Justin shut off the engine and exited his car along with his brother Charlie. They walked the short drive way and jogged up the stairs of the porch and heading straight into the house. Justin dropped his keys into the glass bowl sitting on the end table by the door. They took in the aroma of different spices and  freshly made French bread.

"Ma!" He called out as he looked up towards the stairs only to hear dishes clinking around the corner in the kitchen.

"Yeah in here." She called out.

They both rounded the small corner to see their mother standing in the kitchen with her green apron, her long curly hair pulled back from her face as she scrapped the last of cake batter from her mixing bowl into pan. She looked up once she placed the bowl down smiling with a twinkle to her eyes.

"Hey my boys about time you came and see you mama." She waved a disappointing finger at them, but the smile still plastered on her face.

Justin chuckled being the first to reach her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling into a hug as she kissed his cheek and ran a hand over his cheek. He stepped back walking around her sticking  a finger into the batter and  taking a taste test.

Mm. Lemon cake.

Justin turned around and leaned against the counter as his mom rubbed her hands over Charlie's face asking if he was okay. He just nodded with a grin," I'm good ma, we good ma."

Once she got her reassurance, she let go and went back to cooking, grabbing the pan and placing it in the oven.

"Good, you boys hungry. I just finished the lasagna. The salad is already made up on the table. Justin will you get the pan and place it on the table. Plates already on the table and Charlie you grab the drinks." She instructed as she cleared her counter off of clutter placing the dishes in the kitchen.

They did as they were told and were soon seated at her kitchen table partaking in the food. Lynn sat at the head of the table, sipping slowly on her glass of white wine, while Justin and Charlie both shared a beer.

Lynn watched as her boys inhaled their food without much of a word. She placed her glass down and began to fork up her food again," So, how's business coming Jay?"

Justin sat up from his hunched position as he chewed up his food and washed it down with a swig of beer ," It's going good, the usual competition. We have a group meeting today trying to find another avenue for more income."

"Like what?" She inquired.

"There's talk of expansion into old white Hollywood." Charlie answered with a grin as he chewed on his bread.

Lynn looked at Charlie and back over to Justin," How you feel about it?"

Justin shrugged polishing off his plate and pushing back from the table a bit," It's pretty much guaranteed money. Some of the guys want to go after the younger crowd, but its too risky. Kids don't know how to keep their mouth shut. The older crowd are all about their privacy just as much as we are."

Lynn thought about it and nodding sipping quietly at her wine before speaking again," Yes that's definitely it. Got any lined up?"

Justin nodded. “Oscar said he got a couple. Talk it over in the meeting."

"What times the meeting?"

Charlie looked down at his watch and looking over at Justin," We should be heading out now."

They both moved their chairs back and began to pick up their dishes. Lynn quickly swallowed down her wine looking up at both of them," Wait, I haven't even put the icing on the cake for you to take home."

Justin smiled walking over leaning down and kissing his Mom's cheek," You know Charlie will be back for it later."

Charlie nodded placing his dishes in the sink and walking back over to kiss her cheek as well. She sighed with a smile, rubbing Charlie cheek and looking over to Justin," That I do know. You boys be safe you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am." They said in unison.

"Let me walk y'all out." She got up placing her napkin on the table and walked behind him as they headed for the door. Charlie first out as Justin grabbed his keys, giving his mother another kiss as he dug down into his pocket and pulled out his wallet and fingered through a couple of hundreds and picked out four of them and handed it to his Mom.

She looked at him and patted his cheek as she took it from him," You know I don't need this Justin. Paul's job takes care of everything."

Justin rolled his eyes at the mention of his step-dad," Nothing wrong with having more than enough Bye Ma."

She smiled lovingly at his oldest son as she watched him bounce down the porch steps and out to the car with a waiting Charlie. Once inside, he backed out and honking before pulling off down the road. She waved them off , she looked down at the money shaking her head and turned around stepping back inside and closing the door behind her.

Justin rode to the eastside of Inglewood to a house that was specifically for himself and his crew. They called themselves the "Wood" pack. They were a collective of men with different trades, different backgrounds that were a local cartel. They were looking to expand their borders beyond Culver City, into Santa Monica and into West Hollywood.

His members grew as he expanded, but expansion meant a lot more bargaining with rivals and splitting of percentages. It always had to be planned carefully and he had to reach out to the other gang leaders before anything was set in stone. Sometimes they deals were sweet and simple and other times it only started out that way and declined quickly and ended ugly.

