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PROLOGUE
May 2015
“Ten… nine… eight…”
Istood on the roof of the house staringdown at the pool, blocking out all the people standing around cheering me on.My legs were slightly wobbly; courtesy of all the liquor that I’d consumed. Throughpeer pressure and a lot of liquid courage, I’d planned to jump off my roof and into the deep end of my pool. It was my way to celebrate my twenty-sixthbirthday,getting my second degree, and to show off because my guys had bet me $5,000 that I wouldn’t jump. Who was I to turn down some money? The longer I stood on the roof, the more my stomachstarted to churn. I didn’t know if it was nerves, or if I was about to throwup all the liquor that I’d drunk.
“…five…four…three…two…one. Happy Birthday,Dymonnnn!”
I took a few steps back to get a good start.The part of the house I was standing on wasn’t that high, so if I did miss the pool, I’dprobably only end up with a broken tail bone, or something minor like that.The deep end of the pool waseight feet, so I wouldn’t break nothing.I ran and leaped off the top of the house,pulling my knees to my chest.
“It’s my birthday,mothafuckasss!” I shouted before landing in the pool.
I sunk down to the bottom before thebubbles brought me back to the top. When my head popped above the surface, a large hand gripped the back of my neck.
“The fuck…?”
Swiping the waterdownmy face, I looked up and into the dark eyes of one of my older brothers.His nostrilsflared,and his jaws were clenching—telling methat he waspissed off.
“Out of the pool, now,” he growledthrough clenched teeth. He released my neck and dropped me under thewater.
I came back up, spitthechlorinatedwater out, then swiped it out of my face again. “What youdoinghere, Diesel?”
“I’ll speak to you when we don’t have these eyes on us. Out of the pool.Now.”
While I kept myself afloat, I looked around the pool to see that everyone was staring at us. As thewater ran out of my ears, I noticed that the music wasn’t playing at all. I didn’t want these people to think that my brother waspunkingme. As far as they knew, I wasn’t even close to my family like that.
“Why?”
He chuckled before shoving his hands in his pockets. “Dymon. You donotwant tofuckwith me right now. Out of the pool, now.Thatismy last time saying it.”
Climbing out of the pool, I ignored the stares of my partygoers while Ifollowed behind my brother. I snatched a towel off a table before walking inside.Inside the house, we’d walked into the nearest bedroom, and there wasone of my friends,Ryan, in thebed with three girls.Theywere kissing all over each other.
“I see you, bro,” I called out to himwhile nodding my headand grinning.
My brother sighed in annoyance.“Out,” Diesel ordered.
Thegirls fell out of bed covering themselves as if they didn’t have ontheir swimsuits.
Ryan rolled out the bed while fidgeting with his swim trunks. “My bad, bro. What’s up,Diesel?”
He didn’t speak back.
We both watched Ryan as he walked out of the room.As soon as he slammed the door, Diesel glared at me.
“Dymon,why the fuckyou ain’tbeen answering your phone?Out here jumping off top of houses andshit. You really do some idiot assshitsometimes.What possessed you to do that?”
Ishrugged my shoulders whilerunning the towel down my hair, drying it off.
“The only reason the familyevenknows your assis alive is because your goof ass can’t stay out the fuckinggossip blogs.”
“Okay?”I shrugged my shoulders. “You flew way across the country to tell me to answer the phone. Got it. You can leave now. I’ll answer more often.”
“No. You’re needed back in New York. Dad’s gotten himself into somebullshit,andwe have been—”
“Whateverbullshithehasgotten himself into don’t have anything to do with me.I’m not affiliated with that company, so I don’t need to be in no meetings or nothing. Looks like you wasted some jet fuel, bro.”
My brother closed his eyes and grabbed the bridge of his nose.
