Chapter 4 Equal but not

Joe rushed down the stairs as Hunter followed suit, trying to catch up. Joe looked mad. Although he hadn't said anything to King about what really went down, Hunter could see that he was upset. When Joe rushed out the front door and began stomping down the descent Hunter began jogging after him.

"Joe! Joe man." Hunter called after him.

"What?" Joe answered, not stopping.

"Can you at least hold up?"

Joe only stopped walking when he got to the sliding gate and was waiting for it to open wide enough for him to go through.

"Joe, man."

"What bro?" Joe turned to him and snapped.

"Relax man. What's wrong with you?" Hunter asked him.

"What's wrong with me? Really?" Joe answered and then walked out the gate.

"Yes, talk to me." Hunter grabbed Joe's shoulder as he was about to enter his car.

"Let go of me." Joe said turning around quickly and shoving Hunter away. Because Joe had parked his car too close to the wall of the mansion, that shove sent Hunter bumping into the wall. Hunter came back equally as aggressive and pinned Joe, head against the roof of the car.

"I'm gonna ask you one more time, what the hell is your problem?"

Joe's movement was restricted because of the position he was in so all he did was breathe heavily. Hunter watched him for a few seconds and then let him go once he realized that Joe wouldn't be able to speak with his palm plastering the side of Joe's face against the roof of the car like that.

As soon as Hunter let Joe go, Joe rubbed the side of his face that was plastered against the car.

"That roof is blazing hot, what the fuck is wrong with you?" He then shoved Hunter by the shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Hunter responded, not hiding the fact that he didn't mean it. "Now tell me what the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you so mad?"

"What is wrong with me is that you took all the credit for what you didn't do, in there. You didn't shoot Grayman, I did. And because King thinks you did, he promoted you to underboss. And me? I'm still at the same place I was 4 years ago. King gave you all the praise for something you didn't even do–"

"I did shoot Grayman."

"Oh crap. He was already dead. I shot him in the head. I shot him!"

"You need to stop saying that. Really, someone might overhear you."

"I don't care. Maybe I should have told King the truth–"

"Woaw, woaw, woaw. Slow down mate. Truth is even if King knew you did it, he wouldn't have promoted you to anything, let alone to underboss. The most he would have done was shake your hand. He wouldn't have even poured us that whiskey. So if you think I stole your glory for saying I popped Grayman, you're wrong."

"Sure, I might not have been promoted to underboss but then you wouldn't have been either if King knew the truth."

Five quiet stretched seconds of Hunter and Joe maintaining eye contact.

"So that's it. You're jealous. It's no longer about the cameras, the news or the kid. It's about you being jealous that I got promoted to underboss even though you know very well that King would have never promoted you even if he hadn't promoted me."

Joe looked away, beginning to feel like a bad friend because of how Hunter had put it. Joe knew that it was unfair of Hunter to accept all the glory while making him look like a loser but he also knew that Hunter was already favored by King and would have been promoted to underboss sooner than later anyway.

Joe had been in the mafia since he was twelve years old, two years before Hunter arrived. At the time he was just a street dealer, an associate. He was still selling for Ray until Hunter joined. And when Hunter joined, Joe found a friend in him. Someone who he could relate to and someone who was not as wild and as outspoken as the other boys. Joe also had a similar background as Hunter. Joe was not an orphan but he's father over dozed on drugs before he was born. Growing up, Joe was okay for a few years until he's mother got a new boyfriend, Drey. The boyfriend hated him and would beat him up and insult him every single day. He eventually couldn't take the beatings anymore and so one day when the man was beating him and had thrown him against the kitchen counter, he quickly pulled out the drawer, grabbed their sharpest knife and stabbed Drey in the rib. That was the day he ran away from home, he was 11 years old. He was homeless for a year before he found family in the Black Souls street gang. He started selling for Ray in the streets and used the money for food and clothes. At that time, Hunter was known as Jake Scott. Jake Scott and Joe were equal, equal until Jake was sent to juvie and released three years later. When Jake was released, they reunited but couldn't pick up where they'd left off because Jake was now Hunter and was now always around Hector King and Joe was in no position to be anywhere close to the mafia boss. He was part of the lowest ranking members. After a year and a few months, Hector King had already grown fond of Hunter so it was easy for Hunter to put in a good word for Joe. Joe was then promoted to a soldier, meaning he stopped selling drugs for Ray and could now partake in real physical assignments like assassinations, as a result the two boys could reconcile again. It was even better this time because Hunter had come back with interesting stories about being in juvie. And although they were both soldiers, it always felt like Hunter was way ahead than Joe and today had just proven it. How could King promote Hunter from soldier to underboss, completely skipping two positions? But then again, what could Joe do about it?

"Okay, that came out wrong. I'm not jealous." Joe found himself defending his sportsmanship. "I'm not jealous."

"So what is it?" Hunter asked him.

"It's nothing. My bad. Congrats, brother." Joe held out a hand towards Hunter. After considering it, Hunter took his hand and they shook hands.

"So I'll see you at Red and Green club tonight?"

"Sure, what time?" Joe was not enthusiastic about it.

"Seven, eight?"

"Eight sounds perfect."

"Cool then. On me."

"Sure." Joe said and waited for Hunter to step back so he could enter his car. Hunter stepped back and watched Joe enter his car and close the door. Joe started the car, and then looked at Hunter one last time before he drove away.

Hunter was not too blind to see that Joe was putting up an act. He was not happy that Hunter was promoted to underboss. He was jealous.