"Yeah," I nod. "Us."
"I'm glad you've come around, Bro."
I shrug and turn back to the coffee machine, busying myself to avoid getting into a conversation with Caine about feelings and shit.
"Coffee." I hear Cooper moan as he stumbles into the kitchen.
"Good. Now that you're both here. I need to discuss what Oliver and I came up with." I let the machine percolate and sit at the table. "Brody now has a bounty on his head for half a million dollars. He is to be captured by any means possible, except death."
"They want him alive obviously." Caine nods.
"Because he has a way of digging up information anywhere." Cooper chimes in.
"Exactly." I nod. "We know his loyalty lies with us three right here, but would that extend to Oliver? Or Kailey?"
"And Kailey is Oliver's weak point." Caine surmises. "They would have a way to rope him back in as the Teacher."
"That's what I'm thinking." I nod. "Why would they just let their very best assassin leave the organization? It doesn't matter who signed that contract, they will find a way to make it still valid."
"We need to find Brody first." Caine growls. "Where the fuck would the prick go?"
"I have searched every Landry property that I know of. There hasn't been any recent movement. He didn't take a vehicle and he has yet to withdraw money or use a credit card."
"What about surveillance activity around town?" Cooper interjects.
"It's harder to catch facial recognition than it is to find a vehicle. I've tried but the scanners have picked up only potential matches, some could be but it's hard to tell." I shrug.
"Do you think he would try and reach out to Kailey? Or maybe he's still planning something against Oliver?" Caine suggests.
"I don't know about reaching out to Kailey. I would assume him leaving her alone, deems her useless to him, and I think him taking out Kennedy Ballon was his attempt to stop the assassination." I tell them.
"I don't know if it was about him stopping the assassination," Caine rubs his chin. "More of him making a statement if you ask me."
"I agree." Cooper adds. "He knows Ballon has four sons. They would obviously carry on his wishes."
"What the fuck is he doing?" Caine mutters.
That's what I would like to know. Where the fuck is Brody?
The leaves sway in the breeze above my head and the air is holding a slight chill tonight. Sleeping outside, feeling the life around me, and becoming one with my inner peace has been motherfucking torture. Every fucking chirp of a bird, buzz of an insect, and the shuffle of a person's feet on the pavement makes me want to slice open throats.
I have no choice, I have to be here to make sure she's safe, and I have to keep an eye on who may be coming around here at odd hours of the day or night. If anyone is killing Kailey-Himari, it's me.
The petals begin to shake and some break away from the vine to slowly float down around my head and body. I remember when this tree was planted and the day is still vivid in my mind. Sara was sick with a cold and both Kailey and I were watching TV with her. Charles came into the family room and asked her to join him in the backyard. At first, she declined, saying she was really feeling under the weather but he somehow convinced her and we all followed behind him.
I remember thinking the so-called tree looked more like a twig sticking out of the ground and the little purple flowers were sparse, but Sara began to cry with joy. She explained to Kailey and me that she had one very similar in Japan and that it grew to be big and beautiful. I didn't believe her then but looking at it now, I wish she could see her prophecy come true.
I tried to stay in the shadows, blend in and keep an eye on Kailey, but then I watched her coming out of the backdoor of that restaurant and I just had to talk to her, hear her voice. I've become slightly obsessed and my need to be near her is too strong to deny now. With that need comes the desire to claim her and kill her in equal parts. My mind becomes foggy with images of her sucking my dick and then morphs into ones of me strangling her to death.
The floor of this gazebo is hard but this is the perfect place to hide in plain sight and if Kailey had at least two brain cells in her fucking head, she would've figured it out by now. I gave her a fucking box of these petals for fucksakes. It doesn't matter whether she finds me or not, I've just disrupted the delicate truce and New Orleans is about to be spun on its head. Well, the underbelly of it.
By now, I'm sure Zeke has tried every trick he has to find me. Cell phone trace, credit card trail, face recognition, and tracking my car, but I know how to avoid that. Then there's the Teacher, he's back home now and I can see he's also trying to lay low, thinking the death of his father releases their hold on him. But it's fucking laughable how stupid that is. I need him to stay away from Kailey and so far he's done that.
I just need to hold out here for a few more days and then everything I have planned will be done. It won’t be easy and there will be sacrifice, but the end will be worth it.
I am in some kind of funk that I can’t seem to shake. I’m tired, like bone deep exhausted, I don’t sleep well, and food just isn’t appealing. I have yet to be intimate with any of my boyfriends and even kissing them has become weird. Am I that far gone because of Brody? He punched a hole through my chest, ripped out my heart and fucking tore it to shreds, but I think he might own every single frayed piece.
Or maybe he damaged me beyond repair and now my sick little soul craves the depravity. Regardless of what it is, I find myself thinking about him constantly, wondering about every what if there is, and feeling complete and utter despair for the four other men in my life. The men that have treated me like the most precious thing in their lives, the men that protect me, and the ones that return the love without restraint.
What is wrong with me? The stress and constant questioning my feelings have disrupted my life. I need a resolution and I need it soon.
Brody came by the restaurant, does that mean he’s watching me somehow? Is he trailing my whereabouts? I need to talk to him again because I need to hear him say how much he doesn’t love me. I need him to stomp all those small, frayed pieces of my heart into dust, just like those petals.
Just like those petals… the petals! I run upstairs to Mama and Papa’s bedroom and press my body against the glass door, trying to see through the vines into the gazebo. Could he be in there? Would he really continue to come back every day? There’s really only one way to find out and yet I can’t seem to force my feet to move. Even though I need him to break me further, doesn't mean I want him to.
The breeze is blowing through the vines this evening and I am standing here just waiting to get a glimpse inside. The landscaper came by today and when he saw the state of the tree, he promised to be back tomorrow with the proper equipment and the men. So for now, the unruly branches taunt me with their complete coverage.
I need to go see.