Arii looked up to the sky. One might not take notice of things like what shade of blue the night sky is when there are billions of stars to look at, or wonder if someone somewhere in the world is thinking the same thoughts as you. Arii's lips raised.
"Dawn," she called Koemi by her English name. Koemi has her eyes shut tight when she replies "Mm?"
"I don't wanna' kill people anymore." Arii confessed, her mind filling with white noise but her soul feeling relief. Clear, pure. The brunette still had that tiny, unnoticeable smile upon her lips. But... her eyes. They welled up with tears; making her vision blur and causing a stinging sensation in her nose.
Koemi was looking at her friend now, and she understood. She always had. And now for the first time, in the dim lighting and shadowy scene, she saw the red slashes against Arii's forearm. They weren't new, but certainly were not old, and as much as Koemi wanted to reach out and hold her friend who was now in tears, she could only think about whether or not they should really run away and try to start a new life.
So instead, Koemi reaches her hand out, latching onto her friend's hand.
"大丈夫." Koemi whispers in her native tongue, and feels at ease. Although the sobs falling past Arii's lips only became louder, at least Arii had held her hand. And that's all she could ask for.
A ragtag gang of teens teams up with a neighboring girl gang when a major cartel moves into town, threatening their families, their turf, and the community they've worked so hard to protect.
*****
Cash West formed the Seven 20s - a gang of six overzealous teens with guns - to keep his tiny, crime-infested town in nowhere California safe. His methods are unorthodox and frankly illegal, but the town loves his Robin Hood heroics. However, the gang gets more than they bargained for when the Mendoza cartel rolls into town, determined to knock them off the map. As the threat hits closer to home, Cash has no choice but to team up with his ex-girlfriend Tiana's neighboring girl gang, the Hearts of Spades. Soon allies become enemies, families get trapped in the crossfire, and romance brews as Cash fights to unravel a massive conspiracy that puts everyone that matters to him at risk. When the stakes are life and death, will the gangs be able to overcome an enemy more powerful than any of them could have predicted?
Book One of The Seven Twenties Series
Content and Trigger Warning: contains violence, drug use, mentions of domestic abuse, and mature themes.