© Jojo B 2018

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Snakes and Splinters

10

Phoenix decided to call for a meeting when we got home together. He had waited for me to finish my shift so that he could drive me back.

"Do you think everyone is even home yet?" I asked him. "It's dinner time, but Landon is probably on a date and Eli might be with Hayley. Walter is probably still at training and the triplets are always messing around on the weekends."

Phoenix got out his phone and started texting them with a little smirk on his lips, "Oh they'll be home soon."

I felt a smile start to grow on my own lips, "I'm gonna go change and stuff, I'll be down when I'm done."

"Mhmm," Phoenix said, still smirking at his phone and making me wonder what exactly he was sending.

I went up and got out of my work clothes to step into the bathroom. After a nice hot shower, I changed into something more comfortable and I trudged down the stairs in a loose fitting t-shirt and some warm jogging bottoms. I had just reached the bottom of the stairs when all three of the triplets came bursting through the front door, with wide and excited eyes. The sudden intrusion made me jump and I looked up at them in surprise as they rushed for the living room, looking for Phoenix.

"Where?" they were asking as they crowded around their older brother. "Where is it?"

I followed them into the living room with an amused smile.

"Where is what?" I asked them.

Gomez turned around and looked at me with shining blue eyes, "Phoenix's obsidian blade. He said he was going to put it on the table for a game of poker. It's the sharpest blade ever and hella expensive."

"Not to mention, very cool," Severn added. "I swear the Aztecs used to use obsidian too or some shit."

I nodded, "They did. It's volcanic glass. Beautiful really."

"Ooh someone has been paying attention in History glass," Giovanni teased him.

"Shut up," Severn rolled his eyes.

I gazed over at Phoenix, who still said nothing, and sent him a dubious look. Was he really going to let the boys gamble with such a clearly prized possession? Phoenix just kept smirking and didn't stop Severn and Giovanni from searching his pockets, which held no such item. Behind me, I heard the door open and close again and this time it was Landon's voice that I recognised.

"Strip poker?" he called, already removing his shirt as he walked into the living room.

"Really Landon?" I arched a brow and chuckled.

"Yeah, really?" Gomez sent him a look. "We haven't even started yet."

"Wait," Severn paused and looked at him. "No one even said it was the strip version anyway."

"Yeah," Gio frowned in realisation.

The lot of us looked at Landon blankly and he looked back at us with his shirt still hanging in one of his hands.

He winked at us and smirked, "Yeah well, you know me."

We all rolled our eyes at him in unison, making Landon laugh out loud as the triplets faced their backs to him and turned their attention back to Phoenix and his mysterious obsidian blade.

"Man you guys," he said as he walked up to us.

He looked at Phoenix with a questionable arch oh his brow. "Are you seriously putting your obsidian blade up for grabs? You know Eli is pretty good at poker, right?"

Phoenix's smirk only grew wider as he looked back at Landon, "I don't lose to anyone.

"Alright," Landon said, raising his hands. "Hey, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Aren't you going to put that shirt back on?" Severn looked at Landon pointedly. "Walter and Eli aren't even here yet."

Landon twisted his lips into a smooth smirk, "Why? Do you have a problem looking at my abs?"

Severn gave him a blank look and Giovanni looped an arm over his triplet's shoulders. 

"No, but we do have a problem with those hairy armpits," Gio sent him a teasing smile, standing up for Severn who didn't like being reminded that he was the only brother (apart from maybe Eli) who didn't have mega movie star abs. Unlike Severn, Eli didn't care at all if he was the slimmest of his brothers. 

Landon lifted his arm up and rubbed the tuft of dark hair underneath, "Are you saying that you shave your armpits?" he sent Giovanni and weirded out look. 

Gio shrugged, "I give it a trim every once in a while."

"You do?" Gomez looked at him with raised brows. "Isn't that a bit girly?"

Giovanni shrugged and was about to answer when I put my hand up. 

"Can we not talk about armpit hair?" I looked at them with creased brows and they grinned at me whilst Phoenix looked at them with his own disgusted expression.

Just then, the front door was opened again and I looked to see that both Eli and Walter had gotten home together. Walter was in his sportswear and Eli was dressed in jeans and a navy hoodie underneath a black leather jacket, probably coming back from spending time with Hayley.

"What was that about poker?" Walter murmured tiredly as he walked into the living room. 

When his eyes fell on me, he smiled and walked over to wrap me in a hug. 

"How was training?" I asked him as I held him back. 

"Long," he replied. "But no bout or training tomorrow thankfully."

