CHAPTER ONE-INTRODUCTIONS

"Yo guys, 'sup? I'm home!' hollered Jacky. "I brought a guest! Come on, Viola," he said quietly. The girl next to him was average height, but she still had to look up to look her man in the eyes with her baby blue ones. She gave a small smile over a pointed chin. "Nervous?" Jacky asked. She nodded, and bit her lip. Jacky grinned at her. "They're not as bad as everyone says…I'm serious!" he protested as she gave him a doubtful look. Angel came walking in, looking crisp and clean like always.

"Heeeey, Jacky!" he said with a grin. "Who is this?"

"Back off, Angel, she's mine." Angel raised his eyebrows (the only hair on his brown head) and grinned with surprise.

"Oh? Yours?" Jacky glared at him.

"Don't you know when enough is enough, Angel Mercer? Boy, stop drooling! Where are your manners?" A dark man with big teeth and Timberlands smiled warmly, shaking the girl's hand. She smiled, a little more at ease. "Jeremiah Mercer," he said politely.

"Viola Winter," she murmured. "Pleased." Everyone sat down at the couch and waited for dinner to cook, making polite talk. Viola looked around, looking at the house. 'A woman's touch. Ms Mercer's touch,' she thought. She, like the rest of Detroit, had heard the legend of the four criminal Mercer brothers. Four boys adopted by the kind Ms Mercer, four boys so rotten to the core that only she dared take them in. She'd met three already. Angel, the ex-hustler, Jeremiah, the ex-gangster turned do-gooder, and Jacky, her boyfriend. She looked at him closely as he took the teasing from his older brothers. He was quiet, and troubled, but roughly polite. She returned a warm smile from him, thinking to herself that none of these brothers seemed to live up to their reputations. Well, her opinion was about to change as she heard a bang that made everybody jump, and a string of swearing in Spanish come walking in.

"Shut up, bitch!" swore a male voice. Bobby, the eldest, and the most threatening.

"Pinche pendejo, be quiet bien!" said a throaty female voice in either really bad English or really bad Spanish. Either way, her grammar was off.

"Angel, shut up La Vida Loca, will you? She's been cussin' me out since I grabbed the bigger turkey!" hollered the first voice.

"What? What do I do? It is a waste of dinero to by the bigger pajaro!" scolded the female. Jacky stood up, and the others followed suit. Angel, Jeremiah and Jacky laughed as a stocky man in a leather jacket and jeans came in, ducking to avoid a slap from the tiny woman next to him.

"Don't treat my woman as bad as you talk to her, Mercer!" shouted Angel. The man glared at him, flipping him off rudely.

"Shut the hell up, Angel. You need a not-so-fucked-up bitch, and don't talk to your older brother that way," he sneered, and turned to Jacky and Viola. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded. Jacky cleared his throat.

"This is Viola Winters, Bobby," after a pause he added "she's my girlfriend."

"Really? Damn, Jacky, I thought you were addicted to cock, but her you are with little miss White J.Lo! Hi," said Bobby to Viola. "I'm Bobby Mercer, pleased to meet you. Yo Loca!" he hollered up the stairs, turning away from his family. "Grab me a shirt while you're up there!" another string of swearing came down the rail to him, along with a black muscle tank.

"A black shirt, the color to match tu corazon!" screamed the girl's voice loudly.

"Yeah, yeah…" muttered Bobby. He turned to Viola. "Secretly, the bitch loves me," he told her. He tossed his leather jacket onto Angel's indignant head and pulled off his ragged, bloodstained tee-shirt. Viola shivered, frightened at stains both bright and faded, as well as at the coiled ropes of muscle traced across Bobby's body, the long scars on his torso, and the words 'no mercy' tattooed in old English over his shoulder blades. 'I change my mind,' thought Viola nervously. 'There are criminals in this family!' Bobby caught her eye and snorted. Viola flinched. 'His eyes really are black,' she thought. 'Mom always said that's how you could tell a man truly gone bad…'

"Jacky, put a muzzle on that dame of yours, she's drooling all over me," he said.

"Leave her alone, man," threatened Jacky, standing up. Viola stood and placed her hands on his shoulders warningly and he wrapped his arms around her. Bobby lifted an eyebrow, shrugged, and turned away.

"I'm outta this dump, dude, so cool it," he said.

"Yo Bobby, you ain't goin after the guy that tried to steal your car, are you?" hollered Jeremiah worriedly. As an answer, the click of a gun being taken off the safety echoed in the room.

"Nice meeting you, miss Viola," called Bobby, and the sound of his car leaving sounded off. Viola turned to Angel and Jeremiah as Jacky held her close.

"Is-is uh, those bloodstains on his shirt…are they real?" she asked nervously. Angel shrugged, nodding.

"Yeah. There's some new ones on there, too, which means I'm gonna have to take him to my place tonight, just to keep him safe," Jeremiah said. Viola shivered, scooting closer to Jacky, glancing frightfully over her shoulder at the door Bobby had just left. Jeremiah looked at her closely.

"You know, Viola," he said slowly. "Lots of moms around here lock the house door around here to turn Bobby away, and lots of dads bolt their daughter's bedroom door shut to keep Bobby out." He shook his head sorrowfully. "And if he's vexed…well, we'll just say there is a reason people call him 'Mauler' Mercer. But underneath all that rotten shit, he's good. He don't like people to know it, Viola, but he's good. You'll see," Jeremiah said firmly.

Viola wasn't so sure.