by Edwina Fort
But now, I wonder had the esteem and the recognition Naphtali received always bothered him, or was this a new development. I never paid attention to his response to all the praise in high school, I just assumed he basked in it, because, well… who doesn’t want to be loved by everyone?
Finally, Mr. Kline finished his introduction and told the kids to give a round of applause for Naphtali Pelletier. Of course, only about five kids actually clapped.
Tucker stepped to the podium and for a moment, he just sneered at the audience, but his frown grew when he saw Jackson and Ashur. When his angry gaze settled on me, I smiled and gave him two thumbs up.
“You can do this…” I mouthed, nearly breaking my jaw to keep my smile from turning into a chuckle.
He exhaled long and loud in the mic as he uncrumpled the speech I'd written for him. It was clear he did not want to be up there on that stage. Jackson held his phone up and pressed record.
“My name is Naphtali Tucker Pelletier and I’m an officer of the law.” His irritated gaze shot to me for a moment as he let me know without saying a word how corny he thought that sounded.
I did grin then. If he thought that was corny, he hadn’t seen anything yet.
"On the streets, I'm known as Mean Tucker because I—" He paused, and it took all I had not to burst. When his pleading eyes came to me, I gave him the signal to continue.
The muscle was back to ticking in his chin as he trudged on. “Because I’m mean when it comes to the war on drugs.” All that he said like a little boy who was being forced to apologize to someone he didn’t want to.
“Just like the birds soar high in the sky and the bees and butterflies buzz in the flowers, each of you are beautiful in your own unique—” his words faltered again.
Jackson’s shoulders were shaking next to me from where he silently laughed…
“Man, sit yo’ corny ass down!” someone yelled from the back before the auditorium burst out laughing. Tucker’s gaze shot up to search out the culprit.
Mr. Kline, who still stood off to the side of Tucker, stepped back to the podium.
“Excuse me! We will not have that kind of disrespect. Officer Pelletier was nice enough to come and speak with us today. Let’s show him how much we appreciate him by sitting quietly and listening to what he has to say.”
When that managed to gain a little more control over the room, Mr. Kline stepped back so that Tucker could continue.
Again, Naphtali exhaled loudly in the mic before he began speaking.
“In this war against drugs, I would like for you guys to get mean like me. The next time someone try and pressure you into doing drugs, you should tell them no, and do something else instead.” He frowned as he continued to read. “Like…paint a pretty picture, adopt a kitty cat…or write a poem?”
His gaze shot to mine. “What the hell, Free?”
But it was too late, the damage had been done, the auditorium was once again in an uproar.
“Get off the stage, clown!” the same culprit yelled, causing everybody to laugh again.
“Adopt these nuts!” someone else called, causing the crowd to go into another round of laughter.
“Sit yo’ ass down, Officer Smiley!” the taunts continued. Mr. Kline made to step to the mic again to try and bring order to the room, but Tucker’s arm shot out stopping him.
“Naw, I got it this time. Hey!” he growled, pointing toward the direction the taunts came from. “Let me reintroduce myself because I think you little sh*ts misunderstood.”
Mr. Kline’s mouth dropped. He began to tell Tucker something, maybe that he couldn’t curse at the students, but Tucker’s angry gaze settled on him and he decided against it.
Good decision, bro.
Oh my goodness, guys! I was in so much trouble. Tucker was pissed. This may have been a bad idea.
Oh crap!
“My name is Officer Will-F*ck-A-Kid-Up!” That brought the room to complete silence as hundreds of red lights from cell phones appeared in the darkness.
“Oh no!” I cried, using my hands to cover my face. My career was over. It was all over.
“Didn’t think this one through huh, doc?” Jackson muttered as he too continued to record.
Tucker balled up the speech I’d written for him and tossed it in my general direction.
“Let me get real with you,” he growled, looking angrier than I’d seen him in a long time.
