Brent / Chapter 27

Cases P.O.V

Yeah well actually, it was just me. I felt sick leaving Shane and going on the "mission" without him.

He laughed it off and said it was fine; it wasn't.

It was a small job. No big deal. We got in, and got out. Brent had me do the interrogating.

After that he took me along with a lot more jobs. Rarely could I convince him to let Shane come.

A year passed like this. Training. Threats. Jobs. Shit like that.

"Woods, you up for some routine shit?" Brent asked me once, Shane was sitting right beside me.

I bit my lip and glanced at Shane. "Yeah."

In thirty minutes I was walking silently through an abandoned house, that was apparently a base for some smaller gang we were supposed to end.

It was supposed to be a quick job.

Walk in, throw around a few threats, scare the shit out of them, and leave. 

So, so, simple. I guess we let our guard down. I guess we didn't expect for their to be so many of them.

I was behind Brent. I liked Brent.

He was weird, actually kind of nice to me.

Fatherly even, after a few months in which he warmed up to me.

Don't get me wrong, he was a prick...to..everyone. His guys, Shane, everyone.

But me. Everyone but me. Kind of weird, but I wasn't complaining.

Time passed too quickly. A whole year in my life is saved to simple flashes in my memory.

Just stupid small things that happened that were barely worth remembering, but I did anyways.

Shane and I grew apart. I didn't even try to stop it really. I'd gotten what I worked for.

And...he didn't.

Anyways...Back to the house we were sneaking through,

I guess by now you've probably guessed what happened.

We were ambushed. They knew we were coming.

Yeah. There was a spy in the Westside.

It happened really fast. First we were walking silently, the next-

"Woods, down!" Yelled Brent, shoving me onto the ground as gunshots rung through the air,

I hit the ground from the force,

It was really blurry, things were spinning. There were screams and cries supposedly of pain.

'let's get out of here!' Something along those lines....Someone said it.

I took out my gun and stood, I thought it had been fast but I guess not since everyone seemed to be gone.

As soon as I stood, the silence hit me like a brick wall.

Where was everybody? I remember thinking that.

Where were they.

Then shaking breathing broke the silence, I turned towards the sound, "B-Brent..?"

"Woods...your ok?" He asked quietly, through gasps of air.

"Y-Yeah I'm ok." I quickly knelt by him, it took a second for me to realize I was kneeling in blood.

His blood.

"Ok good.." he mumbled, he was losing consciousness. Well I thought that at the time, but it wasn't his consciousness that was fading.

Blood...Gunshots....

He was probably shot.

Damn there's a hole in his chest.

That's how I realized it. That's how my brain process worked.

I quickly tried to stop the bleeding, looking around for anyone to help.

They were all either knocked out or worse.

"Stop it Woods, that hurts." His voice was annoying calm. "Listen, I need someone to lead."

I blinked. "Why can't you..?"

He ignored that, "Take the...the...Uhg this.." he struggled to dig into his jacket pocket, then handed me what looked like a silver pendant. I took it and looked at it in my hand.

It was really simple. Just a plain silver circle, like it only existed to be there. It didn't have a message or a direct point.

It was about the size of a nickel and as thick as three.

I looked up at him "Why are you giving this to me?"

"Told you Woods...I need someone to lead...I-I'm not going to give you some shitty speech because you know what to do...hey...t-take my jacket.." he mumbled. "It's...a-a good jacket.."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I demanded, looking at him.

He didn't reply, he mumbled something about pride, then he was still. His eyes open.

"B-Brent...Brent!" I shook him. "Get the fuck up!" I slapped him, suddenly furious.

I didn't really realize he had been dying until he actually died.

The feeling that came as soon as I realized...it put something cold into my chests that never really left.

Or it hasn't yet.

I took a shaky breath. "I'm s-sorry.." I said quietly, and holding the pendant tightly in my hand I stood, wishing I had said goodbye.

          *                    *                    *

  He didn't get a funeral. He didn't want one. We all knew that.

I kept his jacket, washing the blood off by hand. The rest of his stuff was sold or sent to his family.

I really wish that's where the story ended. But of course, there was more.

I guess it was pretty hard for these guys to respect a 16 year old as the leader, but they managed.

I wasn't a dick about it. Not at first anyways.

