Page 204 of The Fire We Make

“Here man. Drink some water,” Jrue told him, one hand on Ace’s shoulder, the other shoving a bottle of water in his face.

“I don’t want water,” Ace grumbled, sounding bratty even to his own ears.

“You need to drink some water, man,” Jrue urged him.

“Yeah cause you drunk as a skunk right now,” Von co-signed.

“I’m about to put you out nigga,” April snapped. “You’re not helping.”

Ace snatched the water bottle from Jrue. He gulped it down, if for no other reason than to cure the desert in his mouth and get them all to shut up.

He cleared his throat once he’d guzzled the whole bottle. “I’m fine,” he said, clearing his throat and blinking away the blurriness in his vision. “I’m good. Y’all can go.”

“We’re not gonna leave you like this,” April protested. “What can we do to help?”

Ace shook his head, stepping over an overturned chair to get to the couch by the window. “What time is it?”

Jrue looked down at his watch. “7:53.”

He lowered himself slowly into a reclining position. “Wake me up at 9:30. I have a Council meeting tonight,” he slurred.

“Ace, you can’t go to that meeting like this,” August protested.

“Wake me up at 9:30,” Ace demanded again. His lips felt too numb to argue.

He closed his eyes, ignoring the way it made the room spin and laid his head on the throw pillow. It smelled like Joy’s hair products, bringing her image into his mind. Instead of pushing it away, he embraced it, letting it help lull him to sleep.

Ace chugged the cup of coffee Jrue had procured for him as he walked into the Lion Lounge. His cat nap had done little to sober him up but he was lucid and could now speak without slurring which was all that mattered.

Jrue and Von walked in step with him, hovering like concerned mothers.

“You want me to speak for you?” Jrue asked.

Ace gulped down another mouthful of tepid coffee. “I want you to shut up. I got this.”

Jrue sighed but didn’t argue. “Aight man, you got it.”

“I know I do,” Ace snapped back. He needed an object for all of his rage and with Joy and Isaac both in the wind, his little brother was the closest target.

“Nigga, I know you’re heartbroken and shit, but don’t get crazy. I’m just trying to help you.”

“I don't need your fucking help!” Ace hissed. “If you want to help me, find Isaac so I can watch the life drain from his eyes.”

With that, Ace pushed through the door, entering the room filled with the entirety of the Council.

Cigar smoke filled the top level of the lounge, creating a hazy film over the room that made Ace have to focus to wade through it.

He approached the large table, around it sat the active leaders of the Council families and their underbosses and advisors sitting beside and behind them with stone faces.

Salvatore De Leone, Delroy Toussaint, and Zachariah King, the only living elders of the Council, sat at the two heads and middle of the table to preside over the meeting.

Ace gave each elder a slight incline of his head in respect, but was only half present as he greeted the rest of the Council.

His mind kept drifting to Isaac, wondering what he’d missed. Isaac had always been hot headed and flashy but to put a hit out on Ace was a new level — even for him. To try to take the organization down was a level of betrayal that no amount of blood ties could excuse.

Ace’s eyes moved over to Gerald, and he wondered if the elder Kincaid knew what his son was up to.

Isaac had said that they both wanted a more active role in the organization. Had they been in cahoots to take Ace and his siblings down when Ace denied the initial request?