Dear God! I am so sorry…I didn’t think this through at all. Lack of sleep could be the culprit. But Heavenly Father, if you’re listening, please don’t let Tucker’s other personality come out and harm one of these children!
“Nobody is rooting for you! Nobody wants to see you succeed! The system is set up so that you can fail. You are seen as a cancer. Is it because there is something wrong with you? Is it because you have nothing to offer to society?” He shook his head as it seemed as if he made eye contact with each youth there.
“No… it’s because your potential scares the sh*t out of the powers that be. Your young minds are continually fed negative images of yourselves. It’s in the movies, in the music, on your televisions. You’re being bombarded with what they want you to be. Well, guess what.” He sneered. “It’s a trap. And most of you are falling headfirst into it. But I tell you from personal experience that you have the potential to fight it.” He paused for a moment. “IT…CAN…BE…FOUGHT!”
He shook his head again as he gazed off toward the back of the room, his mind going somewhere that only he could see.
“But it won’t be easy… Fighting what you’ve been programmed to be will be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. It’s a lot of pressure. But you have to ask yourself, what is God trying to produce in us, that he would allow the kind of pressure that would crush others to rest on our shoulders?”
“What is your destiny?” His gaze roamed the audience before it settled on the funny guy that did all the yelling. “What is your destiny?”
He had the kid’s attention. The look in his eyes reflected the one in Tucker’s. They’d bonded on a level that I’d never understand. He’d managed to get through to them.
The kid shook his head. “I don’t know…”
Tucker shrugged. “It’s clear. Extreme pressure either crushes and you crumble, or you use your God-given strength and come out a diamond. And that, young people…is what they fear. They fear a world full of diamonds. Embrace the fact that life doesn’t come easy to you. Embrace the fact that you’re being molded to be a diamond rather than a noodle. And then go forth and shine bright like you were always meant to do. I’m out…” And with that, he turned and walked past a stunned Mr. Kline off the stage and out of the auditorium.
Yep! I felt like a piece of garbage. Absolutely! Jumping to my feet, I hurried after him. But on my way, I observed a miracle. The kid that had thrown most of the jokes at Tucker was the first to come to his feet and applaud. The rest of the children followed…the roar from their cheers nearly brought down the walls.
“Tucker!” I called as I ran out of the school. He was heading toward his truck. “Tucker, wait!”
He stopped but didn’t turn around. I walked around him until I was standing in front of him, blocking his way to his truck.
“I’m sorry.” I felt so bad I couldn’t make eye contact with him, so I just stared at his chest.
“Sorry for what, Free?” The fact that he didn’t yell that at me only made me feel worse. I looked down at my nails as I picked imaginary dirt from them.
“I may have done that on purpose.”
“Done what? Write that bullsh*t ass speech?” I nodded, still looking down at my fingers. God, I felt like crap.
“Why?”
“Ummm… I— payback,” I whispered. “In trying to seek revenge for you bullying me, I lost my way and became the exact thing I was punishing you for being. I became the bully.”
For a minute, neither of us said anything, and then he slowly closed the distance between us. I was a little
afraid, but I stood my ground. I deserved whatever he does…what I did in there was horrible.
I’d been so focused on getting revenge on him that I’d not thought about the children. The speech I’d written for Tucker’s embarrassment was in no way meant to benefit them. Principal Kline had given me the opportunity to have access to their minds for just a moment to instill an important message and I’d blown it. Thank God Tucker had enough sense to throw away that stupid paper and utilize that moment.
Tears burned the back of my eyes. How could I have been so careless with their lives? He put his finger underneath my chin and gently lifted it so that our gazes touched. Slowly he lowered his head and kissed me softly.
“It’s okay… I had it coming.”
I wrapped my hand around his squeezing it. “But what about the children? They didn’t deserve that. How could I have been so careless with their lives?”
He grinned. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Something about me brings out the worst in you.”
I blinked up at him before I erupted in laughter. "You know what? That is so true.”
