Chapter 1 - Everything to Lose

The sun rises over the bustling Biscayne Bay after a night of New years celebrations. As cleaning operations were underway down below in the streets, high above in one of the luxury flats of the Ritz-Carlton hotel, Kaden Adams was still in a deep slumber after a wild night. He was until the alarm from his phone started to blare off.

"Mmmm." He moaned as he rose to a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

"Can you turn that off?" A female's voice moaned from the other side of the bed.

Kaden peeked over his shoulder to find half-naked beauty sprawled out on the other side of his bed.

"Yeah, sure... sorry, but who are you?"

"I didn't expect you to remember." She said, getting up into a sitting position as well.

"I don't really remember much from last night. If you'd like, maybe you can jog my memory as to what happened here." Kaden said with a grin.

"Maybe after breakfast." She replied while smiling back.

"Breakfast? Sorry, but I need you to leave. I have a bit of a busy day."

"You weren't too busy a second ago."

"This is this, and that is that. Things change. Now, by the time I get out of the shower, you should be gone." He said, rising to his feet. "Feel free to help yourself to anything in the fridge though."

"Are you serious?" She asked as he walked off.

"I'm always serious."

Thirty minutes passed, and Kaden exited the bathroom to find that she had left just like he asked her to. Wearing only a towel, he walked through his messy flat over to the his house phone. There were several messages left on the answering machine, so he began to play them and walked over to the fridge.

Beeeep.

"Yo Kade, Marvin here. Appreciate the invite last night. I also appreciate all those hookups, my guy! Haha, let me know when we're heading out next."

Kaden examined the fridge thoroughly before saying:

"The bitch took the entire bottle of apple cider."

He then took a Gatorade and closed the fridge.

Beeeep.

"What's up Kade, how you feeling?"

"Aaron?" Kaden asked to himself.

"I didn't see you leave the club last night, but the others said they saw you leave with some girl. I couldn't get through to your phone so I'm just checking to see if you're alright. Also, if you're up for it, the guys are still playing ball today, so hit me up if you're comin'."

"I don't know man, this headache kinda strong right now." Kaden said sitting on the couch and covering his face.

Beeeep.

"This is Taylor, Kaden. What happened yesterday? Call me when you hear this."

"She's gonna be pissed." Kaden mumbled.

Beeeep.

"Happy new year Kaden, this is your mom speaking. I hope you're doing well and that God continues to bless you in this new year. It would be nice to hear your voice, so please call if you can."

...

"Tssk. I'm hungry."

.....

Kaden stood outside the Ritz, waiting for valet to deliver his car around. He wore a standard red and black track suit, which complimented his black spiky hair.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Aaron what's up man." Kaden answered.

"Everything's good, I was just about to leave home."

"If you feel like waiting a bit, I can swing by and pick you up." Kaden suggested.

"Um yeah, sure man, I'll wait. Once you don't tax me for gas money like last time."

"I told you before that was a joke." Kaden replied with a chuckle.

"If it was a joke then where's my ten dollars?" Aaron questioned.

"Hey my ride's here, I'll be by you shortly." He replied before hanging up.

All eyes outside of the Ritz then focused on a luxurious cherry red Austin Martin that rolled right up to the entrance. A valet driver jumped out and said...

"Good morning, Mr. Adams."

"Thanks." Kaden replies as he jumps into his car wearing a smug grin.

He sped out of the property into traffic, causing two oncoming drivers to slam their breaks, to avoid colliding with him. Without looking back, Kaden sped away in route to pick up Aaron. He arrives at his home in just under ten minutes. Aaron's outside wearing black sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt.

"Let's go!" Kaden shouted out of the passenger side window.

"You're gonna wake my lil' sister." He responded walking to the car.

"Your people home?"

"Yeah, my dad was gonna drop me by the park before you called."

"Yanno, your parents must be bored to have another kid this late in the game." Kaden suggests.

"Maybe, I think they found the house got a bit too quiet after I left for college."

Kaden once again sped off but quickly decelerated when he reached the corner.

BEEEEEEEP!!!

"Do you need to honk them?" Aaron asked.

"There's no reason for them to take that long on an empty street." Kaden replied.

"Anyway, speaking of school. You still plan on taking up a major right?"

"Of course, but I'm putting school off until August."

"This'll be the second time you're putting it off Kade."

"I know that bro, but I promise you I'll get to school. I was the one who told you I still wanted a degree."

"Yeah, but I want you to do it before you end up blowing all of your money." Aaron responded.

"And why do you think I'm gonna blow it all?"

"I don't think you will, but just in case, I think you should prioritize your education." Aaron responds while sighing.

"I've got time. School isn't going anywhere." Kaden stated.

"Alright man, if you say so."

"Who's all coming out today?"

"The usual crew, except for Marcus. Apparently, he's working today."

"He was never a threat on the court anyway." Kaden exclaimed.

"There have been some new guys coming around that are pretty decent."

"I'll be the judge of that." Kaden replied as he slammed his foot on the gas and races to the court.

10 minutes later.

"Say Kade, did you speak to your mom today yet?" Aaron asked as they rolled up to the park.

