Another long, exhausting night had Shorter nearly collapsing into bed, not before getting in contact with Lux though. Since making things official, he was really trying to make her a top priority so she wouldn't feel so expendable. It was the little things that he started doing again that made her fall for him in the first place like morning and night texts, falling asleep on the phone, and expressing how much she means to him. Things seemed bright for the newly formed couple but there was a lingering cloud in the distance.

Lux wasn't good at splitting her time amongst her friends. She let Oz fall through the cracks, led on Yuji, had been blowing off Fang, who was more understanding to the situation, but it still made her a little sad that her only friend was too occupied with her new boyfriend to even check in every now and then. The more Lux put herself in Shorter's grasp, the further away everyone else around her was becoming.

Then there was Shorter. He was happy again but the life he lived could only allow him to act his age for so long. The whole Sing situation was stressing him out, knowing that Hook and Viper had been keeping a close eye on the kid for a few weeks now. He prayed that everything would be fine, but sometimes it's your closest friends that wind up putting a bullet through your back.

A meeting was called to Chang Dai between Shorter, Hook, and Viper to discuss the matters revolving around Sing. It could only mean two things. One, Sing was clean. Or two, he was a dirty rat. "I've done my share of digging." Shorter began, "Either Sing's really good at keeping up a façade or the whole stash house thing was just a poorly timed coincidence."

The two boys both nodded. Hook gave a sigh and slouched against the wall. "The kid keeps to himself. All he does is follow you around like a damn lap dog, worry about his bone head brother, and just stays put at home. I gotta say, he's pretty fuckin boring."

Viper cupped his hands together to make sure the flame to light his cigarette wouldn't blow out. He held it between his teeth as he spoke, "Had two serpents follow him around when he did go out. All they reported was seeing him practice his aim with beer bottles and just take late night cruises. If Sing was really in bed with the feds, he would have had plenty of opportunities to meet up with them, and he didn't." The boys were really hoping to find something on Sing, but they couldn't argue with proof. Sing was clean. "He's cleared by me."

"Me too." Hook raised a low hand.

"Same here." Shorter agreed. "Alright. Back to business as usual."

As the boys headed out the backroom and made their way to the dining area, they took quick notice of a table occupied by four police officers. Nadia did say they always came around for the lunch special to scope out who from the Chinese Mafia was entering and exiting the building. A waitress came around the corner from the kitchen with a tray balanced on her shoulder and hand as she made her way to the officers table. Hook smirked and waited until she got close enough to put his foot out. The waitress, who doubled as one of the girls that would spend her time at the guys hang out, lost her balance as she tripped, tipping the tray full of food all over the table. Fried rice, wonton soup, egg rolls, and sauces splattered everywhere all over the men in uniforms. Before the waitress could hit the floor, Viper caught her by the crook of her arm, knowing what Hook was going to do for a laugh.

"What the hell?" One of the cops shouted, looking down at the mess that splattered all over him and his partners.

"I'm so sorry!" the girl apologized, reaching over with a rag from her apron to attempt to clean off the table, knowing it wouldn't make much of difference. "Hook, you jerk! You saw me walking over here!"

The three boys chuckled at the scene. "Sorry Tori." Hook covered his mouth to muffle his laugh, "There's just something about seeing pigs covered in slop that cracks me up."

Viper snorted and playfully pulled Hook under his arm into a headlock, "Alright you little trouble maker, lets escort you out." he mockingly bowed his head and apologized, "So sorry officers, my friend here is a little challenged. He can't control himself. Especially the muscle spasms that causes him to trip people."

Hook flung his arm out shouting, "Oh geez!" as he knocked over a cup full of water that miraculously was still filled despite the accident. Water splashed, making the mess of soggy food even bigger and the anger of the cops more so than that. "Sorry, another spasm." he shrugged, before being yanked by Viper to the exit.

"As partial owner of Chang Dai, to make up for-" Shorter waved his hand over the mess, "all this. Next meals on us and I promise it won't be on you."

"I fuckin hate cops." Viper flicked his cigarette to the street, as they all crossed to get to their cars. "Speaking of which, that bastard that thinks he owns us. Heard from him at all, Boss?" Viper knew Sargent Voight better than he wanted. When this whole "partnership" started, Voight wanted to use the serpents to help gather intel to solve some cases in exchange for keeping his unit off of the mafia's scent when it came to drug runs and the occasional prostitution. The new leeway was good for business, so they had no choice but to have a short term agreement.