He lifted his other hand and brought it to my hair. "But I'd like to think there is something about me that brings out the best in you as well."
My gaze fell to his lips and that was all the urging he needed. This time when he kissed me, there was nothing sweet about it. It was the dominating kiss of his that always rendered me useless. And when he deepened it, I groaned, knowing that I’d lost this round and tonight I was his.
One more taste of the Naphtali drug shouldn’t harm me…
Chapter 10
Feeding Her Soul
Love Takes Off the Mask That We Fear We Can Not Live Without, And Know That We Can Not Live Within…
--James Baldwin
Free
It had all been a lie!
All of it!
The kind, caring, considerate Tucker had all been a lie! He was still very much the bastard I remembered from high school. And the Beautiful Ones were still the mean, shallow, spoiled rich brats they’ve always been. And now I was stuck here in a mansion in Toronto, Canada in the middle of nowhere with the whole group of them.
And Tucker… well, Tucker was still their king.
The server that had given me my last three glasses of wine, came my way with more on his golden tray. He was the only one here at this party that was keeping me from freaking out. Anytime my glass got low, he managed to be here to hand me a refill of my liquid courage.
I don’t know how he was able to see so well with the lights not only dimmed but tinted red. God knows I was struggling. Unfortunately, I’d decided to wear my contacts that had a lower prescription than my glasses due to the fact that I had a slight astigmatism in my right eye. In normal light, they worked just fine, but in this tint, I was all but blind.
“Thank you,” I muttered, taking the glass of wine the server offered before handing him my empty one.
“You’re welcome, ma’am.”
Tears burned the back of my eyes when he muttered those words. Such simple words…yet they were the kindest ones I’ve heard all evening. I felt so out of place here. These weren’t my kind of people. I felt like I was in a room full of vampires…and Tucker was the head vampire.
Needing to find a way home, I took my phone out of my purse and moaned when I saw I still had no signal. I wasn’t joking when I said this mansion was in the middle of nowhere. Everybody that’s here got flown in by helicopters. The massive lawn was littered with them. Apparently, this is how the filthy rich partied.
Honestly, I didn’t know what good it was going to do if I had a working phone. It wasn’t like I could call an Uber or for Oaklee and Rachel to come pick me up or anything like that. No… I was completely at the mercy of that bastard bully. It was his family’s helicopter he and I had flown here on. And I doubted real seriously if I would be able to catch a ride with any of the other Beautiful Ones. Thanks to the fact that their king was upset with me, and Layla and Laureen were upset with me, they had all decided to ostracize me.
Yeah, that’s right…Layla and Laureen were here too. The b*tches!
I felt like I was back in high school. But instead of hiding behind the bleachers, I was hiding in the corner of the huge ballroom like the wallflower that I’ve always been, where no one paid attention to me except for that really nice server who kept me supplied with liquid courage.
I swallowed a mouth full of wine. If I could just get drunk enough, I will tell all these bastards to kiss my ass and walk back to town if I had to. My gaze settled on Tucker across the room, he still sat where I left him in the V.I.P area, and although I couldn’t make out his facial features, I could feel him watching me with his angry gaze. Layla was now glued to his side, flirting shamelessly with him.
I downed the rest of my wine, ready for something stronger. Don’t get me wrong. He wasn’t flirting back with her, but he wasn’t stopping her from flirting with him. In my book, he might as well be doing the deed.
God! I don’t even know what I did to make him so upset…
Maybe you guys can help me figure it out. First, let me get a stronger drink and then I will fill you in on what happened.
Sticking to the shadows, I made my way to the bar and eased into one of the chairs at the very end. After doing a quick scan of the room to make sure Dillion wasn’t trying to corner me again, I ordered a Margarita with an extra shot of tequila.
Yeah, I know… Dillion is here too. It’s madness! I felt like I was in the freaking Twilight Zone. But before I tell you what happened with him, I must start with yesterday morning.
