NASH
It used to be that you were born into this life. That if your father was a Soh Dragon you were a Soh Dragon. Being that I was a Soh you'd think that I had the honor of being the Soh Dragon by birthright, but things didn't work out that way.
Ever since my father got pinched our policy changed. You had to earn your way in, male or female, taking a ruthless beating by a set of Dragons. After my trial run with Steven and Jin, Alec said I was ready to make the official jump in.
I accompanied Bridger Kym to my high school's football game. He was movin' after-school delights to kids looking to score before the proverbial run of weekend festivities. I didn't deal for the Dragons, no matter how much Alec suggested I did. Dealing seemed too small time. I was itching to run the show and do something bigger.
Bridger was just a year older than me but we'd been friends for our whole lives. His old man was my father's best friend and right hand. He knew what it was like to deal with the pressures of measuring up. It didn't eat at him too much, he mostly just dealt product for us and collected bills. He also had a seven-inch scar on the length of his jaw from the time he'd been jumped into the Soh Dragons. Most guys in the unit wore their scars as badges of honor, Bridge, he wore it either apathetically one day or with shame the next. He never voiced any complaints, nor was he stupid enough to think that he could do anything else but be a Dragon.
Bridger nudged me as he came back to our seats in the stands. "Don't over think. Get in and fight for your life, or else you won't make it. They won't go easy on you, especially because of who you are."
I nodded as I watched some kid in a gray and yellow padded uniform attempt to rush across the field cradling the egg shaped ball in his arm. "I can handle it. Six pennies, right?"
The objective was clear. Alec would throw six pennies to the ground and my goal was to collect them as best as I could in order to end the beating.
Growing up under Alec, he taught me how to fight, cruel and dirty. Fighting off six guys while I collected six pennies couldn't be so bad. Even though I knew it would be brutal. Beyond Bridger, Steven and Jin, I had a lot to prove to the others. To them I was just a "pretty boy" and not Soh Dragon material. Phone calls from my father spoke otherwise, he wasn't as doubtful but he would stress the importance of the Dragons and how I couldn't fuck-up or disgrace the family name. With my mother back in Korea, all I had were Alec and the Dragons. I couldn't mess up, even if I wanted to.
Bridger held up six fingers. "Six pennies. Six guys. Six minutes. You can do it."
I had barely succeeded with two guys, but I was determined to prove my blood and worth.
Bridger whistled as the cheerleaders shimmied at the sidelines. They were mostly Mexican with a white girl or two.
In our town we had power over the Mexicans, especially the ones linked to our rival set, Los Soldados aka "the Soldiers." Guys like Jin and Steven, and sometimes Bridger too, would get a kick out of messing with the Mexicans, especially since they knew they would win in the end.
Me, I steered clear of them. If they crossed the line I had no choice but to act, otherwise I wasn't a sadist who got off on torturing people because I could.
Hacienda Heights High was allegedly neutral territory. Even still, walking around the neighborhood with the wrong colors could get you fucked up and your mother would have to come and get you. Gold and red were safe, but black and white meant a fight to the death, or at least until someone wasn't standing.
The game drew to a close with the home team losing. The crowd's sunken shoulders and cries of defeat echoed across our side of the stands.
"Time to sell a few pick-me-ups." Bridger stood and eyed me with a devilish grin. "You head to the spot. Alec and the others are waiting."
Right, it was time to earn my stripes.
I stood from the bleachers and accepted Bridger's hug and pat on the back. With a shake of the Soh Dragon's signature handshake, we separated. He wouldn't be participating, but he would be there in support.
I headed out to my car and almost got in immediately, but stopped to take notice of my shoes. I was going to get jumped and kicked on and I was wearing my Air Jordan 3s, the ones with the black suede.
A look at the time on my cell phone told me I could make a quick stop at home to switch out my attire before heading down to the warehouse. It was pushing it, doing something so diva and all, but I wasn't about to go in dressed to kill for a beating.
I took the risk and headed home and swapped out my shoes and then my jeans and white tee. Our modern home was all dark and vacant, the glass from the bay windows reflecting my lonesome as I trekked through the estate to head back out. We had a nice view of Hacienda, something that made Alec feel like a god, as if he could see the town he wanted control over. Most days, I was too busy taking in the emptiness of it all. I rarely spoke to my mother after she went back to Korea and talking to my father on the phone wasn't the same.
Not that Alec noticed or cared.
