Intuition (The Path to Redemption Series Book 2)

by Kimbra Swain

  “Oh, oh, um, sorry,” he said.

  “Speak, or get out, Tony,” I said. She turned her head away from him laying it on my shoulder and laughing.

  “Um, Tavaris is gone. We can’t find him. The Mercedes is gone too.”

  “Oh, hell no, that punk stole my car. How is it we can’t seem to keep the bad guys confined?” she yelled and tried to get off the bed, but I held her in place. She looked at me with an evil, teasing eye. “We have to go.”

  “No,” I said.

  “Yes, we can finish this later,” she said. I groaned and let go of her. She walked toward Tony. “Are you coming?” she smiled back at me.

  “I guess,” I said.

  Tony and I followed her down the hallway. “Sorry, dude,” Tony said.

  “Fuck off, Tony,” I said.

  She laughed. A wonderful sound. Even if it was at my frustration.

  I spent the next several weeks learning the business, inside and out. My advanced math and science classes in high school actually helped out. I tried not to think of the opportunity that I missed out on by going to college. Abby assured me that it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I grew to understand her more, and what motivated her.

  One day when I was working on documenting data collected by canvas crews with Ashley, Abby came in and jingled her keys at me. “Let’s go for a ride,” she said.

  “Can I drive?” I asked. I hoped today would be the day she let me drive the red Mustang.

  “In your dreams, Castille,” she said. I followed her out to the parking garage. There were multiple vehicles in the garage. Jay wasn’t lying when he said she liked fast cars. The Jaguar. The Mustang. A Porche. And a sleek black Ducati motorcycle. I've never seen anyone on it.

  “Where are we going?” I asked. I wore another suit. I was getting used to them. Ashley was letting me pick out my own. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, she would show me pictures of which ones I was allowed to have, and I chose from there. Abby was much more casual in a top that hung off one shoulder, and a pair of jeans.

  “I’ve got a couple of things that I want to show you,” she said.

  “Cryptic,” I replied.

  “On purpose,” she said.

  “I know.” I’m not sure what she considered me, but I considered her a friend. We had periodic “dates” so I could get used to being close with her for when she eventually introduced me to the Los Angeles office. She had been down at the office for several days. I had hardly seen her. It was good to see her now.

  “What are you grinning at?”

  “I was thinking that you haven’t been around much lately,” I replied.

  “That makes you smile?” she asked. There was a little hurt in it.

  “No, don’t be stupid. I was smiling, because it was good to see you. You pulled it out of me. You’re happy now,” I said.

  “Very,” she said.

  We pulled up across from a fast food restaurant. We were sitting in an auto parts supply store parking lot. I sat there next to her watching her think. I learned in the last few weeks that she spent a lot of time calculating her words. I watched across the street at the people going in and out of the restaurant.

  “I like that suit,” she said.

  “Did we come here for you to tell me you liked my suit?” I looked at her and raised my eyebrows.

  “Look,” and she pointed back at the restaurant.

  It took me a moment, but it registered. A man walked across the parking lot alone. He was overweight, carrying a large bag from the restaurant. He slouched when he walked. His beard was unkempt. He was a complete slob. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said and climbed out of the car.

  “Lukas, don’t approach him,” she said.

  “I’m not. I just want to see. I can’t believe it,” I stood astonished. “It’s Scott Woodford.”

  “Yes, I’ve been looking for him. I finally found him. I figured his lifestyle would have caught up with him by now. See, the sons of Asmodeus only get a small stint of glory in their teen years. By the time they are adults, the gifts they’ve received start to fade. Now, he could have kept himself up like the rest of us have to do, but he didn’t. He works down the street at an arcade,” she explained.

  “Why did you bring me here?” I asked. She got out of the car at this point, and came around to me. She leaned on the car next to me. We continued to watch him as he got in a beat-up Honda and drove away.