Yesterday Morning
"No…Don't go," Tucker grumbled in his sleep, drawing me deeper into the circle of his arms. Only then did his breathing even out as deep sleep reclaimed him.
Well, okay… I guess I was spending the night since he’d just foiled my plans of easing out of his bed. I tried to test his hold again by moving back just a bit, but his arms only tightened, pulling me even closer.
Exhaling, I gave up and relaxed. I was so doomed. I am afraid I was in real danger of falling in love with this man. He was like a flower unfolding before my eyes, and each layer of him revealed is more beautiful than the one before.
Hearing him speak to the children today forever changed me. It was a harsh speech, but it was one that they would remember for the rest of their lives. Today, he shared a part of himself with them. When he spoke about fighting what you’ve been programmed to be, there was real pain behind those words.
And now I wondered what had happened to him. What was really going on with his other personality? Even in high school, I understood that he suffered from a genuine case of multiple personality disorder. But how bad was it?
The things I saw him do in school reminds me so much of what I’ve been reading in my grandmother’s journals. I read briefly about the experiments her boss, Dr. Baxter Silva was doing on two soldiers, Sergeant Major James Bennet Law and Sergeant Major Albert Gaines, causing their minds to split in two. One frame of mind was that of a normal civilian, and the other a stone-cold killer. But I didn’t get too far into her notes on that, because I stumbled upon her research on Daisy, and for some reason, have become completely consumed by it.
I don’t know what it is about that case, but it calls out to me. The other day, I went to the store and bought a bag and a few supplies that I now keep in my car. In today’s time, it’s called a bugout bag. I don’t know what they called them in Daisy’s day. I know the fact that I’d gone out and bought a bag sounds crazy to some of you guys, but it was something about Daisy's need to be prepared that resonated with me. Something about that action jogs the memory of my own childhood.
I vaguely remember my mother keeping two bags in her bedroom closet. One for me and one for her, she’d said. But I was so young that I can’t remember what the bags were for. And eventually, they got pushed so far to the back of the closet they were easily forgotten.
“Mmmmm, Doc. What
are you thinking about? You’re all tense again,” Tucker muttered before he gently kissed my neck.
I smiled; how did he know how I felt? The man had just been fast asleep. In fact, he was still asleep. Gently, I ran my fingers through the soft curls of his low-cut fade, trying to lure him into a deeper rest. But it must have had the opposite effect because his innocent sleepy kisses on my neck turned hungry.
He shifted a bit, causing his very awake member to brush against my center that was still sensitive from our last lovemaking session that was just a few hours ago. A moan escaped my lips as my eyes drifted shut. Even half-asleep, Tucker had the power to cause my well-sated body to reignite for him instantly.
Clutching him, I gasped when I felt him enter me…stretching me. Oh God! I should stop him; he was half asleep and didn’t think about protection, and I hadn’t taken my birth control pills since Dillion left.
But…Mmmmm… It felt so good.
“You feel so good, Free. So wet…so hot. The best… I only want you, forever baby,” he whispered in my ear before taking my lips in a kiss that wiped out all the resistance I even thought of having.
I don’t know if it was because I was so sensitive or the sleepy words he’d muttered, but I didn’t last long before my back arched off the bed and my nails dug into his muscled deltoids as my world shattered into a million pieces, only to be prolonged and intensified by the feel of his warm seed filling me.
He lay his head on my breasts and was back fast asleep almost instantly. I picked up rubbing my fingers threw his soft hair, massaging his scalp. And my last thought before I joined him in the blessed abyss was, I wonder if he was even aware that we’d just had unprotected sex. And what the world did he mean by, he only wanted to be with me…forever?
“A friend of mine is having a party at his place in Toronto this weekend. Come with me…”
My gaze connected with his through his dresser mirror. I stood in front of it moisturizing my skin with his lotion after enjoying a nice long hot shower that he’d invaded and made love to me yet again against the stone of the shower wall.