"Last time we spoke was when that thing at Sing's school went down." Shorter answered while checking his buzzing phone. "Want to say I'm relieved but I ain't stupid. He probably needs to keep his distance from us since Sheng is back. Oh and that Wydell made detective."

Hearing that name made Hook tense up. Every night since his cousin Dreamer was killed by Wydell, he dreamed of the different ways he'd torture the man. Making it last days, maybe even weeks. He felt he'd truly be at peace and able to move on if he finally got the chance to avenge Dreamer.

"That's just great." Viper shook his head, "Guess we can't count on those pigs sticking to moral codes when it comes to trying to take us down. They're getting desperate." his comment was made to receive a response from Shorter who found himself typing away on his phone. Hook and Viper shared a confused stare. They weren't used to seeing Shorter distracted like this. "Boss?"

"Hm?" Shorter finally looked up, "You say something?"

"Yeah I uh- you good?" he asked, "Yuh seem distracted. Is there something Hook and I should know about?"

"Oh. Nah. It's got nothing to do with that." Shorter shook his head and laughed off the question, "I gotta go. I'm running late."

"For what?" Hook asked, standing in front of the car door, keeping Shorter from opening it. He respected his Boss and all, but he was the main guy in the gang that would always challenge him. That attitude was why Shorter nearly kicked Hook out. It wasn't smart to keep a guy around that would always mouth off. That being said, he was loyal and just wanted to test out if the trust ran both ways.

Shorter sighed and held his unlocked phone out for the boys to see the contact above the text messages that he was so preoccupied with. "I'm texting my girl. Said I'd pick her up for lunch."

Hook squinted and clicked on the contact to enlarge the picture. It was a simple selfie of a winking Lux with her glossed lips puckered to mimic a kiss. "Ain't that the drunk chick from the other night?"

Viper bumped him to the side to get a better look, "Oh shit it is. Damn, Boss. You locked down one of the groupies?"

"She's not one of ours. I met her when I was picking Sing up from school once."

"High school girl?" Hook held the phone closer to his face. "She's actually kinda cute when she's not falling face first onto the ground."

"Yeah real cute." Shorter opened up the door to his car and started the engine, "And she's gonna be real mad if I'm late."

"Don't let us hold you up." Viper said as he and Hook walked over to the car they drove up in.

"By the way, Boss." Hook called out, "Is she one that you're willing to share or?" Viper smacked the boy over the head. He just loved to play with fire.

"Another word about my Lux and you'll be out of the gang for real this time." Shorter smiled after his threat that Hook knew to take seriously. Lux was his and only his. That's how it was meant to be.

__________________________________

"Sure you're not hungry?" Shorter ran his hands down Lux's sides and squeezed at her thighs that had straddled him in the backseat of his car.

"Mm-mm." Lux shook her head, as she planted more kisses onto his lips. "I'm fine with this."

Shorter gently lifted her up by the hips, just high enough to pull her panties down her skirt. The material tangled around her left ankle and shoe as she relaxed back down for Shorter to sink his fingers inside of her. Lux pressed her lips together to hold back her moan as Shorter pumped his fingers in and out, hitting the spot that made her entire body tingle with pleasure. She wanted to feel more of her boyfriend so bad, but now it was him making her wait. Her body ached for it but there was something so adrenalizing about wanting something that she couldn't have.

Lux shifted her body up to give herself room to unbutton Shorter's jeans. His hard cock sprung out allowing Lux to wrap her fingers around it. She had gotten so much better at stroking him off. She loved seeing the way his eyes would flutter shut and hearing that low growl escape his lips. Handies were fun but too juvenile for what Lux felt like she was ready for. The growing frustration of being denied sex weighed down on her heated body to where she needed more than just Shorter's fingers or her vibrator to be satisfied.

The annoying beeping of Lux's phone alarm grabbed their attention. They both groaned at the sound that interrupted them. "Lunch period over already?" Shorter threw his head back. Each meet up seemed to go by faster and faster leaving both Shorter and Lux to feel unfulfilled.

