Within (16 page)

“You need to turn on the TV right now!”

“Tony, I don’t have time for games, I just got out the tub; I’m wet and cold. So what is it?”

Tony got quiet.

“Tony? Are you there?” I asked.

“Somebody killed Brandon.”

“What? What channel?”

“13.”

I took the cordless phone into the man cave turned on the TV and flipped to Channel 13.

“The scene was gruesome as Brandon Reaux’s cousin came by to check on him and have their regular Sunday morning basketball game. The young man refused to be on camera, but said to us that his death comes only four months shy of his only son, Bishop Reaux’s death date. Bishop Reaux was the young man who was killed by his own fiancée, which later was revealed to actually be his half-sister,” the news anchor said.

“Don, are there any leads so far? And can you spare any more details about what happened to the victim?”

“Nothing that we know of right now about who may have done this, but as I was told earlier, the only thing they were able to find so far is his head, with a letter attached. Printed in all-capital letters, were the words, “HE’S NOT TOO FOND OF PRETTY EITHER.”

“Tony, I have to go,” I said into the phone.

“Courtney, is everything okay? Talk to me. Do you know who could have done this?” he asked.

I ran back upstairs to the bathroom, with the phone still to my ear; Tony’s breathing was just as heavy as mine was.

“Courtney? Are you there?” he asked again.

I couldn’t answer him just yet. I had to find out for myself. I moved the wallet to the side and then unfolded the first piece of paper. I covered my mouth as I read the blood smeared letters across the paper in big bold letters:
“REMEMBER, YOU SAID GOD DON’T LIKE UGLY.”

“Courtney? Are you there? You’re scaring me!” Tony said, yelling into the phone.

“I think I know who killed Brandon, Tony.”

“Well who? We need to go to the cops, we already have too much going on as a family, we don’t need no more shit going on, Courtney, I promise. I’m on my way home so we can go to the police station right now. Who do you think it was?” he asked once again.

“Me,” I said, picking up Brandon’s wallet, smiling at his ID.

The end……….?

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SNEAK PEEK

COMING SOON

The Finale Piece

(Pieces of Me 3)

Chapter One:

SHE’S COMING

BRYCE:

“It's our time, baby.”

“You’re right it is,” I said turning over in the bed to face the voice that I was speaking with. Her back was towards me now, so I snuggled up behind her, grinding against her ass that felt so perfectly soft. “Turn around and let me see that beautiful face.”

“Not yet, I wanna feel you from the back first.” She rolled over onto her stomach, tooting her ass up in the air just a little.

It had been awhile since I had a good piece, but now that I'm back in Houston, I hope Reese knows that this is legit.

“Umm… that’s so good,” I grunted, moving in and out of her warmth.

“You like that, baby?” she asked sweetly, following my pace, giving me back everything I was giving her.

Some way or another, our passionate lovemaking turned into something more physical and volatile; she finally turned to face me, but still, I couldn’t see her face. I lifted my hand to brush her hair out her face, but she let out a snappy low growl.

“Don't; let me show you what you’ve missed.”

On her way down to “show me what I missed”, she bit my nipple so hard, she made my dick instantly go into gummy worm state.

“Oh, hell naw! Reese, what the hell is wrong with you?” I yelled, jumping off the bed, holding the nipple she bit, and then looking down at my hand. “I'm bleeding! What the hell is wrong with you, what… you wanna be a damn vampire or some shit now?”

She let out a loud, evil laugh while she stood up from the bed, her hair still covering her face. She walked slowly towards me as I backed up from her; the room seemed to get darker, but she seemed to glow.

“Reese, chill!” I said, sticking out my hand towards her, still moving backwards.

Her once straight hair began to shrivel up to a curly wave, her skin turned a tone lighter and her white lace panty and bra set turned red.

“Aww… look at you, once again, your back’s against the wall,” she whispered, putting both hands beside my head. “But you see, daddy, I'm whoever you want me to be,” she moaned, taking her right hand, pushing her hair back, allowing me to finally see her face.

“Jessica!” I gasped in disbelief.

“Always will be, Bryce, baby, aww daddy, don’t look so shocked.”

“Where’s Reese?”

She sucked her teeth before answering my question, “Yo bitch is here!”

She moved her free hand backwards, manipulating the wind, causing some nearby curtains to open up, exposing Reese, tied up and bloody sitting in a chair.

“Reese!” I called out, “Bitch, you crazy; I swear on everything, I’ll kill you this time!”

Pulling her hand back, the curtains closed; then she grabbed my face. “I told you I would be back, baby, I’ve missed you,” she said, licking my face, then stepping back to look at me. “I mean I really missed you,” she smiled as she walked away.

When I felt she was gone, I tried to move, but couldn't.

“Fuckin bitch! Elijah! Elijah! Help me, man! Eli—”

I sat up in a cold sweat, jumped out the bed and went to the window, pulling back the curtains.

Damn, that was a fucked up ass dream
, I thought, laying back down, closing my eyes.

“Say!” Elijah yelled, running in the room, slapping me across the face. “Wake up, mayne, you dreaming again!

I open palmed his face, causing him to stop his shit.

“Why you hit me like that Bryce, damn! I should kick yo ass! I came rushing in here, tryin’ to save yo life and this how you do me?”

“Fool, you hit me first!”

“Yeah I did, but see; you hit me out of anger. I tried to save your life, see the difference? That shit hurt!” he said, rubbing his forehead.

“What time is it?”

“I don’t know, but I’m getting a beer,” Elijah said, turning around and walking out my room.

