A week later Dev and I walked to the supply house with our heads held high. Our new route had been approved and we were officially the first drug runners to get a better position in less than two months even though we were supposed to be keeping our heads down and not make waves, it felt good knowing we were doing so much better than everyone else. 

We walked into the supply house like we owned the damn place but stopped short when Peter wasn’t sitting in his usual spot on the couch. A different man sat in his place, looking only a few years older than us. His hair was black, which is clearly a horrible dye job if the black on his forehead was any indicator. His skin was pale and a scowl covered his face the second we walked through the door. The most distinct thing about him was his nose. No matter how much I tried to look away from it, it stuck out so far on his, that I found myself staring at it rather than his brown eyes.

“Where’s Peter,” I asked after a while of him glaring at both of us.

“On break,” he scoffs. “You covering for someone today or something? You should know he always takes a break at this time.”

“This is our new permanent route,” Dev said with a small smile, trying to be as friendly as possible but the boy’s scowl deepened. “I’m Devon and this is James. It’s good to meet you. Maybe you could give us some tips on shortcuts? We had to figure it out on our own last time so it would be nice to have a head start now.”

“So you’re the newbies that have had record-breaking times and sales,” he scoffed as he leaned farther back onto the couch.

“That’s us,” I said with a glare of my own. “And we don’t want any trouble so if you aren’t going to help then we’ll wait outside until Peter comes back.”

“I never said I wouldn’t help,” he shrugged. “Joshua Crown at your service,” he said as he stuck out a hand for us to shake. I took it hesitantly and when his grip became painful, I gripped his just as hard until he pulled away, his face twisted in pain. “Top seller in this section.”

“Well, it’s an honor to meet someone as high-ranked as you,” I said with a mock bow. “Now, how long until Peter gets back? We need him to break down the route.”

“A few minutes,” Joshua said with a shrug. “Now, I don’t know if you knew this or not but we kind of run on an honor code here. If I have information that you want to know, you have to tell me something I want to know. So I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you every shortcut on your route and the best place to start after you tell me what I want to know. Sound fair?” 

Something about this didn’t feel right but I nodded and Joshua’s smirk widened. 

“Did you know that any time someone moves up here, someone else gets moved down,” he asked as he leaned forward to press his elbows against his knees. “It’s all performance-based. If you’re doing better than the guy above you, you switch spots until you hit the top, which is where I am, or until you hit rock bottom and you are no longer useful to Drake.”

“We knew something along those lines,” Dev said hesitantly.

“What do you think happens when two random no-bodies jump up this high without warning? Do you think everyone just gets moved down one spot to make room for them? That’s the way it should be but oh no. If two bottom-of-the-barrel rats jump up randomly, the guys whose spot they took take their run. This means the guys you replaced are now in your old route. Does that seem fair to you?”

“It’s not up to me to decide what’s fair and what’s not,” I said with a shrug, not entirely sure that this wasn’t some stupid test that Drake set up. Joshua hummed, his eyes never leaving the two of us.

“It’s not like that matters anyway,” he said with a small shrug. “That’s not what I want to know. What I want to know is what brand of knee pads you guys use?”

My heart dropped to my stomach while Dev just looked confused. 

“Knee pads,” Dev asked. “I guess back when I played lacrosse I used-,”

“Shut up Devon,” I seethed and Joshua smirked.

“Why? It’s a pretty easy question to answer considering what he’s going to tell us.”

“It’s not a real question,” I said barely above a whisper. “He’s insinuating that we sucked Peter off to get this route.”

“Oh, I’m not insinuating anything,” Joshua shrugged. “I’m downright asking if you did. You know, Peter tries to hide it but if you spend any amount of time with him at the club then you know he tends to like men, and judging by the looks of you two, I’d say you’re playing for the same team. You two took my best friends’ routes. We started years ago and worked our asses off to get these routes and now, in a matter of months, all of that has been undone by two faggots that look like they’ve never sold shit before coming here. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what could have happened. So, yes or no question, did you do Peter an under-the-sheets favor to get these routes?”

