"Wait, hold up," Leo said as she howled with laughter. She put her hand up to stop me from talking. We were sitting in my family's old house. It was sort of like a secret hideout for me and my friends. No one ever came checking for us in in an abandoned house in the center of a middle-class neighborhood. Whenever we came here, serious sh-t was always going on. Therefore, I asked my friends here to tell them that I was ready to go after Jimmy. Unfortunately, they were a little too entertained with the fact that I woke up with Delaney having a gun pointed to my face. "Yo, she's f-cking crazy! You almost got blasted by your own girl! That's f-cking hilarious. You better never actually cheat on her."

"Did you sh-t your pants or what," Rafael asked as he lit up a cigarette. He leaned back into the worn out, leather couch as he stared at me with an interested smirk. I knew I should have never told them about how Delaney had a gun aimed at my f-cking head. "I wouldn't know what to do. I'd probably start crying and begging for my life."

I looked anywhere but at my friends. My eyes focused on a spray-painted wall which was covered in Leo's stylish and colorful graffiti. Sketches of naked women, marijuana leaves and gorillas filled up the whole wall. I let out a short laugh. She had a random ass mind. I shook it off and finally caught eyes with Rafael. They were filled with mockery. Great, yet another thing my friends will never let me live down. "Listen, I wasn't scared."

"No need to act tough, Andy. We know you're a gangster. Gangsters get scared too," Lin jested as she put her hands on my shoulders from behind. I slunk down in the recliner that my father used to love so much. Over the years since our vacancy in the house, it had gotten less and less comfortable. Now, it felt like I was just sitting on a f-cking stone chair. "Okay, I get it. I'll change the subject. Why'd you bring us here, pal?" She squeezed my shoulder which relaxed me for a few brief seconds. She took a seat between Leo and Rafael, and that's when things got heavy.

Before, I had told them that Delaney had a gun to my head because she thought I cheated on her. I failed to mention what happened with Jimmy and now it was time to let them in on what really went down. I gave them every detail about what Jimmy did to me and those girls. By the end of the story, all three of them were fuming and of course, my blood was boiling. "He has to go. He's been a f-cking pest for years and now we have to exterminate him. I thought I didn't want to be head honcho, but we need a leader, a better one to him and I'm willing to take that step forward. I just need to know if you guys are down. This could cause a full out war. No one has killed a leader for their position since back when my father was still heavily affiliated in the Family. It's frowned upon but he has to go. I don't want a vote. I want him dead."

"Andy, we've had your back since we were kids. We got in the same trouble you got in and took the same losses that you did. I've even f-cked the same girls as you have. Do you really think we're going to let you go into this alone? We're homies. I'll die for you and I'm sure Lin and Rafael will do the same," Leo responded. It was honestly one of the most courteous things I've ever heard come from her mouth. I grabbed my heart out of surprise as my mouth dropped. She took it as sarcasm. "Come on, don't act surprised, d-ckhead! I'd do anything for you!"

"Consider that motherf-cker dead," Rafael confirmed. "No matter what I'm always going to have your backs. You guys are like my sisters. Sh-t, we're kind of like brothers," Rafael bantered.

"Andy, Leo and I are like brothers and you're our sister," Lin replied as she hit Rafael's shoulder joking. He faked a laugh before pushing her shoulder. "Seriously, I'm down for anything. We need a plan though. I'm not trying to die. I have a wife to get back to."

After hours of planning and arguing over what plans were smart and which were dumb, we finally agreed on one. It was simple and traditional to the Family. Back in the old days, when someone had beef with a leader and wanted to take them down. They would declare war. War would be made official by leaving some exquisite delicacy on the leader's doorstep. It was silly, sort of. It was kind of like the quiet before the storm. The leader would get the dish and the letter declaring war and had a week to assemble a crew. A mediator would work out the details of the war and the rules of how things would go down and the best man who won, won.

We took a couple days to go over things and made sure the odds were in our favor. Over half of our Family in Santa Monica was sure to fight for our side if they had to, so we would most likely win a full out fight if it came to that. Part of me hoped that Jimmy would peacefully give in, but I knew he wouldn't. He was going to fight until the end and do anything he could to kill me once I put food on his doorstep. I was ready for it though.

I had already texted my mother and asked her to make a lasagna. She thought I was asking for one because I missed her cooking. I wasn't going to worry her or my dad with gang nonsense. My father would probably want to get involved and I wanted to be independent. I didn't want people vouching for me just because I was his daughter. I wanted them to believe that I would be a notorious leader.

"You're going to give him food," Delaney asked me as she stared down at the lasagna. Her mouth was watering from looking at it. "Don't you think we should keep it? Why waste a perfectly made lasagna on an asshole?"

"It's a tradition, darlin'. We make sure they get one good meal before they die. Don't worry. Ma will make a sh-tload of food when she finds out I'm head honcho." I kissed her forehead and sat down the lasagna on the kitchen counter. I admit that I was a little nervous. Things were about to change and I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"What's going on," she asked me as she grabbed my hands. I pulled her into my arms and held her tightly. She giggled a little bit as she clung onto me.

