"What do you mean?" He says, curiously.
"I was involved in a murder case six months ago, the Aquila Greystone case. The one where his brother and other people were in question to solve it…"
Lucas then interrupts me, "But it never got solved, I believe they put the case in archives." He looks at me questioningly, "Hold up. What did you have to do with this case? There's no record of the police speaking that much to you in the first place."
A small breath of air escapes from my lips, " You see, I know a lot more than what I had let on. Aquila wanted to mostly do everything himself, he wanted Quinton to admit to his crimes. So he came up with this really big scheme."
Thinking about the rest of that night. "Kemi, listen to me good, 'cause I'm only going to say this once." I nod my head, "Now that I'm back, we're going to stick with the story that I want to pick where 'we' left off— at least that's what my brother is going to assume, that I came back, to be with you. We're going to use this to our advantage, I've made everything so that the police won't have to come knock on your door, everything will be directed towards Quinton."
"Wait," I interrupted him, "With this scheme, don't you think your brother will try to kill you?"
"I do, but it's a risk I'm willing to make. No harm can come to you, otherwise I would be upset with myself for not protecting you enough."
"You don't get it, it's not me I'm worried about it's you. The only thing Quinton would fear most is facing his sins head on, he'll kill you just for that alone— along with trying to get me back."
He places his hand on my shoulder, rubbing it in warm soothing circles, "Look, I know my brother. I know that the only thing that will be on his mind is keeping you away from me. He'll wonder if we've seen each other yet or if I want to get back with you. The last thing he's thinking about is the big picture which is getting him to admit that he was the one who killed Aimee Weiss and he was the one who mangled her face. I'm going to get him to commit to all of it."
"How?"
He looks into my eyes, "By backing him into a corner, bringing his sins to forefront, this lets him know that I mean serious business. So that he can let go of his hold on you, so that you can stand next to your true King." He says holding my hands in his, which is filled with so much warmth and love.
I look down at his hands and lift my head to see his eyes, "Aquila, just be careful. He mangled Aimee's face. I'm worried about what he might do to you."
He releases his hand from mine and lightly places his hands on either side of my face, "Kemi, I'll be safe. If anything happens to me remember you hold all the cards to smoke his ass. Use it," He cups my face with his right hand and lightly places my hand over his, moving my face more into his hand, as he continues to say, "don't forget that I'll be here with you."
I stop, moving my face against his hand. His hands are at his sides. "That's not reassuring enough for me-- what if things don't go as planned and he kills you just for telling him that you plan on trying to get back with me, in order to get him to admit to his crimes."
"Kemille, just trust me, that's all I ask and want from you." He says with his hands over mine.
Lucas, is waving his hand in my face, from side to side, "Hello! Kemi, are you there? Are you okay?"
I shake my head out of my thoughts, "Huh? What happened?"
"I don't know. You tell me? You're the one who spaced out."
"I'm sorry. I was thinking about something." I slightly shake my head and continue to say, "If there is new evidence or someone comes forward on the case can it be reopened."
"Yes-- Well actually-- I've been thinking about reopening that case, I noticed a lot of inconsistencies in the stories that were told by the people involved in the case."
I scrunched up my eyebrows, "What do you mean?"
Lucas puts up his hands while stepping away from me, "Whoa, me wanting to get to know you is not because of this case. But, if you have more information to offer then I can talk to my boss and see if we can make it official to reopen the case."
Moving my head up and down, "Okay. Thanks Lucas." I notice he puts his hands down slowly, as he lets out a breath of air. My right eyebrow raises up, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry. I just thought that you were going to assume that I only got close to you to close the case."
My right eyebrow goes down, I find myself looking into his ocean blue eyes, 'Don't be ridiculous, this is why he was here. To help me get justice for Aquila, after this I probably won't see him as much.' I think to myself. Unknowingly a small tear rolls down the right side of my cheek. He's looking at my face, "Oh, shit are you okay?" He extends his right hand to me while looking at me up and down, as if he's missed something that may have or not "Is everything okay?"
A small chuckle escapes from my lips, "No. I was just overly thinking about something in my head and-- I guess it just came out all at once."
His eyes glazed over my body, up and down, "You wanna talk about it?" a smile playing on his lips.
"Perhaps getting into that another day, thank you."
