James’ POV

Weeks passed and Crow was starting to be a rather big pain in my ass. 

Ever since his bruises began to fade, he had become nearly incredible. Every day when we came in as he was going out there was some rude comment or a hit of his shoulder against mine. The small things I didn’t care much about. I could deal with the words and the pathetic excuses for shoulder checks but as the weeks went on it got worse.

He began stopping me before we went in, bragging about his runs, how his friends had begun improving and would be taking their spots back, and how he was going to kill me the second he took over for Drake. I guess he figured out I had heard that little discussion they had back at the club and wasn’t willing to hold onto the secret anymore.

Still, I had been willing to hold out. It wasn’t worth starting shit over. Peter had warned me about the no-fighting rule and I wasn’t willing to get my ass handed to me by Drake so soon. Not to mention the warning he had given me to keep my head down. I didn’t want Drake’s eyes on me. The last thing I wanted was for him to try and force me to be his little project so starting fights would only make things worse in the long run regardless of how it ended. 

Then he said the one thing I couldn’t ignore.

He stopped me outside the drug house, the way he had done so many times before. I sent Dev ahead, wanting Peter to know that we had in fact shown up on time, before turning to glare at Crow. 

His nose hadn’t healed properly after Drake broke it and it only made it look more like a beak than it already had. He was glaring at me too, the last remaining bruise on his cheek staring at me in a sick greenish hue.

“What do you want Crow,” I sighed as I stared at him. “This whole thing is starting to become a little obsessive don’t you think? You better be careful or people are going to start spreading rumors.” His fists clenched at his side.

“What kind of rumors,” he spat at me, a scowl taking over the glare. 

“Oh, you know, the same rumors going around about me and Peter. People already think I’m gay so you stopping me like this all the time is only going to make those rumors take off.”

“I’m not a fucking faggot,” he seethed and I only shrugged.

“You can keep telling yourself that all you want, it doesn’t make it any less or true.”

“The first thing I’m doing when I take over is kill you,” he said, taking another step towards me. Our chest touched as I looked down at him. The size difference wasn’t much but it was enough to make the anger in his eyes cover his entire face. “Then, I’m going to kill that faggot boyfriend of yours and Peter too. I’m killing every goddamn faggot in this gang and started completely over.”

My jaw clenched as I stared down at him.

“You even think about touching him, and I will kill you long before you have the chance to,”

“With what power,” he scoffed. “When I’m leading this gang you will have nothing and I’ll have a literal army. If I want him dead, he’ll die before you have a chance to do anything and you’ll be right behind him.” My fists clenched at my sides and he smirked.

“Touch him and you fucking die,” I seethed again. His smirk only widened.

“Your threats mean nothing to me,” he teased, that fucking smirk still plastered on his face as he turned to walk away. “You will always be a street rat and the second Drake passes his power to me, I’ll kill Devon and make you watch just long enough to suffer before I kill you too.” I glared at his back but the anger coursing in my chest fought to be released.

I knew I couldn’t start the fight. That would lead to too much shit I wasn’t willing to get caught in but if I said the right thing and he threw the first punch, I could probably work my way out of it.

My mouth opened before I had fully thought it through.

“What brand of knee pads did you use to become Drake’s successor? They have to be a hell of a lot better than the ones I use.”

Crow stopped dead in his tracks. Every nerve in his body tenses as he turns to look at me. A vein in his forehead throbbed as he glared.

“What did you just say,” he seethed, stalking the few steps closer to me until we were back in our original position.

“Maybe you need to get your ears checked,” I teased with a light smirk as I bent down a few inches to look him in the eye. “I asked what brand of kneepads you used since you obviously didn’t get this position without a bit of dirty work.” My tongue pushed the inside of my cheek suggestively and with the help of a lewd gesture from my hand, my head was being snapped to the side only seconds later.

I barely felt the pain before he was on me again. A punch to the other side of my head. A kick to my stomach. An elbow to my temple. My head swam at the feeling and that’s where I drew the line.

I allowed him to get a few extra hits in for the sake of my defense later but the headshot went too far.

In a matter of seconds, it was an all-out brawl. Blood sprayed on the pavement beneath us, someone was screaming, and hands were on both of us in an attempt to pull us apart but nothing else mattered. I was too busy taking in the sight of Crow covered in blood and nothing else mattered as I fought to get my hands back on him.

I was bleeding too, the few hits he was able to get in were hard and he played dirty, allowing his nails to scrape against my skin every chance he got but at least I only looked like I got caught in a catfight and not dragged across the pavement like Crow.

“That’s enough,” Peter seethed as he stood in front of us, his section lead voice coming out in full force as he glared at me.

I was still fighting whoever was trying to hold me back, too distracted by the time to see the punch aimed at my temple.

All I could see was black as I fell against the pavement. The hard thud only seconds later told me that Crow had been given the same treatment and even though I was almost certain I was just concussed, it made me feel a little better.

I forced my eyes to open and when they did, I saw Peter standing in front of me, glaring. 

“Why the hell did you do that,” he seethed down at me. Dev was beside him. I expected to see a look of concern on his face but he only matched Peter.

I glanced behind them to make sure Crow was still down and thankfully he was. Either Peter had punched him significantly harder or he was just a pussy.

I shrugged as I forced myself to sit up. My head swam in protest and bile threatened to spill out of me but I forced it down. 

“He threatened my life. I was well within my right to defend myself. He swung first.”

Peter didn’t seem all that impressed as he offered my hand to stand up. 

“Drake will have to hear about this,” he sighed. “I’m not going to be able to protect you.”

“He started,” I said, in case he hadn’t heard me the first time.

“I’m not stupid,” Peter scoffed. “And neither is Drake. He’s going to know you said something to set Joshua off.”

“We can always lie.”

“Not to Drake,” Peter said with a shake of his head. “He’d kill all of us for even trying to lie to him.”

“What do you think he’s going to do,” Dev asked, now finally lacing his voice with the concern I was waiting for.

“Nothing good,” Peter sighed.

“I’m fine by the way,” I scoffed as I took Peter’s hand and forced myself to stand up. “In case anyone cared.”

“You were being a stupid dumbass,” Dev scoffed. “No one cares about whether or not you are okay right now.”

“Well, fine then.”

“This is serious James. Drake has killed people for less than this and you just attacked his successor. Not to mention that you would have won if I hadn’t stopped it. Remember that little talk we had about him having an eye on you? What do you think he’s going to do now that the kid he was thinking about replacing Joshua with just beat him in a fight? I can’t fucking protect you if you’re doing dumbass shit like this! What part of lay low did you not understand?” He was all but yelling at this point and my blood ran cold. 

I hadn’t entirely thought that far ahead. I didn’t want to be Drake’s lackey. I didn’t even want to be in this stupid gang, let alone lead it one day.

“Finally connecting the dots now are you,” Peter sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “Just get inside, please. Get inside, get your drugs, then do your run. I’ll try to talk Drake down but I doubt it will do much.”

“He threatened to kill you and Dev,” I told him and Peter shrugged.

“There’s nothing I can do about that. If he takes over and wants us dead, the only thing we can do if try and skip town that night before he gives the order. Drake won’t care if he loses three guys if it means supporting Joshua’s first order. It’s not like we’re all that important in the grand scheme of things. He can replace a runner and a section lead. Replacing Joshua after he’s taken over would be a lot harder.”

“So you’re just going to roll over and accept your own death,” I scoffed.

“You signed up for death the second you took Drake’s offer,” Peter shrugged as he turned back to the house. “It’s only a matter of how you go. It’s time you learned that. Get your drugs and leave.”