6500 words! 6500 words! Almost a new record of mine! That's about 12 Wattpad pages! Thank you all for your incredible support and please, do vote and comment on this chapter if you enjoy the story! I work harder to crank out chapters when I see you guys are so engaged. It's about to leave you SHOOKETH.
Special shout out goes to my editor, who I recently acquired who has edited two chapters for me so far (including this gigantic one). This is dedicated to him.
Ashley
"Hello?"
"Ashley?!" Reece bellowed from the other side of the line. So loud that a sharp ringing gripped me, and I had to move the phone.
"What is it?" I asked, slightly annoyed. "You, Kenzie and Dennis have been calling me all night. I know I missed his play, but trust me, it's with good reason."
"Ashley, where are you?" he asked, breathing slightly faster than I was used to hearing him breathe. "You need to get downtown right now."
I rolled my eyes and started pacing down the street. "What did Kenneth do this time?" I asked. "Put him on. Better yet, put Dennis on if he isn't busy breaking down anymore bathroom doors."
"He...can't," Reece answered, wearily.
I took a moment, pausing the pacing, one of my feet in the street, the other on the sidewalk. "Why...are you downtown?"
"There was a shooting," he said. I closed my eyes. "Dennis was shot." I reopened them and looked to the sky. A news chopper was headed towards the downtown area. "Ashley, Dennis is dead."
I hung up the phone. I threw it across the road and it smashed against a car, setting off its siren. "Do you really hate me that much!" I shouted to the sky, the black and gray sky, where God had been sitting just beyond the clouds, laughing at the comedy that he had written that he aptly titled Ashley King's Existence.
"You okay, Ashley?" Pete's voice was right behind me now. "The firefighters have a few more questions before they leave."
"No, I'm not okay, Pete," I answered, since lying solved literally nothing these days. "I am so far passed being okay."
"Erika is getting the insurance money," he said. "You can't act out of rage, Ashley."
I clenched my jaw. "So, she's getting a million dollars?"
"Try three," Pete said. "You want to hurt her for screwing you over, but she's counting on you doing that. She wants you to be emotional, while she does all of this with a clear mind. It's easier to confuse a man that lashes out with his eyes closed."
"This is fucked up, Pete," I sighed.
"Life is fucked up, Ash." Pete pulled his hands out of his jean's pockets and rested them to his side. "Life isn't a Nicolas Sparks novel. Nothing will ever go the way you want it to go. You can curse God all you want, but nothing is going to change. Nothing will change. The wind will not change its direction just because it messes up your hair. The sun will not rise because you want more sleep. Your heart will not break just so you won't have to deal with the pain that comes along with it. Life is fucked up. Even more fucked up since you're a black man living in a society that outright hates you for being darker than the rest of us. But fuck life. Stick up your middle finger at whatever force is making everything around you crumble and live just to spite it."
"I need to get downtown," I said. After all of that. Thank you didn't sound like something I felt like saying right now. But I said it anyway. "Thank you, Pete." I rested a hand on his shoulder, and he rested one of his on my opposite shoulder. "I need you to make sure Lola is safe, and get Nikko home."
He nodded. "What are you going to do?"
I tried to smile. I really did try. "Watch the news, and you'll see."
He smiled. "Go be a badass, Batman."
I tipped the cab driver with what I had in my pocket. It wasn't nearly enough to make him drive the mess that had devolved downtown in the wee hours of this morning.
Picket signs, police cars, chanting so loud it might have broken the glass on this car if it went just a pinch louder. The angry faces of black, yellow, brown, red men and women.
It has always bothered me that the only time we ever seemed together as a unified front of black people was when one of ours was gun down by one of them. We didn't do it when someone died at the hands of another black man or woman. We don't do it when one of ours have been raped, or some old man has taken advantage of the naiveté of our young daughters.
I have spent my time at the place I just set on fire writing about how we need to come together as black folk, not just when there is a murder, but to solve the problems of our community, but it almost always fell on deaf ears.
I waded my way through the forest of people, stuck together like vines, until I got to the front by the yellow tape that had encircled the area. On the opposite were the news crews, flying up above were news copters.
In the middle. Jesus. In the idle, there was Kenzie, seated on the floor, with Reece kneeling beside him. With. A. Gun. In. His. Face.
But something else was there. I couldn't see the full view, but I saw feet behind them both. Kenzie was blocking the upper body and Reece the mid-section.