"Things are going to be different. I'm going to be leading a whole city full of gangsters. I know you didn't sign up for-"

"I told you when I first met Jimmy that I thought you should be in his position. You were destined for this, Andy. I believe you'll be a great head honcho and anything else you want to be. You're brave, strong, young, pretty f-cking scary and incredibly handsome." I chuckled at her as she grabbed my face. She pulled me into a long kiss. It put me at peace. Suddenly, I wasn't as nervous. If things did change, at least I knew I had her by my side. That's all that really mattered. As long as my friends, Delaney and my family were cool then so was I.

Instead of dropping the lasagna off myself, I got one of my loyal comrades who already pledged allegiance to my side of the war to drop it off. I left a simple note with the dish, Love, Andy. Jimmy was sure to get a kick out of that. While that was happening, I was with my three best knuckleheads recruiting members to fight for us at the clubhouses and anywhere in between. As suspected, we got majority of the support and Jimmy would just have his little f-ckboys on his side.

Everything was going well and for once in the past couple of nights, I got a good night's rest. I didn't wake up until after noon and my phone was spammed with calls and texts. As soon as I saw the screen, I knew something wasn't right. There were a bunch of calls and texts from Leo, Lin and Rafael, all warning me not to go the main clubhouse. None of the texts were from Delaney or anyone else, just those three. I instantly began trying to call them back but no one would answer.

I tried to call Delaney's phone but it went straight to voicemail. What the hell was going on? Why was no one answering my calls? I got ready and tried to call each one of my friends every few minutes until I arrived at Delaney's apartment. I felt at ease when I saw her car parked in the parking lot. She probably slept in just like I did.

Though she seemed to be home, I knocked on the door just to make sure. Mia yanked the door open and gave me a confused look. I brushed off her puzzled glare and peeked into the house. "Is Delaney still sleeping?"

"What? No. Delaney isn't here. I thought she was with you. She's been gone all night," Mia quickly informed me. My heart sunk as I tried to piece everything together. Delaney was apparently missing. The only place I knew my friends could be was at the clubhouse or either our secret hideout, but if they were at the hideout, why weren't they answering my calls? F-ck, if Jimmy f-cking touched any of them, I was going to make him beg for death.

"All night? What do you mean by all night?"

"I haven't seen her since like eight last night. I've texted her and called her but my calls always go straight to voicemail and my messages just say 'delivered' and she always has her read receipts on. Sh-t, is something wrong? Oh my God, if Delaney is hurt..."

"Hey, she's okay. I'm sure she's okay. Maybe she's with Camilo, yeah? Do you have his number?" I was trying to keep my composure as Mia was ready to break down at just the possibility that Delaney could be in danger. She kept it together long enough to get me Camilo's number.

The phone rang and rang, until finally I got an answer. "Hello?"

"Hey, man. It's Andy. I'm sorry. I jacked your number from Mia. Look, have you seen Delaney?"

"Delaney? No. Why? Is everything okay?" I could hear the urgency in his voice. I let out a shaky breath as I began pacing around. F-ck, if she wasn't with him then Jimmy had her. He had to f-cking have her. If Leo, Lin and Rafael didn't want me to come to the clubhouse then something must've been going on. He probably had them and Delaney too! F-ck!

"Everything's fine," I lied.

"Are you sure?"

My phone vibrated abruptly in my hands. It was a video message from Jimmy. "Gotta go, Camilo," I said quickly before hanging up the phone. I took a deep breath before clicking on the message.

The video started off facing Jimmy with a smug look on his face. He was in the main clubhouse with his goons by him. There were some of the people who said they would fight for me against him there as well by they all had guns aimed at them. Jimmy had got more goons, goons that weren't even apart of the Family! "Hey, Andy," he said with a wave. "Why don't you say hello to your friends?" He flipped the camera so it was facing four people tied to chairs.

Lin, Rafael and Delaney were bruised up. I couldn't believe he f-cking put his hands on Delaeny. He was going to f-cking pay. Delaney looked into the screen with no fear in their eyes as so did Lin and Rafael. Leo, on the other hand, she looked dazed. She had a gun shot wound to her chest. She was bleeding out and that f-cker just had her tied up. "I told you not to f-ck with me, little girl. Now get your ass over here and die bravely and I might just let one or two of your little friends live." The video ended and I started heading straight for the door.

"Andy, you have to f-cking save her. If anything happens to Delaney, I swear-"

I turned back to face Mia. "Mia, I need you to get in your car and drive somewhere far from here. Maybe back home to your family? Only until I get this straightened out, okay? Everything's going to be fine. Delaney's going to be fine. Everything's going to be okay. I just need you to be smart and get away." I handed Mia my gun. I didn't have time to instruct her on how to use it. She'd figure it out if her life was truly in danger. "Keep that for now and be safe, okay? Delaney will be okay."

