Spring

by Jessica Florence

  Hero Society

  Spring

  Jessica Florence

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events, and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of those terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

  Jessica Florence© 2020

  Editing by Magnifico Manuscripts

  Proofreading by Virginia Tesi Carey

  Cover by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations©

  *This book contains sensitive material such as sexual assault. *

  While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last- because every little girl tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.

  ~ Kamala Harris

  First Woman and Woman of Color Vice President in American History.

  This book is dedicated to the black women that showed up and said “I Am Speaking” in the 2020 election. You ladies made the difference. You inspired everyone and saved our democracy. Thank YOU!

  Prologue

  2004

  Hazel

  “Maddie!” I ran up the stairs, not caring that our foster parents would skin my ass for making a ruckus. My feet slipped on the hallway rug but I caught myself before falling. Excitement gleamed from my pores while I raced to tell my best friend the great news. My hand slammed into his bedroom door. The bite from the hard wood stung but I didn’t care.

  “Maddie.” My elated yell flattened when I saw the empty room. He stayed home today since he wasn’t feeling good, and while I figured he faked his illness, I still thought Laura the mom-bitch would have made him stay in bed. His perfectly tidied bed looked as it always did when he wasn’t sleeping in it.

  My best friend Maddox, aka Maddie, liked things organized in his life. We’d met at a kids’ homeless camp when we were eight and had been inseparable since. He was my best friend through all the hardships, my guardian when trouble came by, and sadly it did more often than not. Maddox and I were going to get married one day after we had gotten out of the system and found a home of our own. Neither of us could live without the other. We held no secrets, which was why I had to tell him the news about the guitar the music teacher gave me for my sixteenth birthday today.

  I had left it in her class because the other kids under the care of our foster parents were assholes and might break it. Then Maddie would beat their asses and we’d probably be kicked out of our third home.

  “Maddie?” I looked in the closet, despite the improbability. No blond-haired, blue-eyed sixteen-year-old in there. Thinking maybe he was somewhere else in the house, I decided to go searching.

  “Hey, what was all that yelling for? You know you’re getting grounded for that shit, right?” Laura cursed from the couch, then continued to read against an olive-green pillow. There were nice foster parents out there, ones that loved and cared about the kids they took in. We just hadn’t found them yet. Laura and Tony were the type that just collected kids for the money they got, but it was better than being homeless. They fed us, we had a roof over our heads, and soon we’d be old enough to move out. As long as Maddie was by my side, I knew I’d be OK. I ignored Laura, who happily ignored me back, as I walked onto the back porch.

  “Maddie?” I yelled, knowing it was OK since I was outside.

  My old boots scuffed the wooden steps as I walked toward the woods behind the house. I’d always loved the forest, ever since I was little. Getting my fingers dirty in a garden was one of my favorite pastimes. Maddie liked hanging out with me in the forest since he liked the woods more than city life, which was another reason we were a perfect match for each other. We’d worn a little path from venturing out here to escape the stress of our foster home. Instinctively, I followed the path to where I hoped my friend hid.

  “Maddie!” I saw a boy in a blue shirt hunched down in the stick fort we’d made by a small creek.

  “I’ve been yelling for you for like ten minutes.” I smiled seeing his form in our secret spot. The excitement from my musical birthday present came back. Maddie stayed hunched, and silent, which wasn’t exactly a new behavior, but a shiver rolled up my spine in warning.

  “Uh, Maddie are you all right?” The woods quieted, and all the creatures stopped their normal chatter—a warning. My right temple ached, and my hands itched randomly. Maddie stood, and my steps halted. Maddie was my person, I knew him inside and out, and the person now standing in our secret place was not him.

  “Jarrod, what are you doing out here?” I snarled as the teenage boy stood and faced me with a smirk on his stupid face. Jarrod was one of my older foster brothers and I usually gave him a wide berth. My gut always told me he would be trouble to me.

  “Looking for your bodyguard?” He grinned, and two shadows came into my view on the right.

  “He ain’t here.” Kenny, one of Jarrod’s friends from the neighborhood, grinned. He shoved his hands into his pockets casually. I’d seen the boy next to him in school once, but never gave him much thought.

  “Where is he?” Despite the fear and glitches in my body, I stood tall.

  “He’s gone. Stayed home and ditched you while you went to school. I saw him leave myself,” Jarrod answered coolly and stepped in my direction.

  The need to run away from these three barreled into my thoughts. Only my feet wouldn’t move. His words couldn’t be true. Maddie wouldn’t leave me. Maybe he’d gone to the store, or somewhere without telling me, but he’d be back soon. My heart strained in my chest. He wouldn’t do any of those things. We were like one person, Maddie and Hazel forever. It was my birthday, too, and he never missed my birthday, especially a big one like sixteen. We’d just celebrated his two days ago, and he promised we’d do something fun for mine.

  “He told me to give you this before he left, though. Very pretty. He must have made it himself since he ain’t got no money.” Jarrod lifted a necklace and I couldn’t make out what was in the pendant that rested at the bottom of the string.

