by Lewis, Rika
She loved him, Yaz actually said she loved him. Like the fool that he was he couldn’t even it say it back. He had been too shocked by her words. She had never told him how she felt about him, even though he had known, he had really wanted to hear her say it, but he guessed in return that she had wanted to hear the same from him. He loved her too, but he would not risk getting her or any member of her family caught up in his BS. He turned and looked up at the birthday banner with her name on it, whispering to himself “I love you Yaz always” he blew the candles out and took his time walking home where he knew his father would be waiting on him at the door. Only this time he would fight him back, not for him, not for his mother but for Yaz…his Yaz.
Chapter 2
Eight years later
Yaz was tired. Her job in human resources was very demanding. She worked from 6am to 3:00pm Monday through Friday, not to mention taking part time cosmetology classes at the local community college in town. Once she graduated she had really wanted to move out of town and open up her own salon, but that has yet to happen. Her grandmother had become ill and she needed someone to take care of her. All of the family took turns, they were a tight knit family, and that meant family came first and besides, her grandmother had always been their rock. She was the glue that held the family together, so there was no doubt about staying to help take care of her when she had needed to be taken care of. Although she would never be back to being a hundred percent she was doing much better. The stroke she had, had been caught in enough time so her recovery period was not long at all. The doctors were amazed at how well she was doing. She even came home earlier than expected. She still needed some help getting around though and that was one reason why she had not left. The other reason she stayed was beyond ludacris that she still had hope that boy who had left her eight years ago was still coming back for her. As crazy, as it sounds she had not seriously dated a man in eight years either. Oh… she had went out on dates but they never lasted past date three because most were not interested in the things she was into and the other half only thought they were going to get into her bed and that was just not happening. If her parents hadn’t instill nothing else in her, it was don’t lay with a man for the sake of laying with him, if he doesn’t have anything to offer you along the lines of forever then it was not worth it. Two of her friends had been in a relationship since high school and still had yet to get married. Their boyfriends were assholes and yet they still stayed with them. That is up until a year ago. They both finally decided enough was enough and dropped their sorry asses! She couldn’t and wouldn’t put up with that shit. She would rather be alone for the rest of her life than have to deal with that BS. Her viberators worked just fine… besides she stayed busy all the time. If she was not working, helping out with her grandmother and studying she was trying to get enough sleep to start the routine all over again the next day. Her two best friends picked on her because…yes she was still a virgin damn it, and that alone was the thorn in her side and enough to piss her off because of the boy which was now a man still invaded her dreams at night and she wanted him and only him. Ugh… he was probably a strong member of the Nazi brotherhood by now if his father had anything to do with it, he would be twenty-six years old now, probably had a white girlfriend or wife by now, maybe even a kid or two? Hell, she wouldn’t even know what he looked like now. She didn’t have one photo of him, only her memories of what he looked like at age eighteen. He had been about six feet tall and lanky then, but he had swagger. He had the thickest dark brown hair and the sexiest brown eyes she had ever seen, but what she really loved about him was that he had encouraged her to follow her dreams and goals. He had come up with a plan to help her design her very own salon. He loved to work with his hands and he would draw pictures of what she wanted her shop to look like, he would add a few twists here and there. She had loved it!!! Then there were the times that He would sit and listen to her rant and rave about an A- on a test, he even taught her how to drive and boy was that a nightmare at first but he never yelled or became frustrated with her slamming on the breaks a million times. She laughed to herself, just thinking about him taking his father’s beat up cheval had her laughing louder, but then she quickly snapped her lips shut because she remembered the beating Alton’s father gave him afterwards. She had wanted to give up but Alton’s persistent ass kept pushing her to learn. I finally mastered parallel parking, breaking, backing up and steering all in one day however by the time we returned the car, his father had slept of his drunken haze and sobered up enough to notice the car was missing. He had beat Alton until both of his eyes had closed shut that day. Even after all those years she still cringed at the thought of what his father had did to him, why had his mother not tried to stop him or leave his father? If and when she ever had any children she would go to jail or die before she allowed anyone to hurt her child. She looked down at her watch. Shoot, she was going to be late. She had two more days of writing & cosmetology class and she would be done. Writing was her backup plan in case her dreams of owning her own hair salon one day crashed and burned. After this semester, she would be knee deep in a plush cabin deep in the forest. She had planned a trip to go to Kettle Falls Washington for some much-needed relaxation time. Her sister would take over for a while with their grandmother giving her time alone. She giggled… She had heard of Kettle Fall’s before. She had family there. Her dad suggested that she should go there since she they hadn’t been there to visit his side of the family