Chapter One
Sergio
Age 15…
Downtown came alive as the lunchtime crowd bustled around us. The smell of food saturated the air. The blasts of car horns and engines sounded in the background. And the constant sound of conversation drifted along the warm breeze.
Of course, I should be in school. But life in the streets, doing work for my old man, beats listening to stuffy ass teachers talk about shit I couldn’t care less about. Would Giovanni Puglisi care that I skipped school? Most definitely. He wanted all his kids to get a good education. But he liked that I tried to bring in more money by getting our product out on the streets. He’d be pissed for a while, but he’d also be proud of me.
Humidity clung to my skin like damp cotton as I pulled another drag from the cigarette stuck between my lips. The pavement pulsed with heat, and I stood just off the curb, not too far from Lucky’s Diner, half-listening to my friends Kai and Finley cracking lame ass jokes. I had just pocketed another wad of bills for the two baggies of coke I had just unloaded to a businessman who said he needed a quick fix before his big meeting. I didn’t care what his reasons were, just as long as he paid me my money.
Kai Rossi and Finley Esposito had been in my life for a long time. Their fathers were Puglisi soldiers, and we’d been raising hell since we were old enough to walk. They were closer to me than my brothers, Gianni, Lorenzo, and Dante.
Shouts and laughter captured my attention. I watched a young girl around my age, wearing our school uniform, come around the corner with her books clutched against her chest. She rejected the advances of the older guys on the hockey team. She looked uncomfortable, and I didn’t like it.
She kept her head down and walked fast, trying to ignore them. But they didn’t look like they were giving up anytime soon. They kept trying to hug her, or touch her hair, and she’d shrug them off. She looked familiar, but I didn’t know who she was.
“Come on, Seraphina.” Jake said. “Just give me a chance.”
Seraphina. That’s a pretty name.
Jake Hollinsworth. I couldn’t stand the motherfucker.
“Please leave me alone.”
Jake grabbed her arm, stopping her from walking any further, then backed her against the brick wall of Lucky’s Diner.
“Just stop and talk to me.” Jake crowded her space, his face only inches from hers. “I want one date, that’s it.”
“And I just want to go to the library.”
She tried to push him away, but he didn’t move.
First shock crossed Jake’s face, then anger. As captain of the hockey team and a senior, it wasn’t often girls turned him down. All he had to do was smile, and they’d melt like ice. But not this girl. Jake never heard the word no. He never had to chase a chick either. Yet, he wouldn’t take no for an answer even though he could have his pick of any girl at our school. He was used to getting anything he wanted, and he wanted her.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Kai asked.
His hand gripped my shoulder hard. I hadn’t even noticed I’d moved from my spot. But I was closer to them than I had been before I spotted her.
“This isn’t our business,” Finley said. “We have to meet Don Puglisi, anyway.”
I agreed that this wasn’t our business, but I was making it mine. I hated this motherfucker. Not because he was a rich prick. Let’s face it, so was I. However, Jake Hollinsworth and I were different because he was a trust fund baby. He believed everything should be handed to him, including this chick right here. I hated motherfuckers like that. I worked for the shit I wanted. It wasn’t legal, but I got what I wanted by putting in work. I had shit to prove to my old man and had no problem showing him I should be the next Don.
I tossed the cigarette down and shrugged Kai’s hand off my shoulder. Both Kai and Finley cursed under their breaths but followed me as I stepped toward Hollinsworth. It might come back and bite me in the ass, but I couldn’t let him harass her.
My father would be pissed I gave up the chance to make thousands to stick my nose in something that didn’t have shit to do with me for a bitch no less. But I didn’t give a fuck.
She tried to move again, but Jake trapped her where she couldn’t walk away. Her emotions shifted from annoyance to genuine fear, and it made me fucking furious.
“I…I need to go.”
The way her voice stammered caused him to smile.
Jake liked that she was flustered. He liked the fear in her eyes and voice too.
Asshole.
He planted both of his palms on either side of her face. “Once you agree to go on a date with me, I’ll let you go.”