I inhaled. I closed my eyes. And I repeated very, very carefully in my head: 'Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name...thy kingdom, they will be done'
I reopened my eyes. I was hoping Reece would have spotted me, but his eyes were stuck to the barrel staring him down.
"Kenneth!" I shouted, leaning over the yellow tape.
The both of them peered over. Reece's eyes melted and his smile quivered with what looked like a smile. Kenzie's eyes shook and his lips shook with what resembled a frown.
Reece turned his head toward the cops and shouted something. A name? A number? I couldn't hear from here.
But the cop was listening. He looked over at me and nodded. Then, he jogged as far around Kenzie as he could to get to where I was standing.
The chanting intensified when he came over. He looked physically shaken by the hatred that was swelling around him. He swallowed, his hands slightly shook as he raised the yellow tape for me to walk under and he had to clear his throat before speaking.
"We need you to move your brother, before we have to take matters in our own hands," he said. His voice still rattled. "We don't need any more casualties tonight. It would be best if this situation was defused without the rioting."
I was taller than him. He looked clearly frightened by that, but puffed out his chest as much as he could, kept his hat on, straightened his badge so I'd know who the authority was out here.
"You shot and killed one of ours – you shot and killed mine – and you're worried about a riot?" My voice tightened. "You should be on your knees begging God for taking a life that wasn't meant to be taken."
"I had nothing to do with it, sir," he replied. "The officer involved in the shooting has been transported away for his protection."
"If you think that will save him, you're more than wrong," I responded. "He can keep the shell he's going to rot inside, we don't want it."
"Will you assist us, mister?" he asked, clearly annoyed. He closed his eyes, and I was pretty sure he was rolling them.
I clenched my jaw. This was for Kenzie. And Reece.
I stalked over to where my brother, my "fiancé", and my...
My. My what?
Dennis's face slowly crawled into view, as I approached. Pale and lifeless, mouth half open, eyes not all the way closed. Blood had stopped streaming out of him, and had already dried on the ground where he was lying down. Bright and blazing red, the only thing that wasn't in black and white. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.
Kenzie was so focused on Reece that I didn't say anything to startle him, and he took Reece's head off. He'd get the electric chair after that.
Instead, I slowly crawled to the side of Reece and Kenzie moved the gun from his face to mine.
"Gorgeous," I said.
"Don't fucking test me right now Ashley," Kenzie snapped. "I ain't in the mood."
"Put the gun down, Gorgeous," I repeated. I felt Reece grab my hand, clasping them and lacing our fingers together. "Don't do anything that will get you into more trouble than you already are."
"So, you want me to ignore the fact that Dee is lying right on side of me, right in front of you, this nigga loved you fam. You ain't shed no tears? If you was lying here, he woulda been a fucking mess, Ashley."
"How do you want me to shed tears when my brother is pointing a gun at a billionaire. When news choppers are recording him. When, by this time tomorrow, he's either going to be in prison or in the morgue." I waited. I waited. I waited. "Speak" I shouted. "Tell me how I'm supposed to have a breakdown when my big brother is in trouble?"
I shook my hand from Reece's and placed in on Kenzie's shoulder. He shook it off. I did it again. He shook it off. I did it again. He shook it off. Again, and again and again, and again, and again until he got the picture and allowed it to rest, settle and stay.
He stayed the gun in my face. He always did aim a pistol at me when we were in a heated argument, but never did I think I was in any kind of danger.
"You are Gorgeous and I am Beautiful. Our mother named us that. Our mother, who is watching this on the news right now, with her hand on her chest, balling her eyes out, unable to help because our father is stuck at home."
"Stop. Calling. Me. Gorgeous." He cocked the gun. He never did that before.
"Gorgeous," I whispered. "I love you. I loved Dennis....and I can't..." my voice broke... "I can't even look him in the face anymore because he's gone and I never forgave him." I shook my head of the tears. No No No No No. This wasn't the time for crying. "But Dennis is gone. You are still here. We must live in spite of the bullshit, not throw ourselves away. Pain is inevitable, loss is more unavoidable than pain and death will come for all of us. Do not turn Dee's death into more grief. A mother has lost her son. Do not make it two mothers, Gorgeous. Do not become what they think you are."
I took my hand off of his shoulder and cupped my hands in front of him, under the gun. He held it shakily in between his hands. I was afraid he'd shoot me by accident, they trembled so much.
"Let's go home," I whispered to him. "Please."
