Jem’s POV

We both followed ‘Drake’, which I still thought was a pretty stupid name, closely as he led us through a part of the city that Dev and I had been trying to avoid this entire time. Everyone with half a brain knew this side of town was run by gangs and knew better than getting caught up in a gang war on accident. 

Drake however strolled through the city with his head held high like he owned the whole damn place. Dev and I didn’t share his confidence. Neither of us showed it but I could see the slight tense in his shoulders as he walked.

The walk seemed to take forever but eventually Drake seemed to slow down from his harsh pace before stopping and turning to both of us. 

“So here’s the deal,” he said as he stared at both of us with a small smirk on his face. “I will provide you with a place to live, a decent wage, a job that will get you respect in this town, and a family that will protect you until their last breath. All I ask from you in return is you serve and protect me the way I will do for you. Take the deal or back out now, see if I care but if you back out now then you can never come back.”

Dev looked to me before turning his back to the man and lowering his voice. 

“It’s better than a dumpster,” he whispered.

“I still think you should go home,” I sighed. He looked like he was about to protest before I cut off his thought before he could even fully collect it. “But if you really don’t want to go back then I feel like this is really our only option at this point. I mean I don’t exactly want to be in a gang but a place to live and money sounds pretty nice right about now.”

“I can almost feel the hot shower now,” Dev whispered his voice so dreamy as he thought back to his days of being clean.

“Then I guess we have the answer then,” I said with a sigh before turning around. Drake looked unamused.

“Done with your little meeting,” he asked with a rude voice, looking a bit pissed off but other than that seemed to be bored.

“We’ll do it,” I said with a glare of my own, not really loving his tone.

“Good, you aren’t stupid at least,” he said with a scoff. “Then we start with your initiation.” He didn’t wait for us to say anything else before turning back around and walking us to an alley behind a nice looking apartment complex. “Go on then.” He stood at the entrance of the ally, looking down towards the end.

My heart started to race as I stepped in front of Dev and began walking. At the end of the alley several people, at least 10, stood around each other in a small circle. They seemed at ease, happy even. Some leaned against the walls while others were joking around with each other like they’ve known each other for a long time. 

Their good nature immediately dissipated as they saw me and Dev started walking towards them. Scowls took over their faces and as a few of them popped their knuckles.

“What’s this about,” I asked Drake as I glanced back at them. He was blocking our way out and I was starting to think I knew where this is going.

“Well in order to be apart of the gang we have to jump you in,” he said with a shrug as if beating us up wasn’t a huge thing in his eyes.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I said, my heart still beating out of my chest as I went to guard Dev.

“That’s the rules. You need to know the power we have before you join in case you get any stupid ideas about betraying us or anything. It’s nothing personal, just something everyone has to go through.”

“That’s absolutely moronic,” Dev spat but still stared at the men in front of us.

“It’s not too late to turn back. I don’t have to hold up my end if you don’t want my help after all but just as a thing to keep in mind, this only has to happen once. A few minutes of discomfort for a lifetime of never having to worry about where your next meal is going to come from. Seems like a good deal to me but if you still don’t want to deal with it then I can walk you back to your dumpster.”

I sighed before I looked back at the guys. 

“Can I fight back?”

“You can try,” Drake said with a smirk in his voice as he waved for the others to come forward.

“God I’ve been waiting for a good jump in for a while now,” one of them said as he walked towards me.

“I’ve missed this shit,” another said.

I raised my hands to protect my face. It didn’t work.

I had managed to get a good few hits in every now and then but 10 against two was no where near fair. Two grabbed me from behind, holding me in a tight grip and keeping my hands from moving while a few others began punching me any place they could land a hit between the other fists in the way. I was sure Dev was getting the same treatment and that honestly hurt more than anything they could do to me.

I lost track of any semblance of time and after it became entirely too hard to open my eyes after every blink.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Drake’s voice called out. At once all the hits stopped coming and the hands that once kept my hands behind my head loosened and came to support my body against theirs instead. “Aren’t trying to kill them,” he scoffed as he walked closer to us. I saw the way Dev flinched when he got closer and the bit of fight I had left in my body rose as I pushed away from the other guys and came to stand in front of him. “Relax kid, I’m not going to touch him. You either for that matter. He seems a bit more roughed up than you, probably not as used to it,” I scowled at that last part. “I was just going to help him up stairs.”

“Upstairs?”

“That’s where you’ll be living. I hope you don’t mind sharing an apartment? I’m not wasting an apartment on him when you two ran away together. If you felt comfortable enough to do that then surely you can live together.”

“You own this place,” I asked as I stared at the high end apartments in front of me.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he said with a scoff. “Makes pretty good money and gives a few of my people a place to stay so it’s a win win situation for me. Now let’s get upstairs before Dev here passes out on us.”

He didn’t wait for me to answer before he began walking. I took a single step before swaying and almost tripping over my own feet. The only thing stopping me was a gentle hand grabbing my arm and pulling over their shoulders.

“Sorry kid, I know we went a bit hard but he wouldn’t have let us stop until he was convinced you were roughed up enough, we were trying to get it over with pretty fast.” I didn’t respond but still let him half carry we to the front of the building and up the stairs until we stopped at the door Drake led us to.

“This one is yours. The keys are all inside, no food yet but there’s a few hundred dollars on the counter so you get something tomorrow if you’re feeling up to it. Someone will be up in a few days after you’re feeling a bit better to teach you the ropes. If you take my money and leave I will find you and I will kill you.” He doesn’t pay us any other attention to us as he turns away and walks down the long hall before disappearing.

“He’s a real prick,” I mumbled mostly to Dev. 

“He can be,” the guy helping me said as he opened the door and lead me in. “But he’s a decent guy mostly. I mean he’s giving you free housing and 300 dollars up front until you get your first check. He could be a lot worse. My name’s Peter, you’ll probably be with me. I’m the drug runner lead and he’s been telling me that the next few hires were going to me so if he keeps his word you’ll be seeing a lot more of me.” He seemed friendly enough but after him pounding me into the sidewalk I couldn’t help but feel a bit of resentment towards him.

“Can’t wait,” I said with a scowl. Thankfully he didn’t seem to keen on sticking around either and before long the two of us were laying on our queen sized bed knocked the absolute fuck out and dreading the next few days.

Last updated February 3, 2024