by Tiana Laveen
“I would’ve left all of you destitute. You were going away to college. Yeah, you had scholarships, but you still needed money for food, your car and other stuff. All of you needed things to pursue your dreams and I was going to make sure all of you never had to worry. It was all set up, things were just right. But, your godfather stole from us, he tore that all up, made the dream go away. If I’d died, then things would’ve been even worse. But…no, I didn’t die.” He looked at his palms as if they had the answer. “Turner did. No jury would hear me out; of this, I’m certain, Lynne. I’d be strung up for shooting a rich, white man…a man I thought I could trust, my best friend! I grew up with Richard, but Texas wouldn’t care. I’d be just another ungrateful nigger that took matters into my own hands…”
Brooklyn couldn’t believe her ears. A part of her wanted to bolt out of the room, and another part of her wanted to rush into the man’s arms.
“So, I panicked. The man was dead.” He shook his head and looked at his knee. “I grabbed him and took him out of there, then placed him in a field. I…wanted him to be found. That’s why I put him there, so he could have a funeral. I spent the rest of that night crying my eyes out. It was the worst day of my life!” His voice clogged. “The only person that knows about this…is… your mama, and now, well, and now, you…”
“Why? Why would Richard do something like that? Go to that extreme?” she said softly. She could barely squeak the words out but she had to inquire, to figure out the loose ends.
“To this day, I don’t know, Lynne. It was totally out of character for him. He never did anything to harm me, loved you all as if you were his own children and I gave the same love to Cheryl and their kids. You all used to play together. We spent a lot of holidays under the same roof.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“I’m telling you the truth!” His voice shook and a tear cascaded down his satiny, dark face. “Look at me, baby.”
She’d been staring at the front door, drifting off into odd thoughts and daydreams.
“You know me! You know, you gotta know, I’d never hurt anyone that wasn’t trying to destroy me, to do any of you all harm. I’d never shoot Richard, of all people, on purpose! I’ve lived with this every damned day, since the night it happened!” He jammed his finger into his thigh, driving the point home. “It has been a horrible thing to live with! I didn’t want to go to prison for something that I couldn’t control, honey…and on top of that, leave you all alone. But it seemed a little in vain, because my baby was gone, anyway. I had no idea…I had no idea you were there to see that…” His palms lay facing up on his knees as his body shook and tears continued to fall like rain.
Brooklyn stood to her feet and took timid steps towards him. In her heart, she knew it had to be real. In her heart, what he relayed now made sense. She took her seat next to him and enveloped him in her arms. He hugged her back, a stiff embrace, unyielding, solid with confusion.
“Ace Blackstone!” her father called out angrily as he grasped his daughter’s fingers tightly, sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his other hand. “Come here, please!”
In no time at all, Ace stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I know you heard the whole damn thing.” Her father took a deep breath. “I suppose this is where you pick up the phone and call the police... No need to wait until I’m gone; do it to my face. Now that I know this is what caused my daughter to run off, I’m done hiding…” His voice trailed, as if he’d lost his luster for life. Brooklyn looked back at Ace, her eyes filled with tears, pleading in the depths of her heart for this to not be really happening.
Ace scratched his nose with the edge of his thumb. He stared long and hard at Brooklyn, then broke through the horrible silence.
“I’m not calling anyone...”
Her father relinquished her hand and swung around in his direction, rising to his feet and holding his head high like the regal man that he was. “You are a servant of the law. Police work with you all the time and you were licensed by the state of Illinois. Even the government has given you awards for your work. I know all about you, Mr. Blackstone.” Her father seethed as he stared Ace down.
“Good, and what do you want in return for that?” Ace asked smugly. “You think I’d delight in sending the father of the woman I love to prison?!” His voice echoed as he yelled at her dad. “Now, if you want to go to prison, Mr. Henderson,” Ace crossed his ankles, his eyes narrowed, and pointed at her father, “you’ll do so but not because of me, or anything I heard or said. I’m not concerned with you, I’m concerned with her…” He pointed to Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn, are you okay?” Ace asked in a softened voice, but kept a respectable distance.
She nodded and ran her hand down her father’s back.
Ace sighed. He ran his hand slowly over the back of his head, seemingly trying to piece some fragmented words together to form a sentence or two.
“I want to apologize for thumping you the way I did.” He shrugged. “I saw you coming for me, and…it was just a reaction. I lost it, and I couldn’t stop. I was trying to defend my girlfriend and myself. I didn’t know what your purpose was for breaking into my house and sitting there like that, whether it was to kill us or not...”
Her father stood there awhile, then gave a faint nod.
“And I also apologize for lying to you all of this time, but I didn’t know what else to do. I have fallen in love with your daughter, Mr. Henderson, and at the point that I realized such, my obligation was to her, no longer to you. Furthermore, it was believed you were a cold blooded murderer, so it would have been in poor taste, to say the least, for me to hand over a subject to someone who’d done such a thing, especially without further information…I did my own investigation of you, confirmed her story long before she’d actually confessed it to me.” Ace turned away, as if he needed a moment alone.
The older man pushed his hands into his blood stained coat pockets. A slight smirk budded across his face.
