Initiation

Playing pretend

*Sang*

The boys dropped me home and I was alone again. I needed to be just for a few minutes. My mind was a maze of questions, fears and doubts. I shut the door behind me and crumbled to the floor. I felt the ghosts of my past lurking waiting to creep up and devour my sanity. I saw my mother forcing me to kneel in rice until my knees almost bled. I remembered my boys finding me bound in the bathroom. I closed my eyes and still felt the burn in my throat as the choking steam filled up the shower. The anticipation of my father's return and how my heart broke at his betrayal. They saved my life. I know that now. My mother was so wrong. There are wonderful, generous, selfless people in this world. I dragged myself off the floor to start packing.

I went into my closet and didn't know where to start. The weather had just started to get cooler, but according to the weather channel it was at least 20 degrees colder there. Meanie had added some skinny jeans and quarter sleeve shirts, but most of my wardrobe was shorts, skirts and dresses.

I didn't want to bother him, but he would be upset if I didn't call when I needed him. He answered on the second ring. "You okay, Trouble?" He asked before I could get a word out.

"Umm...I'm not sure what to pack. It's cold in New York and I don't have many clothes for the weather," I replied, folding my underwear and pajamas into small piles on the bed.

"We'll take a little shopping trip when we get there. For now just pack some skirts and tanks you can layer. Leave the sandals and bring flats, boots and heels. We can finish up packing when I get there. We're all going to leave from Kota's tomorrow morning."

I could see Meanie's crystal blue eyes sparkling from through the phone. He was beaming I asked him for fashion advice. "Thank you Meanie. See you soon," I gushed, rummaging around my room for a duffle bag.

I had a feeling Victor was going to show up with luggage for me to use, but I could still put a few things in here.

He chuckled, "Oh Trouble, I will always be there to help you. See you in a bit."

*Kota*

It was early evening by the time all the guys arrived at my house to deposit their suitcases. Victor was carting around three large suitcases for Sang as I expected he would. We crossed over to Sang's house and she opened the door a wide grin on her face. After many hugs and kisses, we settled down for the meeting. My throat was dry as sandpaper no matter how many times I swallowed. I had done my share of hazardous missions, but this was different. My beautiful, precious Sang was going to be in the midst of it. Over time Sang had developed a sixth sense when it came to my emotions. Her warm green eyes met my emerald ones and without a word spoken between the two of us she crawled into my lap. I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist and could breathe again.

Sang rested her head on my shoulder and whispered so delicately only a fly could hear, "Kota, sweetheart, I'm right here." I squeezed her a little tighter then relaxed. We had a meeting to get to.

Mr. Blackbourne was all business. He pulled out a manila envelope and passed each of us a set of pictures. There were six all together. Three guys. Three females. Sang stiffened when she saw the females. They were all pretty, but none of us were interested in the slightest. The guys were intimidating without a doubt. Quite frankly I was worried they would try to take a pass at Sang. I could care less how many guns they carried on a daily basis I would destroy anyone who touched Sang.

"Still can't hold a candle to you, Peanut," said Nathan, already sensing her qualms. She smiled softly and let out a sigh of relief.

Mr. Blackbourne gave Sang the smallest of smiles, but returned to his stony glare moments later. "In order of appearance their names are Andre, Xavier, Tyler, Faith, Melina and Mariah. However you will know them as Dice, X, Ty and Mariah goes by the nickname Mimi. Andre and Xavier are drug lords who run a successful enterprise that spans from New York City down to Miami. Tyler and Mimi are their assassins. If we want any opportunity to get close to either Andre or Xavier we will have to make friends with Ty. Faith is Xavier's girlfriend and Melina is involved with Andre. Mimi and Ty are as well. Sang your job is to get close to the girls. If they are amicable with you, they'll probably invite you to parties or events where all of our targets will attend. Do not discount the females as a threat; they are known to be quite vicious when threatened. Melina is known to keep a small razor at all times on her person and Mimi is constantly armed. Everyone follow so far?"

"So the Academy is sending us in to take down a bunch of assassins and insane drug lords. Fucking perfect!" Luke groaned, falling back on a bean bag chair.

I fully expected North to chop him in the back of the head, but he was probably feeling about the same sentiment. Mimi was always armed! Yup that's it Sang's not going.

"Well Trouble, you will be enjoying the wonderful sights of NYC but going anywhere near these nut jobs isn't happening," Gabe declared, throwing his hands in the air.

"Mr.Coleman, how would you like to stay behind because you're blatantly questioning direct orders?" Mr. Blackbourne snapped coldly.

He was getting visibly annoyed by our constant outbursts. "What are the rest of us doing?" I asked bringing order back to the meeting. We were going to get nowhere like this.

Mr. Blackbourne looked at Dr. Green expectantly. He rubbed a hand behind his neck looking deeply uncomfortable, "Well gentlemen get ready to do your best Godfather impressions. We're posing as interested sellers."

There wasn't a closed jaw in the room including mine and Sangs. "Doc this is hilarious. At what point do we find out what we're really doing?" Silas laughed, stretching his arms in the air.

Dr.Green took out a few other sheets of paper that featured pictures of several different drugs, "Unfortunately I am very serious. We're going to offer them a new clientele. Unless we're all going to stay naive about this situation obviously they're going to have a certain reaction to our difference in ethnicity. We're offering the opportunity to expand further into a pool of clients they would normally not be exposed to."

"We're working with the authorities who will supply us with necessary contraband to convince them we are legit without threat of arrest. Get familiar with these drugs you will be seeing a lot of them. In the meantime you all will be attending their school while Dr. Green and I handle reports with the police. Other than that team enjoy the sights and keep a low profile," Mr. Blackbourne added.

We all looked at Sang to see her reaction to all this. We could handle it at the end of the day as long as she was alright with it all. "So does this mean we can all go out on dates? We won't spend every moment with them will we? " she asked stretching out like a cat in my lap.

I nuzzled my nose with hers and was rewarded by a fit of giggles. Victor scooped her from my hands and spun her around, "Princess, what the hell did we do to deserve you?" She held onto his neck and broke into a mass of giggles. He flopped down on the floor between Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green cradling our Sang like the precious little vixen she was. "Pumpkin, you have permission to giggle all damn night," Dr. Green quipped. I couldn't agree more.

Her laugh was infectious and made all of us forget about running into a lion's den. Mr. Blackbourne cupped Sang's chin with one hand gazing at her. He leaned his head down and...what the hell? Did he just kiss Sang?!

It was the lightest peck on the mouth I had ever seen. I think he was the only one who hadn't kissed Sang. I looked around at my brothers. Each of us was trying to size up had the other already kissed Sang and we couldn't jump down Blackbourne's throat for breaking his own rule. It took less than a minute to realize he had been the only one. Sang was blushing so much I thought she might spontaneously combust. "I guess that means as long as you get one too?" she answered, touching her finger to his cheek.

He laughed and pinched her cheeks together, "Miss Sorenson, I believe you have finally mastered the art of silent communication."

North snorted, "If that's how we're going to silently communicate, I quit now. Luke has dog breath."