The Devil is Marvelous

Chapter 40

-Thursday, October 25th-

I did another mission alone Wednesday night.

It was quick and simple, but it felt wrong that Rogue wasn't with me.

He wasn't at school again, and a lot of the football guys were starting to ask questions. Coach was beyond pissed about him missing practice for the third day in a row. Gray was demanding to know what was going on. I swear the guy has a 6th sense - he always seems to know when bad shit was happening in my life. The sense seems even stronger if the bad shit involved my gang.

"I'll tell you after practice" I mumbled to him in fifth period. He rolled his eyes, but didn't push any further.

Football practice was a shit show. The news of Robert's murder spread like wildfire across the school, so everyone was talking about it. Robert Devonshire, age 38 bachelor, billionaire CEO of the Los Angeles Journal turns up dead right after the death of his brother. The media was going wild with this news; every news outlet reporting about it except the L.A. Journal staff. They were yet to make a statement about the future of the company.

While I drove Gray home from practice, I spilled my guts. There was no use in hiding shit from Gray, he was my right hand man, my best friend, practically my brother.

"Let me get this straight" he said slowly, "You and J- excuse me, Rogue, were at Patrick's house the night he killed himself?"

"Yep"

"He killed himself in front of you guys? Because he didn't want to hand over money?"

"We don't know exactly why, but that's the theory"

"Dude what the fuck" He ran his hand through his short hair, his eyes looking like they were about to pop out of their sockets. "That's real heavy man"

"Tell me about it" I grumbled, pulling into his driveway. I parked my car, then let my head fall back against the seat. "You know how police found that red bandana at the scene? Robert was pushing for it to be investigated more and-"

"HOLD UP!" Gray whipped his head towards me "That's not your gang bandana, is it?"

"Not mine, Rogue's. They could easily get a DNA sample from that and bring him in for questioning."

Gray was silent, but I could practically see the gears turning in his head. He started to shake his head, muttering "What about Robert? Did you two have something to do with that?"

"No" I replied quickly. "I have absolutely no idea what the fuck happened to him. I wasn't involved at all. My guess though? My boss sent someone to kill him. Robert was pushing the investigation too much, and we have this gigantic race this Saturday with all these other gangs-"

"So what? Your boss thinks the police would find J- i'm sorry Rogue, and get him to spill about the gang? Then do what? Track all the members down? Ya know man, wouldn't that be for the best? Then you can finally get the fuck out of it. You, Rogue, and the other idiots from our school. This gang shit is ruining your life man. Wouldn't it be better for your boss to get thrown in prison? You'd finally be free."

I didn't have a response for him. The whole situation I was in was complicated. There were so many factors to consider, and so much shit behind the scenes that I never told him about. Like why I joined in the first place. No one besides my boss knows the true reason. Besides, if the Crimson Blaze was busted I could be arrested too. I've broken and entered into plenty of homes and businesses, beaten the shit out of countless people, stolen from their homes. I was far from innocent.

"Man you have to talk to your partner" Gray said, opening the car door to get out. "You might not have been involved with Robert's death, but he hasn't been to school is a while, and he hasn't answered anyone. How do you know if he's even okay?"