

"I'm so sorry!" the girl apologized, reaching over with a rag from her apron to attempt to clean off the table, knowing it wouldn't make much of difference. "Hook, you jerk! You saw me walking over here!"

The three boys chuckled at the scene. "Sorry Tori." Hook covered his mouth to muffle his laugh, "There's just something about seeing pigs covered in slop that cracks me up."