Kenzie bit his lip. His eyes were watering. The first time I've ever seen anything resembling crying in years from him. His hands still shook violently.
But then he sighed. "Fuck it," he mumbled and uncocked the gun, removed the ammo and dropped the gun into my clasped hands. "I'm fucking sorry, Beautiful," he said. He dropped his head. I heard him sniff. His hands disappeared beneath his locks and looked as though they were trying to erase his eyes from his face.
I slid the gun to the side and stood up, with Reece bouncing up next to me. He opened and closed his eyes, relieved. "I thought we both were dead."
I huffed. "I did for a second too."
"Should I call the police over?" he asked.
I nodded. "Sure, do it after about three minutes," I replied, looking down at Kenzie. "Give us just three minutes."
Reece nodded. But before he left he looked over at me. His eyes were blue.
Wait.
His. Eyes. Were. Blue.
"Oh My God," I mumbled to myself. I couldn't look away. They were the color of the ocean that I remembered. The color of the sky at noon. The color of my teddy bear. Dad's favorite color.
I could see it in his eyes.
He cocked his head. "What's the matter, Ashley?" he asked.
"I can see the color in your eyes..." I muttered. "It's blue."
He narrowed them. "Yeah...they always have been."
I shook my head. Right, he had no idea that I was color blind. Now wasn't the time for that discussion./ "I know...I just never stared before." I shook my head of it again. "Get the police. And get out of here. I'll meet you at your house when everything has calmed down."
"I don't think anything is about to calm down," he confessed. "I think this is just going to get way worse than it already is."
"We'll deal with it in the morning," I said.
"What if morning never comes?" he asked.
"It will," I muttered, back to staring into his eyes. "No matter how dark, the black of the night gives way to the light of the sun in the morning. Always."
He raised his brows. "Which poet said that?"
I frowned. "The one lying on the ground."
Reece clenched his jaw. "I'm sorr-"
"-go, Reece," I said. "Go and be safe. We'll talk soon."
He rested his forehead on mine one last time. "Be safe, King." Then he slid his head up until his lips came to my forehead. "Be careful."
"I will."
When Reece jogged away, I turned my attention back to Kenzie. I knelt in front of him. He was clenching and unclenching his fists. He was tapping his feet against the ground. Swaying slowly from side to side.
My eyes drifted from him to the boy lying next to him. Still, cold looking, lifeless. Everything Dennis was not; his antithesis, his exact opposite.
I crawled over to the other side of him and rested a hand on his chest, near his heart. No beating. No breathing. This was real. This was happening. I remember having to write about Trayvon, about Sandra, about Michael. I now would have to write about Dennis.
I looked at him in the face. His face was bluer now. It took me back to when we watched Moonlight earlier this year as friends. How he lit up when he saw the posters for it.
Black boys look blue under the moonlight
Yes. Yes they do.
Reece
"Are you filming?" I asked the journalist after I got the police over by Ashley and his brother.
"Yes sir," she said, as timid as a mouse. I knew something was wrong. "But we decided to go with the original narrative."
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't fire you right here, right now," I said.
Her face grew red. "Sir, it's not our choice," she said. "I must tow the company rhetoric. Mrs. Red, who is the chairman of the board and COO, called and stopped us the moment she caught wind that we had broken away from it."
I took my phone out of my pocket. "I'll deal with this myself,."
"There is no need to call, sir," the reporter said. She swallowed. "Your mother is waiting for you in a limousine behind the cameras.
I peered behind. And of course, the white limousine was seated there, lodged between two police vehicles. I ducked under the yellow tape, and pushed my way passed the crowd of cameras and reports, if they didn't move in sheer fear themselves. The police officers guarding the limo moved as soon as they saw me, and the driver himself opened the door so I could get inside.
Mother, her gloves already off, sat at the other side of the limo near the opposite door. I got in and closed mine behind me.
After a few minutes of silence, I decided that I was going to speak.
"Are you aware that I am the Chief Executive Officer of this company?" I asked her.
She nodded, still peering out her window. "And are you aware that I am chairman of the board of directors, as well as Chief Operating Officer?"
I nodded, even though she couldn't see me do so. "I control this company, mother," I snapped. "I am the executive officer, I sit in the office at the top of our company, I hold the most shares on the board, with Dad's shares combined with my own. I am the decision maker. I don't care if you chair the board. You don't have the voting power to remove me, and you should start acting that way."