Charlie and he had been in gangs since they were young in age. It was something their father and his father before him did. He never intended in being a part of it, but destiny seemed to have other plans for him. He quickly moved up the ranks and was named President after the death of his father.

Charlie was his right hand man along with his childhood friend Oscar.

Justin soon pulled up into the driveway of the four bedroom house. Some of the members shared the house just to keep somebody living in it. He shut off the engine and climbed, Oscar was waiting on the front step. Oscar stood a even 6ft tall, long dark curly hair with a muscular blood with a storybook full tattoos along it. He was mixed with black and Latino.

He was leaned against the house as he nodded towards Justin as he approached with his brother close behind," We just waiting for Ricky."

Oscar giving Justin a rolling head count. They shared a quick hand shake before disappearing inside.

After a couple hours of discussion and planning they began to filter out of the house a little after midnight. Justin sat on the railing of the porch as he watched his crew walk to their cars, he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and sparked it up.

"What you doing tonight Jay?" Oscar as his cig dangled from his lips running a hand through his long hair before putting his basketball on and twisting it back.

Justin shrug," I think I'm head home. Tired as hell man."

"Aw shit, old man. Ricky having a party at his crib was going to swing by thereafter swinging by Angie's."

Justin eyed him with a smirk while taking another hit," You still hitting that? Man, I always thought Angie was out of your legend man. You know that's Augustine's old lady."

Oscar rolled his eyes," Man, not since like what? a couple of years now. Ever since his old man got sick his ass disappeared. Leaving me the opportunity to swoop in like supa nigga to save the day."

Justin and Charlie bust out laughing shaking they head. Justin pointed his finger," She ain't into you like that man. not like she was into Mike man."

Oscar waved him off pushing off the wall of the house and making his way down the porch," Man please, I'm over there every day at least twice a day."

Justin and Charlie looked at each other and Charlie laughed," Oh wow man, you playing house now?"

"Man y'all shut up. I'm finna go take care of business then go to this party. You coming' Charlie or you going to be like yo daddy over here?"

Charlie popped his hat off his head as Oscar laughed. He looked back over to Justin and threw his head up toward his brother.

"Aight I'll see yall later."

Justin dragged out another hit as he fished his keys out of his pocket and made his way to his car, hopping in and pulling off.

Toya drove into the complex and parked into her spot. Damion got out of the car as she popped the trunk allowing him to get his bags out. She got out and began to help him," How you think you going to like the school?"

Damion shrugged," I won't have time to know if I like it or not. This is my senior year."

Toya nodded knowingly and she hated that she pulled him out of school that he had known at the end, but she hoped it would be better opportunity for him to get a scholarship or something for basketball. Michael had managed to tell her, that recruits were heavy in their area. A lot of raw talent, but none took it really serious with their grades. Half of them ended up being parents before their time or others were out slinging dope to help mama pay the bills.

She knew Damion weren't going to be doing either if she could help.

"Well, you won't have much distraction from focusing on basketball."

Damion shot her a look as he slammed down the trunk once they retrieve the bags," What?"

Damion kept walking towards the door of the house and waited to the side for her to unlock it," Don't start Toya."

She slipped her key into the lock and turned pushing the door open stepping inside first," Start what? All I'm saying is now that we are new here. There is no distraction, fresh start, more focused."

"I know what you are trying to say, Quinn was never a distraction. She kept me focused."

Toya scoffed," Oh please, she kept you focused on her ass. I don't know how many times I got to keep tell you Damion. When those girls see you play they not looking at oh wow Damion is such a nice guy. They are looking at dollar signs."

Damion began to unpack the bags he set on the tables," I know that Toya I'm not dumb."

"I didn't say you were." She corrected him placing the gallon of milk in the fridge.

He stopped and sighed," Well leave it alone, Quinn is history now so stop bringing her up. Fresh start means leaving stuff in the past you don't see me bringing up Bryan."

Toya cringed at the sound of his name," Point taken."

All together the topic was dropped and they knew it.

"So what do you want to eat?" She asked once everything was put up.

Damion shrugged tossing all the bag into a cabinet as he always did," Chicken always sounds good."

She chuckled smiling rubbing his back gently as he stood beside her towering over her," Alright you go chill. I'll call you when it's done."

He nodded making his way towards his bedroom. She turned around pulling the bag of chicken out of the fridge before calling out to her brother again.

"Oh and call Mike and see if he wants to come over for dinner!"

She had to get out.