in a very long time. She was only 4 years olds when they had visisted there however when she was ten she remembered that dreadful day when her cousin; had been found dead. It was horrible what they had done to her. No one ever spoke of it again. To go and see her Auntie Rose and Uncle Pete would be nice, however she would be staying further out of town as she could get. I went on line and started looking at attractions in kettle. I wanted to get away from anyone who knew me, where no one could ask her to do anything. For three weeks, she could just do her and forget about everything and everyone. Kettle falls is known, for being a small town with a big heart. The town sat on the edge of the Eastern Washington frontier, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border. It’s surrounded by high mountains and beautiful, lush, green forests. The town has lots of recreational and fun things to do. The ad read that if you were looking for excitement, check out Lake Roosevelt, one of their historical sites or maybe their unique Skate Park. She thought it sounded peaceful enough so that’s where she was headed to. Maybe… just maybe she could let down her hair just a little bit…shit…”who was she kidding” she had never even been naked in front a man. She grabbed her favorite purse; laptop bag and keys then rushed out of the door quickly locked it and dashed for her old seventy eight Chevette and prayed that her baby would start this time. She knew she needed another car but she just couldn’t afford it right now. She was saving up to eventually open up her own shop… that was one dream she had planned on keeping even if she had to walk in order to succeed! Come on baby please start… she cranked it, the engine turned over then died, she cranked again the second time, it started then died, she rubbed the dash board a few times trying to give it some encouragement “come on baby mamma’s trying to make to get to class please don’t be mean to mamma…she cranked it again and it started right up…Yes! Thank the lord, she kissed the steering wheel, shoved the gear shift into drive and peeled out of her driveway with the speed of a turtle. Two more days she said…just two more days.
Chapter 3
I fucking hate this town. Alton looked around at the people that milled about either on their way to a nine to five or to drop their kids off at school or day care, but of course most, if not all had to make a pit stop at star bucks for their high price ass coffee which was why his ass was one of those people who was standing in line waiting to get his mother a cup. God love her… she loved her Starbucks coffee, and he would do anything to make his mother happy. He walked up the counter and ordered a large dark roast espresso with whipped cream. He pulled the mone
y from his wallet and handed it to the cashier. She called the order out and asked him to step to the side and that it would be ready momentarily. As another girl behind the counter went to make the espresso he turned and looked out the window it was going to be a nice today. It was already warming up. He just might take a bike ride or take his boat to lake later. As he watched the hustle and bustle of people going by he glanced over to see a young black woman going through a suite case in the trunk of her dark grey Altima. She closed the trunk and turned around placing her keys in her purse she looked around and started heading towards the Starbucks. He blinked his eyes thinking he had something in them. No… It couldn’t be… it couldn’t be her? Could it? Sir, sir… your espresso is ready. He turned and took the coffee from her and quickly turned back to see the woman walk in and head to the rest room. He sat down at one of the tables and waited for her to come out so that he could get a better look at her. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him. The woman finally came out with her eyes down looking into her purse and began to walk towards the exit she looked up and glanced around she looked at him smiled and kept walking right on out the door. It seemed like all the air was sucked out of his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. Yaz, it was his Yaz! He watched her walk all the way to her car. Shit, she was still beautiful he’d know those eyes, lips and ass anywhere, even after eight years he still dreamt of her and the kiss they shared. He quickly got up and walked to his car. He waited for her to get in and pull off. He had to see where she was going. Why was she here? He never told her where he was from he would always just say a few hours away. She finally pulled off and he followed her. He stayed far behind her making sure it didn’t seem like someone was following her, about twenty minutes later she pulled into the rocking C Ranch. He knew the owners, they were actually family. They would take good care of her here. They were a family run business that ran a nice, clean place for decent folk and they didn’t tolerate the Nazi BS in their establishment. The owners were his aunt and uncles. He pulled up a few cars down from Yaz’s and waited. A few minutes later he watched her drive up the trail to a cabin no doubt. He opened the door to his F150 truck and went inside to speak to his uncle. Daniel and Paul were two of kind. They would give the clothes off their backs if they had too. As he entered Daniel was standing behind the counter counting down the register when he looked up. Well look what the cat dragged in. How have you been? I hadn’t seen you around in a while. Alton smirked; you know my life… just one big fuck up at a time, its best that I don’t out stay my welcome. His uncle chuckled. Hey listen there was a beautiful young black woman just in here. Now, I know it’s against policy for you to tell anything about a guest, so I’ll shoot straight with you. She will be in some serious trouble if my father finds out who and where she is. I may have mistaken her for someone I once knew can you please tell me just her first name that’s all I need to know. In his head he