SOLIS BURNING

"Saffron, I need help!" Milo hollers from upstairs. I'm in the study, buried under shades of stress while I try sorting all the paperwork I'm nowhere close to done with. "I'm busy!" I yell back and blow the pale rebel strand that slipped from my neat bun away from my face. Being a gang leader, especially over a big gang like Ironvale, doesn't always mean guns, fights, and the fun parts. There's loads of paperwork too. Especially because I've been in charge for only a month. The handover takes document after document. Signing assets across to me. Putting, for instance, all Cade's drugs in my name. The old Western gang leader was weirdly happy about that bit. Then there's the question of what to do about Rhett's girls. His hotels, I've decided, stay his, but the girls there, along with the others out on the streets, are what I'm still trying to sort out. I'm not really the type to support prostitution, especially as a girl myself, but the former Eastern gang leader argues it's the only way they can earn money. "Please, Saffy!" Milo calls from upstairs. I want to smile - a real smile, the real kind. It's been a while... But instead I push back from my desk with a sigh and drag myself upstairs. We're still all in Cade's house for now. Even though Rhett's house is bigger, this place is just what we're used to. I'm still deciding if I want a gang house of my own or not. When I get upstairs, Milo is staring at the mirror - on his knees, wearing only pants, while he holds up two grey shirts that look identical. "I don't know which one I should wear," the fifteen-year-old boy grumbles. His usually wild curly hair seems extra limp today.