The pendant was apparently a big deal no one had told me about.

So, yeah. That helped.

I could take any of them in a fight, and that brought out some respect.

And, I guess I hadn't realized it, but Brent had been kind of preparing me for this. Because everything I needed to do, I knew how to do it.  Everything that happened, I knew how to handle it.

I never got an 'oh shit, da fuck do I do?' Moment.

That was good.

So in this particular situation I knew exactly what to do.

I was on my way to talk to Shane, I stopped outside his door when I heard him talking,

"Yeah. Yeah I'm here right now...well what do you want me to...come on man I already gave you the times....so what it was a week ago? I still fucking helped....yeah well-" And that's when I stormed into Shane's room, grabbing his phone from his hand, it was an unknown number.

But I had a pretty fucking good idea of who it was, I threw the phone on the ground, shattering it.

Shane made a whimpering sound, "C-Case-"

"Don't. Even. Try." I growled. "You TOLD them what time we'd come!?" I yelled.

"I-I...I was always in the shadows Case I-" He was pale,

"Brent DIED because of that!" I screamed at him.

"I-I never meant for-"

"YOU FUCKING DID THIS OUT OF JEALOUSY!?" I shouted, furious.

Shane didn't reply, but the answer was written all over his face.

Maybe I didn't handle it right. But it sure felt good to beat the living shit out of him.

He was half conscious and bleeding when I lifted him by his collar and shoved him out, "Don't you EVER let me see you again or I swear to God I will kill you." I growled, it wasn't a bluff.

Shane made a choking sound that I figured meant ok.

Going back inside, I briefly explained to the guys what had happened. I'm pretty sure they went out and took turns beating Shane.

And I didn't bother to stop them...

Back to the present.

My fists clenched tightly as Shane smirked at me, I tried to act like that didn't make me furious. "Fair trade." I said again.

Shane pretended to think, but I knew he already had his mind made up. He enjoyed being a dramatic prick.

"Fine. Fair trade Woods." He said shrugging, "And the jacket."

"M-My jacket..?" I asked, completely taken off guard.

Shane laughed, "Yeah Case. Your Jacket."

Brent's jacket.

I was so stupid, so stupid to even hesitate over this. It was a stupid jacket.

You know that I only took off to wash. That I'd worn for like two years.

That was my dead mentors'.

That my dead mentor told me to keep.

I fucking hated Shane. But I wasn't going to be stupid about this, I wasn't going to ruin this

I took off the jacket.

"Fine. First give me Alex."

"Give me Dani." Shane argued.

I glared. "Walk Alex to my car. Once she's safely inside, Harley is going to get in and drive away. Then I'll give you Dani." I compromised. "And your not allowed to shoot me after you have Dani."

Shane rolled his eyes. "Fine. Jacket." He ordered, holding out his hand.

I clenched my jaw, tossing it to him. He chuckled and caught it.

On a motion from him, the guy one holding Alex pressed the gun to the back of her head, "walk to the car." He hissed.

Alex stumbled forward, her hands were shaking, she was terrified.

No duh, right?

She walked out to the car, I was worried when she got out of my sight, but Harley nodded to me and went to get in the car.

I waited in silence, holding Dani tightly still.

Then I heard the car start, and drive off. I took a shaky breath, "There." I said.

"Give her to us." Shane growled,

I let go of Dani, she turned to me and slapped me. Which hurt, some of my guys started forward but I stoped them by holding my hand up.

Dani then took a slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. "Give this to that tall kid." She said

I opened it, "This...This is your number." I frowned,

"No shit Woods. Now fuck off." She said.

I blinked, "Yeah, ok." I nodded, really confused.

But Dani was kind of like that.

I walked out, ready to be shot in the back. Thankfully I wasn't.

Instead I safely got to the second vehicle, that a lot of us had to cram into. A few guys even rode in the trunk.

They looked at me, "All that for a girl Woods?" One asked as I started the car.

I nodded "All that for a girl."

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I actually really like this chapter. Backstories are so fun.

So that's cool. Tell me what you think in the comments guys! That would be great. Vote and tell your friends!

Also we broke 2k!! Thank you guys so MUCH!! Anywhoooooo have fun reading!

Sorry this is late I brow myself today