"That's good," I said as I pulled away. "You need to rest."

Eli came into the living room behind Walter and he smiled faintly at me before looking at Phoenix. 

"You're kidding about the obsidian blade right?" he said to him. "That's your favourite blade. You don't even use it."

Phoenix only shrugged, seeming pleased that his little plan had worked and everyone had gotten home within an hour. 

"So you weren't actually going to bet with it," Landon concluded. 

Walter scoffed and folded his arms across his chest, "Look at his face. We weren't even going to play poker in the first place."

Phoenix nodded, "True."

"Soo...why did you lie?" Giovanni arched a brow. 

"I needed you all home, so be quiet and I'll tell you," Phoenix replied as he looked over at them all. 

The six of the boys stared at Phoenix for an answer, all their attention on him as they were genuinely intrigued to find out what he wanted them all there for. I already knew of the arrangements Phoenix and Carlos had made and I bit my lip in anticipation of how exactly the boys would take the news. 

So with that, Phoenix told them.

***

"Smile a bit more, eh?" I said to the boys with a grin that I wasn't doing a very good job at hiding. 

Gomez scowled at me and I saw identical expressions on Giovanni and Severn's faces too. I couldn't help it any longer and the grin broke across my face. I knew their anger wasn't directed at me, but I wasn't making it any better for them by showing how amused I was by it all. Eli had on his usual bitch face which was just a little bit more intense as he walked with his hands deep in his pockets. Walter had a faint frown on his face and Landon just looked fed up already. Phoenix had on his poker face and I knew that he too wasn't exactly happy with it the alliance with the Santiagos, but knew it was the only choice they had right now.

Walter had changed into something a bit warmer, consisting of his usual dark jeans, hoodie and jacket. I had changed into something more decent too as I hadn't been expecting to be meeting up with the Santiago gang that very same evening. Phoenix had said that Carlos and he thought it would be best to meet in neutral grounds so we made our way to the playground in the centre of our borough where all the shops and restaurants were also situated. 

"Damn Splinters are already there," Landon muttered under his breath.

I looked ahead as we walked past the shuttered store fronts and flickering street lamps. I could just about make out a few figures sitting in the playground, a couple of them kicking at the ground as they stood by. The Santiagos lifted their heads and turned towards us when we reached the playground and Phoenix pushed open the small, child-friendly gate so he could enter first.

It was just past midnight and dark, as there were no lights within the playground itself, just the couple of streetlights that lined the area around it where people often walked by during the hustle of the day. The stars were bright and the moon sent down an eerie glow as its light painted our features. I tightened the scarf around my neck as we were on open ground and there were no longer any buildings to shield us from the chilly night's breeze. It was very quiet and all that could be heard were our gentle footsteps against the springy tarmac of the children's playground. To my left, sat an empty seesaw, gently squeaking on its hinges as the wind rocked it lightly. The climbing frame, which Walter and I had taken Melody to play on, stood deserted, like a ghost version of what it would be during the daytime when the kids were on it. In the back of my mind, the thought of meeting in such an innocent and usually playful place, to discuss quite serious matters, was strange.

Carlos Santiago stood up from the bench that he, Diego and Paulo had been sitting on and made his way over to Phoenix. I saw Ario was sitting on the back of the bench with his feet planted on either side of Paulo and a hood drawn over his brown haired head. The twins, Miguel and Manuel stopped pacing and stood next to the bench as they directed dark looks towards the Simpsons, who perfectly mirrored them. 

My half-brother, Carlos, stopped a couple feet away from Phoenix, who stood at the same height as him. Phoenix looked back at him, the collar of his leather jacket popped up so that it gave him an even more badass appearance. As the Simpson brothers gathered and fanned out behind Phoenix, the Santiagos pushed themselves off the bench and stood behind Carlos. I stood next to Walter and I could literally feel the anger radiating off him as he and Ario held eye. Diego stood right by Carlos' side, just the same way that Landon came to stand by Phoenix. 

It seemed the boys were too focused on giving each other a standoff than to actually open their mouths and speak, so I decided to step in. Walking towards the leaders of the two gangs, I stood and addressed both sides. 

"I know you don't want to do this," I said, looking between my blood relatives and my adoptive family. "But I also know that you know there isn't much choice. I don't want to stand here and tell you what to do or speak to you about things I barely know much about...but I just want to say that if you try to get along, the situation will be solved much quicker and then...you can go back to fighting each other." 