Smooth hip-hop emitted out of my speakers as I turned my car back on and headed for downtown where one of our warehouses laid. The rhymes of the emcee cooled my nerves and helped me think of nothing as I cruised through the streets of my little town. While everyone else were out partying and celebrating like we'd won the game, I would be becoming a man, a leader, a fucking god.
I was reveling in my deity when I heard a loud pop and felt my car sway to the left. Gripping the wheel as fast as I could, I found that I'd blown a damn tire.
"Shit!" I hissed as I slapped the steering wheel. The thumping underneath me told me my Benz wasn't going to make it far without attracting the wrong kind of attention.
Having no choice, I pulled to the side of the road behind some tricked out escalade that was also on the wrong side of town. I wasn't quite in Los Soldados's territory, but I knew a few of them occupied the downtown area. I was wearing safe colors, but my face would be enough for some shit to pop off.
The car in front of me was rocking and I could just hear the shitty music coming from it as I shut off my ride. Someone's getting laid.
I got out of my car to assess the damage to my wheel and sure enough it was blown to smithereens. I hit something sharp in the road and for a moment I feared I'd run over a trap.
The streets before me were empty and quiet. The neighboring businesses and few houses held few to no lights. If anyone was watching, I had no clue.
"Give me my money!" Shouting drew my attention to behind me. The passenger door to the escalade was open and I could hear more of that awful music teeming out as some girl was yelling. "You said you'd pay!"
Seconds later, she was flying from the car and landing on her ass on the curb.
The door was pulled shut and the driver took off.
Huh.
The girl stood to her feet, yelling at the car's descending figure. "You owe me!"
She was wearing a very short leather mini skirt with a red bustier. Even from behind I knew she was one of them, her tan skin telling me before her face did.
Rumor had it when times got tough and when Los Soldados couldn't make money on their drugs, they'd send their girls out to hook for it.
The girl bent over, sticking her hand down her throat and forcing herself to spit up. It was the most unattractive sight I'd ever seen, even if her choice of a short skirt gave me a nice peek at the curves of her ass.
When she was finished she grabbed something from the ground—her clutch—and dug through it and procured a little bottle of mouthwash. She took a swig of it, gargling before spitting on the curb before her. It was when she turned around that I recognized her and couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Nina Ortiz was on the corner selling herself for a quick buck.
Her makeup was done nicely, her hair was curled, and with the revealing outfit she was selling the dream. The Nina I barely knew from school never dared to dress like that or even gave off the impression that she was one of the girls who worked the street for money. She seemed smart and gave off attitude when you pissed her off. Just like the one she was shooting me for my staring.
"Problem?" she asked with enough malice in her tone to let me know she wasn't afraid of me.
That was another thing, Nina Ortiz always read tough.
I didn't care about what she did for cash. "I'm not judging."
She slit her eyes. "Oh?"
"Not my business."
She snarled, and then she was chuckling like I'd said something funny. "I don't give a damn if you judge me or not. Not all of us have our lives handed to us on a platter at birth, some of us have to swallow our pride and work for it." She opened her arms out, gesturing around us. "So judge me all you want, I don't care."
She wasn't doing it for herself. The money, she was making it for someone else, it was clear in her resilience. She had no pride to stop her from doing what she had to in order to help this other person.
It was that alone that caused me to do the single most stupidest thing I could've done in that moment. "How much do you need?"
At first she was confused and then she crossed her arms over herself. "I'm not taking your handout."
"You just fucked a guy and got nothing. I doubt you wanna do that again and yield the same result, or maybe worse." Another rumor had circled around that one of the girls from Los Soldados had gotten beaten up by a john one night.
I at least hoped Nina was smart enough to carry a blade on her.
"Why are you doing this?" she demanded to know.
That I couldn't really answer. "Because a month from now, if I caught you out here, maybe I wouldn't. Right now, that's not me. I see that you need the money, and I'm just throwing it out there that I can help."
Nina stared at me—no, she glared at me. She eyed my yellow Benz behind me and then all of me. "One hundred."
I reached into my jeans and grabbed my wallet, knowing that the bill was nothing.
"Fifty for my silence," she quickly added.
We were more in her home than a neutral spot. She could yell and scream and people of her kind would rush out and assault me.
Well played.
A small smile washed across my face as I dug out fifty more bucks. She was desperate and shameless.
We met each other half way and I handed over the money. "I won't tell anyone."
Even if I did, I'd get my ass kicked for helping her. I didn't even know why I was. I didn't know her. Never talked to her before that moment, and yet I was shelling out a hundred and fifty bucks because she got the bad end of a deal with some john who had a horrible taste in music.
