Page 59 of Aug
Silence echoed in the distance. I had nothing to say, but I was all ears.
“My condolences. I’ve been where you are.”
“Yeah?”
“Three times.”
“Three?”
“My mother took her husband’s life. Then hers. I was a boy. A teen, but a boy, nonetheless. Years ago, cancer ripped my father away from me.”
“Cold fucking blooded.”
“It’s life. It fails us. Fucks us. And then gives us a funeral.”
“Have I done my job?”
“Very well. That’s why I’m here.”
“I’m listening.”
“Will this relationship affect your employment?”
“It won’t.”
“If I were ever in a situation where I had to choose between saving my wife and my sister… I would save my wife, August.”
“I haven’t made it to that point yet.”
“And when you do?”
“I won’t turn in my resignation.”
“Why not?”
“Because I will die trying to save them both.”
Chuckling,The Chemistkissed the skin of his teeth.
“Save them both?”
“Balle saved me when she accepted me as her guard. I failed to save her. I owe her one. Tiana– Tiana is saving me from drowning as we speak. She deserves it.”
I felt his hand on my shoulder.
“That’s the response I was expecting. Please know that there will never be a situation where I don’t save them both, either. I just needed to know you’d do the same.”
I didn’t get another word out before he was out of the SUV and in the wind. With a smile on my face, I shook my head and switched gears. I had a place to be, and if I didn’t get a move on, I would be late. Tardiness wasn’t an option. Not for me and not for the person I was headed to see.
Silently, I chased my destination, running through the Clarke streets. I entered the parking garage twenty minutes after my journey started. I stalked the lobby for the suite number and then took the elevator to the twelfth floor after my discovery.
Tap.
Tap.
I knocked on the wooden door, unsure if I was supposed to enter or wait in the hallway. A familiar face opened.
“August–”
