Axel seemed to shake with rage and, reaching over to grab a plastic chair, proceeded to launch it against the wall until it smashed into several pieces.

He pointed in my direction. “You talk all mighty ’bout all this, kid, but where the f**k are you? Living the good life at some rich-ass college, eighty thousand folks on a weekly basis acting like you’re some damn messiah and in tight with cunts like Rome f**kin’ Prince—pussies with more money than God!” He walked to stand before me. “Where are you, kid? You here every day looking after Mamma, cleaning up vomit, or are you sitting in your cushy frat room, drinking beers and f**kin’ a line of Tide groupie sluts?” He prodded his finger into my chest and hissed, “I’m keeping this famiglia going, not you, superstar. You just remember that when you’re stomping through here on Heighter turf, letting your mouth fly.”

His words might as well’ve been a f**kin’ dagger. I stumbled backward until I hit the washer and ran my hands down my face.

He was right. I wasn’t doing shit to help out.

A hand suddenly wrapped around my neck, and I found myself crushed into Axel’s wide chest. He was hugging me…

Fuck.

Slumping forward, I let my head fall on his shoulder, and I just stood there, breathing, calming the f**k down. I may be taller and bigger now, but he was still my big bro. Still the only one able to shoot me down.

“Look, kid. You need to be at that school whether I like it or not. You’re our ticket out of here, outta this f**kin’ trailer park we call paradise. You’re our chance at a better life.”

I began shaking my head. “Fuck, man, y’all are right. I’m not doing shit for Mamma. I’m not contributing. It’s all on you and Levi, and it’s f**kin’ tearing me apart.”

Axel stepped back and, placing his hands on my cheeks, forced me to look at him. “Kid, you’re the one thing Mamma talks about. You, superstar, the football, the Tide. Her f**kin’ face lights up every Saturday when she watches you on the screen. She talks about how you’re gonna be some big success, how she can’t believe you’re her son, how talented you are. Says you remind her of her when she was young.” Axel shook his head. “Nah, kid. You’re staying at that damn fancy-ass school if I have to throw you back there myself, and you’re gonna get drafted to the NFL.”

Reaching up, I removed Axel’s hands from my face and took a step back. “You can’t deal on campus, Axe,” I said tightly. “It has to stop.”

“Got to, kid. The Kings have taken half our turf. We need to expand, branch out. I know I promised I’d never bring this shit your way, but that school of yours is a damn gold mine. Too many rich dumb-ass kids paying top coin for watered-down coke, E’s, weed—whatever the hell they can get their spoiled hands on.”

“Axe, you could pass for my damn twin. We look exactly the same. The dean finds out about you and the drugs on his campus, he’s gonna put that shit on me. Then we can kiss the NFL dream good-bye.”

He paused as though he were thinking shit through. “I’ll keep out of your way, keep low, no blowback for you. How ’bout that? Nothing’ll come back on you, kid. Te lo guiro.”

He swears it to me. I almost told him about the dean hauling that chick into his office tonight after he split, but fear of what he’d do to her had me holding my tongue. And I couldn’t get her tiny terrified face out of my mind.

“And Levi?” I asked, defeated. I felt drained of all my fight. If I couldn’t win this, I’d just have to put up and shut up.

Axel shrugged. “He stays with me. In the crew. I’ll watch out for him.”

“Axel, you need to get him out. This shouldn’t be his life. He’s only fourteen. He hasn’t got the guts, the mindset to live this kinda life.”

“We need the cash, kid. We all have our duties in taking care of Mamma. Yours in football, Levi and me dealing. Not ideal, but if we wanna keep the pain meds coming in, we gotta make bank somehow. That shit’s expensive. Damn sure, going straight and stacking shelves at the Piggly-Wiggly ain’t gonna cut it.”

As f**ked up as it all had become, Axel was right. I couldn’t see another way out for us, and, after seeing Mamma tonight, she needed all the help she could get… even if the only way of getting it for her was corrupt.

“Look. How about Lev keeps dealing until…” Axel glanced away, holding back his sadness. Coughing, he eventually he said, “Until Mamma’s not here anymore. Then I’ll get him out.”

“How you gonna do that?”

Axel smirked. “Got you out, didn’t I?”

Exhaling, I nodded my head. Yeah he did.

Axel laid a hand on my shoulder. “Thinking it’s not gonna be too long now, kid. I know me and Lev haven’t been there as much as we should’ve, but caring for Mamma is now pretty much full time. She can barely walk, eat. Fuck, she can’t even take a shit without one of us propping her up. It’s bad, kid. Real f**kin’ bad.”

From what I saw tonight, it was painfully true. “Then we’ll take shifts. I’ll make time between school and football to do my part, sit with her some, clean her, feed her, take her to appointments. Just be there.”

Axel smirked and wrapped his thick arm around my neck. “Done. And it’ll be good to see you ’round here more. As long as you don’t swing for me again,” he said and grinned. But his humor soon dropped. “And Gio. I managed to cool the f**ker down, but don’t push him too far. Last thing we need is him wanting you dead. Too many stupid f**kers in the crew wanting to earn his approval. They wouldn’t think twice about doing it. Then I’d end up killing them.”