Nina tucked the money away in her little clutch and lifted and dropped her shoulder. "I don't care if you do. This isn't something I do on the regular and I don't regret it. I had no choice."
Like I expected, she wasn't doing it for herself.
"Sometimes you just gotta let pigeons fly," I said.
Nina lifted her chin. "What's that?"
I stuck a cigarette between my teeth as I shrugged, scavenging through my pocket for a lighter. "It's just my own way of saying shit happens."
She tasted my mantra in her mouth before bobbing her head. "I like that." Her chocolate eyes scanned me once more. "Is that what's on your hand?"
She was talking about the tiny bird tattoo on my right hand.
Knowing what kind of bird it was, I childishly laughed.
Nina perked a brow. "What's so funny?"
I found my lighter and lit my cigarette. "It's a swallow."
Nina wrinkled her nose and frowned. "Thanks for that."
"Hey, you asked."
I took a few drags from my cigarette before throwing it to the ground. I was going to be late if I kept messing around.
There was no way I was going to make it to the warehouse on my shitty tire. I had no choice but to call up Bridger to come and give me a lift.
The sounds of shoes clapping on the concrete alerted me just as a tan hand shoved its way onto my phone screen. "What are you doing?" Nina demanded to know.
I gestured to my car. "Got a flat tire. I got some place to be. I don't usually try to hang out in the slums."
"Oh for God's sake." Nina grabbed my phone and turned it off. She headed over to my car and examined the wheel. "Do you have a spare?"
"Maybe. Why?"
She looked back at me. "So I can fix the problem."
I slit my eyes. "How do I know you won't cut my brake line?"
Nina rolled her eyes. "Guess you're going to have to trust me."
Trust her? The enemy? I had already been way too generous to begin with.
I shook my head. "I don't trust no street rat."
For a moment she was offended, but then she squared her shoulders and just stared at me, expressionless. "Quid pro quo, okay?"
I blinked. "English, please."
"One thing in exchange for another. You paid me and now I'm fixing your car. No need in me running into another one of you by you calling your friends."
I showed her to the trunk and stood back to observe her.
"At least this baby is fully equipped. I was afraid I was going to have to think of other ways to get this car up," she said as she lifted the compartment in my trunk and eyed the spare tire before her.
"Other ways?" I questioned.
"Ever see MacGyver?" she asked as she looked over her shoulder at me.
"No, what's that?"
She chuckled to herself as she peered inside my trunk. "Just this old show my abuela likes to watch. The guy in it can fix stuff with anything he finds handy."
MacGyver...never heard of it.
Nina managed to lift the tire out and the essentials that were stowed away with it all on her own. Even if she were wearing a mini skirt and a low-cut top, Nina was the furthest thing from feminine as she cranked my car up and proceeded to unbolt my tire. She worked with enough precision and grace that it was obvious she wasn't bullshitting me. She knew exactly what she was doing.
Noticing my stare, she shrugged. "My dad used to call me his little redneck. I used to sit in front of the TV when I was a little girl and watch NASCAR. I told my third grade class that someday I'd get to be on an official pit crew. Beyond that I've always had a knack for fixing things."
She made me feel pathetic, especially since I had no idea how to change a tire myself.
Nina wasn't slow at what she was doing, and even if she changed my tire in record time and made sure it was fully in place, I knew I was late. Not only that, my phone hadn't rung at all, which was scarier than the thought of it ringing. Alec wasn't about to call me. He would give me hell for my tardiness.
"I'm sure your dad would be proud," I said as I eyed my new tire and the girl who'd flawlessly fixed it.
Nina kinda got this frown on her face, but then she moved some hair out of the way and I couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling. "He's dead now." She looked to my car and nodded. "Looks like you're ready to go. Thanks for the money, I mean it, it's going a long way."
"Need a lift somewhere?" I was pushing it, being seen with each other any more than out in the open like we were was suicide.
"I gotta get to the pharmacy," Nina explained. "I can't be seen with you in the light."
I got it so I didn't push. "I'll be seeing you."
She bobbed her head and started off down the sidewalk. For a moment, I stood and watched her walk off.
An annoyance plagued me.
"Nina!" I called to her.
She turned around, eyeing me quizzically. "Yeah?"
"Wait." Before I could question my own actions, I went over to my car and dug inside for...ah, there it was. "Here."
I held up the article of clothing I'd had stowed away in the backseat.
Nina tentatively walked back over to me.
I placed the hoodie over her shoulders and draped her with it. It hung heavy and big on her, but at least it covered her.
