As Lucas turns around and walks back to his car, I turn around facing the street side and I walk to the red sports car across the street saying, "You know Ansel between you and Quinton I believe this is a form of stalking."
"Well, with that little bit of information you dropped on Quinton about telling Snowflake about six months ago," I can see his eyes trail over my body and his eyes find their way to my eyes, "we're going to make sure that you don't spill the beans to the Prosecutor."
"Mmhmm, so the both of you are threatening me?"
"Oh, come on don't take it as a threat; take more like us trying to keep you quiet as opposed to us forcing you to be quiet."
"Well, how about you take that schtick and shove it up to your butt, the both of you. First off, dirtbag if you do this whole detective scheming thing you guys got going on it's not cool."
"Yeah," he turns the key to turn the car on and continues to say, "We're just making sure that you don't run your mouth about things you shouldn't talk about."
A small sigh escapes from my lips, "Well nothing is happening so are you gonna go?"
A small chuckle escapes from his mouth, "Depends, are you going to open that pretty little mouth of yours?"
"No. Do you see Lucas anywhere here?"
Ansel's eyes turn into small slits, "No. But just remember that we're watching you." he places his hand on the steering wheel and begins to drive off. Leaving me to stand in the street, I turn around to come face to face with traffic in the street.
"How's my best girlfriend?" I said coming in through the front door.
"Oh, you're home. Damn girl, what took you so long?" She said looking up from off the stove to look at me as I walk through the door of my bedroom to change my clothes. Coming out of my room wearing my sloth onesie saying, "Yeah, I just had to go take a walk around the neighborhood to clear my mind."
Fei's eyebrow quirks up, "Okay, what's the problem? You only clear your head when some bullshit has happened."
A small chuckle escapes from my lips, "Ansel, Quinton's guard dog, decided to pay me a visit."
"Okay, what did he say to you?"
"He told me that, if I tell Lucas everything, he was going to kill him. Which means more bloodshed on my hands because of the unraveling war between the cops and Quinton." A small sigh escapes from my mouth. I walk into my room, flick on the light and begin to change my clothes. Fei follows in after me saying, "So after your walk, what did you decide to do?"
"I'm going to get hurt no matter what I choose. If I don't, Aquila will weigh on my mind and if I do, Lucas might end up in a body bag. Either way, I'll feel bad no matter the decision." I put on my tee-shirt and she places her hand on the middle of my back drawing soothing circles on me.
"It hasn't been easy for you these last couple of days." I turn around to face Fei and I hug her. She stops drawing circles on my back and wraps her arms around me saying, "It's gonna be okay because you guys are gonna crush that bastard before he ever gets the chance to fuck with you again. Three times a charm right?"
A small chuckle escapes from my lips, "Words I needed to hear. Thank you Fei for always being a dear friend of mine." We separate from each other and she rubs my arm up and down, "Anytime and whatever you may decide to choose today, I will not force your hand at all. Okay?"
I nod my head, "Okay." I sniff the air in my room, "Hey, Fei I think the food you were cooking is burning on the stove."
A gasp escapes from her, "Trying to comfort a friend and the food gets burned up on the stove." She says while running out of my room to save the food.
I walk out of my room calmly to see Fei all flustered trying to cook dinner for the both of us. Walking over to the couch and sitting on the far end of the couch, she turns to me with the spoon in the air saying, "Wanna do take out?"
"I take it that the food got burnt. Sure, let's take it out," I say while taking out my phone. "Is Vietnamese food okay?"
She scrunches up her eyebrows, "You can get that around here?"
I nod my head, "Yeah, with DoorDash or Uber eats."
Fei nods her head, "Mhmm, I just learned something new." She takes her spot on the long end of the sofa, grabs the remote in the process, and puts on the Korean drama, "@User Not Found."
While watching "@User Not Found", a thought came to me "What Aquila gave me was more than a smoking gun to catch Quinton."
"What?" Fei says with an eyebrow quirked up.
"I've realized that this entire time I've been so focused on my guilt for what happened six months ago— I forgot that Aquila knew he was walking into a dangerous situation and what I'm doing is the right thing no matter what." She presses pause on the show and says, "Kemille, he more than wanted you to do this but to live happily without guilt but for the most part he didn't want you to let his death be in vain."
A small chuckle escapes from my mouth, "Thank you, Fei."
"It's what I'm here for, besties for life." She winks at me with her thumb up, the living room lights up with laughter.
I wake up and somehow I'm laying down on a bed, although I'm sure that I was asleep on the couch in my living room with Fei. "Hey, Fei where the hell are you?"
"I see," a familiar smooth male voice says from outside the bedroom. A gasp escapes from my throat, I quickly try to take in the room to figure out who's the bedroom I'm in. The smell was familiar but the smell is impossible because this person is dead; a sudden knock at the doorpost is standing in front of me with that lopsided smile. "You're finally awake." he continues to say as he walks closer to me with a tray filled with food. When Aquila walks up to me and places the tray on the bed beside me, he lightly places his lips on my bottom lip and presses my lips to his. He bends down in front of me and lightly places my hands on either side of his handsome face, "Aquila I thought that you were dead."
"I am, but if our spirit, mind, heart, and soul are aligned I can manifest myself into your dreams."
"So, you're a manifestation—- like from my memories?"
A small chuckle escapes from his lips, "Something like that. But listen to me Kemi, I'm happy that you're going to that DA Lucas. If there's anything that I want for you and that would be happiness— more than that I want you to give him a chance— if there's something between you two."
"You come in and kiss me and then tell me to be with another man, Aquila what's goin' on with you?"
A small chuckle escapes from his lips again, "I want you to officially let me go, I am deadman and I don't want you to hold yourself back for me. Lucas is better than Quinton, I'm sure you know that already but," he reaches his hand to my face rubbing small circles with his thumb, "I hope that you can move on from me so that you can be happy, okay?"
Placing my hand over his, "Aquila what we had was something that a person can't just throw under the table just like that. Even then we finished too soon to just let things be."
"That may be true but we can't be together because I'm dead and I want you to move on from me." He stands up from off the floor as he looks at me in my eye— soft eyes. I never realized this but his hands where he touched my cheek were cold as ice. He came to visit me to let me know that he wants me to move on and to let me know he's proud of me. "Thank you, Aquila, for telling me this. I needed to hear it."
He smiles his lopsided smile and he slowly vanishes into the light.
Authors Note:
I want to thank my readers who continue to read my story. I also enjoy the support it keeps me continuing to write the story and coming up with good drama for you to enjoy! I hope that you'll continue to enjoy "Stepping Forward" your support is always greatly appreciated!
Thank you!