  “Sometimes it helps to see the results of someone’s bad behavior. You knew what he was like in high school. Look at him now. I guess this is a lesson in what you sow, you will most certainly reap,” she said.

  “You religious?” I asked.

  “Not really. I have a few important friends in the religious realm. The principles are strong and true. Come on, we have one more stop,” she said.

  We got back in the car and drove south of downtown into an area called Avalon Gardens. I was aware of the neighborhood. It was one of the places that I avoided when I was on the streets. She found a parallel park across from a shabby apartment building. Sitting on the steps, a woman smoked a cigarette. Three children played in the lawn. I knew who she was. Abby was completing the circle for me. I looked over to her. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Do whatever you want to do. We can leave right now, or you can go over there and speak to her. It’s entirely up to you,” she said. “I’ll wait here.”

  It was like she knew that I’d choose to get out of the car. I got out, and straightened my suit. I walked across the street, and approached Joy Hamilton.

  “Look mister, I ain’t got no money to buy shit from you,” she said blowing smoke.

  “Are you Miss Joy Hamilton?” I asked.

  “Are you a cop?” she said.

  “No. I’m not.”

  “Yeah, I’m her. Who are you, and what do you want?” she asked and finally looked up to meet my eyes. Her face went blank. She smashed the rest of her smoke on the sidewalk and stood up. “Well, I’ll be damned. It’s Lukas Castille.”

  “Hi, Joy,” I said. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do there.

  “You look nice. What brings you down here on the rough side of town? Last I heard you were still living on the streets,” she looked across the street and saw the Mustang sitting there. Abby was looking the opposite direction.

  “You having some trouble?” I asked.

  “Money is tight. I’ve got three youngins and no baby daddy,” she laughed. “This place is a shit hole, but it’s a life. I’m living it.”

  “Is there something I can do to help you?” I asked.

  “No, I get a check from the government. We get food from the food bank twice a week. We are doing good. They ain’t hungry,” she said. She was proud and wouldn’t admit that she needed help.

  I opened my wallet, and pulled all the cash I had in it out. It was about $1,000. I handed it to her. “Here, will this help?”

  “Lukas, I took too much of your money. I’m getting what I deserve now. No, thank you.”

  “Please, allow me to help you. Please don’t spend it on smokes,” I said. “You should quit that habit. You were always so pretty. That stuff is bad for you.”

  She blushed. “Thanks Lukas.” She took the money and stuffed it in her bra.

  “Now tell me, what else I can do,” I said.

  “You a lawyer in your fancy suit?” she asked.

  “No, I’m not a lawyer, but I have contacts that are. Do you have some legal trouble?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I got some parking tickets. I didn’t have money to pay them. Now they have a warrant out for me. I can’t leave my kids.” She looked pained.

  I pulled out my business card, and gave it to her. “Call the number there. Tell them I gave you the number. They will expect your call. We can get you some legal representation. I’m sure we can get the charges and the tickets dropped.”

  “You can do that?” she was astonished. “I always knew you were special. I just thought
I ruined it all for you.”

  “I had a rough time, but now that I’m in a position to help people, I want to help,” I told her. “If you ever need anything else, just call the number. They will get a message to me, okay?”

  “Lukas, why are you doing this?” she said looking up at me.

  “Because I can. Because everyone deserves a hand up if they are willing to take it,” I said.

  “Bless you, Lukas Castille,” she said. “Come on inside, you kids.” The kids ran past her to the door. “Thank you again.”

  I watched her go back into the apartment. I crossed the street and climbed into the car. Abby pulled out, and we headed back to the loft in downtown. “You are ready,” she said.

  “Ready for what?” I asked.

  “To take over this city,” she said.

  “Because I helped an old girlfriend out?” I asked.

  “No, because you helped a human that had done you great wrong. You made the choice to be a force for good instead a force that sits idle or one that sows evil. You could have just ignored her, but you didn’t,” she explained.

  “I didn’t see that I had any other choice,” I said.

