20

Sonic

Amy's laughter echoed through the air as we walked down the street. We'd just bid Silver and Blaze goodbye, and Silver had yelled out some dumb shit about growing a pair to kiss her. I was going to deck him the next time I saw him for telling all my business like that. I was more than confident to ask Amy out and kiss her - I just wanted to do it right. After the parade of assholes she'd dated, she deserved nothing less than perfection when I finally asked her to be mine. I'd spent the past few days working on the perfect date, researching potential restaurants and events. While I'd narrowed down my options on that end, I still needed to work on the jewelry. I'd been searching online, but I needed to see the pieces in person. If I was going to give Amy a gift to symbolize our relationship, then it needed to be something special.

I looked down at Amy as her arms wrapped around my abdomen.

She smiled up at me, her green eyes shining with adoration and joy. The yellow glow of the streetlights reflected off of her face, emphasizing her round cheeks and sweet smile. Her pink highlights glowed beneath the lights, creating a yellow halo around her head. Amy looked like an angel - my angel.

My arm around her shoulder tightened, bringing her closer to me.

I dipped my head with every intention of catching her lips with mine and kissing her for all she was worth. My actions were rudely interrupted when I felt a fist slam against the back of my head.

Instinctively, I pushed Amy away from me. I never wanted her anywhere near me when I fought, and tonight wasn't an exception. Turning, I swung my arm at my attacker. I wasn't surprised when my fist connected with Shadow's face. He, Jet, and the rest of their punk ass friends were talking shit about jumping me all week. If they wanted to do this now, I could definitely start serving up knuckle sandwiches.

I ducked when I saw Jet swing at me from my peripheral vision. I punched him next before kicking Shadow in his stomach. Sometimes I swear they forgot I've literally been training to fight since I was five. I could beat both of their asses with my hands tied behind my back if I really wanted to.

A third person tried to restrain my arms, but I elbowed him in the ribs. I'd learned my lesson from Scourge 's punk ass crew - no one was going to hold me down.

They all tried to jump on me at once, and I swung my arms and legs, hitting as quickly as I could to keep them at bay. My abdomen caught a few punches, but nothing too bad. They punched like a bunch of girls.

I punched Jet directly in his nose before spinning around and kneeing the third dude in his ribcage. When I turned again to hit Shadow, he caught me with a right hook to the face. The impact surprised me, but it didn't stop me. I returned with another punch to his face.

We exchanged punches for a few moments before he grabbed my hoodie and swung me into the wall of a nearby building. With him close, I kneed him in his abdomen.

His hands released me, but the other boys' fists bombarded my face, abdomen, and arms. He quickly joined their concerted attack.

With my back against the wall, I could move as much as I wanted to. I swung and kicked and writhed around when I could, but I had to admit I was fighting a losing battle. They may have won this one, but it's only because they knew they couldn't beat me on their own.

A gunshot rang through the air, stopping time for a moment. All of our pauses ceased, and we all shared a brief look of confusion. I glanced around, looking for a bleeding wound or a dropped body.

The trio didn't wait around for the aftermath. They took off down the alleyway, leaving me bruised and bloody.

"Sonic!" Amy yelled. Her voice snapped me back into reality.

I looked in her direction, my heart dropping into my stomach at the thought that she'd been hurt.

Tears streamed down her once smiling cheeks, smearing her liquid eyeliner and sliding it down her face.

I scanned her body as I moved towards her, praying to God that she wasn't hurt. Was there a fourth person in their crew? Had they hurt her? How could I have blocked out her screams? I didn't give a fuck what happened to me when I was fighting, but I'd be damned if anything happened to her. "Hey, are you alright?" I asked, cupping her wet face in my hands. My knuckles burned from the reopened wounds, fresh blood seeping through the bandages.

Amy didn't answer my question. She buried her face into my chest and wrapped her arms tightly around my torso, sobbing so intensely that her entire body shook.

Sighing, I wrapped my arms around her. My eyes darted around, looking for the culprit, or the victim, of the gunshot. My gaze locked with the brown eyes staring at us from a few feet up the street. The blood under my skin boiled at the sight of the gun he was tucking into the waistband of his jeans. "What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked him.

He stuck his hands in his pockets as he approached us. "Saving your ass - again." His gaze lowered to the crying girl in my arms. "Is she okay?"

"Does she look okay?" I snapped.

"My car is around the corner. I'll drive her home."