“This is a strange change of events, indeed. Mr. Blackstone, despite what has happened, I still owe you a ‘thank you’ for finding my daughter. No one else had. Regardless, I can’t take that away from you. That’s the silver lining, that’s all I ever wanted. It speaks of your abilities. You’re remarkable, just like I thought you were.”
Ace turned back towards him and offered a nod of acknowledgment.
“I’d like to…call your mother, if you don’t mind, Lynne, and tell her the good news.”
“No.” Brooklyn shook her head, then reached for her purse. She removed her cellphone. “Is the home number still the same?”
Her father smiled and nodded, and took his seat back on the couch.
She dialed, almost losing her breath with each number she pushed, drawing closer and closer to the destination.
After three rings, a woman answered the phone, her voice weary, as if she’d been in a deep sleep.
“Mama?” Brooklyn choked out, almost losing it right then and there. “It’s me, Mama. It’s Lynne...”
~***~
The heat from the laptop warmed his thighs through the pajama pants. The evening had been so long, so stressful and overwhelming. He twisted and turned in the bed, uneasy at the lack of her presence. Passenger sang, ‘I See Love’ over his mp3 player. He’d made love to her so many times to this song, it seemed fitting, but at this moment, it only fostered his melancholy. He’d grown so accustomed to having Brooklyn next to him night after night; she’d become a good luck charm, chasing the demons away simply by being there. He had far fewer bad dreams with her near, and he’d told her so. They didn’t cease, but the reduction was a welcomed change in his life.
Still, he had to let her go…
He couldn’t hold her, protect her. She’d ventured out with her father, stating that she wanted to speak to him further. Why wouldn’t she? She hadn’t seen the man in over ten years, and before the death of her godfather, they had been as close as a d
aughter and dad could be. They’d gone to a twenty-four hour coffee joint nearby, and he conceded, putting his faith in trust. That was a pipedream, however. Even trust couldn’t be trusted. After pacing the bedroom until he’d run the carpet flat, he popped into the bed and dug around for information about a missing someone, a corpse later found in a grassy field chock full of overgrown weeds. He couldn’t just let this shit go. People lied convincingly all the time. He’d seen it a million times — the tears, going through the motions. He immediately got to work, the moment she closed the door behind her…
One detail bothered him, made his hair stand on end.
Motivation…
What prompted this best friend, this dear Mr. Richard Turner, to stab his best friend in the back this way? His curiosity wasn’t born out of his own need, but for the sake of his beloved. So, he took out his mental shovel, and did what he did best…
He dug…and dug…and dug some more until the minutes turned into hours. He made several long distance calls, and every little noise he heard, he hopped up, hoping it was Brooklyn returning to him…but she didn’t. He slumped back down, slightly disappointed, and continued on until he found a kernel on top of the mountain of mystery.
So, here we have it…
He stared at the article on his computer, worn with age and time, that had been scanned and emailed to him, per his request from the library. Having jurisdiction to call a library and require such pieces worked in his favor at a time like this. Barely legible, it gave him the lead he needed, and he ran with it. After he was finished, he rolled over on his side and set to worrying.
Is she coming back? She’s gotta come back…Why wouldn’t she? I love her just too much to let go…
His susceptibility was getting the best of him. His love for her overwhelmed him, choked, and while it stood alert and awake, the fear of losing her left him paralyzed…
~***~
A finger, then two, touched his ear. The coolness of a silky material pushed into his bare back. He opened one eye, then the other. The sun had come in the room, ushering the afternoon heat and, he’d just be damned, someone had pulled the curtains back and let that bastard shine all over his face. His irritation soon faded when he caught the aroma of scrambled eggs and pancakes.
A late breakfast…
Ace yawned and sat up straighter, stretching his arms high as he took in the beauty standing before him.
“There you are…” he said in a gravelly voice. He reached for her, hoping she wasn’t just a mirage. “I thought…nevermind.” No, he couldn’t go out like that. He refused to admit to her how worried he was. The woman simply left out to speak to her father — a man she hadn’t seen in eons, but still her father. He knew this, but deep within his soul, he couldn’t stop the doubts. It seemed to him, that he had an old tape buried inside of his body, right next to his heart. Maybe it was inside of his heart, ruining every beautiful damned relationship he had from the onset.
Shit, Dr. Rose was right.
Regardless, that old tape would play. Once he opened himself up to someone, a fear of abandonment would sneak in on its tippy toes and steal all of his self worth and turn him to dust. He hated that shit. He was never afraid, but losing her? Well, that scared the shit out of him. He’d finally let someone in. He let Brooklyn get inside of his system, to touch his soul and make that ticker beat louder than ever before.
He dreamed about the woman when he was awake, and when he was asleep, he dreamed about her some more. Now, everything he did revolved around her. When he worked out, he’d do an extra set of reps to make sure he was always in good shape, and around to share yet another day with her. He even contemplated letting the cigarettes go. Matter of fact, he was going to sincerely try. It was no longer for his health, or because he thrived on looking good. Those reasons were true, but now, he had a third reason, something bigger and better than himself.
Love.
