A1: The Don (GirlxGirl)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Wait, hold up," Leo said as she howled with laughter. She put her hand up to stop me from talking. We were sitting in my family's old house. It was sort of like a secret hideout for me and my friends. No one ever came checking for us in in an abandoned house in the center of a middle-class neighborhood. Whenever we came here, serious sh-t was always going on. Therefore, I asked my friends here to tell them that I was ready to go after Jimmy. Unfortunately, they were a little too entertained with the fact that I woke up with Delaney having a gun pointed to my face. "Yo, she's f-cking crazy! You almost got blasted by your own girl! That's f-cking hilarious. You better never actually cheat on her."

"Did you sh-t your pants or what," Rafael asked as he lit up a cigarette. He leaned back into the worn out, leather couch as he stared at me with an interested smirk. I knew I should have never told them about how Delaney had a gun aimed at my f-cking head. "I wouldn't know what to do. I'd probably start crying and begging for my life."

I looked anywhere but at my friends. My eyes focused on a spray-painted wall which was covered in Leo's stylish and colorful graffiti. Sketches of naked women, marijuana leaves and gorillas filled up the whole wall. I let out a short laugh. She had a random ass mind. I shook it off and finally caught eyes with Rafael. They were filled with mockery. Great, yet another thing my friends will never let me live down. "Listen, I wasn't scared."

"No need to act tough, Andy. We know you're a gangster. Gangsters get scared too," Lin jested as she put her hands on my shoulders from behind. I slunk down in the recliner that my father used to love so much. Over the years since our vacancy in the house, it had gotten less and less comfortable. Now, it felt like I was just sitting on a f-cking stone chair. "Okay, I get it. I'll change the subject. Why'd you bring us here, pal?" She squeezed my shoulder which relaxed me for a few brief seconds. She took a seat between Leo and Rafael, and that's when things got heavy.

Before, I had told them that Delaney had a gun to my head because she thought I cheated on her. I failed to mention what happened with Jimmy and now it was time to let them in on what really went down. I gave them every detail about what Jimmy did to me and those girls. By the end of the story, all three of them were fuming and of course, my blood was boiling. "He has to go. He's been a f-cking pest for years and now we have to exterminate him. I thought I didn't want to be head honcho, but we need a leader, a better one to him and I'm willing to take that step forward. I just need to know if you guys are down. This could cause a full out war. No one has killed a leader for their position since back when my father was still heavily affiliated in the Family. It's frowned upon but he has to go. I don't want a vote. I want him dead."

"Andy, we've had your back since we were kids. We got in the same trouble you got in and took the same losses that you did. I've even f-cked the same girls as you have. Do you really think we're going to let you go into this alone? We're homies. I'll die for you and I'm sure Lin and Rafael will do the same," Leo responded. It was honestly one of the most courteous things I've ever heard come from her mouth. I grabbed my heart out of surprise as my mouth dropped. She took it as sarcasm. "Come on, don't act surprised, d-ckhead! I'd do anything for you!"

"Consider that motherf-cker dead," Rafael confirmed. "No matter what I'm always going to have your backs. You guys are like my sisters. Sh-t, we're kind of like brothers," Rafael bantered.

"Andy, Leo and I are like brothers and you're our sister," Lin replied as she hit Rafael's shoulder joking. He faked a laugh before pushing her shoulder. "Seriously, I'm down for anything. We need a plan though. I'm not trying to die. I have a wife to get back to."

After hours of planning and arguing over what plans were smart and which were dumb, we finally agreed on one. It was simple and traditional to the Family. Back in the old days, when someone had beef with a leader and wanted to take them down. They would declare war. War would be made official by leaving some exquisite delicacy on the leader's doorstep. It was silly, sort of. It was kind of like the quiet before the storm. The leader would get the dish and the letter declaring war and had a week to assemble a crew. A mediator would work out the details of the war and the rules of how things would go down and the best man who won, won.