He kisses my shoulder, “Try again.” He nips on my shoulder, and instantly it’s not the heat that’s warming me up.
“Fine, I would like myboyfriendto come home for Christmas,” I nudged his head.
He takes my chin with his finger and thumb and turns my head to place a sweet, tender kiss.
“Yes, I’ll come over for Christmas,” he answers, making my heart jump out of my chest.
So this is what it feels like to be falling, falling for a man, that beautiful golden man that is willing, no, wanting to protect me at all cost.
“Okay,” is all I can say without turning into a puddle of emotions and second thoughts.
“Everything will be fine,” he tries to soothe me.
“Honey, you don’t know my father. He doesn’t easily back down and thinks he can hide behind a suit and make everything okay. But behind his suit is his addictions, he just knows how to mask it,” I can remember the times that bottles were thrown in rage, trying to be a part of his scheme to get out of his debts. I counted my blessings of the horrors that could have been.
“I won’t let anything happen,” he promises. I offer him a soft smile before a shattering sound coming from the block. Both Keola and I perk up, he reaches over to his gun, palming it like he’s ready to jump into action. There’s no cars, no humans around, nothing that resembles life. Keola turns off the truck. We freeze, waiting to see what would happen next.
Keola creeps towards the door handle, waiting to move out of the truck. I go to move, and he makes a noise that stops me. “You stay here,” he stops me.
“Like hell. If it’s Cedric, he’ll come to me. He doesn’t know you,” I say in a harsh hushed voice.
“And how are you going to protect yourself if it isn’t him? Four lessons isn't enough,” his says sternly.
“What the fuck are you going to do? You’re really going to leave me in the truck.” I yell at him. The scrunch in his face tells me all I need to know. A smug grin appears on my face. He mutters something under his breath. We both leave the truck, stalking down the street staying close to the house.
Keola’s arm creates a barrier, keeping me behind him, “Stay behind me, do you understand.”
“I’m not going to do something stupid,” I hissed at him.
“Where have I heard that before,” he grumbles, he palms his gun, whipping it out, holding it steady, ready to fire away.
He reaches for the door, the door is loose, the breeze of the winter winds blowing it open. We continue to creep closer inside the shell of the house. The home is losing the warmth and character, now still a mess from the last rampage. We step slowly inside, Keola searching every room in sight for intruders. His own sense heightened, knowing that he wishes mine would do the same.
He clears the main entrance and the living room, then signals me to stay in the living room. I flick him off as he continues to creep down the hallway towards the back of the house.
My heart tears into two, seeing the once characteristic home torn to shreds, broken picture frames, torn up couches, shattered items scattering amongst the room.What the hell happened bud?I don’t care what people are saying, I know he’s innocent, a small bit of anger rises because a fraction of trust left when I found out, but Cedric wouldn’t do something like this unless he was forced.
The floorboard creaks behind me, and my mind wishes it’s Keola whose presence eases everything. But the barrel of a cold gun presses under my chin.
A stench of smoke and bad liquor fills my senses.
The stranger inhales, “Who would've thought the wolves would bring their whores along.” My heart sinks with a slight anger. His other arm grabs my waist, feeling me up.
“Buddy, I would take your nasty hands off me if you want to leave with everything intact,” I hissed, hoping Keola hears it.
“Too bad there’ll be a bullet in ya, you could have been fun, but,” he clicks the gun, “I don’t do sloppy seconds.”
There’s another click, “Good, because you won’t have a chance.” Keola’s deep voice threatens.
Bad breath and I quickly turn around, the gun still twisting underneath my neck.
“Johnson. Figured this belonged to you. She’s got a mouth on her. Should really fix that.” He jokes.
My eyes plead with Keola to make the right decision. His eyes focus on a target point. But I see the concern, trying to leave without injury. There isn’t going to be an easy way out of this unless blood is shed. I have to think here, Keola would kill on sight, he would do anything.
“No one needs to get hurt,” I plead.
“Sorry sweetheart, loverboy is digging around something he has no business in.” He growls in my ear.
