Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I can. You’re amazing and so talented. You’re just getting started.”
“Thanks to you.”
“Nah, this one is all on you. Be proud of that. You’re making this happen.”
Chapter 20
Good Day
Kelex
I jog my way out of Achilles’s house with my head down as I read a text from Shawna. She’ll be free to talk in about twenty minutes. I smirk and shoot a text back to let her know I’ll be waiting.
“Got you, Mr. Josh.”
The words come from a tiny voice right as my ass feels wet. I turn to find Cat with a water gun almost half as big as she is as she grins up at me. Thank God I still have on my basketball shorts from my run before I came to go over numbers with Achilles.
I’m heading home to dress for a meeting, but I have an hour to waste. Looking at the tiny monster who just shot me with her water gun, I smile. She looks cute and innocent with her braids hanging down around her face and shoulders with clear beads hanging from them.
However, I’m not fooled. The pink shorts and T-shirt with the cute hairstyle are an illusion. The fabric that’s starting to cling to my skin proves that.
“You’re in trouble now,” I say and go to run after her.
She squeals and drops her weapon as she takes off. I laugh and grab up the water gun as I follow. Just as I thought, True comes around the corner and jumps between me and his sister.
I spray them both until I run out of water. Cat stands behind her brother, giggling, and True sprays me back with a determined look on his face. I laugh my ass off because I know they’ve been waiting for me to come back out to do this.
These two have grown on me. They’re one of my favorite parts of living on this block. When I have free time, I make sure to check in on them.
“We got you good, Mr. Josh,” Cat sings.
“You guys did,” I reply as I sit on the grass.
They each take a seat on either side of me. True bumps his shoulder against my side. I look down at him and return the smile he gives me.
“What happened to your leg?” Cat asks.
I turn to look at her. She’s staring at my scarred leg. She reaches out as if she’s going to touch it but pulls her hand back.
“I was in a car fire.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Not anymore. When it happened, it did.”
“I’m glad you’re okay. We like you. You’re nice to us, not like some of the other white people moving here. You don’t yell at us for nothing or get nasty when we say hi.”
I frown. “Who does that?”
“Nobody,” True says quickly.
I draw my brows as I look at him. I can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking. He searches my gaze as I look at him. Then he smiles.
“Why are you so protective of us? I know what you did to Mr. Lewis after he ran over my bike,” he whispers the last part.
Mr. Lewis is lucky all I did was cut up his rose bushes. I watched him intentionally run over True’s bike. I was pissed when True got in trouble with his dad over it.
People can be cruel, but they have no right to be cruel to the young and helpless. Let them pick on me, someone who can fight back. Mr. Lewis watched as I butchered those roses and didn’t move an inch to stop me.
I stared into his eyes, daring him to do something as I chopped them up. That fucker pissed his pants. It was that night I realized how close I could come to being just like my father.
“You’re my friends. Adults shouldn’t treat you guys like that. If someone does something to you. I want you to tell me. I’ll make them stop,” I say.
“See, that’s why we like you and you have brown friends like us,” Cat says.
I smile. Skittles likes them too. She’s been wanting to give them toy cars they can drive, but I told her about their dad. I don’t think it would be a good idea. He hated the fact that I got True a new bike.
“We hate it here sometimes. The new people moving here are mean and when we go down to the park…”
“Those kids are bad. They always want to start trouble and they think we’re punks. Me and True always have to fight our way home or flame their butts and then they want to fight us ’cause they’re not as funny as we are,” Cat finishes.
“Yeah, it’s best if we don’t go down there. We like when you and Mr. Achilles hang with us, but you’re grown-ups and have grown-up stuff to do. My mom doesn’t want us in your hair all the time,” True adds.