Hopefully you guys missed reading about Curly as much as I missed writing about him. I would love to hear your guys thoughts on this chapter!

xXx

The smell of smoke mixed with burning flesh fills my nostrils. I swallow back the bile that rises in my throat. I can barely feel the pain in my jaw from where I've been clenching it for so long. All I feel is the burning heat from the cigarette that Ponyboy is holding against my forefinger. The sun beats down on us, hot and unforgiving. I can see sweat beads forming on Ponyboy's forehead and he's gritting his teeth. I think if he opens his mouth that he'll yell, but he doesn't say uncle.

I know that the cigarette is burning a hole into my skin, but I ignore it. I'm used to pain. I had to deal with pain all my life, at least this pain I can control. This is my pain.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tim's angry voice startles us so much we both let our cigarettes fall to the ground. When he realizes what we're doing he knocks our heads together so hard that I'm stunned for a minute. I blink a couple of times, until my vision clears back up.

"We were just fooling around," I mutter, stepping on the still burning cigarette.

Tim grabs my shirt and gives me a shake like I'm a disobedient puppy. "You call burning holes in your skin fooling around?"

I stare down at the gaping wound on my finger and press down on it. I hiss softly when that intensifies the pain.

"Don't mess with it, stupid." I know Tim is debating on knocking our heads together again and his glare goes to Ponyboy, who withers under it.

Man, that confused me. Ponyboy being scared of Tim I mean. He was in a gang with Dallas Winston after all.

"I thought you was supposed to be some kind of boy genius," Tim says. "Must not be too smart if you're letting this dumbass." Tim jerks his thumb towards me. "Talk you into stupid shit like this."

Ponyboy scraps the toe of his worn-out sneaker against the concrete, avoiding Tim's eyes at all costs. "You won't tell my brother about this, will ya?" He finally asks.

"I probably should." Tim tells him and Ponyboy visibly goes paler.

"Aww, come on Tim." I butt in. "Don't go ratting on him. I told you we was just fooling- "

Tim cuffs me a good one on the back of the head. "You're in no position to be telling me what to do, are you now?"

I scowl but keep my mouth shut.

"I should tell him…" Tim says again. "But I ain't going too."

"Thanks, Tim," Ponyboy mutters, his color slowly starting to return.

"But I catch either one of you pulling something like this again, I'll kill you both."

Without waiting to see Ponyboy's reaction Tim grabs me by the collar of my shirt and starts dragging me down the street, cussing at me every step of the way.

Tim let go of my shirt and stopped cussing about a block ago, but I still kept pace with him because I know that's what he wants. We weren't going home and I didn't ask where we were headed. I was pretty sure Tim was over being mad, but didn't want to risk it by bombarding him with questions.

I inwardly groan when I realize we're heading towards Buck's. Not the crowd I wanted to deal with right now. It was clear that I didn't have a choice at the moment.

I focus on the throbbing of my finger while I follow Tim inside, trying to block out the country music that's already blaring. It's dark inside and it takes a minute for my eyes to adjust.

Buck's place always put me on edge. How Dally could sleep here, I'll never know. The music, the drunken red necks and the atmosphere made my skin crawl.

"C'mon." Tim is heading up the stairs, like a dog that doesn't want to get scolded I follow him and a part of me hates myself for it.

I trail after him until we reach a room that's at the end of the hall. He pauses before he opens the door and turns towards me.

"Don't say a fuckin' word in there. Just look tough. Got it?"

I blink at him and slowly nod my head.

There's a man waiting in the room and he greets Tim warmly, who in turn looks uncomfortable.

"This is my brother, Curly." Tim introduces and the man grabs my hand and instead of shaking it, he grasps it with both of his.

"So nice to meet you, Curly." He smiles at me and I can hear an accent. Italian maybe, but I can't be sure. Despite his friendliness though something about him scares me.

I glance at Tim who clears his throat. "Curly, this is Vincent."

