Mena's POV

"Come on, Ximena!" I spat at the ground, irritated with myself. "Puta, levanta!" My eyes glared at Renee, my personal trainer. I was pretty fit already, but my dad thought I needed some more exercise. Damn him.

"Renee, I swear to God you better stop insulting me or I'll do what I did to Jose to you." He merely snorted and shrugged.

"I don't care what you will do. I just need you to get up." I reluctantly obeyed, and without warning, I tried to punch the bastard, but he just kicked me to the floor. It was gonna be a long day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You look like you've been beaten with a stick." Aleks Adams stood outside the gym, lying across his beaten up Camaro. He brushed his white blond hair out of his clear grey eyes, creating the mysterious edge to them. His skin was nicely tanned, a result of hanging out on the pier day after day, and his physique was pretty nice. All together, he could have been considered "sexy" to anyone but me. For some reason, I couldn't see him like that. It felt...wrong, like I was betrayed the ONE or something. It was so weird.

"Hey, stranger." He opened the passenger door for me, motioning for me to get in. I complied, and he jumped in the driver's seat and started up the car.

"So, Mena, how was the workout?" I groaned and muttered,

"Wonderful. The trainer loves to kick me to the ground and curse at me. If only my dad didn't forbid me to kill Renee..." Aleks chuckled softly and said,

"Girl, you're here to get fit, not to take out poor Renee." I glared at him while he laughed. The real reason he went me here was for me to learn respect. I had gotten in a fight with a girl at school, and I had "accidentally" punched a teacher trying to break up the fight. According to dad, I needed to learn how to distinguish "work" and "school". Whatever that means; the way I see it is that if anyone manages to piss me off, that's reason enough to put them back into their place. My motto was "Kick first, think later" for a reason.

"It's not like you would understand, Aleks. Your parents are super sweet and nice, and they don't care what you do. I mean, you run with a gang for God's sake!" He braked sharply, causing the cars behind us to beep their horns at us. My head hit the dashboard, and a nasty expletive left my lips. "ALEKS!" I looked at my friend and could see fiery anger in his eyes. Oh, great, I've pissed him off.

"You think I'm in some stupid gang!?" That's what set him off? I just shrugged at him and asked,

"Yeah...don't you? I see you running around with those guys all the time." His grey eyes were dark with anger; for the first time, I was concerned. Growing up in a Male dominated house, I grew accostumed to recognizing a man's anger, but I wasn't used to seeing my best friend blow up. I couldn't care less that he was in a gang; we were in New York City. It wasn't uncommon for anyone to get recruited, especially Aleks. When his nostrils stopped flaring, he finally spoke again in a tight voice.

"Mena, I'm not in a gang; those are just friends of mine. We like roaming the city, straightening any trouble makers." I raised my eyebrow at him but didn't comment. What bullshit. Anywho, it wasn't my business anyway. I shrugged and said,

"Ok. Anyway, let's got to the mall. I wanna get something from Michaelangelo." He gave me a wary look as he sighed.

"Mena, are you sure you want to do this? If it was anyone but him, I would be ok, but-"

"I'm sorry, but what the hell do you have against him?" Aleks looked uncomfortable at me as he whispered,

"You know, your father kicked him out for a reason." That did it. One moment, I was sitting in the passengers seat, the next I was throttling him. Thankfully, he had already pulled over by now, but hell, even if he was driving, I would have still done it.

"You motherfucking son of a bitch; fuck you!" Not surprisingly, he pushed me off of him with ease and held my wrists to the leater seats in his car. At our close proximity, I blushed somewhat, but I tried to keep my head by focusing on Renee's techniques on subduing an attacker.

"Are you gonna hit me if I let you go?" Not bothering with pleasantries, I allowed a stream of cuss words to leave my lips. He pursed his own and hissed, "Why do you want this?" Shaking softly, I said,

"Because it's in my blood." With a deep sigh, he let go of me, but I didn't pounce on him. I was too focused on that haunted conflicted look in his eyes. He was looking away from me, and I didn't care for that. I softly pushed his face towards mine, silently asking him what was wrong. He replied,

"I want to make this place a better place, but here I am, helping you with your crime activities." I squinted my eyes at him but allowed him to continue. "I appreciate what you're doing for him. I get that you've known him forever, but he's a lost cause." I shook my head vehemently in protest.

"He's a good guy, Aleks, you know that?" He didn't reply except by sighing and starting up the car. As I looked out the window, I swore I could hear him say,

"I thought I was too, but look at how I turned out..."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Ok, where the hell is he?" We had arrive at the mall and were waiting in the food court for the bastard to show up. Aleks was definitely nervous, but I stayed relaxed in my seat. My eyes scanned the crowd for the familiar face; I was about to call him when I caught the sight of his signature tattoos. Holding a grin, I walked towards Michaelangelo.

He was sitting by himself and was reading something on his iPhone. He was alone near the Subway restuarant. I reached hime and plopped myself on his lap. He jumped in surprise at first, but after recognizing me, he smiled.

Michaelangelo was the type of guy that girls always wanted but could never have; completely working the "badboy" look, he had chocolate brown hair that fell in lazy locks around his shoulders and brown eyes that looked like he was looking into your own soul. He was wearing a black t-shirt with some band logo on it plus black skinny jeans. Just your typical nondescript guy...wrong!