"She left a message this morning while I was sleeping. She asked if I could call her back."

"You gonna call her back?"

"...Later." Kaden replied softly.

"Alright. I'm not gonna ask anymore about that. Playing ball is how we escape all that stuff anyway." Aaron said with a smile.

"Yeah man, let's play ball."

They exited the car and approached the court, which already had games being played on both sides.

"Just when you thought it was safe, a shark! Has entered the water!" Kaden shouted, announcing his arrival.

"Well look who it is, we thought you got rich and ditched." One of the players on the court said to him.

"Where'd you dig up this fossil Aaron?" Another player asked.

"I always remember my roots gents." Kaden replied.

"Yeah well these roots are starting to dry up, you need to water 'em."

"I blessed y'all with my presence, that should be more than enough Stan." Kaden says walking over and greeting the guy.

"Good to see ya Kade." Stan said.

"Likewise. Those guys over there the dudes you mentioned Aaron?"

"Yeah that's them."

"Well, they're big." Kaden said jokingly. "How 'bout we run full court? A little five on five action."

"I mean shit if you're up for it, I'm down." Stan replied.

"I'll sit the first game out since we have one too many." Aaron said.

"Gotta see if they're down for it." Another guy pointed out.

"I'll go see." Kaden stated.

He walked over to the other side of the court as Aaron walked over to the benches. Kaden thought to himself, "These guys look familiar," as he approached them.

"Afternoon gents. My buddies and I would like to inquire if you would all be interested in a full court game of basketball?" Kaden stated with a smile.

"Ain't you that kid from last night?" One of them responded.

"Firstly, I wouldn't consider myself a kid, and secondly, what happened last night?"

"Bro, you-, yanno what yeah. Tell ya boys we're running."

"Perfect, bring your five when you're ready." Kaden said as he returned to the other side of the court.

"That's definitely that lil' punk. Cardo sit this one, call Ten and tell him bring the sparker. Imma teach this one a lesson."

After five minutes of both teams shooting around, they began their game. The first points were scored by Kaden with a pull up three pointer.

"Smooth like butter, no one out here could've ever shoot with me!" Kaden exclaimed, sprinting up the court.

"You sure 'bout that?" Said the guy guarding him.

"No one could out shoot me out here."

"Aight then." The guy responded.

The game constantly intensified from then on. Excessive holding, grabbing and pushing also commenced after that exchange of words. While the game was going on, Aaron who was sitting on the sideline, noticed another car rolling up to the park.

Slap!

"Foul man!" Stan shouted.

"Dawg you need to chill." One of Kaden's teammates said to the other guy.

"Tell your boy there to stop holdin' me!" He responded.

"Yo Kade, you aight man?" Stan asked him as he was bent over holding his mouth.

Kaden took a second to respond "I'm aight. If that's how y'all wanna play, let's go."

"Bro, I dare you to put your hands on me again." The guy exclaimed.

"You think imma just let that shit slide?" Kaden questioned, walking towards him.

Aaron then noticed that two guys came out of the car that just pulled up, and they were making their way over to the commotion. Aaron then stood up and began approaching Kaden and the others as well.

"You betters check yourself before you get what you got coming for you."

"I ain't scared of no one bro, especially some bum ass who could barely speak English right." Kaden exclaimed with a grin.

"You think you funny?" He asked stepping back.

"Kaden, relax man." Aaron said coming over to him.

"Of course I'm funny, my jokes better than your basketball skills." Kaden replied laughing.

"Laugh at this then, lil' bitch." He says as he reaches back to one of the guys that came out the car.

The guy pulled a gun from the waist of his pants and handed it to him, then he immediately started firing.

POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!

"Scatter!"

The shots echoed through the streets as everyone in range of the park immediately began running away. Stan and Kaden's other teammates ran behind the bleachers but stopped after realizing the ones who were shooting fled as well. They jumped in their cars and sped away from the scene, disappearing into the crowd of fleeing people. Left behind were two bodies, sprawled out on the basketball court.

"Aaron..." Kaden said softly. "Hey buddy... get off me."

Aaron laid on top of Kaden after pushing him to the ground to avoid the gunshots.

"C'mon Aaron, stop playing." Kaden said trying to push him up.

After struggling to push Aaron off of him, Kaden noticed his hands were wet. He stretched them out to inspect them and found his palms were soaked with blood.

"Aaron..."

"Aaron! Kaden!" Stan yelled running over.

Stan and the others rolled Aaron off of Kaden and found that he was hit by four of the shots. The average person could easily tell that he was already dead. Kaden peered over at his friend's lifeless body as it leaked blood onto the concrete. The voices of everyone around became muffled and inaudible as Kaden's vision became blurry.

"Why can't I move?" Kaden said softly to himself and looking down at his own body. "Oh... I was shot, too. It doesn't hurt. Wait, I don't think I can feel anything. I can't die yet. I had so much planned this year. I didn't get to call mom back... Aaron, I'm sorry. I didn't...

The first two homicides of the year were recorded at 12:57pm. One of which, Aaron Cooper, age 20, was pronounced dead on the scene. The other, Kaden Adams, age 21, died due to loss of blood in route to the hospital.