  “He wouldn’t leave me.” I took a step back, the ache in my head pounding to the point I thought I might pass out. I didn’t trust these goons enough to be alone with them.

  “He did after he gave this to me. Then he stole that photo of you two from your nightstand and bolted. At least he has a picture to remember how fine you are.” Repulsion and sorrow rolled in my gut. Maddie loved that picture of us. It was the only token we carried with us wherever we moved to. I didn’t want to believe Maddie left. But if he did, that would be the only thing he’d take. My heart clenched and sweat beaded against my forehead. I needed to leave. Now.

  “I think we should follow the kid’s wishes and give her the necklace,” Kenny piped up and I shook my head. My muscles tensed from the tone of his voice.

  “I agree, Kenny.” Jarrod’s steps increased and I ran away. Unfortunately, they were faster. The three boys grabbed onto my arms so hard bruises would surely show on my brown skin.

  “Maddie!” I cried for the one person who cared about me, the one person that wouldn’t come to save me this time.

  “I’ve been eyeing this neck for a while, so soft and delicate. I doubt you’ve even been kissed on this luscious flesh. That boy never dared to step out of the friend zone even though he would have sold his soul to have you as his,” Jarrod purred against my neck. His breath like unwanted fire blazed my skin. I jerked and tried to free myself but they closed in on me.

  A cool glass pendant touched the dip between my collar bones, and fingers fiddled wit
h a clasp at my nape. Once Maddie’s gift lay gracefully against my body, warm lips pressed against me and I screamed. The other boys held me while Jarrod’s roaming hands explored my body over my too-big clothes.

  “Help!” I screamed and thrashed away from their evil touches and hungry, hooded eyes.

  “Help isn’t coming. The only one who cared abandoned you. Now it’s time we give you our birthday gift.” Jarrod’s voice rattled my aching head, and the sounds of rustling clothes struck fear into every molecule of my being.

  “Maddie!” I sobbed again while the boys laughed and pushed me down to the ground. No one was coming. No one would help me while I fought for freedom against these three boys with a disgusting agenda. Hands groped my breasts, lips caressed my neck and chest, as fingers pulled at the button on my jeans.

  I was alone and unwanted.

  Suddenly pain shot into my skin, and my eyes widened to see what those boys had dug into me. Tearing and slices from what had to be little knives all over my body wrought havoc on my senses.

  “What the fuck?” one of the boys cursed, and their hands vanished.

  “No, I’ve been waiting for this. I’m not letting a few pricks stop me,” Jarrod growled and yanked at my pants. I had no clue why he said those words but I wanted him to stop. I wanted him gone and if my horrifying pain made that happen, then I’d suffer until I was ripped apart.

  “Fuck! That hurt! You freak bitch!” Jarrod’s cruel hands disappeared before their screams began.

  I wiped the tears blurring my vision. When I could finally see, I didn’t believe the sight before me. All three boys were tangled in vines against the trees closest to them. Slowly the plants wrapped around their teenage bodies, clothes still unbuttoned from what they’d planned to do to me. Instinctively, I looked down to my hands and screamed. Thorns covered every inch of my body. The pain, the ripping hadn’t been from them using something on me but had sprouted from me.

  “Let us go!” Kenny shouted, and I wanted him to stop yelling. I couldn’t think. I didn’t understand what was happening. His hollering turned to muffled screams from vines weaving between his lips to silence him.

  This power . . . this defense of nature . . . had it come from me? I looked at the thorns on my skin and imagined them disappearing, and one by one they did.

  “You freak, let us go!” Jarrod snarled and for once I stood with absolute confidence in the face of monsters. Maddie was gone. He left me vulnerable to these jerks, but I wasn’t without protection anymore. I’d been the damsel, and now I stood as the knight. I willed the vines to tighten, and the boys screamed louder in response.

  “You fucked with the wrong girl.”

  I wouldn’t kill them, even though they didn’t deserve to live. However, I’d make sure they never attacked another girl again.

  “You will not touch another like you’ve touched me today. If you so much as think about it, I will find you and I will make sure to touch you in ways you’d never imagined.” Strong and empowered, I didn’t care how I had gotten this gift of nature. I didn’t need someone to save me anymore. I now could save myself and others. To emphasize my promise, the vines dipped into their mouths and nostrils. I could kill them with one sharp point to the brain, down the throat and out. I knew it, and they knew it.

  “We won’t. We promise,” Jarrod gurgled against the vine and instantly I released the boys. Their bodies collapsed on the ground with mingled grunts of pain, and they ran off without another glance. After adjusting my clothes to how they were before the attack, I touched the necklace Maddie had wanted to give me and saw a dandelion seed preserved in the glass. The wishing plant. Every time we saw one, we’d pick the flower, make a wish, and blow our wishes into the universe. He never let me know his wish, but I always hoped he wished for me like I wished for him.

  I guess he didn’t, since he left me alone. I’d never let myself be so vulnerable again, nor would anyone be allowed near the shattered pieces of my heart. I didn’t need a bodyguard. Now I was the force to be reckoned with. I would fight for others who had no one. I could be the hero others needed.

