“I, uh... well, yeah, I guess I did.” I stammer out.
“Just tell me this, who asked you to move the camera?”
“I don’t know.”
“Excuse me, how could you not know?” one of the other ladies asks me, she has weird multi-colored eyes.
“It was masquerade night, everyone had on a mask and his covered everything except his mouth. All I can tell you is he was tall, at least six feet, with dark hair and he wore a black tux like majority of the men there that night. I thought if he was in your club with all the background checks, he wouldn’t do something stupid. Everyone knows who you and your brothers are and most people are scared of y’all. I mean he said this was his wife’s first time there and she was nervous about being recognized and if I could just move the camera angle up a bit. I thought it was harmless. There are a million other cameras in the club, and I had no idea he was going in your room. I figured I’d move it up, but it would still catch a glimpse of the person going in it just wouldn’t be on their faces like it normally is. When the shit hit the fan and I realized what happened I took off. I had the loan sharks after me, and now a killer knows that I realize I was the last person he talked to. And to add insult to injury my actions got my boss arrested for murder. I just ran.
Asher
“Fuck!” I yell, because Lynn was supposed to have the information to finally end this ordeal and she has nothing. I don’t think she is lying, because she didn’t have to come here at all, and she has a few people who would want to see her dead. If I had the information on the person who wants me dead, you best believe I’m telling it. Now I am unsure of what to do about Lynn and her situation, part of me wants to throw her ass to the wolves but part of me feels for her. I roll my eyes and walk away. “I need a moment alone.” I say as I walk outside to get some fresh air and think. Long minutes go by before I hear.
“You can’t throw her to the wolves, that’s not who we are. Yes, she fucked up but she’s young and obviously doesn’t have a support system like we had. Can you imagine the dumb shit we would have gotten into if it wasn’t for Josh and Joseph? How many messes did they save us from over the years?” Anson says and I know he’s right, but I don’t want to help the person who helped get me arrested for murder even if it was done inadvertently.
“We protect brother, that’s what we do. It’s what we’ve always done. It’s what sent Atlas back into our house when he was just ten years old. What caused us to walk into hell to help Atlas avenge our parents’ death. What forced Aryan out of retirement to preform CPR on Atlas for over an hour on our brother rather than give up and let him die. It’s what moved Josh to risk his relationship with Savvy to go to a country to save a woman who had been kidnapped. It’s. what. we. do.” Anson declares. Who would believe my brother is such a poetic and feeling person? Next to Atlas he has the most don’t fuck with me look that he proudly wears all over his face.
“You make me sick.” I breath out.
“You love me. I don’t know why you came out here at all. You knew once she told her story you were going to help her.” He chuckles
“You don’t know me.”
“Yeah okay. Remember I slept in your bed for years after we came to live with mom and dad phase two. And you never told our brothers. You never even told our parents that I peed the bed—a lot of times peeing on you too. You would just help me get cleaned up, wash the sheets and clothes, clean and remake the bed and acted like nothing happened.”
“Mom knew.” I tell him. “I don’t know how she knew, and she never said anything, but I know she knew when waterproof mattress pads just showed up out of the blue. She’s an amazing woman; I know our mom knew we’d be in good hands with her sister, and she was right. Fine, I’ll help her,” I say to Anson laughing, and we head back into the house.
By the time the night is over, I have made arrangements to not only pay for Lynn’s tuition but also pay off the loan shark. Peter has agreed to put her up at the hotel until we can arrange for housing and find the killer, so she is no longer in any danger. Josh has agreed to reach out to the CEO of the company that offered Lynn her job and see if he’s willing to extend the offer and possibly allow her to begin the original start date while she works on completing her degree.
After she leaves and we are all sitting around digesting the events of the evening. I hear Jaasiel’s friend say,
“Damn Jah, I got to come to your house more often, y’all got all the excitement going on here.”
Yeah, I guess we do.