Wicked End

"Within two weeks we had them selling. Mary didn't trust each of them with everything so they all worked together to do what one good soldier could accomplish.

"Matt and Brian were the muscles. If someone didn't pay they answered to them.

"Jimmy and Johnny were the main sellers. Jimmy was the man to lure anyone in. One look at him and you could tell he was a good time and everyone wanted to get on his level. Johnny was who you went to when you knew what you wanted already.

"Zacky, he was tricky. He wasn't brave enough to sell on his own or intimidating enough to be a muscle. So he kept track of the books.

"At first it was 100 percent profit for them for 2 months just to lure them in and get the business going."

"How did you first get your... er... customers?"

"We started late in the summer so we threw this huge end of summer bash/meet new friends party. Got everyone drunk, most of 'em high, and half of those we gave our contact information if they wanted more good times. The rest was purely word of mouth.

Once school started and they actually had a steady profit gain the bills started. They had to pay for everything we gave them and we took 50 percent of the profit. They divided their money amongst themselves."

"That doesn't seem like much money for them."

"No it was. Even though they all worked together as one drug dealer we gave them the same amount as we would 5 drug dealers."

"Which is...?"

"An ounce per person per week at first. We started them with weed mind you so that is the only product we are talking about right now. So her dad purchased one ounce for 200 hundred dollars. They in turn sold mainly dime bags for 20 bucks each-"

"That's kind of expensive ain't it?"

"Not to rich high school students who never bought on a regular basis it's not and please if I'm going to answer your questions please do not interrupt."

Ms. Hill gulped loudly at David's visible anger. Sometimes with his laid back demeanour it was easy for one to forget just how dangerous he truly was.

"Now as I was saying. They made 560 dollars average an ounce. Now subtract the 200 for the ounce that's 360 but our cut was half leaving each kid with 180 dollars in their pocket."

"That's about minimum wage how'd you keep them around?"

"Like you keep others. It's less work. They could sell 4 grams in 30 minutes. So it takes the 3 and a half hours to make over a hundred bucks. That's just for the cheap stuff. Once we had them slanging coke and shit they were hooked."

"So that's the only way you kept them?"

David looks off to the side with a distant look in his brown orbs.

"Naw. Mary was her father's daughter no question about it but in very few ways they were polar opposites. His motto was it's better to be feared than loved but she knew; you catch more flies with honey...

"We gotta start separating them," Mary interrupted the music they were relaxing to.

David looked over at Mary with one thick brow raised but didn't speak. He knew she was thinking out loud not talking.

"The tricky one's Zacky," she rambled on.

"We gotta build his confidence so he could start slanging on his own. The rest are ready but not him. This won't work without all of its members either. These guys are tight. Their loyal."

"Davey," he looked over at her waiting for a command, "set me up a private meeting with Zacky. I gots a plan..."

David nodded not trusting his voice. If he uttered a word it would shake and show his fear. He didn't like when she had private meetings with anybody, he felt worse when she had a plan.

The knot in his stomach twisted painfully but he didn't budge or twist his face in pain.

Somehow she knew. She always did. One of he delicate pale hands rested on his cheek and she smiled up at him before caressing the side of his face. David couldn't help but press it more into her palm.

"Lets go watch a movie yeah?"

She always kept him near. He was always brought right back in when it seemed like he was drifting away. He didn't understand it and she never let him figure it out.