  Thorns sprouted up from the soil and clung to our once-favorite hiding fort. I walked back to the house with a purpose to make the most out of my life and use the painful events of my past to forge armor around the heart broken by Maddie.

  Chapter One

  Present

  Hazel

  My hands shook as the announcer opened the envelope. I amazed myself that I managed to lock my powers inside while my emotions went wild beneath my skin. Someone in the room probably had a flower appear in their hair or a tree outside bloomed before its time. My stomach churned as I plastered a smile on my face.

  “And the winner for best album of the year goes to . . .”

  The world stopped its circling around the sun in that five seconds of waiting. My heart beat faster in my chest and the echo of the beats could probably be heard around the ballroom. I looked to the other four people on the screen and saw the hope and nervousness hidden beneath their perfect faces. We were all a bundle of emotion right now. Every nomination deserved to win, but only one artist would walk away with that golden gramophone in his or her sweaty hands.

  “Hazel Kennedy’s ‘Black-Eyed Susan!’”

  I heard my name clearly, but my body didn’t move. I’d practiced for this moment just in case it happened, and now sat frozen to my seat.

  “Hazel, get your butt up there.” Someone nudged me, and it could have been pop star Rhonda Raynes or my friend Korrie but I couldn’t think beyond hearing my name to notice. Steadily, I rose and ascended the stage to the podium where legendary singer Lucy Tao waited with the golden award for me. My team of producers, engineers, and everyone who helped make the winning album possible followed.

  Lucy’s knowing smile gave me confirmation that this moment was real, and she knew what the impact of my winning would mean to me, to my fans, to my purpose in this world.

  “I’m so proud of you.” She pulled me in for a hug and tears of happiness spilled onto my face.

  I’d done it. All the years of hard work, good times, and bad moments became validated in this moment. I’d shown every person who ever doubted me, a black singer who had no proper upbringing could amount to anything. Now here I stood, having won the highest award coveted by every musical artist.

  “Wow.” I smiled toward the crowd and geared myself up for the acceptance speech I’d prepared beforehand, hoping for this exact moment. I savored every second to memory, from the weight of the award in my hands to the way my cheeks ached from smiling so hard to the clapping of the people who I hoped were genuinely happy for me.

  “I can’t believe I’m up here.” I looked to the people smiling from ear to ear beside me. I nodded once to them, then faced the waiting crowd once more.

  “I wanna say thank you to all of you for this honor. My team, Kelly and Joe at Blue Wave Records, the best manager in the world Shayla, my friends Korrie, Heather, Shawn, Marissa, Lauren, Tina, and Marcus. I love you guys. There is no way possible I would be standing up here if it wasn’t for your hard work and support. All those late night, and early mornings. Putting up with my craziness. You are the real heroes.”

  “To my fans . . .” I tried to find those words I’d written down but decided to go with how I felt in the moment.

  “You know I’d do anything for you all. I care so much about you, and I hope with all that I am that you never give up on yourself. Like the rivers of this Earth, they weave and slowly carve their way through mountains and harsh landscapes creating canyons. You are powerful, and you can be your own river. If anyone tries to tell you that you are worthless, that you are nothing, remember these next words. Whoever said you can’t do it is afraid you might. And for what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be.

  “I hope you live a life you can be proud of, and if you aren’t, then I hope you have the courage to start again. To my sisters of this Earth you are machines, you
are worthy, and you are beautiful. Keep fighting for you, for us, for your families. Keep those tits up and heads high. No one is allowed to treat you like less than the goddess you are. My fellow people of color, this moment shows us all how powerful, strong, and enduring we are. Don’t give up on society because of how much further we have to go. Let’s be like the river until we help build this planet to be as it should be . . . where no matter your gender, race, religion, or sexual preferences, we all are equal. Thank you so much for this honor everyone.” I stepped back to let any of my team who wanted to talk do their thing and absorbed the emotions reeling inside me.

  Two of my people said their short speeches, and I smiled when appropriate. Instead of my thoughts staying to the present where they should have been, a certain sixteen-year-old boy with blond hair and blue eyes drifted in. I’d tried to avoid thoughts about Maddie over the years, wondering what he was up to, why he left and never came back. However, he’d remained my best friend, my guardian, and the one person in the whole world I wanted to share moments like this with.

  I shook my head to clear the worthless thoughts since it had been years since then. Once the acceptance speeches ended, we walked off the stage together. The rest of the night flashed in a blur. I danced at the after party, basked in the glow of everyone’s congratulations, and was driven home.

  I stared at the award as it shined from the highway lights on the way to the hotel. I wanted to be back at my garden cottage in Seahill, Washington, but I had a meeting with my label tomorrow, so to the hotel we went. Once the town car stopped, I was helped out with a gentle hand from the door attendant. I had drunk a little too much so I was grateful for the gesture, and the dress I’d been shoved into constricted my movements.

  “Thank you,” I purred at whoever helped me and walked to the double doors. Suddenly, that gentle hand yanked me to the right. Unprepared for the jarring movement, I fell and was tossed over a shoulder like wasn’t a five-foot-nine woman who had an ass and thighs to weigh whoever down.