They both knew what they had going on was as far from a normal relationship as they could get. Being able to be seen with each other in public was a no go, so cute dates was out of the question. And not like Lux's parents would approve of her new boyfriend either so that also meant him freely coming over was a no go. It was frustrating but they both promised each other that they'd somehow work things out.

Maybe.
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-Police Station-

"Two weeks." Wydell held up two fingers in Lao's face. "You gave us some little school girl who had supposedly been getting close to Shorter Wong and we kept eyes on her for two weeks." Lao looked over to the side to avoid the detectives glare. "Not once did she even go near him or the gang!"

"He talked about her a lot! She came to the base once concerned about my brother. I thought they were all close so I gave you her name. What else do you want from me?" Lao scratched at his scabbing track marks. He didn't want to think of himself as an addict but he knew that the anxieties and guilt of being a rat would eventually lead him to accidentally OD one day. Going cold turkey with no support system was tough but keeping himself alive was harder. He wasn't ready to die. He couldn't leave Sing alone in this world. Yet every day he'd think about killing himself to free his conscience of the constant torment of betraying people who trusted him. All he wanted was for all of this shit to end.

"Something I can use!"

"I don't have anything else for you! I've told you all that I know!"

Wydell grabbed Lao by the collar of his jacket until the door swung open. Sergeant Voight came in pushing the detective to the side and screamed, "That's enough! Time for you to admit that your CI is useless." He pointed at the detective who was too proud to own up to such a thing. "We've been at this for two months and have come up empty. It's time to call a quits. We don't need this kid. The Chinese Mafia is always up and running. We'll catch them eventually."

Wydell clenched his jaw, "No disrespect Sergeant but this isn't your call."

The two cops glared at each other for a few moments until Voight smirked. "Get lost Lao." He demanded, walking over to open up the door. "Remember, I know where to find you. So don't do anything stupid." Lao nodded then looked back at Detective Wydell who was anything but thrilled after losing his CI. Voight shut the door once Lao left and turned his attention back to his detective. "This ends here. Unless we get any leads on The Chinese Mafia I want you to stay out of Chinatown. Understand?"

"Sheriff Sheng won't stand for this."

"Well right now he isn't here." Voight glared before leaving the interrogation room.
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Lux and Sing sat in awkward silence. It began raining on her walk home from school and it just so happened that Sing was passing by and spotted her. He contemplated if wether or not he should stop considering what Shorter had told him about Lux not being ready to speak to him yet. When he rolled down the window and asked, Lux seemed more than happy to accept, he just didn't know what to say to her once they were alone together.

"How's school been?" Sing finally asked to break the silence.

"Fine I guess." Lux's eyes wandered around to observe the interior of the vehicle. She knew Sing had a motorcycle but didn't know he had a car too. "Nice ride."

"It's Lao's. He lets me borrow it every now and then."

"I'm assuming you don't have a license though."

Sing looked over and smiled, "Don't tell."

Lux mimicked the gesture of zipping her lip. "I'm getting mine soon hopefully. Shorter was actually giving me some more lessons when I didn't have time to get them from Oz." she explained. Shorter informed her on how he took one of his guys cars instead of using his own in case she dinged it up while practicing. Thankfully she had already had a good understanding of what she was doing. "My parents are getting me a car afterwards so I'll be able to be on my own when I go to nursing school."

"Wow. Mommy and Daddy like to spoil their princess."

Lux chuckled, "They're kind of sick of me right now."

"Why's that?"

"Staying out late, not telling them every little detail on what I'm doing and who I'm with. And I'm sure my mom found my lingerie when she was doing laundry." Lux recalled coming home to a bin of clean clothes in her room and finding the underwear sets that she had bought with Fang.

"That's awkward."

"Could have been worse." Lux was just thankful that her vibrator and condoms weren't discovered. Because that would have been an even worse case scenario.

Sing bit his tongue wondering if he should bring up their old argument. Lux was speaking to him like she had forgotten about it, and she wasn't acting like she was still angry with him like how Shorter had said. "Hey Lux-"

"Watch out!" Lux shouted.