"Hey, girl. You came for the package?" I nodded, carefully looking around to make sure there weren't any cops. "I thought Sammy was gonna get it."

"Nah, I just wanted to see you, and Aleks and I were in the nieghborhood." He froze when I mention my best friend's name.

"Aleks? When you say 'Aleks', you mean small fry who likes you right?" I blushed at the last comment and kicked him for it. He yelled in pain and glared at me. "Come on, tell me that you aren't oblivious to his...affection for you."

"Michaelangelo, he's my best friend; nothing more." My mind slipped to the first time I had ever met him...

"Hey, you need a ride?" I spun around and saw a guy riding a motorcycle following me up the road. I had my headphones in my ears, and seeing him startled me. After lowering Kellin Quinn's voice on my iPod, I turned to him and shook my head.

"No thanks. I haven't been walking long." He gave me a knowing smile as he shook his head. I took the time to scan his features. He had white blond hair and misty grey eyes that seemed to glow in the night; not even the large street lamps ignited the night as much as this boy. Everything about him screamed "NICE", "TRUST", and "LOYAL". I wasn't too sure why I felt this way about him, but I didn't care to find out.

"Nah, you've been walking for at least an hour. I was at the pool with you; you walked home every little kid. I had just dropped off my friend, and I saw you walking down the road." When I should have been creeped by his stalkerish quality, I felt happiness at his attentativeness. He must have been watching out for me to make sure I was ok.

"So you aren't stalking me?" He just shrugged and smiled. "So do you actually have a license to drive that bike or did you steal it?" His eyebrows rosed up in surprise.

"You're more attentative than I gave you credit for. I'm Aleks." He gave me his hand and that trusting feeling came back like fire. Grinning, I took his hand and said,

"Call me 'Mena'."

"Whatever you say, Mena." He slipped a large bag into my hand, and I passed him the money for it. During the exchange, he whispered,

"Como esta la familia?" Oh dear. I really didn't want to get into personal shit; I was only here on business. I coldly replied,

"La familia esta buena." He frowned at me and asked,

"Que es tu problema?" I glared at him and hissed,

"I have a problem with you trying to gain sympathy from me. I've done too much for you." He snorted and pushed me off of him.

"Fine, treat me like a pariah. I've done good by you, and this is how I get treated. First Tio Juan-" In anger, I slapped him. It made a loud noise that echoed in my ears. He stared dumbfoundedly at me as I yelled,

"Well, I'm not the one who betrayed the family, MICHAELANGELO!" Holding back my tears, I turned to walk away, only to feel the rush of a bullet past my ear. I jumped to the ground, hiding the package in my jacket. I looked up and saw the place being swarmed by men holding huge machine guns. Dammit! Someone must have tipped them off. All of a sudden, I was wrenched upwards by my jacket and thrown against a table. I groaned in pain but shut up pretty quickly when a gun was put to my head. A tall man with tattooed arms was grinning maliciously at me, and I noticed that eyes looking at my body hungrily.

"Little Ximena Montoya, huh? All grown up now, aren't you?" I gave me a cursory look and felt my anger spike up somewhat.

"Tio Eduardo...hijo de puta." I spat in his face, earning me a punch. I yelled with pain, and when he wasn't looking, I reached for my gun in my boot. "What the hell do you want?"

"I want my place as the Don back, sobrina. And I'd like my son back." I looked around and saw Michaelangelo fighting some guy with a machine gun. Thankfully, he was winning so I didn't worry.

"Michaeloangelo knows exactly what he wants' sure he's hit a rough spot now, but Papi will take him back." He smirked at me evilly as he whispered,

"Yeah, but who will take you back after I finished my business? Hell, I'm not sure whether anyone would recognize you-"

"GET THE HELL OFF OF HER!" Aleks was rammed himself against my uncle and screamed, "MENA, RUN!" Not daring to disobey, I ran towards the exit, quickly taking out random men around me. Curious, I spun around and found Aleks beating up three guys with only his bare hands. They were all covered with bruises and cuts, which puzzled me. He was completely unscathed, but there was an animalistic glint in his eyes. I yelled,

"ALEKS, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" He looked to my cousin and I noticed that regret in his features. Holding back tears, I shook my head and kept on running.

~~~~~~~

"I'm so sorry, Aleks! It was completely my fault!" We were pulling into my house, and the lights were still on. Knowing how protective my dad was, I turned to Aleks and gave him puppy eyes. He groaned in exasperation.

"No, I'm not coming inside the house with you." I sighed and asked,

"Please, Aleks? You know how my dad gets."

"Mena, you have no idea how shit you're in with me, do you?" The way he said this was harsh and cold. I flinched from his biting tone and looked out the winodws. "You know, I totally accept you and your lifestyle, but I don't care for you bringing me in all that crap. And you! Have more respect for your own life!" Angry, I retorted,

"For the record, you've been involved in all that crap the moment you asked me to riding your motorbike. I'm sorry for putting your life in danger, but don't yell at me for being in this 'lifestyle'. I didn't ask to be me!" Pissed off and angry, I jumped out of the car and ran to the door, ignoring his protests. I slammed the door open and found my whole living room full of people.. They all turned to me and the house went quiet. Shaking, I walked forward and yelled, "What's wrong?" For a moment, no one answered me; then, my grandma walked from her place in the corner and said,

"Ximena, your father is dead."

Here it it! Please read and be nice! It probably sucks, but hell, just give it shot!