Her head slowly turned to face me. her eyes blue and narrowed. Her eyes broad curved downward into frowns. "I know of your titles, baby bear. I am well aware of the idiotic position that your father so recklessly put us in. If I could have voted you out, I would have by now." She shifted so she would be facing me. "He already made the error of placing a bisexual boy as head of a conservative news organization. But I quelled the fears of our advertisers by telling them you were just a figurehead and I was the real power. Do you know how much money we would have lost if they thought that a 20-something year old was running this ship?"
"You never gave me the chance to prove myself?" I said. "You never ever gave me the chance to make decisions."
"Because every decision you have ever made from the moment you could talk has been the wrong one," she snapped at me. "Even here tonight, you have the gall to move away from the conservative message to present a more liberal one!" She blasted. "WE ARE A RIGHT WING NEWS NETWORK."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm aware of that, mother."
"Are you?" she bit. She placed her hands at her hips. "Are you aware of that, Reece? Because it doesn't seem like you do. It feels like you are trying to destroy everything that your father and I have built. This ship paid for your college, this ship funds your drunken ways...and your antibiotics when you contract all those diseases. You are going to crash us right into that iceberg ahead, and what's worse is that you saw it there in the ocean a mile away."
Mother huffed. She fixed her blouse and primped her hair. "I am sick and tired of your negligence for anybody but yourself."
"My negligence? I sneered at her. I hit my chest with my hand and glued my open palm to it. "I just watched someone be gunned down in front of me in cold blood, mother. An innocent man was killed right in front of me. Are you seriously going to allow us to overlook that point so that we don't lose money? And then have the nerve to say that I'm the selfish one?"
"You are, Reece. You always have been." She grew silent. "I don't know where you came from, child. I will never understand how you were the one to slither out of me, and Liza didn't."
I shrugged. "Dad has dementia and I'm a slut: maybe everything that's inside of you gets poisoned and rots."
Mom stared, mouth half open. "I hate you."
It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt. But I shrugged anyway. "That's your burden to bear, mother. Let it keep you up at night. Let the hatred rip you apart until it consumes you. I will still be on the top floor of our tall, multi-billion dollar company."
Mom looked out her window, shaking her head. "If I knew that you were what I was getting, I would have been pro-choice."
My jaw clenched. "Do you know what Ashley's mother nicknamed him and his brother?" She didn't look at me. "Beautiful and Gorgeous. Do you remember when I was fourteen?" She didn't answer. "I had just gotten detention and the principal threatened me with suspension. You came there to pick me up, since Dad was working. On the ride home I started to cry. You had Alfred pull the car over and asked me what was wrong. And I said that I felt like the black sheep. Liza was a star athlete and a star student. I was struggling to even pass English." I fixed myself in the seat and moved a bit closer to her, but she sensed it and moved closer to the door. "I asked you if you could ever love me the way you loved Liza. That Liza was the crown jewel of our family. Brilliant in every way. And I was far from perfect. I asked if you would ever look at me and be proud. You looked at me, touched my cheek and said: 'Reeces Pieces, Liza may be my pride, but you are my joy'." And for that brief moment, I felt loved. That no matter how much I messed up, my mother would always be there to remind me that I was her joy, her son, her laughter, her smile." I frowned to myself. "What went wrong?"
Mother looked back at me. "Everything."
My frowned deepened. "Why won't you love me?"
"Because we all have our roles to play, and you refuse to play yours," she replied. "You are an outlier to the Red family. The black sheep. The rogue. That sort of thing may seem like a good thing at your age, but it's disastrous for everyone around you." She paused. "You were my joy. Back when family was before duty and joy had greater value than pride did. But times have changed. Duty is all that I have left."
I turned from her to peer out my window. "...What if I relieved you of that duty?"
Silence.
"What are you saying?" she asked, bitter and hard. "Because it sounds as though you are about to utter two words that will effectively remove any chance of you ever meaning anything to me ever again."
I sighed to myself, shaking my head, staring at the news cameras just outside the door. "You say that as if there was any chance of that happening again anyway."
"So, you're going to ruin this company out of spite?" she barked. "Because mommy doesn't show you the love you think you need?" She scoffed. "Weak willed. Spineless. Petty."
"You know," I began and turned back to face her. Her face had grown as red as her last name. "For the first time, I get to make a decision without your interference. It may be spineless and petty, but it's mine to make."