  “And that is why you are ready. I’ll introduce you tomorrow to the company, and that night there will be a party welcoming you to the Los Angeles division of KBS,” she said.

  “Does that mean you will be leaving?” I asked. It occurred to me that once I was in charge, she would leave to the next city.

  “I’m not sure. I’ll stay for a little while longer. Make sure the transition in the office is smooth. I don’t have anything pressing right now,” she admitted.

  “Okay, good,” I said.

  “Good?”

  “Yes, if you left, I wouldn’t have anyone to argue with on a daily basis,” I said. She scowled at me, but laughed.

  “Pull up the GPS, Ashley,” I said.

  “Already on it,” she said tapping away at her laptop. As I watched her work, a screen appeared with a blinking dot over a roadmap. The car headed south, back down into Atlanta.

  “Send it to the truck,” Tony said as he grabbed his jacket. I did not want Tadeas to go, but Tommy stayed back in LA.

  “I should go with him,” he said walking over to me and kissing me on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

  “You better be,” I said holding on to his lapel for a moment. I only meant it as a signal that I didn't want him to go. He looked over to Ashley and quirked a devious smile. Before I could stop it, he pulled me to him and kissed me. There was passion in the kiss that I had not felt previously, even though he clearly did it for Ashley’s benefit and not mine. When it ended, he didn’t pull away immediately.

  “Holy shit. There is no way I can go after that,” he said.

  “Actually, you probably should go. Don’t you ever kiss me just to play games with Ashley.” His eyes darkened. I added, “We can discuss it when you get back. Just come back to me.” I finally let go of his jacket.

  “Be back soon,” he muttered. He turned and followed Tony out the door.

  I sighed, letting the tension of the moment release.

  “Are you kidding me? That just happened!” Ashley exclaimed. Her giddiness overwhelmed her, and she shook with excitement.

  “Oh, would you just stop? He did that to show off for you. You probably already knew he would do it!” I protested.

  Ichiro watched Ashley with delight. “I’ve never seen that! Did you tell him you loved him? Did you kiss him in the room too? Abby, this is wonderful!”

  “Ashley, calm down,” Ichiro scolded playfully. “You are supposed to be tracking Tavaris!”

  “No, you come over here and do it. Abigail has to tell me everything right now! When I talked to him outside, I would have never guessed that to happen. He was mad at you. I mean, he said he wasn’t leaving, but he was clearly pissed. How do you go from being angry to that!” she chattered.

  “Would you stop? We need to take care of the situation here. It's late, and we have a funeral to go to in the morning. You act like the world revolves around Tadeas and me, but it doesn’t.” I countered.

  She walked over to me and put her hands on my shoulders and shook me as she said, “Tadeas just kissed you! What is wrong with you?”

  Ichiro and I laughed at her little display. She seemed more excited than I was. “Later. Okay?”

  “You always say that, and we never get to talk,” she pouted.

  “Abby, it will take them a little while to catch up to him. I'll call you if they get close or if anything happens,” Ichiro said. “Besides, I'm your doctor, and I think it will be good for you.”

  “You’re fired,” I said.

  “Abby!” Ashley protested.

  “Ugh, alright,” I reluctantly gave in.

  She grabbed my hand dragging me out to the porch. “Spill it!”

  “Bulla. I can't just start talking about it, Ash. He and I actually need to talk about it. It just happened,” I said.

  “You kissed Lukas yesterday!” she said.

  “No, Lukas kissed me, and I love Lukas. You know that, but what we had is in the past. I wish that things had gone differently for us, but I can't change what happened. I did tell him the real reason I left, so he knows the truth now,” I said.

  “Poor Lukas,” she said. “How long have you known?”

  “Known what?”

  “Don’t play dumb. That you were in love with Tadeas!” I rolled my eyes at her. I might as well spill everything. She wouldn’t give up until I did.

  But who says I couldn’t have some fun, “I don’t know if I’m in love with him or not.”