Sing slammed the breaks while shooting his arm out across Lux's chest to keep her pinned to the seat. A speeding car had ran a stop sign, nearly crashing into them. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Lux bent forward to pick up the things that flew out of her purse when it fell to the car floor due to the harsh stop. "Should have held on tighter." They both sighed in relief, letting out a nervous chuckle.

After pulling up to Lux's house the goodbyes were simple. Lux mentioned it was nice being able to see Sing again and he had agreed. He didn't realize how happy Lux had made him until he got to spend time with her again. Even if it was for just a few minutes. "Hey Lux?" She turned around before shutting the car door. He wanted to bring up their argument and confirm if everything was surely okay between them. After all, she seemed to be acting pretty normal to his surprise. "Glad I got to see you again."

Lux smiled, "Me too. I'm happy to see you safe." Her eyes burned at the thought of something terrible happening to Sing if he wound up being a traitor. He had so much to live for. Dying at fourteen wasn't going to be in his cards. Lux was going to find a way to make sure Sing had a long and happy life with or without the mafia.

"Thanks." Sing's chest felt full of something that he hadn't felt in a while. He suddenly didn't have this weight from chains around his heart anymore. His lungs weren't as tight and he could easily breath through them now. Sing somehow felt alive again in some way and it was all because Lux was by his side again. "You wanna catch up tomorrow? If you're not busy that is." Sing forced the words out of his throat as his cheeks began to heat up. He knew he had gotten over his feelings for Lux but there was just something about her that gave him those stupid butterflies in his stomach.

Lux remembered how Shorter confirmed that Sing wasn't a rat after all, so she figured that there was no harm in talking to him now. "I'd love to. Just text me a time."

Sing gave one last smile before watching Lux disappear into her house. Things were finally starting to look up for him.
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"Lao!" Viper shouted from the lot of the base complex. "I think I left my lighter in your car the other night."

"I sent Sing on a run for me." Lao scratched above the sleeve of his shirt, trying not to irritate his scabbing track marks. "He should be back soon."

Viper raised an eyebrow. After everything that went down with the stash house, something in his gut was telling him that there was still something off about these brothers. He just couldn't put his finger on it. "Run for what?" Lao huffed, pulling his sleeve up to show all of the red scratches on his arms. "Jesus. Hope you know itching cream isn't gonna make the skin crawling go away."

"How long does this shit last for?" He grunted as she continued to scratch at his reddening neck.

Viper shrugged. "Dunno. I don't use heroin. I outta put gloves on you. The scratchings grossing us all out."

"Whatever."

"What made you quit?" Viper asked.

The second the cops found drugs on Lao and forced him to be a rat, was the day he wished he had never put that needle into his veins. "Don't want my brother to wind up like me is all."

"Mhm." Viper hummed. Soon a car pulled up and parked near the two boys. Sing got out with a grocery bag hanging loosely around his wrist and handed it off to Lao along with his keys.

"Thanks." Lao patted his heavy hand onto Sing's head making him wince.

"Imma need to borrow the car tomorrow night by the way." Sing mentioned.

"What's wrong with your motorcycle?"

"It's supposed to rain again."

"Fair." Lao tossed the keys back to his brother. "I'm staying home unless Shorter needs me for anything. Just drop off my keys when you're done." He drawled before heading into the apartment complex.

Sing turned to see Viper still standing behind him with a glare on his face. He walked up and snatched the keys from Sing's hand. "Hey!"

"Calm down. I left my lighter in here somewhere."

"Don't you have a million lighters?"

"Yeah but this one's my favorite." Viper grunted as he looked around in the car and crouched down to check underneath the seats. He and Lao would sometimes be paired up to go collect tax from people in Chinatown and since the two didn't like each other, they'd be high out of their minds to make the trip a little easier on themselves. Viper was looking under the seat for a while so Sing walked up to offer his help which was quickly turned down. Viper held the lighter in his palm and pushed the keys into Sing's chest for him to grab. His jaw was clenched and without saying anything else, Viper went inside the building, leaving Sing to question what the sudden change in demeanor was all about.

Viper hurried through the halls, ignoring everyone who tried to get his attention for whatever reason. He pushed the door open to Hook's room to see him on the couch with a girl straddling his waist. "Get up, asshole!" He pulled Hook by the arm, making the girl fall off of him.

