Guardian Angels ✔

26 - Last Chance

Juice felt like he couldn't breathe. It felt like he was running through a dark forest, where he was surrounded by monsters that could jump on him and shred him to pieces at any moment. 

They would find out what he had done. 

Of course they would find out, and he didn't understand how he ever thought he could get away with this. That fucking Roosevelt, who had waited for him yesterday and ordered him to take a sample of the coke. If not, he would tell the club about his father. 

Who was black. And black people weren't welcome inside the club. 

He had no idea what he would do without the club, he had no one else. Desperately, he ran a hand across his mohawk. "You really think one of the prospects did it?" he asked Chibs. He had to keep a conversation going, otherwise, his behavior would be suspicious or he might even collapse because of the stress. 

"Gotta be, huh?" the Scot sighed. "That Mayan is loyal to Alvarez for over eight years."

Scratching his neck, Juice stared at the door. Behind it, the three prospects were locked up with a gun. They had to figure it out themselves; they had to decide which two would leave the room alive. He tried not to think about it, the thought they would point the finger to Shane made him feel so nauseous he almost had to throw up. 

"Ye think it was the new one?" Chibs asked. "You know him best."

It was the first time no lewd comment followed that assumption. Juice shook his head. "No man. That guy's smart, and everyone with a little common sense knows he can't get away with this."

"And there was no trace of fear in his eyes," Happy added. "He ain't the rat."

Juice had the feeling a kilo of stones fell off his shoulders – although there were many left. 

"Don't think it was Miles either. He's just too stupid to steal from us," Chibs said. "That leads us to Rat." He sighed. "But that ain't makin' sense either." His phone went off and Chibs' face grew gloomy. 

Juice's hands felt clammy. He had to come up with something, he had to make sure the others would go free. But his head felt empty. Well, not empty. Rather packed with thousands of screaming thoughts. He gritted his teeth, not knowing how to silence the noise. For some reason, he felt the need to look into Shane's eyes since they had brought him peace more than once, but at the same time thinking about the boy made everything way worse and he feared the prospect would see right through him. 

Chibs stared a while at the door before he looked at Happy and Juice again. "Romeo'll be here in an hour. We've got to put one of these guys down."

Juice stared at him in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah." 

There was a hard look in Chibs' eyes, making the panic wave through Juice's body again. Shaking his head, he cursed. "Bad enough we scared the shit out of them with the gun bluff."

"It's the only way to calm the cartel. They're going to want a guilty body. If we don't give it to 'em, they're going to take it as a sign of weakness. They're going to want blood. I don't have any options and picking the new prospect is makin' the most sense. I'm sorry." He started to walk to the door. 

Despair squeezed Juice's throat, his voice was trembling. "Hey, hold up. For all we know, Alvarez is playing with us. Him vouching for his own guy? What the hell does that prove?"

Chibs heaved a deep sigh. "Juicy, it's out of your hands."

"Hey." Juice stepped in front of his brother. This couldn't be the cause of Shane's death. He had to tell them what he had done, but the words just couldn't pass his lips. He didn't want to die. "Gotta give 'em one last chance," he begged. Before Chibs could disagree, he stepped through the doorway himself.