Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“Why haven’t you brought her over or anything? We’ve invited you to do so. Legend asked you to bring her to the restaurant, his treat, and you know English said—”
“…’Cause I wanted to be sure, man. That’s all.” He lobbed his gaze between the both of them. “I think she’s the one. I know she’s the one. Anyway, I need to tell y’all somethin’. I’m—”
“Are you erasing folks, Caspian?” Axel asked sternly.
Legend burst out laughing and Axel appeared angrier than hell at their brother’s outburst of mirth.
“What?” Caspian asked.
“You know what I’m asking you, damn it. I don’t want you goin’ to prison. This thing you’ve got is like a compulsion for you,” Axel stated between gritted teeth.
“You know I’m not going to answer that question, Axel, because for one, that would be incriminatin’ myself, in public no less, and second, you already know the answer. If it makes you feel any better, there’s always a reason behind it. Have you?”
“Have I what?”
“Have you erased anybody, as you put it, since the Master incident?”
“No.”
“…He will.” Legend chuckled again as he brought his drink to his mouth. “Axel is still in denial.”
“Naw, that ain’t it, Legend. I’m not in denial, and I thought long and hard about you and my conversation. You were right for the most part but I love Caspian, just like I love your rotten ass, and I don’t want nothin’ to happen to him is all. Look at us these past few months! We haven’t been together like this in years. I guess I’m sentimental about it, ’cause English and I were talkin’ and I told her it was just like old times. I feel at peace again. I feel like me again. Complete. I need… I need y’all.” Axel turned away; his expression sullen.
It brought a smile to Caspian’s face to see the man cared so much.
“Well, I care ’bout you too, Axel, and I understand your concerns. I can’t live in fear though. If I slip up and get discovered, then it’s a chance I’m willing to take.” He shrugged. “I know in my heart I’m doin’ what’s right, even if most folks don’t understand or agree with it, and that’s all I’m going to say about it. Now, back to Azure. The thing is, she offers the best of herself but acknowledges there are other parts of her that ain’t so great. At least by society’s standards. I like her truthfulness. Her beauty. Her talents.”
“…Her head game, her titties, her ass and her pussy, too.” Legend quipped. “You ain’t foolin’ nobody, man.”
They all burst out laughing.
“Yeah, that’s true, but what’s best about her is that she accepts me, even the parts she can’t see. My promise to Mrs. Florence was that… uh,” he ran his fingers along his wrist as he found the right words, “I was goin’ to look into who killed my mama—if she was in fact murdered. I believe in my heart she was. I stick by that.”
Legend and Axel nodded at the same time.
“I promised Mrs. Florence that since it bothered me so much and had affected my life in such a negative way, then when I was of age and had the means and the resources, I’d investigate it and if it turned out to be murder, I’d find out who did it. Now what I didn’t tell y’all is that I’ve been doin’ a little research about our beloved Mrs. Florence, too.”
Axel and Legend’s heads spun around as if on a swivel.
“Huh? Why?”
“’Cause we only know about what she cared to share. Legend, I told you a while back that I was going by her old house, but I didn’t tell you the truth as to the reason why. If you think about it, we have no clue about her personally. We knew a lot about her, but not the things that made her tick. Made her upset. Made her… human. I spoke to ’er husband and niece recently. She wasn’t too happy ’bout me talking to her husband, but was much calmer when I spoke to her niece. I now know why. That’s another story for another day. Now, y’all listen up. I’m not gonna beat around the bush. Mrs. Florence is more like us than I think either of y’all realize. She ain’t just take an interest in us ’cause we were smart and had a hard time as kids. Those are just the reasons she gave us.”
“Why else then? What theory you got, ’cause you know if you go diggin’ for trouble, you’re bound to find it?” Axel looked mighty unsettled. His light brown brows rutted forming deep grooves on his forehead, and his shoulders tightened as he sat straighter.
“She saw somethin’ in us that was in her, too. A talent and a sickness. A blessin’ and a curse. That knack for makin’ bad shit right, at all costs. That unstoppable urge for survival. Mrs. Florence burned her uncle’s house down. Killed him dead.”