"I need money for the casino!" Dad yelled, his voice practically shaking the walls as he threw an empty beer bottle onto the ground.

I looked over at Anthony sat on the couch beside me, staring wide eyed at the sudden scene unfolding in the kitchen. He shouldn't be seeing any of this, but dad didn't care who was around to see him angry and violent.

"I think it's time for bed." I told him quietly, giving him our usual cue to escape dad's tantrums.

He nodded once and tried to sneak away unnoticed, but caught dad's eye in the process.

"Hey kid, come clean this up." He slurred, pointing at the broken glass on the ground.

Anthony knew better than to argue so he quickly rushed over to the mess and started scooping the shards up with his bare hands. The poor kid knew dad would freak out if he got a broom instead of going straight to cleaning.

Anger swelled up inside of me as I saw mom cower in the corner of the kitchen when dad turned his attention back to her, screaming profanities in her face. I hated that he treated her like that, and that Anthony was witnessing it.

I didn't want my brother to get cut on the glass so I rushed over to the closet by the front door to retrieve the broom and dustpan while dad wasn't watching.

As I was walking into the kitchen another beer bottle was smashed on the ground and Anthony cried out in pain.

I dropped what I was holding and bent down in front of him to see if he was okay and when he looked up at me blood was running down his left cheek from a cut just below his eye. Glass must've bounced off the ground and cut him when dad smashed the second bottle, but luckily that seemed to be the only injury.

"Dammit." I cursed under my breath as I reached into my pocket, taking out the money I made this week.

"Leave." I spat, shoving the money into dad's chest with more force than needed.

Thankfully he left pretty quickly, without a fight, and once the door was closed behind him I turned my attention back to my brother. He was bleeding pretty badly, causing a mess on the floor, so I grabbed the towel hanging on the oven handle and handed it to him to put pressure on the wound.

"I think he might need stitches, can you take him to the emergency room?" I asked, turning to mom who was still frozen in the corner of the kitchen.

My question snapped her into action and she nodded, walking over to the dining table to retrieve her cellphone so she could call a cab.

It was a good thing I kept some money for myself when I gave dad money for the casino, otherwise mom wouldn't have been able to pay for the ride to the hospital.

I scooped up her wallet from the kitchen counter and slid the rest of my cash into it before handing it to her, sending a comforting smile to both her and Anthony. I was always the one they looked to when something crazy happened, and as long as I stayed calm they would too. Even though my blood was boiling on the inside, my face stayed impassive.

Eventually the cab showed up and once it turned off of our street I went back into the house and headed for my bedroom. I was filled with so much rage that my body was shaking and I needed some way to relieve the angry pressure. It felt like I was going to explode.

I slammed my door shut behind me when I entered my room but it didn't make me feel any better so started throwing everything I could get my hands on. I smashed the empty piggy bank I'd had since I was a kid, and screamed at the top of my lungs as I shoved my dresser over, but the anger still pulsed through my body.

I kicked and punched and smashed one thing after another until everything in my room was destroyed and I couldn't even recognize my surroundings. My eyes scanned the area for anything else to break and landed on my cellphone which somehow ended up on the floor.

I grabbed it without a second thought and pulled my arm back to throw it as hard as I could, but then I froze, realizing the mess I made. Realizing that I was dealing with my anger the same way as my dad. I was no different than him. One day I would break and take my anger out on a person instead of an object, it was only a matter of time.

My phone buzzed in my hand, completely snapping me back to reality, and I lowered my arm to check the notification. I was finally starting to calm down and my phone was the perfect distraction.

From: Liam

Hey man where are you? You still coming over to hang out before the deal?

Damn, I completely forgot about my plans with Liam. I'd been trying my best to avoid him since I gave his name to the West side gang so this was the first time we were supposed to hang out since all that went down. The only time we'd hung out lately was to do deals.