"It's yours to regret," she said with a scowl. "And it's mutually assured destruction for your company and for your family."
I shrugged. "As principal owner of RED Corp, Ella Red, you are effectively removed as Chairman of the Board and as COO after the special board meeting tomorrow." I stopped and stared her down. She stared right on back. "Mother. Mom. Mommy. You're fired."
She lifted her head high. "You have no idea what you've just done."
"Actually, I'm perfectly aware of what I just did. I think it's you who is in disbelief that the man that you have insulted time and time again has finally struck back at you," I surmised. "It must feel awful to be humbled."
"Get out," she sneered, she spat, she barked, she snapped. "Get out and go run this company into the ground. I will be waiting and watching with delight."
My phone rang. I pulled it out and stared at the caller. Declan. I didn't answer. Instead, I refocused my attention on her. "Actually, you get out."
"Excuse me?"
"This isn't your personal limo, it's RED property. You are no longer a member of RED, so call a cab." I opened the door and started to make my way out.
"You little, ungrateful, bastard. I should have killed you in-"
I slammed the door behind me. I looked at the driver, and he did a quick bow. "Make sure Mrs. Red gets a taxi home. After that, sell this limo and donate the proceeds to a charity. Preferably one that would drive her crazy."
He bowed again. "Yes, sir."
I finally answered my phone. "Declan?"
"Where are you dude?" he asked, racing through his words. "I saw the news."
"I'm fine. Had a warm and fuzzy heart to heart with Mother." I began to walk away from the limo, plugging one ear so I could hear him more clearly.
"That's great and all, but I think you better get here at RED Corp right now," he said. "Anna is here."
"Why?" I asked. "She hasn't called me or anything."
"Her phone is dead," he said. "It's important. She just came from your house." He stopped. "Reece, your father is awake and talking."
I stopped. I hadn't spoken to my Dad for months. He hadn't been awake for months after his stroke. My mind was racing, my heart was pounding. "I'll be right there."
Ashley
They didn't press ay charges. At least not in front of the crowd. What happened later tonight was anyone's guess. But as of right now, Kenzie had escaped prison for the hundredth time.
He and I stood a few feet away as a medical team rushed over to Dee's limp, lifeless corpse and we watched as they placed him in a black bag, onto a gurney and carted him away.
"My homie is dead," Kenzie said. "Best homie I ever had. Calmed me down, talked shit with me, tolerated my broke ass. And he's dead."
I felt his pain. He felt it, I felt it. It radiated off of him and stuck onto me, burrowing itself deep into my flesh. "We have to mourn, and turn his death into something good."
"Do what you gotta," Kenzie said. "I'm gonna smoke kush in our bedroom, and listen to trap."
"If that's how you grieve, fine," I said. I rested my head on his shoulder. "Can we go home now?"
"How we getting home?" he asked, pointing to the car. "They ain't releasing the car until tomorrow."
"Good point," I sighed. "Well, we'll call a cab."
Kenzie snorted. "What cab is going accept us?"
"Better point," I murmured. I looked out into the crowd. Maybe Pete, or Lola, or Nikko was out here, if they saw the news. But if they were, they hadn't fought their way to the front. I doubt Pete would even try. He might not make it half-way through. Not with that pasty white skin.
"Maybe one of my homies out here," Kenzie muttered, coming beside me to peer out into the crowd.
We both looked and looked and looked until...
"Dad?"
My head snapped to Kenzie. "What?"
He pointed. "Ain't that Dad there?"
I followed his fingers. And Oh My God. It was Dad. At the edge of the crowd. He was shouting something, but I couldn't hear him. "How?"
Kenzie took off running and I started after him.
The crowd immediately broke into louder chants when we came over. "Dad!?" Kenzie shouted.
"Yeah, I'm here," he said. He touched Kenzie's face. "You alright, boy?"
"Y-yes sir," Kenzie responded.
"How are you out of the house?" I asked, quickly. "Where's Mom."
"She's asleep," he said. "But she probably woke up when the alarm was tripped when I left."
"You did what?" I shouted at him. I immediately grabbed his hand and ducked under the yellow tape. "Where did you park!?"
He pointed to the car. "Shit, dad," Kenzie cursed.
I ran over, Dad's wrist locked between my enclosed fist. "Kenzie you drive!" I barked, throwing him the keys that were dangling from dad's pocket.
Dad slid in the backseat and I got in after him. Kenzie started the car and we raced away from the scene.