Another sleeplessness tossing and turning as flashes of her past ran rapt through her dream world. She shot up from her sleep in sweat soaked sheets and a racing heart with a pounding headache. She got up to take a couple aspirin and changed her sheets and hopped in the shower.

She never could fall back asleep. She sat laying in her bed for a couple of hours it seemed, staring at the ceiling.

She had to clear her head of the nightmare.

The best way she knew how to do that was running until it hurt.

Toya sat on the edge of her bed lacing up her sneakers and adjusting her used iPod shuffle on the arm of her shirt. She stood up walking to the bathroom and grabbed her brush wetting it a bit and brushing her massive curls tightly into bushy ponytail, then apply her pink headband. She shut off her lights and wrapped her head phone cord around her neck before walking a few feet down the hall to Damion’s bedroom. She knocked on it softly before pushing the door open.

She took sight of her brother long lean body splattered across the bed and his head tucked underneath a pillow,” Damion, PSST!”

She kept calling out his name until she got a groggy mumble in response,” I’m going out for a run. I’ll be back in about an hour and a half.

He threw up his hand signaling that he heard her before falling back into his sleep. She shook her head and closed the door.  She walked into the living room grabbing her keys off the counter and headed out the front door locking it behind her. She stuffed her keys into her sweatpants and began to stretch. She used the nearby stairwell to stretch her legs as she scoped out the complex. Every other parking spot was filled still marked with the dew of the morning.

The sun’s light just began to color the sky and the area was quiet expect for a few cars that exited, which she assumed with those who had to work earlier than everyone else. Once she felt she stretched enough she began to walk towards the entrance. She grabbed her ear plugs and began to stick them one by one into her ear until she heard a “hey”.

She turned to her left scanning for the voice until it landed upon the woman from last night. Angie flagged her down as she made her way over,” Good Morning.”

Toya nodded smiling holding her other ear plug in hand,” Morning.”

Angie looked Toya’s outfit over with a smile, but with a thought in her head. Where the hell she going? Running? In this neighborhood?

“So, you out for a morning jog?” Angie questioned obviously knowing the answer.

“Yeah, it’s a habit.”

Angie nodded sincerely,” Don’t have many runners around here. You be careful. A friendly word of advice I wouldn’t go farther than 10th street. Most of the time it’s quiet on this side of town, but 10th street is like New York City. It never sleeps. High crime area the whole nine. There’s a corner store about two miles from here and its pretty much neutral ground. Don’t go any farther than that.”

Toya nodded taking note everything she said,” Thank you.”

Angie smiled brightly nodding,” No problem. Any family of Michael’s is a friend of mine.”

Toya smiled genuinely before sticking her other plug to her ear and continued her walk towards the complex exit as she flipped through her music to find a beat. Once she did, she turned left and began her jog down the sidewalk.

She ran to get lost.

They say life is a battlefield

 I say bring it on

 If you wanna know how I feel

 Live it till it's gone

 I'm just saying that what don't kill, only makes you strong

 If you don't recognize what is real

 Then forever is a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long Time

Justin flicked his black and mild onto the ground from his window and blew out the smoke as he sat in truck looking towards the convince store.

“I’m going in to get a case of beer and some other shit. You want anything? “

He looked over at his younger brother Charlie as he dug down into his baggy jeans pulling out some money and his baggy of hash and placing it into the center console. Justin shook his head,” Yeah get me an orange soda and some cereal.”

Charlie nodded chewing on the toothpick that hung from the corner of his lip. He opened up the truck door and hopped out slamming the door shut. Justin leaned back in his seat flipping through his phone aimlessly as he nodded his head to the music placing on the radio. He was tired, he had a long time with many phone calls and headed up heading out to the party when he had nothing else to do.

The party was lively as ever full of familiar faces and tons of women hanging on someone arm. He wasn’t to excluded. He didn’t hold conversation with any of them and if he did it was on his way down the hall to a bedroom to smash real quick. Most of them lived for the moment it seem. It was as if they got some kind of recognition if the girls had sex with one of his crew member, but it was like winning the gold metal if they had Oscar and Charlie, but him it was like they were nominated queen of the world.

It all went to their head and it was they were self-proclaimed his woman, but too often then he like he had to put them in their place. He was nowhere near the place or space to be a one woman man. He didn’t need the extra baggage that came with a woman and most of them had kids or had some crazy ex that he would have to put six feet under and a lot of them were still wet behind the ears.