Vincent waves his hand. "Vincent is so formal. Please call me Vince."

Who was this bozo? I give him a brief nod in acknowledgement and move to lean against the wall, hardening my expression.

"Tim, I trust that it's taken care of?" Vincent asks, sitting on the bed and crossing one leg over the other, resting his hands on his knee.

Tim is the picture of cool and confident, but I knew him well enough to know he was nervous. This Vincent guy made him uneasy. I saw him take a beating from the old man without batting an eye, it took a lot to shake Tim.

"Actually…" Tim starts to say.

Vincent holds up his hand, cutting Tim off. "The only word I want to hear from you is a yes. Understood?"

Tim rolls his shoulders back. "Yes."

Vincent's smile grows wider and it sends a chill down my back. I'm not sure who Tim went and got himself mixed up with but it was nobody good, that was for sure.

I'm relieved when we're out of Buck's. The sun is just starting to set and we follow our shadows, long and thin. I want to ask Tim what kind of business he was doing with that guy, but by the look on his face I know now isn't the time.

When we get home, instead of going inside, Tim sits on the front step of the porch. Taking out his pack of smokes, he takes one out and tosses me the package.

Tim doesn't seem in a talkative mood, he's taking long drags off his cigarette, inhaling so deeply I can almost feel the smoke burn the back of my throat.

With a sigh he flips away his cigarette. "Ronnie's leaving the gang."

I nearly drop my own cigarette out of shock. Ronnie wasn't only Tim's right hand man; he was his best friend. No wonder Tim seemed more tense than usual.

"Just like that?" I ask.

"Nancy had the baby last month; says he wants to do right by her. Gunna go work for her old man." He scoffs.

I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't blame Ronnie for leaving, especially with now being a dad and everything, but I'd never tell Tim that. I feel a sadness somewhere deep inside of me. Ronnie leaving the gang was almost like him leaving the family.

Tim gets to his feet and regards me seriously. "That stunt you pulled today was real stupid."

"It wasn't that big of a deal," I mumble, wishing he'd let it go already. I've done far stupider things in my lifetime; I don't know why he was getting so bent out of shape over this.

"It is a big deal. You saw how scared Curtis was of Darry finding out. You think he won't throw you under the bus. Say you made him do it? And guess who's gonna have to stop him from bashing your skull? Me, that's who."

I want to defend that Ponyboy wouldn't do that, but I'm too mad about the gal he has. "What do you think Darry will do when he finds out about you and his baby sister, huh? Think he's gonna slap you on the back and thank you for making his sister a woman?"

Tim smacks me a good one on the back of the head. "You better start remembering who you're talking to kid, 'fore I remind you."

I'm tempted to take a swing at him, but I know I'm in no condition to take him on so instead I just angrily puff on my cigarette. Sucking the nicotine out like someone would suck the venom out of a snakebite.

I can hear the tv blaring from inside the house, the couple next door screaming at each other and Tim's light breathing.

"Just make sure Pony doesn't say anything," Tim finally says. "We need to put the Kings in their place and with so many of the boys locked up I was going to ask the Curtis outfit to help us out."

"A rumble?" I ask, feelings a twinge of excitement.

Tim nods slowly. "Yeah, I got a hold of their leader and we're going to have it out. Make sure they stay on their own turf from now on."

"I'd be more worried about Cassie squealing," I tell him honestly. "Her brothers would be out for blood and it'd ruin any type of allegiance we have with their crew." I can't help but feel a type of smugness that Tim did something stupider than what even I would do.

Tim gives me a sideways glance. "She ain't gonna say anything."

"You're sure about that?"

"Every time we were together she made me swear I wasn't gonna tell anyone," He smirks. "Sure knew how to make a guy feel special." He stubs out his cigarette. "That whole family always thought they were better than the rest of us. Didn't matter that they only live a block away."

With that Tim turns and goes into the house, leaving me to stare after him.

XxX

A/N: Hope you enjoyed!