Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Kale
My breathing turned sporadic, and tears stung my eyes. That poor kid. Poor baby. Oh god.
Reaching for my phone, I whipped it out and dialed Gabe’s phone number. It rang three times before he picked up.
“I’m outside, come to me.” Gabe answered, and then hung up.
Hands shaking, I made my way outside; the sun blinded me as I pushed the door open. Gabe was there straddling his bike, but quickly jumped off and was at my side as soon as he registered the look on my face. Gabe’s hands went around me, and I buried my face into the muscles of his chest. His dog tags dug into my forehead, but the pain wasn’t registering. I was numb.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Kale sold me out!” I cried.
Taking my head in his hands, he pulled my face out of his chest and wiped my tears with his thumbs.
“One more time.” He said.
“Kale, my most beautiful and promising student joined that gang. And he sold me out!” I said handing him the note.
He took the note out of my hand, and scanned it. He reread it and then folded the note up, shoving it in his back pocket.
“This could be a good thing, Ember. I know you don’t like that he did that to you, and I sure as fuck don’t either, but we could use this to our advantage. We can get some information next time I corner him and question him. He could have kept this from us, so I think he wants to help. Because if this got back to the Skulls that he did this, he would be dead. It wouldn’t be a nice death, either. These gangs are crazy as fuck.” He said to me gently.
“I know. I just can’t believe that this was who started this for me. I brought him food, I gave him rides home, and I picked up his brother and him when their car broke down. I even took the little brother to his pediatric appointment when he broke his arm!” I said.
“We’ll figure this out, bebê.” He whispered into my hair.
When he said things like that to me in Portuguese, it made me all tingly inside. My heart lightened a little from its heavy feel. Gabe made me feel things, things that I haven’t felt since I was a teenager, right before my parents died in the plane crash.
“You make me feel alive and whole again; I haven’t been right since my parents died. I feel like I’m slowly getting back to my old self. I can put on a good front, smile and act happy, but it’s been a long time since I have truly felt happy. I know we’re in a shitty situation, but you being here makes it all okay.” I whispered to him while burying my face into his neck.
“I want you to tell me more, but not until we get you home. Being out here in the open makes me twitchy.” Gabe said.
He grabbed my hand and hauled me over to his bike.
The ride took no time at all. As soon as we made it through the door, I made a beeline for the fridge and grabbed us both a beer. If I was going to spill my guts, I needed some liquid courage. Handing him his beer once I was back in the living room, I plopped down into the Lazy Boy that sat directly across from the fireplace where Gabe had parked himself.
Okay, here goes nothin’ I said to myself. I hadn’t spoken about this to anyone since the week after it happened. I’d spilled my guts to Cheyenne, and we never spoke of it again.
“It’s been a little over nine years now, and at twenty five, going on twenty six, it feels just as raw now as it did that day. I can still remember when Max came to get me from school to tell me. I’d been in lunch, sitting at my usual table with Cheyenne, and our closest friends. We were having a great time laughing and playing around when I glanced up and saw Max there, dressed in his fatigues, wearing a grim expression. The lunchroom had gone quiet, and all eyes watched as Max scanned the lunchroom for me. My stomach had fallen to my knees, and I stood up slowly. Max found me then, and started walking to me.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and then started again.
“I hadn’t seen Max in a little over six months. He’d joined the army right after high school, and boot camp was the hardest thing I’d ever experienced. Max was my rock, my confidant. He knew my hopes and dreams; he beat up anyone that looked at me funny. I’d never been away from him for more than a weekend since I was born. When he’d deployed, I was lost. But seeing him right then, I knew something had to be horribly wrong since he was supposed to be thousands of miles away in Iraq. He didn’t waste any time. Once he reached me, he grabbed me by one hand and Cheyenne by the other and led us out into the hallway. He didn’t stop until we reached his old Bronco in the front visitor’s lot.”
Gabe must have felt I needed the support because suddenly I found myself sitting in his lap, my head tucked up under his chin.
“Keep goin’.” He said.
“Anyway, once we came to a stop beside the truck Max took me into his arms and nearly broke me with a bear hug. He told me that my parent’s had died on the way back home from visiting my grandmother. The plane they were on crashed when it was landing. The landing equipment never engaged. They didn’t die right away either. They burned to death. They were wrapped around each other when they were extracted from the burning remains of the plane. We had a whirlwind the next two days. The funeral was planned for the day after, and Max was shipped back to Iraq before we could even take a full breath. I was left alone in a huge empty house. Cheyenne’s mom had ‘guardianship’ of me, but I didn’t stay with them. My parent’s life insurance policies were doled out, we had plenty to pay off the house, cars, bills, funeral costs, and then I invested the rest. I had to go from partying carefree Ember to responsible Ember in less than two days. When I needed my brother the most, he wasn’t there. I didn’t see him but for his leave for the next couple of years. The only good thing in my life was Cheyenne.”