I quickly began on my way over to Liam's place, not bothering to text him back. Hopefully we could just get the deal done early so I could head back home and clean everything up. I wasn't in the mood to be around someone I sold out, the guilt would eat me alive.

Ten minutes later I was knocking on his door, I always loved that he lived close to me but lately it felt like a curse.

"Look who decided to finally show up." He teased when he answered the door.

I stepped into his house, rolling my eyes, "Are we gonna do the deal now?"

He shook his head, "The client had a specific time with no room to change it so you're stuck with me for an hour before we can go."

So I had to stew in my guilt for an hour, great.

We made our way down to the basement to play a game of pool while we waited and I kept a close eye on my phone the whole time.

"I still can't believe you have this thing." I made conversation, referring to the pool table he got a while back.

Liam laughed, "Yeah it was an impulse buy, but totally worth it. I'm lucky I'm raking in the big buck these days."

"Why don't you share some of it with the rest of us." I teased, trying to keep the resentment out of my voice. Everyone in our gang knew he was the best dealer so he hogged most of the clients, I was lucky he even let me come on some of his deals. I know he knew about my family's money troubles, so that was probably why he shared some deals with me, and I always thought that he would hand me over some of his clients one day. But I was wrong. That day was never going to come which was why I had to take matters into my own hands.

I checked my phone for the time again as Liam finished off our game of pool, and saw that there was still half an hour until the deal.

Liam's phone suddenly began ringing before we could figure out what to do next and he quickly answered it.

"Hello?" He said, looking confused.

He listened to the person on the other side of the call and whatever they said made his expression harden.

"Why the hell would I help you?" He snapped, then paused to listen to the person again.

I tried to distract myself from his conversation by playing a random game on my phone, and only tuned back in when he said "I'll be at your place in ten minutes" and ended the call.

Where the hell was he going when we had a deal soon?

"What's going on?" I asked. What could be more important than making money?

Liam sighed, "Emma needs me to pick her friend up from Devin's big party. I don't think I'll be able to make the deal tonight, sorry man."

Anger began to bubble up inside of me, "I need this money, can't you wait until after the deal to be Emma's little slave."

He shook his head, looking apologetic, "It's urgent."

"Whatever man." I mumbled, knowing I wasn't going to get any money from a deal tonight.

We both left his house and he drove away without so much as a goodbye, but I didn't mind because I was pissed. He didn't understand how badly I needed this deal since he always had enough deals to get by just fine, and it wasn't fair. If he was out of the drug business it would be better for everyone.

Suddenly an idea struck me and before I could really think it through I was calling the West side gang. This was how I was going to make my money tonight since Liam bailed on me.

Despite the fact that it was midnight, Darren answered the phone and I quickly gave him all of Liam's car details and the general area he would be in. It was a small town so everyone had to take South Street to get anywhere, if the gang wanted to find him they'd find him there.

"Nice work kid, if this works out you'll have a nice stack of cash coming to you." Darren replied after I was done giving him all the details he needed.

"That sounds good right about now." I told him honestly, knowing my family wouldn't be able to pay the bills unless I got some money soon.

By the time I got home Darren and I had said our goodbyes and ended the call.

I walked into the kitchen, deciding to clean up the glass and blood on the floor before my mom and brother got home. They didn't need to deal with that after being at the hospital.

I had just finished up with the kitchen when my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered without looking at the caller ID.

"I'm driving down South Street, being shot at. I need backup." Liam said, sounding calm despite the dangerous situation.

My heart dropped, I was the reason he was being shot at. I didn't know how the West side would handle Liam, but I had my suspicions that it would be with violence, and I still sold him out anyway.

"Damn, I'll send some help. Meet up at the warehouse?" I replied, further sending him into the trap.

"Yeah, thanks Garrett." He said before ending the call.

I immediately called Darren again to give him the address of the warehouse, and told him to wait until the next day to attack when everyone's guard was down. Hopefully that would give me enough time to figure things out.