"Hey what the hell? You don't knock?" Hook yanked out of the boys grasp and pulled his t-shirt back into place. "My door was closed for a reason, jackass."

"I just found somethin that's more important than banging some whore."

Hook chuckled, "Doubt. That whores double jointed." Viper rolled his eyes and held a white business card between his fingers. "What's that?"

"Something Shorter needs to see."
____________________
-Next Night-

It was dark and storming out but Lux and Sing continued their night of cruising around town. She talked about how she was sorry about their last argument and wasn't sure if bringing it back up was the right thing to do. Sing had agreed, saying that he had been wanting to reach out but Shorter had mentioned that Lux was still upset about the situation and wasn't ready to speak to him yet.

That last bit of information confused Lux. She didn't remember ever saying that. Then she quickly put together that Shorter must have lied to keep Sing away from her in case she had warned him about being investigated by the gang. Lux wished her name wouldn't have been thrown into the mix but she played along regardless of the truth. "Yeah. I was still kinda mad at you." She lied, "But I'm over it now. We can move on."

"That's good to hear." Sing drove carefully down the narrow road as the rain started to pour harder. Thankfully rainy days were relaxing to the both of them so they were still able to enjoy their ride. "I'm glad we're still friends."

"Me too."

Sing and Lux turned to each other for a quick moment, sharing a warm smile. As they were lost in meaningful conversation, the three dark cars pulling up on the sides and behind them went unmarked as suspicious. Sing turned on his blinker to switch lanes but the car on his right kept speeding up. "The hells this guys problem?" Sing checked the rear view mirror to see that the car behind him was way too close, almost like the 3 cars were trying to box him in.

"People drive crazy."

Sing looked over his shoulder to check on the car beside him. He had a clear view of the driver to see that they were wearing a ski mask. His eyes widened and heart began to pound. "Lux. Imma need you to hang on okay."

"What are you-" Sing slammed his foot on the gas pedal and sped down the wet road. The three cars chased up after them with revving engines."What the hells going on!?" Lux screamed in a panic, holding onto the safety handle above the window.

Sing reached down behind him and took hold of the gun that was tucked in his belt. "Take the wheel!" He shouted at Lux. Before she could argue against his order, Sing had already rolled down the window and started firing poorly aimed shots at the car on his right side.

The person on the passenger seat fired back and managed to shoot a hole in the wheel. Then the car in the back rear ended them, making Lux and Sing bump into each other and lose full control of the wheel. Their car swerved and screeched threw the lanes as they both tried to straighten the car with the three wheels that were still in tact. The car on the left slowed down and for a moment they thought the three mysterious vehicles would retreat but that wasn't the case.

The car on the right took one final shot and blew out the glass on Sing's side before running them off the road. Their car spun and flipped twice into a ditch, crashing upside down.

The three cars pulled over and the four masked men ran down into the ditch. "He alive?" Viper's voice called out.

The boy closest to the car kneeled down in the mud to check. It was dark but he saw Sing knocked out with blood smeared on his face. "He's still breathing. Smiley, help me drag him out." The boy known as Sunshine used the sleeve of his hoodie to clear out the shards of glass around the window to make it easier to pull Sing out without things getting too bloody.

The only thing Sing knew about Sunshine and Smiley was that they were the ones called when things were going to be unavoidably messy and they'd be the ones to clean up. If he were conscious he'd already know that his time was inevitably done for. The boys dragged Sing out by his arms, letting his limp body drop in the mud.

"Get him up." Viper ordered, "Throw him in Hook's car. He'll be nice and comfy in there."

Hook took his soaked mask off to help his comrades until he noticed something over on the passenger side. It was dark and the rain was pouring harder so he went in to get a closer look and what he discovered made his eyes grow wide in horror. "Holy shit." He stood up, gripping his hands tightly into his hair. "No no no no."

"What happened?" Viper shoved him out of the way to check what he was looking at. He took a few shaking steps back when he saw a bleeding out girl in the passenger seat. Her arm had been mangled in the wreck and she had a gash on the back of her head. She wasn't moving and the boys couldn't tell if she was even breathing. "Is that-"

"Shorter's girl...."
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A/N: I know i haven't posted in a few weeks so I thought to treat you guys with an extra long chapter with a wild cliff hanger. Lemme know what you guys think :)