He was almost in his thirties and he didn’t have time to help a young woman find herself. They came with lots of insecurities and haven’t set a standard in their life with shit they would put up with. His life was dangerous, a lot of uncertain and a lot of fast and quick moments that if he was ever to tie himself to one woman. She had to be able to handle her own, she had be able to walk through hell with a smile on her face. Loyalty was a big thing to him along with honesty.

He knew the time of person he was. The last relationship he was in was years ago and he thought he was lucky that he found the one he was going to be with for the rest of his life, but she couldn’t handle the pressure when he moved up to president of the club. It also became extremely dangerous and she had her life threaten a few times, but that wasn’t what broke her down.

She had gotten pregnant and due to the stress of everything. She miscarried and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She wanted out and she got it and moved to the other side of the country with her family and he never saw her again.

He got wind a year or two ago after she had gotten married and had two sons.

It hurt like hell, but he had been so busy with the club and knee deep in shit that he didn’t even have time to reflect on what could have been. And he tried not too so he swept it under the rug and let it be what it was going to be.

He dropped his phone into lap as he looked out towards the store. He wished his brother would hurry up he wanted to go home and sleep all day. He stared down the street as the sun finally rose up over the city building. A flash of light caught his attention it flitter off, on, off, on. He searched for the light until he flittered on again. It was a reflector coming off the pink shirt of a woman jogging his distraction.

As she jogged closer enough from him to see, she wore a pink tank top with little reflectors on it and pair of gray sweat pants with t-shirt tucked into the side of it with the cuff of the pants pushed up to her knees. She a pair of head phones in her ear and a head band wrapped around her head with a ponytail full of thick curls bouncing as she ran.

Her caramel colored skin was coated in sweat as she ran focused only what was in front of her. Justin watched as she jogged closer and closer down the side walk. She seemed to slow down her jog as she got closer towards the car and stopped as she reached the end of the sidewalk right in front of corner store. She heaved in and out as she swung her arms back and forth trying to catch her breath as she paced back and forth.

There weren’t too many people in Inglewood he didn’t know. Inglewood was small part of the map of California. He has lived here long enough to know. He damn sure didn’t know of anyone that went jogging at six o clock in the morning around here.

She was new here.

Must be visiting.

He watched as she paced a little less and look to be gearing back up to take off back down the sidewalk she came from. Charlie came busting through the door causing her to lose her footing as she stepped out into his path without looking and stumble to the ground.

Before Justin could even think he was out of the car and was running up on the side walk beside his brother as he reached out help her up.

“Damn Charlie watch where you going” Justin hissed, but without much of a look to his younger brother.

But Charlie looked at him wildly not knowing where he came from. He looked back towards the car seeing the driver’s side door wide open.

Did he really just jump out the car for this chick? Charlie thought as he looked back to the woman as she took hold of Justin’s hand as he helped her up.

“No it’s fine I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Toya shook her head as she held onto each of their hand as they pulled her up.

Justin watched as she dusted the back of her pants off, he couldn’t help but take notice of her rear end through the sweats. Charlie caught him and nudged him just as she turned her head back round dusting off her hands as well.

“Real sorry about that.” Charlie nodded with an apologetic look as much as his stern would allow. Toya glanced at him giving him a tight lip smile as she looked over them both. They must have been brothers they were almost identical, but one had long blonde hair and the other was shaven and looked clearly a bit other, but not much.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman go running through the streets of Inglewood. Unless she was running from something.” Justin spoke out loud gaining her attention with his sarcastic undertone.

Toya suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and through him a ‘boy please.’ She didn’t know from Adam and neither did she knew this neighborhood getting the stiff warning from Angie. She didn’t dare test the waters by herself. So, she just shrugged, but couldn’t lace her annoyance.

“First time for everything. Thank you for helping me up.”

Justin chuckled,” You don’t sound very thankful.”

Toya threw him a look,” Maybe because I wasn’t talking to you.”

Charlie chuckled with wide eyes, he had never heard a woman talk about to his brother besides his mom. Woman practically groveled at his brothers feet when he came around. She definitely wasn’t from around here and even then those who weren’t were smitten by his brother rude charm. He watched as they stared at enough other for a moment taking note of the spark in his brother’s eye.

They watched as the unknown woman began jogging back down the sidewalk. Charlie patted his brother on the back with a smirk still on his face,” Yup there is truly a first time for everything.”

Justin rolled his eyes shrugging his head off and headed back towards taking another look in her direction as she disappeared farther and farther down the way,” Shut up and get in the car I’m ready to go to sleep.”