She gazed up at me, her chocolate brown eyes full of curiosity and a gentleness, showing she was touched by my gesture.
There was no proper reason to explain why I'd done what I had just did. It just felt right. "Be safe."
Silently she nodded.
I didn't have time to sit and worry about her safety because I was too concerned with getting in my car and heading straight for the warehouse.
To my horror, the lot around it was vacant and only Alec's car could be seen. In fact, he was leaning against it with his arms crossed when I pulled in beside him.
I was late, but not that late. Where were the others?
"Nice of you to show up," Alec said as he met me at my door. He waited for me to get out of the car and I knew he was pissed. Alec was the silent but deadly type. When he was mad he looked annoyed, when he was pissed he looked stoic, and that meant damage. "While you were out there getting your dick wet we were waiting on you to start the initiation. You wanted this, but I guess it's all about your time, huh, Nash?" he said as he walked on by me.
"I wasn't messing around, I had car trouble," I explained.
He looked back at me, smirking. "You smell like a soaking wet piece of ass. I hope she was worth it."
I hadn't even noticed Nina's perfume or the fact that it lingered on me.
"Alec, come on, you know how bad I want this. I wouldn't do anything to screw it up."
He held up a finger. "But you did. We were here and you weren't." He tilted his head to the side to study me. "Are you fucking with me?"
This was about to get bad.
I took a step back. "No."
"Everyone's looking at me like I can't control my crew right now, and you're just making it easy. If I have to make an example out of you, I will."
Now he wasn't being fair. I was his brother and it was clear to everyone that he was never nice to me or genuine. "Everyone knows how hard you are on me. No one thinks you're not in control."
"I can't go easy on you because they expect me to!" Alec snapped. "One wrong move and I could be toast. I got a lot of shit on my plate, and the least you could do is show up when it's your turn to step up. They're waiting for one of us to fail so they can take our spot, our rank, and you're just letting them."
"I had car issues, Alec."
He glanced at my Benz and of course found no issue. "I'm seeing that." By the way he looked at me, shaking his head; I knew I'd disappointed him. "Have you any idea what's at stake here?"
Of course I knew, I heard it day in and day out from him and our father.
"Yes," I answered.
"The boys were talking, Nash. They don't even think Six Pennies is good enough for you. They're thinking you should really get dirty to earn your stripes."
The guys feared and admired Alec, and hated me. There was no doubt in my mind that the alternative to Six Pennies was far worse. "What's that?"
"Blood in, Blood out," Alec said as if it were nothing. "They think the best way to become a Soh Dragon would be by taking out a street rat. Besides, you would be doing the world a favor."
Bile rose to my throat and I swallowed a couple of times to keep it down.
They wanted me to kill, not only that, but a member of Los Soldados. I would have to kill to get in and kill to get out, but everyone knew that if you wanted out you had to die, because facing the beating would be a death sentence of its own.
"But that's not fair, none of them had to do it," I argued.
Alec studied me. "None of them are Sohs. None of them have the palace at their feet." He came closer to me. "Most people, they want their kids to go off and become doctors, lawyers, teachers, coaches, real community motherfuckers. Us, that ain't our way. We were born for this and this only. Dragon blood runs through our veins and it'll die when we die. Our destiny is to be the meanest, the baddest, and the best around. This is our town, it belongs to us, and if we have to pull a holocaust to get rid of every stinkin' street rat there is," Alec shrugged indifferently, "so be it. Better them than us, right?"
Even if I wasn't thinking that extreme, I bobbed my head as if to agree. For me, yeah, I didn't get down with Los Soldados, but to seek them out to kill them? It made me question my strength and loyalty to the Dragons, because the idea seemed intense.
It was in my hesitation that Alec shook his head in disgust. "You ain't ready. The best you could hope for is to be a runner. We'll call you when we think you're ready to endure this life full-time."
"Are you kidding me?" I asked as I walked up on him. "I am ready, I was born ready. Make me a Dragon!"
Alec sized me up as if I were nothing. He started to turn, and then in lightening like movement he balled his fist and fed it into my face, catching me by surprise.
It hurt.
A lot.
He had my hair in a vice grip as I knelt over holding my jaw. "Do not fuck with me, little brother. You are going to earn your stripes, even if it kills you. I will not let Father down, and neither will you."
With a shove he sent me to the ground and walked off.
I felt my face as I let out a cry of anger.
I would be a Soh Dragon.
Even if it killed me.
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Blue Suede 🎶 Vince Staples