Mafia Princess

49. crazy & uncertain

"I need another cig." I say reaching into my pocket to pull out another.

"I'm telling you. This house is hell on earth!" Sage says before she storms off into the house.

"You better chill with the cigs dude, I'm trying to warn ya." Joziah says. I roll my eyes.

I sit down and continue to smoke. I'm not ready for rules. I'm not ready for this. Most importantly I'm not ready for Rue. I'm honestly terrified of him.

"Salem!" I hear someone yell my name.

I throw the cig on the ground and step on it. I sneak back inside and see River and Rue looking for me.

"You smell like smoke." Rue says bluntly and with no emotion on his face.

"Oh." I say looking at the ground. Rue walks closer to me and grabs my face and makes me look him in the eyes.

Fuck. Not the eyes.

"Did you smoke?" He asks me in a low calm voice. And even though it was a calm tone, it scared me.

"N-n-no." I stuttered. I'm a horrible liar.

"Don't lie to me kid." He says sternly. "Did you smoke?" He asked me again.

I'm speechless.

"Give me the pack of cigarettes." He demanded.

It's like I'm frozen with fear because I couldn't even do what he demanded.

"Bu- Rue raised his hand for me to stop speaking.

"Now!" He screams and his voice echos throughout the voice.

"Holy shit dude! Maybe you need one so you can chill the hell out." I say but I thought I said it in my head no out loud.

SMACK
I grabbed my cheek. Everything moved so fast. And now my face is burning. Rue just slapped me. I hold my cheek and look up at him, I can feel tears start to build up. It just made me angry. Sometimes I cry when I'm angry, I don't really know why. I just know I get overwhelmed and cry.

"Yo what's going on?!" James yells running down the stairs.

"James just stay out of it." Jo warns him.

"Salem. I won't ask again. I'll just take them. You can fuck around and find out or make this easier on yourself." Rue says

I reach into my pocket and slap the pack of cigs in his hand and run up to my room. "Sage was right!" I say on my way up. I feel his glare on my back. It was hot, like he shot lasers through me.

RUE'S POV

"You can't just do that to him?!" James yells at me.

"James. Please not now." I say to him.

"Yes now!" He yells and steps up close to me. He's trying to threaten me and I know he knows it isn't working.

"I'm not in the mood. We will talk later. I suggest you get out of my way." I say politely.

"J-James. Come here." River says trying to get him away from me. River is like a mind reader.

I'm getting overwhelmed. It's hard to control my anger. I'm not trying to take it out on my siblings. My anger is with our parents. Our parents are the problem and i hate having to be the parent for my siblings. I've been parents to my siblings since I was 10 years old. I never had time to be a kid. All I know is the family business which is the same for majority of my brothers. So are we just doomed for toxicity our whole lives?

"No! Why should I listen to you?! Salem may be your brother too but I practically raised him myself! He has some habits that I don't agree with but that's how he copes with shit. So leave him be." James yells at me.