I finished with a bit of a joking smile. I didn't really want them to be at each other's throats again, but the thought of the Simpsons and the Santiagos actually getting along, even when they didn't have to, was so alien...even to me. 

I glanced between Phoenix and Carlos and Carlos gave me a little smile. 

"You're right about that," he said to me and then looked back at Phoenix. "My boys and I are willing to be civil if you and yours are."

Walter scoffed, "Civil my arse," he spat, pinning Ario with a scowl. "None of you know what the word means."

Ario hardened his jaw as he glared right back, "Are you trying to imply something about our heritage?"

Walter frowned, "It has nothing to do with where you come from, but who you are."

Diego looked over at him with a hard set look, "You're one to talk, Walter. You're a damn animal."

"Well shit," I sighed and mumbled under my breath. 

Walter's nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Diego noticed that Walter didn't take the bait and my half-brother smirked at him, rubbing the little bit of facial hair he had on his chin. 

"You been going to anger management sessions, bro?" he asked with a teasing tone.

Walter balled his fists and his younger brothers did nothing to stop him as he closed the distance between Diego and himself in two quick strides. Phoenix and Landon were the ones who held Walter back as he cursed and threatened their rival gang, a vein in his neck standing out as he fought to free himself. Diego laughed out loud, making the whole situation even worse, as I'm sure I could have predicted, and Ario joined him. 

"Guys, please," I said to them with a heavy sigh. 

Ario's laughter dried up and he frowned at me before he went silent. Diego, on the other hand, kept taunting Walter who (I'm pretty sure) was about to break free of his brothers' grip by the way he was fighting.

"Diego," Carlos said to him with a tired sigh. 

"You wanna fight me?" Diego said, ignoring his brother and pushing his bottom lip out at Walter as he growled at him. 

"I'll fight you," Eli muttered and he went and punched Diego right in the jaw. 

I widened my eyes in shock and Diego muttered an insult in Spanish before he went to hit Eli back. Eli, who was slightly smaller, ducked and hit Diego again in the stomach and that's when Ario and the twins rushed in, followed by Gomez, Gio and Severn. Phoenix and Landon lost grip of Walter and he went straight into the brawl with his fists. I just didn't know where he got his strength from. Carlos looked at his brother and cousins with a blank expression and Phoenix and Landon did likewise. I didn't even try to shout at them to stop, I knew none of them would listen. At least they hadn't gotten out any weapons, but still, their fists could do a lot of damage. The air was filled with the scuffle of feet and the sound of fist meeting flesh. There were grunts of pain and curses in both English and Spanish. I felt myself shrinking in on myself, not liking it at all.

A loud gunshot interrupted my train of thought and I jumped violently, turning my head quickly to see Phoenix lowering his gun that he had raised in the air. All the boys had stopped fighting, frozen in place it seemed. Walter had his hand wrapped around Ario's neck and Diego had Eli in a chokehold whilst he had Gomez hanging off his back with his fingers digging into his face. Severn and Paulo both lowered their balled fists, their chests heaving as they caught their breaths and Miguel and Manuel had let go of Giovanni who was wiping blood from his lip. 

"What is wrong with you?" Carlos shot Phoenix a sharp look. "We're right in the middle of town."

Phoenix shrugged, "If the police come, we find a way out. This lot were wasting our time fighting. We haven't even gotten started yet."

Carlos shook his head to himself and the action seemed to peeve Phoenix off. 

"You think you're better than me, do you?" Phoenix asked him in a low, angry voice. 

This time it was Landon's turn to try and calm the rising situation as the others reluctantly disentangled themselves from each other and started to regroup, returning to each of their sides.

"No one said that," Landon said gently, lowering the gun in Phoenix's hand. 

Phoenix sighed deeply and put the gun in his pocket. 

"Can everyone stop messing around and just listen to what we have to discuss?" he muttered, frowning at the rest of the Santiagos. They scowled right back at him and Miguel folded his arms across his chest. 

"We don't take orders from you," he lifted his chin. "Hijo de puta."

Manuel raised his brows and smirked proudly at his twin brother whilst some of the other Santiagos sniggered quietly. Phoenix's hand went to return to his pocket and Landon grabbed his wrist, stopping him. 

"Ignore the little bitch," he said to Phoenix.

Carlos looked back at Miguel with a stern look and then he fixed Phoenix with one equally as hard. 

"Think about pointing a gun at one of my boys, and you'll have trouble, Phoenix," he warned him lowly, his thick brows furrowed. 

Phoenix hardened his jaw and narrowed his dark eyes, "Teach your boys to watch who they're talking to, or you'll have trouble yourself."

