Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
“You didn’t make a peep. I think you deserve another,” Kell whispered, opening the bag again. This time, she opted for a watermelon blow pop and shoved it into the pocket of her flimsy windbreaker. “What’s your name sweeth—”
“Who the fuck are you?!”
The screen door slammed open and banged against the pale-yellow siding of the trailer. A tall man with a pot belly and a bottle of Icehouse beer in his hand stumbled down the steps and turned angry bloodshot eyes on his little girl. “Sue Ellen, get your butt in the house right now!”
The girl darted past her father, the terror of being his next target overshadowing the pain in her wounded knee. She hobbled up the stairs and into her mother’s arms. Kell bristled, his hood still low on his head, he pulled his scarf back up over his nose and turned to face the worthless collection of flesh and bones who had made the mistake of addressing him. He didn’t answer the rat’s question. Kell didn’t converse with the ignorant. He wouldn’t understand him. They spoke a different language. Honorable men spoke in a universal language encased in strong morals and iron-clad principles.
What had this disgrace done with the family God gave him? Mistreated them and took his precious treasures for granted. He didn’t deserve his child. He was a drunk, a victimizer and offender of his weaker vessels—his wife and daughter. They required his protection, not his abuse.
The vibration in Kell’s diaphragm intensified to an alarming level. He flexed and cracked each one of his fingers in his hands and closed them tightly into fists that felt like concrete when they impacted. So he’d heard. Kell eased his right foot behind him and leaned into his fight stance. He’d right this wrong.
“Stay on the path.”
He heard his sensei’s voice just as clearly as if he was standing in front of him. What was Kell doing? This was not his fight nor was this his path. After only a couple of minutes in this vagabond’s presence and he had Kell straying from his journey and questioning himself. A master. Kell stood straighter, ignoring the loud obscenities being slung at him.
Such a weak vocabulary. I’ve given him two minutes too much of my time. Kell took careful steps backwards, his head still lowered, but his eyes forward, not turning his back on this shameful fool. He seemed serpentine enough to try to attack him as he retreated.
“If I see you again, you’re dead!” the man slurred one last time, for good measure.
He never saw Kell. Only saw the fair skin around his blue-green eyes, but Kell sure saw him. Even with his hood low, he saw everything.
The scoundrel had it the other way around. If Kell saw him again… he was the dead one.
Ty
Ty hadn’t slept well. He’d hardly slept at all. Too many questions still plagued his mind. And the man in black was at the forefront. Had he made an unknown enemy? If so, then his enemy needed to confront him face-to-face. Sneaking and being inconspicuous was silly to him. After he finished his bowl of granola and an apple juice, he went back to his bedroom to dress for the day.
As he laid out a pair of fresh kicks, dark blue denim jeans that looked almost black, and a white collarless shirt, he took his father’s dog tag off the dresser and laid it next to his outfit. In nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs, Ty sat heavily on the edge of his bed and stared at the indented metal he’d had overlaid in platinum, so it would never tarnish. It had been taken off his father’s body as he lay dying in a foreign land. Ty knew in his heart that his father would never regret his sacrifice for the country that sheltered his queen and his son. Lieutenant Commander Aasir Kamau Jenkins loved this country and he’d loved his brothers who’d fought with him. He used to come home from deployments with amazing tales of heroism about him and his SEAL team. Ty and his mother would sit fascinated for hours, and it still wasn’t enough, only wanting to hear more. He never tired of marveling in his father’s bravery.
He remembered how his mother would care for his father’s uniforms when he returned as if they were a knight’s armor. Every night, she laid his evening attire out for him and helped him settle for bed. Ty used to watch, sitting just outside their bedroom door, while his father let his soulmate relax him. Sometimes, just sitting with his head in her lap was all it took. He’d watch his dad drop all defenses around her.
“Look at her Tyrell. She’s the only soul on earth who can bring me to my knees with just a look. Only my queen has that power, son. Only her. If a man restrains his weak flesh and takes a partner intelligently then he’ll be blessed all his days… he’ll find a good thing. SubhanAllah (glory be to Allah)”