Lucas lifts his right hand and lightly places it on my chin, "That's what friends are for." He slightly rubs his thumb against my chin, "You'll tell me in due time, I won't rush you to tell me. Even though I'm extremely curious about what's been on your mind the entire day."
I move my head up and down with a slight smile on my face, it's nice to know that someone is in my corner. We continued to walk in a somewhat comfortable silence and it hit me, 'Why is Lucas, the top Prosecutor of New Jersey, talking to me? I mean really talking to me, the first time we met was in the cafe and it's been small flirtation. Can't tell if he just wants friendship or more— just ask— nothing beats a failure but a try.' I think to myself. I suck in a breath of air and it escapes from my mouth, "Lucas, why did you decide to continue talking to me? I mean clearly there's a little flirtation between us, but what do you want with me?"
"Wow, are you always this guarded?"
"No. It's just that— not to bring um, color into this but white men don't exactly immediately associate themselves with black women. I mean I've seen bi-racial relationships between whites and blacks, just never really thought I would see it for myself."
"Oh, someone likes to get straight to the point."
A small laughter escapes from my lips, "No, it's not that. It's just that I never thought about it till now and being around you till now the question didn't quite hit me to ask and or wonder why you would want to speak to me."
We approach the end of the block and we stop to face each other, "Okay, any plans this Saturday?"
Two circles form on my cheeks, "No. Why?"
"How about you and I go out for dinner and we really make it a discussion about you and I? Along with the reasons why our paths have crossed each other."
A small chuckle escapes from my mouth, "Sure." I say, nodding my head.
Lucas nods his head and begins to walk away from me, I lean forward to grab his hand, "Don't we need to exchange phone numbers. Perhaps get my address."
"Damn, that would be a nice thing to know." He extends his hand out to me, "Can you pass me your phone?"
My eyes turn into slits, "Why?"
"Um, you're more likely to call me than I am to call you. Put simply I'm extremely forgetful, my first girlfriend was two seconds from never speaking to me again because I forgot to call her, but honest to God it wasn't on purpose."
I pucker my lips into a thin straight line and my right eyebrow rises up, "Are you sure about that Mr. Spelling? I mean— you being forgetful. If a man really loves a woman he's not going to forget to call and text her period."
"But…".
Just as he is about to speak, I cut him off. "Period. Lucas. Period, you're not going to forget." I shake my head from side to side, "Was she someone that you were really interested in?"
A moment of silence emerges, between us. He then says, "Well, to be honest she wasn't exactly someone I found to be attractive. She got jealous a little too much and came off kind of stalker-ish to me."
My eyebrows furrow, "Stalker-ish? What the hell does that even mean?"
"I took the courage one day to tell her that I wasn't into her like that and she went ballistic on me. Next thing I know, it's Armageddon at school and home. I had to get a restraining order on that girl."
My right eyebrow raises, "Well you broke her heart dude. Of course she's gonna go apeshit on you."
He shakes his head from side to side, "Let me guess I've lost the battle before I can make my argument?"
"No, she was wrong too. Heartbreak doesn't mean bringing out the psycho bitch either."
Two small circles form on his face as it turns into laughter. The both of us begin to laugh on the street. As the both of us are laughing looking side to side I can feel a pair of eyes staring at my back. The feeling becomes adamant, when I stop laughing, looking around I can hear Lucas asking, "Kemi, what's wrong? What happened?"
Looking around until I turn around to face the street side I can see a red car parked across the street. Ansel, Quinton's henchman, he's tall and a dark caramel color with dark brown eyes with a hoodie on covering his brown curly hair.
"Um— Listen Lucas, why don't you and I continue this conversation a little bit more tomorrow?" I say distractedly.
Just as I'm about to go, he grabs my hand, pulling me gently towards him. I turn around to face him, "Yeah, but is everything okay? You look worried and that makes me uneasy."
"I'm sorry. But to answer your question. I'm fine, it's just that I spotted my old friend across the street and I wanted to talk to her."
His eyes become two small slits, "Are you sure? You're not lyin' to me are you?"
Taken aback, "I'm sure," Placing my hand over his, rubbing it in comforting circles, "Really, I'm going to go say hey to her and then be on my way home."
Lucas nods his head up and down, and slips a piece of paper in my hand and before walking away, "Call me, when you get home of course."
A small chuckle escapes from my lips, "Okay." Holding the piece of paper in between my index and middle fingers continuing to say, "Thank you, Lucas."