I nodded. "Come on, mamas," I whispered to Amy. I held her close as we followed my father to his car. Once we were in the backseat, I wiped some of the tears off of Amy's face. "It's alright, Amy. We're safe now. Please stop crying."

She sniffled, fixing her gaze on the red stains on my bandages. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?"

"Mhm. I was just…I was so scared. I tried yelling your name, but I don't think you heard me. One minute, you were fine, and the next they had you against that wall, and I…I was so worried something bad was going to happen."

I put my finger under her chin and lifted it. "Look at me."

Slowly, she raised her watery eyes to meet mine.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to me. Trust me when I say it's going to take a lot more than a couple of stupid Crips to bring me down. Even God is going to get a good fight out of me when it's my time to go." I brought her hand up to my lips, pecking a soft kiss on her skin. "I promise I'm not going anywhere."

"You're not invincible, Sonic," she reminded me. "Please don't make promises you can't keep."

Frowning, I pulled her close again and held her tight. I glanced in the rearview mirror to see my father's eyes on us, watching quietly.

After a few minutes, we finally arrived at our houses. I thanked my father for the ride before leading Amy out of the car. I walked Amy to her front door. "I'm sorry our night was ruined," I said.

"It's alright," she said with a shrug. "You couldn't control that. You were just defending yourself."

"Yeah, but you weren't supposed to see that." I caressed her cheek. "Let me make it up to you next weekend."

"Okay." She glanced at the curb, noticing my father's car still sitting there. "When were you going to tell me about him?"

"When I figured out how I felt about it. Just don't tell Cat…not yet."

"I won't say anything." She stood on her toes to peck a kiss on my bruised cheek. "Goodnight, Sonic."

"Goodnight, Amy."

I waited until I heard the lock of the door to descend the porch steps and climb back into my father's car. "Are you gonna patch me up before I go back inside?"

"Do you want me to?"

I shrugged. "Manic is going to throw a fit either way, so it doesn't really matter."

He chuckled. "He's really taken over the fatherly role, hasn't he?"

"No," I replied. "He could never replace you."

My words caught him off guard. He was silent for a moment, letting them simmer in the air. "So, what are you going to do about what happened tonight?"

I shrugged. "I got mine, and they got theirs - there's nothing left to fight over."

He scoffed. "So, you're just going to let them walk away after what they did to you? You're going to let them run their mouths about how they beat the shit out of you and not do anything about it?"

"Why do you make it sound like such a bad thing?"

"Because doing that makes you look soft, and that's not how I raised you," he replied, his voice hard.

"Then, what do you expect me to do? I'm not interested in fighting them again."

"That's not what I had in mind."

My brows came together. "If not fighting, then what?"

He lifted his shirt to reveal the gun still tucked in his waistband.

My breath stilled at his silent message.

"I've had a spot saved for you in my crew for a long time now," he said. He took the gun out and opened the magazine. "You could accomplish two goals in one task. I'll even loan you the weapon."

"No," I replied. "I'm not joining the Bloods, and I'm damn sure not killing anyone. I'm going to college in the fall, dad. I…I can't risk losing that opportunity because of some beef with boys I'll never see again once I graduate from high school."

"That's assuming you'll get caught. Don't forget, mi hijo, you learned the game from the best, and you're much smarter than I ever was." He plucked one of the bullets from the bottom of the magazine and rolled it between his fingers. "I have no doubts you have the potential to balance being an educated contributor to society and the leader of an organized crime ring. The only question is if that's what you want?"

I stared at him, unsure how to answer his question. I could barely answer Mr. Connor's questions of what I wanted to study in college. Truthfully, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't know who I wanted to be or what I wanted to do. Right now, I just wanted to make it out of high school. I was hoping the rest would come later.

"Take some time to think about it," my father said. He pushed the bullet into my hand and closed my fist around it.

The metal was cold against my palms, icing out the flames that burned under my skin.

"I'll be in touch," he promised.

Squeezing my fist around the bullet, I climbed out of his car and snuck inside the house. Thankfully, Manic was already in his room for the night, and my mother was at work. Quietly, I padded upstairs to my room. With the door shut and locked, I reached underneath my bed for the metal lockbox. I used the key in the drawer of my nightstand to unlock it.

Inside the box was an assortment of pictures of my father and me, MMA event tickets, and a small gold chain with a diamond encrusted cross shaped pendant. I'd locked them all up when my father left, desperate to erase any memory I had of him. I threw the bullet inside the box before locking it up again, this time in hope of erasing the idea that all I'd ever be was a menace to society.