While working on various cases, he attempted to be a bit more sympathetic. He’d watered down his jaded behavior, tried to be milder, less acidic. When he spoke to his family, he thought about the fact that one day, he just may be standing there, not with a girlfriend, but with a wife — and that wife, would be a part of his family. This woman made him contemplate this for the second time so far. He’d never really thought about children before, a family house, all that shit, but now he did, because of her. From that point on, he’d think about it every damned day.
“Are you going to eat or just keep daydreaming?” Her voice yanked him out of his unruly thoughts. “He’s not here right now. Get up. I made you something to eat.”
She rose up on her knees to crawl off the bed, but he grabbed her from around the waist and yanked her towards him, eliciting a playful scream from his sweetheart.
“Hey, baby, I need to tell you something.”
Her face grew serious. She knelt a bit closer to him.
“I’m planning to talk to your father about what happened…all of it. But uh,” he turned away and looked towards the window, running his index finger along his chin as he deliberated, “I believe I know why his friend, your godfather, messed him over like that.”
“Really?” She sat up a bit higher, urgency in her tone.
“Yeah…he owed a lot of money to a lot of people, baby…bad investments, things of that nature. Of course,” he shrugged, “I have no concrete proof of this, but it is based on reasoning and what I could dig up in this short period of time.”
“How did you come to this conclusion?”
“Well, the man had several deals fall through. Back when this happened, it seems the internet articles were few and far between, so, it is making my search a bit harder. But I did find he had development deals with local malls, garages, storage companies, the works, but he couldn’t put up the funding for the projects once the costs bloomed out of control. He must’ve bitten off more than he could chew, and it looks to me, people were coming after him, demanding to be paid. He must not have told your father he was in trouble — maybe he was panicking, I imagine so — but my theory is that he needed your dad’s money to pay these people back or he’d be in big trouble. See, your father’s nest egg was his solution out of this mess. It all makes sense to me. Once your father threatened to blow the whistle, he freaked and maybe lost his mind a bit, I don’t know… But, he was in a lot of trouble and when people get desperate, they do crazy stuff, even steal from and try to kill their best friend.”
She turned and looked at the wall across from their bed, all covered with Asian artwork, beautiful Geisha women in strokes of black and red, framed in gold. She gave a sad smile.
“Well, at least now we know. I am still in shock that this is how it all happened, that Richard would do something like that. He destroyed our family to some regard, but, I’m glad you found something to corroborate my father’s story. I believed him, well, mostly…but a small part of me was still suspicious and I honestly didn’t know what to do about it. This happened so long ago, I knew it would be harder to get answers and people are pretty tight-lipped about stuff like this.”
Ace nodded and sat back against the headboard, enjoying the sun shining on her glorious skin and the way her nipples swelled right before his eyes. There was a cold chill in the room. Her smooth, caramel flesh would break in goose bumps.
“I feel confused but better, if that makes any sense.” She shrugged.
“It does…I get it.” They were quiet for awhile and as he looked at her, with the way the sun glowed around her and through her hair, his heart skipped a beat or two. His heart welled with love and hell, he just wanted to touch her.
“Is…is this a bad time?”
She looked at him in a confused manner, her head tilted to the right, her eyes questioning.
“A bad time for what?”
“…To make love.” Hesitantly, he drew closer to her, wanting her, needing to taste her so badly…
He tugged at her pants.
“Ace!” she softly protested. Her ey
es bucking in astonishment, she rolled around on the bed.
“What? Is he still here? I thought you said he wasn’t here?” He suddenly got ahold of himself and drifted back into reality. Was the guy loitering about in their living room again? The last thing he wanted was for the man to hear him having his way with his damn daughter. That would only throw salt on the wound.
“No…he’s gone. Actually, he is on his way back to Texas. I’ll talk to you about that later.”
His groin stirred at the green light given, and he was soon back to his old tricks. He yanked her ankle when she tried to scurry away, pinned her to the bed and undressed her while she half-heartedly fought him off.
“Your eggs will get cold! Don’t!” she screamed, laughing in between gasps for air.
“What I want to eat is right here.” He hugged her thighs and buried his lips into her exposed love, making her shiver. Exploring along his shoulder blades then up the sides of his neck, she let her head fall back and closed her eyes. He watched her reactions as he sucked from her swollen bud, the sweet nectar coating his lips in the salty sweetness he’d come to love.
“Ahhhh…” She sighed.
Pausing, he positioned her on the bed so her head was flush against the footboard, then kept on with his task. Shoving her thighs open like a hungry brute, he lapped hungrily at her swollen folds.
“You’re delectable,” he muttered between licks, smacks and sounds of delight as though savoring his favorite candy…and she was. “Mmmm, baby.”
She sighed and moaned, springing against his mouth when he pushed a hand to her lips and snaked his finger inside. She sucked with due diligence.
“You taste that? Mmmmm…so good! Better than anything you could’ve cooked me, baby…” The vulgar words struck a chord. She shuddered, her ass vibrating against his shoulders as she came in his mouth.
“…oooohhhhh…ouuuuuuuuuu!”
He slurped up her goodness, her wetness only delighting him and driving him further to make her go completely insane.