“Wait Eli, hold up. That dream creeped me out and my reaction was fucked up my bad.”

“Damn right yo bad, but I ain't trippin, point Bryce.” he said, tossing me a Dos Equis. “Next time though, when Freddy Krueger come attacking you in yo dream, don’t call out for Elijah. I don't need that man knowing we know each other, and then come into mines.”

“I wasn't even dreaming about Freddy,” I laughed.

“If I wasn't him, then what was it? Shit, it don’t get no worse than Freddy.”

“It’s the same dream, the one with Jessica pretending like she’s Reese,” I said, taking a drink from my beer.

“I take back what I said, that’s worse than Freddy. You think maybe that’s a sign? I mean, I honestly don’t think you coming back to Houston right now is a good idea, understand what I'm sayin’?”

“Naw I don’t, I just came from down there with you, remember? We had the case with the Wallace twins, you wanted to come back to Atlanta with me, to see how I got everything running and all that good shit, remember?”

“But you weren’t even down there that long for anything to pop off. Plus I know I might come off like I'm a little slow sometimes, but I remember shit bro, damn, give me some credit.”

Elijah was right; he does act a little slow sometimes… Well, most of the time, but he does remember a lot more shit then I give him credit for. I'm just trying to figure out what would be best for our business right now. Stay in Atlanta or move back to Houston. Don’t get me wrong, Above the Law Inc. 2 has been making great money and winning a whole lot of cases, but our location in Houston could be doing a hell of a lot better.

“Bro, I’m not sayin’ be no punk bitch and run, but do I need to remind you that hoe escaped from the crazy house, then called you? You gon’ wake up one morning dead!” Elijah said.

“How do you wake up dead though?” I laughed.

“How do you wake up alive?” he asked, menacing me.

“You got it bro, you got it,” I chuckled, drinking the last of my beer.

***************************

Even with the conversation Elijah and I had, I decided to move back home. I could make trips back to Atlanta every so often, to make sure everything was running smoothly. I just had to break it to my team.

“Good morning,” I said, sitting at the head of the long, shiny wood table, located in one of the conference rooms.

“Good morning Mr. Farris,” they all responded.

“Don't forget me,” Elijah said, walking in with his briefcase in hand.

“You’re late,” I said, never looking away from the eight people sitting at the table.

“I’m learning my around here, don’t judge me, bro,” he said, sitting on my right side.

I ignored his excuse and went on with business as usual.

“As you all know, I was telling you all a while back; I might consider going back home and work on expanding that office, the way I’ve done this one. Well, I have officially made up my mind, and decided that's what I'm going to do. The goal here is to build us up to be the best law firm in Atlanta and Houston.”

“Say! We doing good at my location!” Elijah yelled, sounding offended.

“I’m not saying it’s bad, I'm saying it could be better.”

“Man, I won my last five cases.”

“What about your colleagues? How many cases have they won?” I asked as he looked off. “Exactly… back to what I was saying, Curtis, you have the most experience and are very qualified for this position. However, seeing that I have been through so much in my lifetime, I have always covered my ass, especially since I won't be here as often.”

As soon as I said that, Elijah stood up, walked to the conference room doors and opened them, allowing her to walk in. Dressed neatly in a black and white pin striped pantsuit with a hat to match, stood Brandi.

“Mr. Farris,” she nodded. “Elijah.”

“St. John, Mr. St John!” he corrected.

“Please,” I said, sticking out my hand in the direction of the chair to my left. “Introduce yourself when you are ready.”

“Hello and good morning, my name is Brandi. I know some of y’all have seen me in here once or twice before. I was just basically trying to get a feel for all of y'all and this office. I won’t be standing over your shoulder every second, but I will glance every once in a while to make sure everything is done accordingly and efficiently. I'm not a bitch, ladies and gentlemen, but I could be and none of us want those kinds of problems,” she said with a smile.

Some people looked around the table apprehensive and concerned, including Tony, so I decided to add some things. “Like I said, everyone, please know that we are all on the same page here, and this is all of our livelihoods. We stand for the people, the honest and innocent people, whether we’re here in Atlanta or Houston. If there is anyone that does not approve, or if you feel this decision is not what fits best for you, I won't stand in your way or hold you back.”

“Sir?” Curtis asked, standing. “You have been nothing but a great leader and professional, and I think I speak for all of us when I say, we’re here and we would be honored to have Brandi as our team leader.”

“Everyone agrees?” I asked, as the other seven shook their heads yes in agreement. “Great! Brandi will go over some last minute things before we get the day started. Let’s make it a great one, people!” I said, standing up and walking out, with Elijah behind me.

“You see that, bro? You see how Brandi was eye sexin’ me?” he asked, putting his left hand on my shoulder.

“First thing you are going to do when we get back to Houston is get some etiquette lessons in professionalism,” I said, smiling.

“I'm professional,” he said, adjusting his jacket.

I just continued to smile as we walked down the mahogany wood hallway, until we reached the front lobby of our business, where a young girl was standing.

“Can we help you?” Elijah asked, stopping me, before I got any closer to the girl.

“Umm… I mean, yes, I’m looking for Elijah. Are you him?” she asked, just a little too antsy for me.

“Baby girl, if you came in asking for Trey Songz, I would have said yes, I am him. Wait… How old are you?”

“Twenty-three.”

“What’s yo daddy's name?”

“Michael Hill.”

“Oh good, you know yo daddy and I ain’t him. Wooowww, I escaped that without a blood test. Girl, I thought you were going to tell me the same thing that other girl told me. Look at God! Won't he do it?”

“What do you need with Elijah?” I asked, stepping in.