Mia looked as if she wanted to believe me but I could tell negative thoughts were going through her mind. "I'm going to leave and you should leave five minutes after me just to be safe, alright?"

"Alright," she said as she nodded through the tears.

I gave her a quick hug before running out of the apartment and to my car. I was outnumbered back at the clubhouse so on the way there, I decided to call Camilo. I guess he could help. I gave him a quick rundown on everything and asked him to meet me at the clubhouse. Though he wasn't apart of the Family, I knew he would help since Delaney's life was on the line. We got to the clubhouse at the same time. I hopped out of my car and went to the trunk to grab my backup gun.

Camilo ran up behind me. He had about three SUV's of armed guys. That really wasn't enough, but it'd have to do. Something was better than nothing. "What's the plan," he asked me. For once, he was a 100% serious. Not a joke or even a smile came from his face.

"You guys stay behind in the cars until you hear at least one gunshot. If you hear a gunshot, you run in. If you don't, stay out here. We don't need things to get any messier."

"What the f-ck, man? That's stupid! What do you think you're going to go in there and do? Convince him to let everyone go and allow you to kill him!? It's not going to work like that."

"We don't have time to argue."

"My f-cking sister's in there!"

"You don't think I know that!? I won't let anything happen to her. You have to trust me, Camilo. She's my girlfriend. I'm going to protect her with my life. I just need you stay back until you hear a gunshot."

"What if that gunshot is towards Delaney?"

"It won't be."

Camilo sucked in a breath and put his hands up. "F-ck it! Fine. We're wasting time arguing. Just go in there and do what you have to do."

I nodded and slammed the trunk of my car before tucking the gun in my waistband. For once, I was terrified. What if I walked in there and all my friends were dead? What if I walked in there and Jimmy killed them before my eyes? I couldn't bear the thought. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and collected myself for a few seconds before walking into the clubhouse. It was dead silent when I walked in but only for a few seconds. I pushed through everyone to find Jimmy.

A circle was formed around him. My allies were in the back of the circle with guns pointed to them. My friends were tied to chairs in the middle of the circle with guys behind them with guns pointed to their heads. And then there was Jimmy, with his back faced towards me. He was kneeling in front of Delaney. "Looks like your savior is here. Are you happy, sweetheart?"

Delaney spit in his face aggressively as she tried to get from her restraints. Jimmy laughed hardily as he wiped her spit from his face. "A spitter, huh? I'm going to teach you to swallow once I finish off your girlfriend." Delaney grimaced as Jimmy laughed harder.

I clenched my fists as Jimmy turned around to face me. He had a psychotic grin plastered on his face. He was really getting a power trip out of this. "Your girlfriend is almost braver than your friends." I looked at my friends who looked defeated, especially Leo. She looked like she was about to past out from her wounds. She needed a doctor. I had to get this over with quick. "I had to smack her around a little until I got her to cooperate."

"I'm going to f-cking kill you! You call me a little girl, but look at you. You have guns pointed at everyone because you're a f-cking p-ssy. You're not a man. You're a cowardly little boy who depends on the help of his d-cksuckers to hold power. But newsflash, Jimmy, mostly everyone here doesn't want you here. They want a new leader and I'm going to be that leader. So, why don't we do this like the OG's did it? You've got me surrounded and all my friends cornered, but why don't you and me go one and one? Fist to fist. Whoever kills who first wins and becomes the head honcho."

That really got Jimmy to laugh. He looked at one of his goons for confirmation. "Did you just hear this b-tch?" The goon laughed and shook his head. "You really want to do that, Andy?"

"If you win, you can do whatever you want but you have to let my friends go. If I win, all these motherf-ckers with guns pointed at my friends will put their guns down and leave or accept me as the new leader."

The outrageous laughter of Jimmy only made me angrier. Did he really think I couldn't beat him? I could kick his ass with my f-cking eyes closed. "You really think you're going to win? You're going to make it that easy for me? Do you really want to try that because if I win, not only am I going to kill your friends, but I'm going to make your girlfriend my b-tch." He stepped closer to me, so close that I could smell his last cigarette on his breath. "I'm going to f-ck her every day and every night until she forgets you even existed. Do you want that for her? You want her to live the rest of her life being a slave to my d-ck?"

I took a deep breath as I looked past him to my friends and Delaney. There was no other way, I had to bargain their lives. I believed I could beat Jimmy and if I didn't, I'm sure my friends could work something out. "Untie them. Have them stand in front of your goons. At least let them not be restrained if I do die. I want them to die on their feet."

Jimmy laughed once again. "Damn, you really don't care about them, do you, Andy? You're treating their life like some kind of toy."

"Just f-cking do it."

To my surprise, Jimmy did as I asked. He untied all four of them and his goons placed their guns on the back of their skulls in case anyone tried anything. "Let's rumble, Andy," Jimmy said as he got into his fighting stance.

"You got this, Andy," I heard Delaney call out to me. From the back of the circle, I heard the members of the Family who supported me cheering for me as well.

Here goes nothing.

-

Do you think Andy can beat Jimmy?