“No,” I seethed taking a step closer to the man in front of me. “And if you even think of spreading that shit around I won’t hesitate to kick your ass in front of god and everyone, Drake be damned.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me spreading that around,” Joshua shrugged as he stood up, picking a few bags off the table and shoving them in his pocket. “That rumor has already started, I just wanted to see if you had the balls to admit to it.”

“Listen here Crow-,”

“It’s Crown,” he seethed with a glare of his own as he stood in front of me, our chests nearly brushing against each other with every breath we took. 

“Not with that nose it isn’t,” I said, loving the way Dev choked on a laugh behind me as Crow’s hands clenched at his side. “We got these spots because we earned them. If your friends were worth a damn, they would still be here but they aren’t. Tell them to try harder and maybe they’ll have a chance to get their spots back after we take yours.”

“Over my dead fucking body,” he seethed and I smiled.

“That can be arranged.” Crow went to open his mouth again when the front door opened. I don’t bother turning around to see who it was, not willing to take my eyes off this fucker for even a second.

“What the hell is going on here,” Peter asked, his voice taking on the section leader voice I had only heard him use a few times.

“Just a friendly conversation,” I said as I took a step back from Crow before wiping non-existent dirt off of his jacket. “Crow was just leaving, weren’t you?”

Joshua’s eyes glared daggers into my chest as he leaned in closer, his lips almost brushing my ear. 

“Watch your fucking back because the second you stop looking, I’m going to put a knife in it,” he said, his voice so low I know no one but me heard it. I didn’t have a chance to say anything before he walked past me, our shoulders colliding harshly as he made his way to the door and slammed it shut behind him. 

“I can’t leave you two alone for more than three seconds before you start causing trouble,” Peter complained.

“What can I say,” I sighed as I flopped down on the couch. “It’s a gift.”

“More like a curse,” Dev scoffed.

“Do I even want to know what that was about?”

“Probably not.”

“Should I know about it?”

“More than likely.”

“Are you going to tell me about it before things get out of hand?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Wonderful,” Peter sighed before joining me. “I swear you’re going to give me gray hair. Do me a favor and keep me out of it for as long as possible. And if Drake asks later after all of this blows up in your face, I did not witness any of that.”

“He’s all bark,” I scoffed as I looked over the small map that Peter had laid on the table in front of us and tried my best to memorize our run. “He’s not going to do shit other than say some nasty shit here and there.”

“He’s been punished for violence more than anyone else in my section.”

“But how often does he win?”

“I’ve never seen him lose to anyone but Drake and as I’m sure you remember, that’s mostly because Drake doesn’t give you time to fight back.” My jaw clenched at that.

“I’m not scared of him.”

“I’m not trying to make you scared of him but if you’re going to go out of your way to make enemies then I suggest trying to make a few friends other than Dev to help you out of a shit situation if you find yourself in one. Crown doesn’t fight fair.”

“His name is Crow now, actually.” Peter stopped for a moment before looking at the ceiling, clearly trying to figure out how that nickname could apply to him. 

“The nose,” he asked after a second of thinking.

“It looks like a beak, does it not? And that dye job is not doing him any favors.” Peter laughed so hard his face turned red seconds before turning into a coughing fit.

“Jesus Christ, you can’t call him that in front of me.”

“Why,” Dev asked as he sat on my lap now that we were alone. “Gonna report us to Drake for bullying?”

“Because it’s going to stick and I’m going to fuck up one day and call him that and suddenly I have him trying to fight me and I’ll have to kill my best runner.”

“That’s fine by me,” I shrugged and Peter shoved my shoulder harshly.

“Play nice. I don’t need you two to cause trouble. People look up to the higher routes. If they see you getting away with shit they’ll think they can too. I really don’t want to have to punish you but I will if I have to.”

“Whatever you say, Daddy Peter,” Dev teased. 

“Get out,” Peter scoffed as he pushed us off the couch and began shoving random drugs into our hands.

“We haven’t even gone over the route,” Dev whined as he hid bags in his pockets while Peter grabbed both of us by the arms and shoved us to the door.

“You should have thought about that before you opened your smart-ass mouth,” Peter scoffed. “I told you to knock it off with that shit.”

“Awe, come, Daddy you know you love it,” I teased. Peter’s face was red with a blush as he slammed the door in my face.

“Fuck off,” he screamed through the door.