Miguel scoffed and was about to say something probably even ruder when Carlos scowled at him. 

"Enough," he said in Spanish and then he turned back to the Simpson brothers with a sigh. 

"Can we just get on with it now?" Diego grumbled, clenching and unclenching his jaw. 

There were red marks on his face from where Gomez had dug his nails into his skin and he seemed to have come out of that playful attitude of his that he had on earlier, now seeming a lot more serious and annoyed to be honest. Phoenix sighed deeply and forced himself to calm down. After a couple seconds, he spoke up in his deep, authoritative tone. 

"As you probably already know, some of my men were shot dead not long ago," he said to the Santiagos. "The same thing happened to yours. What me and Carlos think is that another organisation is trying to take control of our territories, to deal their own product and steal our clients."

The boys had all quietened down and held serious expressions on their faces as they listened to what Phoenix was saying. It would affect them all, if that were to happen. Losing clients would mean losing money and seeing as that was both gangs main, if not only, source of income, it would have a big impact on their current lifestyle. Not many of the older ones had the qualifications to seek higher education in hope of getting a well paid profession and I knew that none of them would be content in working odd jobs, like painting people's houses or learning how to fix roofs. I couldn't imagine Ario being a milkman, and much less Diego Santiago.

"Phoenix and I have discussed this and together our men are about fifty in number," Carlos said. "Not much, but I'm sure that's enough to be able to fight back if it ever came to that."

Walter shook his head, "Probably not. Whoever is confident enough to come into our area and start shooting up our dealers means that they think they can overcome any threat. They definitely have more men than the two of us put together. Fifty is not a huge amount at all."

It was a surprise to me, just to hear Carlos speak so openly about his gang. Of course they had people that worked under them, but it was so weird to actually hear him talk about it when for the past year and a bit, he had been careful not to mention anything at all. Walter had a point though, these new people had a lot of strength if they were to come in here and start taking lives. 

"Maybe they aren't new and they've been around for a while, meaning they already know who we are," Paulo suggested, a serious expression on his youthful face. "That's why they feel confident enough to start trying to take over. They know that we have small numbers."

The boys thought about that possibility for a moment and then Diego shook his head. 

"If they knew who we were, they wouldn't waste time and bullets on our soldiers," he said. "They would find a way to take us out instead.

I shuddered at the thought of any of them being 'taken out' and looked at Diego with a frown. He was so blunt about these things, as if the threat was real. Which I guess it was, but it was something I never even wanted to think about happening. 

There were a few murmurs of agreement and Landon nodded. 

"So that rules out the possibility of us already knowing who the threat is...or them knowing us. It means they are definitely new to this area," he said. 

"And it also rules out that we will beat them in a straight out fight," Walter added. 

"So what do we do then?" Ario snapped at him. "Wait for them to steal everything out from under our noses?"

"No," Walter growled at him. "It means we have to play it smarter than that."

"Something I'm sure you snakes are very good at," Miguel smirked. 

"That was actually more of a compliment than an insult," Gomez muttered at him with a teasing smirk. 

"So how do we play it smart?" I cut in before they started to get sidetracked with another argument. 

When both sides actually spoke and worked together, they came up with good ideas, as proven within the past few minutes. Walter glanced at me and I looked back at him, seeing the gears work in his head as he thought about my question. A slow smile spread across his face as an idea came to him. 

"We do something that we're good at," he answered. "Well...you're good at."

I frowned at him in confusion, "Me?"

He nodded and looked right at Ario, "We go undercover."

Ario narrowed his eyes at Walter, clearly having struck a touchy subject with him. It had made me feel a little embarrassed to be honest. Me lying to them in the past wasn't something that I talked about with Ario or the rest of the Santiagos. Walter was just glad to get a dig in at Ario for falling for it, I guessed. 

"I don't see how that has much relevance," Ario glared at him.

"No," Diego held up a hand, a look of deep thought on his face. "It makes sense."

Ario turned and frowned at his cousin, waiting for him to explain. 

Diego nodded to himself as he kept thinking, "We look for clues and infiltrate their gang. Instead of having to fight them all, we just take out the head and the rest will fall apart. Job done."

Walter nodded to him as Diego understood what he was saying and that tiny act of agreement made me so happy inside. 

"How are we going to infiltrate their gang?" Gomez asked plainly. "We know nothing about them."

"That's the mystery of it," Severn said to him with a shrug. "Think of it as Scooby Doo or something."

Miguel and Manuel scoffed at them and Paulo rolled his eyes. 

