Page 4

Brice

I t was summertime in LA, and the streets never slept.

The constant whir of the ghetto birds was a testament to that.

I glanced at the time, seeing that I needed to make my rounds.

I’d been alone on the porch of one of our stash houses for the past thirty minutes.

The corner boys would come in and out as needed, but no one was here.

I stood, threw on my hood, and began to walk.

The night air in LA usually dropped to around sixty, so I typically kept a hoodie on.

It was also easier to conceal the gun tucked in my back.

I was lethal with it, but was also just as deadly in hand-to-hand combat.

It was part of my father's requirements when my sister and I chose the streets.

I’d been on autopilot after my father died. Once a king at the top of the jungle my father had built, I’d again found myself at the bottom. All the motherfuckers that my father had put on quickly turned their backs on me before his casket even dropped. Outside of my sister, I couldn’t trust a soul.

I was currently working for a nigga named Cash at night and fulfilling my father’s promise of being a doctor during the day.

Cash didn’t know half the shit he thought he did and it pissed me off.

I could do it better, hell, he was practically taking orders from me and calling them his own.

So, here I was walking the dark streets of LA well after midnight wishing a motherfucker would try me.

Block after block, I walked, checking in on the other dumb ass niggas that Cash had appointed to work the corners.

How in the fuck did I end up back here?

After seeing that everything was copacetic, I headed to the corner store.

The bell rang above my head as I walked through the door.

I had no intention of removing my hood, so the store owner followed my every move as I selected a bag of chips and a soda.

This particular store got robbed every other day, and I was sure he had his hands on a piece under the counter.

If he pulled, so would I, but I wouldn’t miss.

I placed my items on the counter while he totaled me up and paid after he’d given me a price.

I popped the soda open and took a swig as I headed out the door.

When I stepped out, the back of someone’s hand landed on my chest. I attempted to reach for my gun before I looked up to see who had violated me.

“Don’t do that,” he said. I finally followed the voice to see a man in all black and a ski mask. I’d heard about the three but had never interacted with them. I didn’t even know who I was in the presence of One, Two, or Three. I exhaled and held his gaze, waiting to see what this was about.

“Do you know who we are?” He asked .

“Yeah,” I simply answered.

“Good, take a walk with me,” he said, leading us back to the house I’d just come from.

I studied him as we walked past the corner boys vying for his attention.

He nodded but never said a word. We’d finally reached the house.

I stood cautiously behind as he opened the rod iron screen door and led us inside.

The house was old, dingy, and still had wood paneling lining the walls.

The furniture was worn well past its years, and so was the carpet.

I glanced around and listened for voices to find that there still wasn’t anyone here.

I followed him to the back of the house and into a room I had always assumed was a closet.

He entered a code on a keypad that was slightly concealed.

A door inside opened, illuminating a staircase.

My mind was racing, trying to think of anything that I’d done to get on his radar because we’d all heard the rumors about these rooms they had.

Shit, I’m about to die.

It was a daunting thought as I followed him down the staircase, and as the door sealed behind us.

I couldn’t leave JoJo alone, so I decided I wasn’t going down without a fight.

He also hadn't taken my gun, and I wanted to know why.

Finally reaching the landing, the room I entered was entirely made of stainless steel, including the table and chairs.

“Have a seat,” he said. I did as I was told.

“I’m One,” he said as he also sat. He removed his mask, reached into his pockets, and threw on a pair of glasses. I didn’t know what the hell was happening because the three never revealed themselves. They were rumored even to have proxies. No one really knew.

“You will know me as One with the mask. When you see me like this, call me Devin. I know you’re not stupid enough to run your mouth about it, so I don’t have to tell you that if you tell anyone of my identity, you’re dead.

That goes for anyone else you tell, too.

Right?” He spoke with a scrutinizing gaze.

“Right.” I had no idea why I was chosen to see his face, but it piqued my curiosity.

“I’ve been watching you for some time now,” he said and paused, studying me the same way I was him.

“What’s the deal?” I returned, urging him to continue.

“I want you to be my understudy,” he said.

I couldn’t tell you why, as I sat on the edge of my bed, my mind had returned to the day I would never forget.

Perhaps it was because I was on autopilot, with my mind and body right back where they were that day.

I couldn’t dwell on it now, or I would be late for work.

I stood and walked around my sister’s old house, which was now mine, trying to gather everything I needed before heading into my long shift at the hospital.

What once looked like a soft representation of my sister had been transformed into my bachelor pad.

Replacing her sienna couch with a plush gray one.

I used her throw pillows to mix in with my navy and Ivory ones.

I’d made a few more changes throughout the house, putting what I didn’t want into storage.

Jourdan knew what she was doing when she decided not to sell this house.

Since she left California, she’d been trying to lure me to the East Coast. We grew up with a tight-knit family, so being away from her for that long had been trying on my mental health, especially with the loss of both our parents.

I would never tell her this, but I’d planned to leave for a while.

I’d started the transition after my last pop-up visit here in NC.

I started packing up my shit and contacted my realtor.

Then, after she popped up that night with that photo, he had my houses under his rental management company within a week, and I was out.

I also placed a few of my most trusted men in charge there.

It was the same as when Devin put me in charge of the distro before making me one of the two.

That trust I spoke of was what little I was willing to give.

So, I wasn’t worried about that either. Like I’d told Stephon earlier in the year, I felt like we were stronger together.

I didn’t care what he thought; having him in my family legally and as my chosen one made me feel invincible.

Shit, where in the hell is my stethoscope ?

My mind was all over the place; I needed to be grounded.

I often felt like I was floating off the face of the earth.

Things had been better since moving here, but they weren’t.

If I were being honest with myself, I was missing Tayla.

I didn’t know what to think about the information I’d learned that night.

I tried not to think about it or Tay. There were so many days when I wanted to find her and ask her if the shit was factual.

However, I was determined to leave the past in the past. Especially if it were true, that would hurt more than not knowing.

I was probably being a bitch and falling right in line with the whole miscommunication between friends shit that everyone hated, but I had serious fucking trust issues.

The things that had happened with my father and the entire photo fiasco exhibited every reason why I couldn’t trust motherfuckers.

Those trust issues worsened when I took over as one of the two.

Shit I’m a damn walking contradiction! Trust or not trust her nigga pick a side.

Instead, of dwelling on all my fucked-upness, I threw myself into ‘work’ and this damn hospital emergency room department.

I was over that shit too; I said I no longer wanted to be in the ER when I lived in The LAnd, yet here I was in another damn ER.

The only upside was that it was slower than the typical gunshot wounds and weird ailments that I dealt with there.

You’d be surprised at how many things I’d had to help people remove from their rectum.

It wasn’t that I wanted out of medicine altogether.

I just needed to slow shit down. I had planned on transitioning to pediatrics or family medicine, but the ER and the streets made sure I didn’t have time to dwell on shit.

I’d promised my father, after my mother died, that I wouldn’t give up medicine because my mother loved it, no matter the toll it took.

He wanted my sister and me to always have something to fall back on.

I knew this drug shit wasn’t forever, and I definitely couldn’t see myself doing it for as long as he did.