I turned my back to the door and stared over at our Father, who was staring right on back at me. "Do you have any idea what you just did?" I asked think. "You just violated the terms of your Furlough."
"It's not Furlough if I'm trapped inside my house," Dad responded.
"Do you have even the slightest notion of what this means?"
"OF COURSE I DO!" he shouted at me. "I know what it means when I violated. It means that I'm never getting out again until my sentence is up. It means that I won't be getting time off for good behavior."
I scoffed at him. "Are any of the men in this family not impulsive?" I asked, mainly myself, but directed to anyone who was willing to give me a clear, concise response. "What on earth possessed you to do this? Of all the nights you choose to break the law, it's this one?"
"My children are on the news, one with a gun in his hands and you want me to sit idly by as that happened?" Dad asked mean, as stern as ever. "You want me to sit by as my eldest son could be gunned down by police officers at any moment and then as he points a gun in my youngest son's face?"
"YES!" Both Kenzie and I shouted.
"Dad they are going to arrest you!" I shouted at him. "Hasn't Momma been through enough of this?"
He stared out the back windshield. "Aretha will understand."
"You just blew up this entire family, Dad," I sneered. "I hope you are happy."
"I blew up this family?" he laughed. "Ashley, how long do you think my black ass was going to be inside that house? They were going to come and get me in the morning."
"Then spend the final hours with your wife!" I shouted. I rested the back of my head against the glass and sighed. "The day I've just had."
"Will you come and see me this time?" he asked.
I almost laughed. Almost. "Are you serious right now?" I asked, staring at the grey of the roof.
"I'm not getting out for years, Ashley," Dad said. "That means if you don't come and see me like you haven't before, I won't see you for years."
"You want to have this conversation right now?" I asked him. I held in the snort.
"When else are we gonna have it?" he responded. "Our time is up."
I looked down at him. He was wearing a blue shirt. I still couldn't believe I could see blue again.
"Why would I come and see you if all you're ever going to do is berate me for being gay," I said. I didn't give him the chance to speak, although his mouth twitched to answer. "From that day I kissed Dennis, you locked me inside my room like some Disney princess. My final memory of you is you threatening to whoop my ass if I ever tried that shit again." I wasn't breathing. "And now you want me to come and see you? You don't care anything about my happiness."
"Happiness?" Dad launched. "Ashley motherfucking King, I am your parent." He scooted forward, sat up straight and looked me in the eyes. "I am your father. I put a roof over your head. I fed you. I clothed you. Made sure you got a damn good education. I don't care if your black ass gay or not. What I care about is your damn safety, boy. We black people. Kenzie might be okay with you being gay and your mother and I might not hate you for it, but other black people will. So on top of me worrying about police shooting your ass down for no good reason, thugs beating your ass as you walk from school and robbing you, you slipping into drugs or gun violence and getting shot up, I now gotta worry about your ass liking other niggas. I got to worry about other niggas not liking that and wanting to beat you down for it. I am your father. I will start to care about your happiness the day I stop worrying about your safety. When you think that will be?"
I swallowed. "Never."
"Nev-to-the-motherfucking-er," he blurted.
I could see police lights now.
"We here," Kenzie said. "5-0 is too." The rested behind a cruiser. Dad fixed his blue shirt and cleared his throat. "Come visit me boy."
I clenched my jaw as he opened the door. Kenzie jumped out of his side, but I waited for a moment. I could hear Momma wailing from the front door.
I finally got out and Dad was already pressed against the police car, and handcuffed. He looked over at me, have his face smashed against the hard metal. "You be good boy," he got out. "You take care of your Momma and your dumb ass big brother."
I watched as they put him in the cruiser. I watched as they closed the door.
And I watched as the blue light of the cop car slowly faded to grey.
Reece
"Where's Anna?" I asked the second I came into my office.
Declan was sitting in a seat in front of my desk, a glass of whiskey in his hand. Strange for him, since he usually sat in my rolling chair when I wasn't here for shits and giggles. Instead, it was facing the window away from us.
"She went to the bathroom," he said. "But, man. I wasn't expecting a gun in your face."
I sighed. "I wasn't either." I went over and sat down next to him. "Thank God for Ashley."
Dec took a gulp of it and grimaced, offering me it. I rejected. "Yeah, thank God." He sniffed. "It all worked out though."
I cocked my head. "What did?"
"Competition is out of the way," he answered. "Wasn't freaking easy to set that up either."