"Are you guys like three?" Manuel muttered. 

"Yeah, there's there of us if you couldn't count," Gomez replied with a smirk as he twisted Manuel's words around. "Looks like you're the ones who are the babies around here."

Manuel hardened his jaw, "I'm older than you are, puto."

"By one year," Severn rolled his eyes, ignoring the taunt. "Bitch."

Miguel narrowed his eyes and Manuel took a step forwards. Carlos put a hand against his chest, keeping him back. He sent him a look that told him to just calm down, before turning back to the Simpsons and looking at Walter. 

"So you and Diego think that we should try and work our way up their ranks and find who their leader is before cutting out the threat?" he murmured. "Sounds plausible."

"Well it was my idea, not his," Walter grumbled, making me smile. "But yeah."

Diego rolled his eyes but didn't challenge him, to my surprise. 

"Does everyone agree?" Carlos looked around, his gaze lingering on Phoenix's who hadn't said much, even though he was the one who often liked to be in total control.

Both the Simpsons and the Santiagos nodded, some reluctantly, but agreed all the same. Carlos kept his gaze on Phoenix who still remained silent and starting to scowl back at Carlos as he sensed his pride being tested. 

"I don't answer to you," Phoenix muttered to him. 

Carlos audibly sighed, irritating the eldest Simpson further. 

"Stop treating me like you're in charge," Phoenix snapped. "This was the exact same issue we had in the first place which led to us forming our two separate gangs."

"I'm not treating you like I'm in charge," Carlos replied calmly. "I just want to know if you agree or not? Is that so much to ask?"

"Just breathe," Landon murmured to his brother and Phoenix took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I agree," he said in a clipped tone.

Carlos nodded, "So it's done. Anything else to say, Phoenix?"

Phoenix glared at him, "No Carlos, what about you?" he asked in a tight, purposely polite voice.

"Yes, I do," he replied. "Everyone just take a look around when you're going about your business. If you see anything you think might be linked to new gang activity, share it when we next meet."

"Next meeting will be in our house," Landon said to the others. "I think it's bigger."

"Why do you think that?" Ario arched a brow at him, his jaw tense. "You've never even been to our place."

"Well ours is quite big," Landon said dryly.

"We can do it at yours next time so that you don't feel left out, okay?" Eli said to Ario with a sarcastic, sympathetic smile.

Walter chuckled under his breath and Eli smirked at Ario who scowled at them. He muttered an insult quietly and the Simpson brothers' body language instantly became more defensive and hostile. Before Walter could give into Ario's bait and start another fight, I stepped in.

"It's settled then," I said with a genuine smile at both sides. They were all frowning like sulky kids and the sight was really quite funny. "Simpsons' household the next meeting and Santiagos' household for the one after that. What do you say, Phoenix? Carlos?"

I looked between them and they both nodded after a pause.

"Great," I grinned and then chewed on the corner of my lip as an idea came into my head. "So...how about a hug?"

The boys all shot their heads to my direction to stare at me in utter disbelief like I was a crazy person. Phoenix frowned at me deeply and even Carlos shot me an exasperated look. I almost burst out laughing.

"Are you serious, hermana?" Carlos blinked at me, his eyes shining in the moonlight.

"Okay, okay," I raised my hands. "How about a handshake instead?"

Phoenix shook his head, "I'm finished here."

"Us too," Diego said before Carlos could respond to Phoenix. "Let's go muchachos."

Diego put an arm around his older brother's shoulders and turned him away as they started heading towards East side. The Simpsons did likewise, heading in the opposite direction. Carlos stopped walking and turned to look at Phoenix and the others as they made their way out of the playground.

"Next Tuesday," he called over to them.

Phoenix turned back to look at him, "Seven."

"In the morning?" Giovanni arched a brow. "Some people have school."

Eli slapped the back of his head, "No, you idiot. In the evening."

"Since when did you even care about school?" Landon chuckled quietly in amusement.

"The real question is, are we even awake at the time in the morning?" Gomez looked at his triplet.

"True," Gio nodded back at him, raising a finger.

Carlos looked at Phoenix impatiently, "Tuesday at seven?"

Phoenix nodded and turned his back on his again as he walked on. I waved at the Santiagos and only Paulo returned it. Ario barely smiled. He was annoyed and I understood. Not once did any of them, or the Simpsons for that matter, think that they would have to work with the people they hated so much.

It was much unanticipated and I strangely looked forwards to it.

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So its getting juicy! Favourite part of the chapter?

J

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