Chapter Thirty | | June 5th

Three hundred sixty five days had passed. I thought I'd move on until I checked the time on my phone and saw today's date. I felt like I went back to that day as I heard his words resurface my brain. I could see myself back on the floor, hands on my chest, trying to hold my heart that broke in pieces. I remember how I kept looking for him the days and weeks after until I had finally lost hope. Quannell. I wonder how you are...

* * *

Two men were facing each other in a room. The lighting in the room was dim and on one half there was no light at all. One of the two was over 6ft and was standing in front of a grey wall. The other was around 5'10 and was standing right in front of the line that separated the two halves of the rooms.

"So what exactly do you know ?" asked the shorter man. His name was Naveen but he preferred to be called Captain Veen.

"Their Leader is Sha. Light skinned woman. Younger sister of their previous Leader." answered the taller man in a firm voice.

"Draco ?" questioned Naveen.

"Yes cap'."

Captain Veen glanced back before returning his attention to the man that was standing awkwardly before him. "What about the other members?"

"Third Eye, Arab girl. Ghost, brother of Third Eye. Link, white boy. Izzy. She's half Mexican but looking at her skin, no one bothers to ask. In their eyes she's a Caucasian and a pretty one."

Naveen sat on a chair behind him and scoffed. "Go on."

"That's all I know." He lied. Captain Veen scratched the back of his head, slightly tilting it as he looked at him skeptically.

"I heard there was one more."

"Titi but I doubt she's worth much." said the taller man, avoiding Naveen's intense glare.

"I'll be the judge of that." commented Naveen before yawning loudly. "What does she look like ?"

"She's... She's black with locks."

"Like you ?"

"Like me." repeated the taller man in a quieter voice.

Naveen leaned forward, suddenly intrigued by the man's response. "Where do they get the money from ?"

"Side hustle. That's always where the money comes from when you don't have the means."

Captain Veen chuckles. "You said Draco is the current leader's sibling ?" said another. The voice came from the other half of the room.

The taller man held his hand together in front of his crotch before replying. "Yes sir."

"I haven't heard that name in a while..." continued the voice.

"Must've brought back memories." said Naveen, glancing back as he leaned back into his seat.

"It did. I can clearly remember the frightened expression on his face, the second time I shot him." A hand comes out of the dark, forming a pistol. The man in the dark made the sound of a gun shot with his mouth as his finger slowly went up. Naveen and the voice snicker.

"What's wrong ?" questioned Naveen. He slowly turned his head back to the other man, who stood stolid wide-eyed.

"Gunshots used to scare me, growing up." he answered.

Naveen's eyes rolled as he heard this foolish response. "You're grown now. Getting scared is for the weak. Boss, are you sure about this one ?"

"Affirmative. I have a task for you."

"Yes sir ?"

"Take care of the newcomer for me. I'm sure y'all will quickly get along. You easily got along with Renee, it must be a natural thing for you people."

Naveen snickers "What are you waiting for ? Go !"

"Yes sir."

The taller man hustled his way out of the room. "What are you thinking about, Jax ?"

"Is that even a question, Naveen ?" They both laugh.

* * *

For a whole month, Tyrell didn't come back home. He never answered any of Sha's, JJ's and I's calls and whenever we'd text him when he'd be coming back he always replied with "idk".

"Where're you going ?" I asked Tanisha, seeing her take her car keys.

"I'm going to the crib. Ty might've talked to Nate. He might know something." She leaves and goes to the Silvers domicile. Izzy and Kyle had gone out together somewhere so there were only the twins and Nate present that day.

"Where's everyone ?" asked Sha as she opened the entrance door.

"I'm here." replied a softly spoken voice.

"Aneesa."

"Hey."

Aneesa was lying on one of the couches while watching Tv. Sha took a short look at the screen before turning her head to Neesa. "Nate's here right ?" she asked.

Aneesa nodded her head. "Mhm, in his room."

"I'll be back." added Sha before going into the hallway.

She placed her hand on the room door handle and before she even had the chance to turn it, the door had opened itself. She backed up as a large figure advanced towards her. In front of her eyes laid a naked torso. A bare toned torso with long black hair falling on top of it covering most parts of the chest. Tanisha's eyes moved down the torso till they stopped at the lower part of the body. A wrapped towel was visible. Her eyes climbed the upper body before stopping at mysterious droopy eyes. Tanisha began to feel warm as her eyes locked with that intriguing gaze. Her eyes shifted from one eye to another before shifting down to the mouth and its round full lips. The inexpression of the mouth morphed into a sneaky smirk. "Hey." A smoky voice came out of that mouth.

Tanisha started to cough a little as reality came back to her. "A-Asad ! What are you doing here ? Where are your clothes ?"

"My fault. I just showered and came back to get my phone from Nate's room."

"Um... Yeah that, um, makes sense."

He chuckled quietly as he stared down at the ground. " What are you doing here ?"

"I wanted to talk to Nate."

Asad nodded. They were both looking at the ground as they stood in silence for a while. "Is that all ?" he asked in a shy tone. She looks back up to him and their gaze gets locked with each other.

"What do you mean ?" She broke eye contact and inched a step backwards. "I need to talk to Nate and you should get dressed."

"Yeah." He passed by her and went into his room.

"I wanted to talk to Nate." mimicked Nate. He was sitting at his desk and his chair was turned towards the door who had been left agape.

"You eavesdropped ?" asked Tanisha amused by his impersonation as she stood by the door.

"The door wasn't closed. You would've noticed if you weren't drooling over Sad's body."

"I wasn't drooling..." She shook her head.

"You're really perverted, you know, I saw you bite your lips when you looked at him."

"It's not like that. I didn't do all that."

"Sure.. What did you want to talk about ?"

"Let's talk outside." suggests Tanisha. They come out of the room and walk out the house where they see Aneesa asleep in the living room. They start to stroll around the neighborhood.

"You came for Tyrell right ?" asked Nate.

"Have you always picked up on clues so fast ?"

"He talked to me. We met outside a few times." He continued in a more serene tone.

"What did he say ?"

"You should've let him join the gang, Tanisha..."

"He said that ? I don't know why I'm even surprised-"

"No." Nate interrupted. " I said that. I'm saying that to you right now. He's not coming back, he left for real this time."

Tanisha stops walking and gloats at Nate. " What do you mean he left for real ? He's staying with Tyler now ?"

Nate stops walking as well. "He joined the Rox gang..." he replies looking down.

"He did what !"

"You made him want to prove himself to you." he argued as he walked over to a bench that was nearby. " He was so happy to have been able to join this shitty troop that he didn't even realize he had put a barrier between the two of us. This idiot..." he added, shaking his head as he sat down.

Tanisha sat by his side. "What are you going to do now ?"

"Nothing..." He paused for a bit, thinking about his next words. "He's still my friend, I can't abandon him. No matter..."

"No matter ?"

"No matter how much I despise his guts right now. He betrayed me but he's still my brother..."