hoped and prayed that it wasn’t her, but he knew it was. Daniel cocked his head and looked at him. Alton quickly said, I am not going to her hurt her I would never hurt a woman and least of all that woman in particular I swear. Daniel trusted him well enough but he still had to say it none the less. She is guest on my ranch if anything happens to her you, your father and his band of Nazi misfits will see smoke from the barrel end of my Smith and Wesson comprende? Alton held his hands up shaking his head, I understand. Her name is Yazmine and yes she is beautiful. I take it you too were… involved? What makes you say that? Because of the way you called her beautiful. Was it that obvious? Daniel chuckled… son you should have seen the look on your face when I said her name. Now I won’t ask details but by the looks of things this was the female that you were sweet on once and by the look of you now, you still are. Alton smiled but quickly covered it up. Just thinking about what his father would do to Yaz if he knew she was here made his blood run cold. His father was now a strong leader here in the Nazi brotherhood. He was knee deep in drugs, money laundering, theft, and even calling out hit’s to have people murdered. Why his mother still held on once again was beyond him. No love was worth getting beat over fuck that! She still made excuses for his sorry ass. Alton balled his hand into a fist. Shit, he’d done some fucked up shit as well, shit that he was forced to do. His dad had held his mother and the woman he loved over his head for years. That’s why he had stayed away from Yaz. His dad had given him enough breathing room to at least move down the block into his own house. About 3 years ago he had attempted to leave with his mother but got caught by the brotherhood trying to cross the state line. That was a big mistake. By the time he dropped his mother back off at their house and he made it back to his there were numerous amounts of photos of Yaz lying on his kitchen table. His dad had been keeping tabs on her throughout the years. He’d saw RED!!! He rushed back to Alton Sr. house and commenced to whipping his ass when of course his dad’s minions came rushing in and threw him off of his father and then beat and kicked the shit out of him then drug him back to his house. His father had then threatened again to kill his mother and his “black whore” if he ever attempted to leave again. Alton made a run for his father again and landed an upper cut to his face before his minions again kicked the shit out of him making him pass out this time. He woke up the next morning on his bloody floor with Yaz’s pictures all around him. One picture in particular was of Yaz leaning against the old run down club house that he and her brother had made. He picked that one up and held it to his chest and screamed for all he was worth. Daniel came from around the desk and touched him on the shoulder… Hey you okay? Alton snapped out of his memories from the past and looked at Daniel. Yea… I’m okay. Can you please keep an eye on her for me for just a few hours? I have something I have to take care of and then I am coming back. Daniel smiled at him… you’re not getting paid this time I have enough employee’s on my payroll. Alton laughed, okay but at least tell me what cabin she’s in so I can rent out the one next door to her. It’s been 8 years and by no means am I to assume she is going to welcome me back with open arms. Plus I’m staying to make sure she’s safe while she’s here. Alton rubbed his chin thinking; if my father and any of the brotherhood come around please tell them I’m helping you out because you are shorthanded. I don’t want him causing trouble here at the ranch. Daniel’s smile turned serious, I can handle your dad and the rest of the brothers if need be trust me. He leaned over the counter; here it’s a set of keys to the cabin next door to your woman you don’t have to pay me any rent for it. Just make sure it’s clean when you leave out of there and you can stay as long as you want…deal. Oh… she had an itinerary with her and asked for directions to Sloan’s. Sloan’s what for? She’s taking motorcycle riding classes Derrick said wagging his eyebrows up and down. I love a woman that candle a bike on her own. It’s sexy as hell seeing a woman on bike. Not I, Alton said I prefer them to be on the back of one riding. Shit… now I’ve got to go to go talk to Sloan. Daniel laughed at him. Damn son she’s got you jumping through hoops and doesn’t even know it yet. Ha, ha, ha… laugh it up but I do remember a time when your wife had you doing the same thing. Daniel cut the laughs real quick. That was some scary shit man… don’t bring up those memorize again. Daniel cringed. Get the hell out my lobby. Chuckling… they shook hands and parted ways. Alton jumped back into his car and looked down at the coffee he bought for his mother… damn it! He wasn’t leaving until he caught a glimpse of Yaz again. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialled his mother’s number she picked up on the second ring. Alton, where are you? I’m okay mom; I didn’t mean to worry you. I ran into an old friend at Starbucks and got to talking. He lied. I can run back by there and get you another one if you’d like. No she said, it’s alright I’ll make me a pot, I’ll be fine, she chuckled. You sound excited, it’s nice to hear your voice like that. Go ahead and catch up with your friend go do guy things, but don’t get into any trouble please! It was so like his mother to assume that the friend he spoke of was a male. He’d never bought any women he’d been with home to meet his mom and su
re as hell not to meet his dad. I love you mom was all he said and hung up. Now he had to call Sloan. He already had his license he just needed to talk Sloan into letting him either take the course again or help teach it just for shits and giggles. What was Yaz thinking or much less trying to prove? He didn’t want her driving a motorcycle damn it! Shit! He dialled Sloan’s number and poured the charm on thick.