I gulped. "Set what up, Declan?"
He looked over, smirked then bumped my shoulder and laughed. "Come on man, I told you time and time again I'd handle it."
I slowly stood up. "Declan, what the fuck are you talking about?"
"Calm down, Reece," he said, rolling his eyes. "That Dennis kid had to go if you wanted a real shot with Ashley. So, I got rid of him."
"You killed him?" I mumbled. "But I watched a cop shoot him."
He nodded. "Yeah. It wasn't really easy, like I said. I had to make sure a naïve; younger cop was patrolling that area at the time. I had to make sure that you went down the right street and I had to make sure your car was ID-ed properly. Which is where Erika came in."
"What?"
Declan rolled his eyes. "Dude, Erika and I made a deal during the party at The King's house. She knew that she'd have to get rid of Anna at some point, and I knew you wanted Competition gone. Soooo, we exchanged. I fed Anna's ego so she'd get Lola fired. I then supplied her with a bit of information Erika gave me that night that she'd use against her. Anna, not being able to resist, confronted Erika. In exchange, Erika got you and Kenzie together by suggesting to Ashley that Kenzie be your punishment."
"Dude, you aren't making any fucking sense," I blurted.
"Let me finish and you'll see that it's actually genius," he barked. "Erika knew that Kenzie was Dennis' ride to that stupid dance recital thing. So, you'd have to go with them. I got you to turn onto the correct street and good old fashion racism did the rest, really."
"Y-you killed someone?" I mumbled.
"Oh no," he snorted. "Hands are clean." He rested his drink down. "I just placed Dennis's head by the chopping block; it was the cop that swung the axe.
"Get the fuck out of my office," I barked. "Get the fuck out of my life, before I have you arrested right here, right now."
Dec stared for a moment. "You know, he said you might be a tad ungrateful."
"Who's he?" I spat. "The fucking voice that's talking in your head?"
Declan stood up. "Nah, the guy that's sitting in your chair."
As soon as I looked over, my chair swiveled around. Preston was seated inside of it. "Reece, my good old buddy." He smiled. His teeth were back to looking brand new.
"I see you fixed the gaping hole in your mouth," I said.
Preston laughed. "Yeah, well. That's white money, for ya." He stood up and directed his eyes to Declan. "Thanks for getting him here, Declan."
My eyes bounced back to my supposed best friend. "You set this up? You're supposed to be my best fucking friend"
Declan shrugged. "My best friend is money, Reece. And RED Corp has done nothing but bleed money since you've come into power." He took the glass from the table and drank the rest of it. "I'm sorry, man."
"Sorry for what?"
The door to my office opened again. My eyes bulged. "Kingsley?" I sighed. "Edward?" The latter was holding a long piece of iron in his hand. My eyes snapped back to Preston. "So, what? You gonna beat me with a piece of metal?"
He laughed. "No. Since you want to act like one of those primates, you should be treated like one."
"What-what the fuck, Dec?" I shouted as he all of a sudden gripped my wrist and slammed it against my table.
I went to punch him with my right hand, by but someone had gripped it from the other side. These fuckers had me pinned down against my table. "Let me go!"
Preston walked around them. This crazed asshole, was smiling as I thrashed against them. I couldn't see what Edward was doing with the iron, but I heard something that sounded like a fucking blow torch.
"You want to be one of them so badly, then it only makes sense that you get branded like one of them, don't you think?" Preston asked.
"You're going to fucking brand the CEO of RED Corp?" I hissed at them. "Do you have any fucking idea what you're doing?"
Preston shrugged. "Yeah. I know there will be consequences. But I'm white, privileged and rich. So, I don't really give a shit."
Edward walked back around and handing Preston the rod. It was red and looked like it was burning red at the tip. I could almost hear the flames hissing from it.
"What's your favorite letter, King?" Preston asked.
"Glad you asked," Kingsley laughed. "K."
"And what about you Dec?" he asked again.
"K it is," Declan blurted.
"And what of you, my good man Edward?"
"I'm gonna go with k," he answered.
Preston sighed wistfully. "kkk it is."
He aimed the rod at my left arm and pressed it against my skin.
I screamed. I screamed so loud that I thought someone would have heard me. NO one seemed to. The pain raced from my arm, to my head, dizzying me; to my spine, making me weak; to my legs, making me limp. He did it again and again and again and again and again and I screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed until three letters were seared into my arm: kkk