Heat.

| Prologue. |

"AJ."

Hearing his own name being called sent chills up his spine, as Aaron gripped the heavy metal of a .40 Smith & Wesson with both his hands. It was so quiet in his head that the bead of sweat that coaxed its way from his forehead to the concrete ground could be heard making a pitter patter on the empty pier.

Time stood still, as his lip trembled, and his head began spinning. Ears weren't ringing, yet, but he knew that was soon to come, if he could just find the motive to pull the damn trigger. "Fuck."

He let go of his grip, one hand holding the weapon as he turned to grab the perfectly rolled blunt tucked in between his two thin pink lips, inhaling deep, trying to get his high back. Upon the intake, the sour marijuana taste pressed against his lungs and he held it, exhaling and letting the gray smoke pollute the air that surrounded him.

"You doing this?" The same voice spoke again, and Aaron nodded his head, placing the blunt back between his lips so he could use both his hands again. He immediately lifted the gun once freeing his hands, taking a deep breath and pulling the trigger. Without question, the frequency of the vibration sounded off in his eardrums and he cursed himself as he turned away.

"Non diventa mai piú facile." He whispered to himself, tucking the gun back into the waistband of his sweats. He shook his head, running a hand across his face as he took a minute to gather himself. He always needed that minute. Because damn. This was life.

He sighed, turning around and spotting a woman eyeing him down, with her hand on her hip and her focus never leaving him. He raised an eyebrow, not sure if she witnessed what he had done just a few seconds before, but even if she did, he knew how to keep them quiet.

"I see you," He called out to her with his light Italian accent. He smirked, as her eyes went wide like a set of basketballs, before she bit down on her bottom lip. Between his looks, his ways and that accent, he always got girls like a drop of a hat, and just like always, it seemed to be working on this girl like many others before. "Watching me. You got any other plans other than to stand there, bambina?"

"N...no. I'm free to do whatever." She responded like every other female did once he kicked in his first language, a small blush creeping on her face before she inched for him to come closer with her index finger. He turned his head around, smirking as he stared at the dark waves before he sighed to himself, yet again.

It was crazy just how much he changed within the last few months. He once was some innocent and naive Italian kid, not knowing his way of life. But that version of himself was far gone. He was AJ now, a grown ass man taking care of business as one of the members of the Black Cobra's and a thug on these grimy Brooklyn streets.

"Good. Then you coming with me." He inhaled the rest of his blunt, throwing the roach into the ocean, and making his way over to where she still stood. She smiled at him, her tongue grazing her bottom lip before he wrapped an arm around her small waist and began leading the way back to what was now his reality. A smoking gun.

*     *     *

I use google translate so I apologize to anyone reading this who is fluent in Italian. With that being said, I ask that you do not comment correcting me. To understand what I meant for the characters to say, hit the bubble to the right of each paragraph that has another language, where I have written the English translation. Picture of the cast in the multimedia, as well as the book trailer. c;