  “Oh my god, I'm going to slap you.”

  “Look. I am bound to him. It's hard to decide what part of my attraction is the binding, and what is real. He's my partner, and I do have strong feelings toward him. When he kissed me in there,” I paused, “that was incredible.” I blushed at my own admission.

  “That's what I wanted to hear.”

  “But is it real?” I was as much asking myself as I was asking her.

  “There's only one way to find out.”

  “Exactly. But I am afraid to find out. I don’t need the confusion or the stress of a relationship, Ashley. I haven’t allowed either of us to entertain the idea. Look what happened today. It happened because the thought of losing him pushed me over the edge. He’s such a good person, and I don’t want to ruin him,” I said.

  “You can’t ruin him, besides he’s not perfect,” she offered.

  “What do you mean?” It then occurred to me that no one knew the truth about his encounter with Isabel.

  “I'm just referring to Isabel,” she said avoiding disturbing terms.

  I grinned knowingly.

  “What? I see that!” she exclaimed. I missed my relationship with Ashley. She knew me so well, and even though she poked and prodded things that weren’t her business, I loved her for it.

  “He didn't kill Isabel. He told me the whole story back there in the room. He's never opened up to me. I've told him about my death and trusted him with my life in Paris. Until today he'd never given me any part of himself, but he told me about her. It was painful for him, but I felt content knowing he was giving me something. During his story, I realized that there was no way he killed her. He let me look at his memories, and I am certain now that he didn’t.”

  “Are you sure? I mean, seriously, all this time he’s thought he killed her. How awful for him!” she said. “You could consider the kiss a 'thank you for removing the largest burden of my life' kind of kiss.”

  I laughed at her.

  “I wish I had pressed him earlier about it. I’m not sure, but he knows now, that he’s never murdered anyone. But, Ash, I think Lincoln knew. I think he didn't tell him, so I could be the one to tell him,” I admitted.

  “Abigail, that doesn’t sound like Lincoln. Why would he do such a thing?” she asked.

  “He did some unexplainable things sometimes,” I admitted.


  “Did he bind you to him? Was he capable of that?” It seemed like a random question. It hit me like a ton of bricks. What if he did? Grandfather said he didn’t know what the purple strand was that bound us. What if it was Lincoln’s magic?

  “He was capable of such a thing, I suppose.”

  “Abby, that doesn't mean it isn't real,” she said.

  “How can I know? Grandfather said the binding between us was red and purple. He said that he’d never seen purple,” I admitted.

  “What does the red mean?” she asked. I knew she would take this one wrong.

  “He said red represented Agape. Unconditional love, but that’s more like giving your life for someone else. Loving someone despite their deficiencies,” I said.

  “He loves you like that,” she said.

  “No. The bond might be the source of some or all of the feelings he as for me. I wonder if there would be a way for me to temporarily break it. Just to see. Or it could just be his natural guardian instincts,” I said.

  “Does it matter? As long as the bond is there, and is never broken, the love is genuine so to speak,” she said.

  “Of course, it matters. He might not choose me. He might not even be here. It's all been built on the binding,” I started to get upset.

  “Stop it. That man has been in love with you since he met you. Do not do this to yourself,” she insisted. Her phone rang. “Hello. Yes. Here, it's him.”

  “Hey, you guys find him?” I asked.

  “What's wrong?” he asked.

  “How did you? What?” I was confused.

  “I feel your anxiety. What is wrong? Talk to me,” he sounded so concerned. I was stunned and didn’t respond. “I'm coming back.”

  “No.”

  “Then talk to me,” he pushed. “I’m sorry I did it okay? I was just goofing off. Please don’t be upset.”

  “Ashley and I are just talking, about you. She asked about the binding, and what effect it has on our feelings,” I wasn’t going to hide anything from him anymore.

  “What difference does that make? Please, stop talking about it until I get back, okay? I can’t concentrate on this task, if I feel the darkness in you,” he said.