“Is he making you do this?” Onyx pointed at Crow. “Is he forcing you to leave our crew?”
“You know,” I heard Crow’s footsteps behind me as he walked farther into the room, “we can always let the dice decide the fate of two of your crew members if you think my cousin’s decision isn’t his own.”
“Two?” Onyx narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah. Your SAA and road captain. See, I’m willing to settle the debt your SAA owes me by accepting your road captain into my crew.” He shrugged. “The position as road captain for the Gods of Six just opened up.”
“I’m sure it did.” Sarcasm coated Onyx’s every word.
“So, what will it be?” Crow held up his closed fist while shaking the dice in his palm. “You feeling lucky enough to test fate, or are we accepting Manic’s resignation as road captain for the American Street Kings?”
Not giving a shit about Crow’s attitude and goddamn dice, I rounded the table and walked right up to Manic, bringing my face inches from his. “Don’t do this.”
“It’s done.” He turned away from me, facing Onyx. “This is my decision, and I’m asking that you respect it.”
“You need to know that once you walk out that door without your cut, you can’t come back. This decision can’t be undone,” Onyx warned.
Manic nodded. “I’m aware of that.”
Jesus. I really wanted to punch everyone in the fucking face right now since it seemed like no one was thinking clearly. Everyone was acting like fucking dicks. Why wasn’t anyone losing their shit?
Crow placed the dice back in his jacket pocket. “Don’t worry, Kings, this doesn’t change our business arrangement.”
I snorted. “But it sure as fuck changes a lot of other shit.”
“Ink,” Onyx warned, “shut up.”
Manic turned away from me and walked over to Onyx, reaching out his hand. “You’re doing good, man. I knew you had it in you to run this crew.”
“You’re an asshole, you know that?”
Manic smirked, and Onyx pulled him in for a bro-hug, slapping his palm on his shoulder. “You need anything, you know where to find us.”
Manic nodded. “Thanks, man.” He faced Granite, who walked his way. “I owe this club everything.”
“Nah.” Granite shook his hand. “You owe us nothin’. You just go do what you need to do, okay?”
“Thanks, man.”
I wiped a palm down my face when Manic approached me, wishing there was a goddamn cliff I could jump off of right about now. “This ain’t right, brother.”
Manic scoffed. “Around here, that’s nothin’ new.”
He reached out, placing an arm around my shoulder. Even though I wanted to slap him on the head so he could wake the fuck up, I hugged him instead and whispered, “Why does Crow want you so fucking bad he’s willing to write-off my so-called debt?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.” Manic let go, taking a step back. The scar on his face moved as he narrowed his eyes, pulling his lips in a thin line. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
With that, Manic took a step back, and I watched him walk out behind Crow. It felt all kinds of wrong, seeing him leave without his cut, without his colors. But if I had to be honest and acknowledge the voice in the back of my head, I believed him when he said he wasn’t doing this for me. Well, not completely. Manic had a younger brother out there, and I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell he wouldn’t do anything he could to find him. The system fucked him up, his scar a cruel reminder of that. If he had half a chance of preventing the same happening to his brother, a guy he didn’t even know, he’d take it. And if there was ever anyone in a position to help Manic find his brother, it was Crow.
But at what cost?
The door slammed shut after Manic left, and the last ten minutes felt like it passed in a blur.
I roughed a hand through my hair. “What the fuck just happened?”
“I dunno.” Onyx sat down again. “But we just lost our second crew member in two days.” The despondent look on his face unsettled me. The entire fucking situation surrounding the Kings unsettled me.
“This ain’t right,” I mumbled, more to myself than anyone else. “What the fuck do we do now?”