Souxie Lafayette
I stood against the back of a local police car as I watched everything play out.
The stadium was nothing more than a lake with the canopy of trees sprouting above the water like an island.
Parked cars, tents, and anything around it was taken in as the black smoke slowly began to clear up.
Harvey and his brother were moving around like seasoned officers, giving out orders and making sure no one got close enough to the dangerous lake that was now a permanent fixture amongst Drew Collins grounds.
I smiled when I saw Professor Akeem who apparently was released from his holding after finding no such connection to the First Family.
He wore his UBI jacket, matching the rest of the officers and agents.
Solomon King seemed to move like a seasoned hero.
I saw where he directed sirens to go in the water and pull out as many bodies as he could before they could appear on the other side.
Just like Isis said, her mother and aunt were here, called to the scene and peacefully working side by side Solomon and his sirens without any problems. He truly was trying to make peace like she claimed.
With a blanket draped over my shoulder, and despite it being dead in the middle of the late summer, Harvey made his way over to me with his stupid glasses and smug expression.
“Are you having suicidal thoughts?” He asked. I rolled my eyes and turned my head, ignoring him. “Are you thinking about death a lot?”
“Leave me the fuck alone, Harvey. You lied to me.”
“I never lied to you about my feelings,” he said as I kept my eyes on Professor Akeem who purposely avoided looking my way. “I never lied about my attraction towards you–––”
“You lied about everything else.”
“Yes,” he nodded. “And? I was doing my job.”
I turned to look at him as he stepped closer, smelling like my favorite cologne. He gently pulled my bruised hand in his where I attempted to do my spell.
“So no, I am not a student at Drew Collins. I went to Howard University above ground, one of the few schools that feeds into the Underground universities. I am an officer of the Underground Bureau of Investigations, and I usually work out of New York most of the time. Sometimes in DC but the official office above ground is in New York. Do you have any questions for me?”
“What’s your real name?” I asked.
“Harvey Benjamin Mayes. I have no children that I know of. My attraction is the same. I enjoy men, women and the in between but you are my preference Souxie Lafayette. You have always been my preference from the moment I had you in my sheets. I have a twin brother named Cedric. I have a house, two cars, and a mother who is ready to meet you.”
“Fuck her,” I spat angrily. Harvey smirked with a lick of his lips.
I rolled my eyes again, annoyed that I didn’t see this in the beginning.
“All of those months we slept together during winter break, you and your brother were just plotting on me? You approached me on purpose–––”
“I was hired to investigate the school by Dr. Marvin T. Holmes himself,” he said as he kissed my bruised hand.
I attempted to snatch it back, but he held on tight.
“Neither of us were expecting Maggie to go missing, or Wilhelmina to die…none of this was supposed to go this way until we stumbled on a bigger case. So we stayed and saw it through. Solomon was the first to figure it out when I traced their financial problems back to him.”
“You used me,” I said, strangely sounding hurt. Harvey must have caught the tone because his brows came together, confused. “I can’t believe I’m actually in my feelings…”
“I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you,” he promised.
“I don’t want to be with you for the rest of my life,” I countered. “Why would I settle for you when I can have any man I want?”
“There won’t be a single man on this earth that will excite you, challenge you, and love you the way that I do. You know this. Any man you get with, he will have to be with me too.”
I smacked his hand away again, but he just continued to hold on to me with a smirky grin, finding all of this amusing.
“We don’t even have the same taste in men Harvey, please…”
“No we don’t. You like ones you can control,” he said as he brought my hand up to his lips to kiss my fingers.
“I prefer ones I can dominate.” He leaned in to kiss the side of my face as I closed my eyes with a sniff.
I felt like the dainty girlfriend against her hulk of a man who was overprotective of her.
“Are you okay my love? With everything? I know it was a lot to take in…”
The sincerity in his voice eased my defense as my body relaxed against his. I looked up, seeing our eyes matching like black pearls when he leaned down to kiss me on the lips.
“I don’t want anything to do with you after this night, and I’m serious,” I said with a sudden turn of my head to look away. He brushed my hair back from my face as if he was fixing me up like his own personal doll. “I’m serious this time, Harvey.”
“Uh huh…”
Harvey kissed my hand again before for a woman to come over. She wore a dark polo shirt with UBI in the corner while smelling of oils and bubblegum, the woman took one look at my hand and nodded.
“This is my wife–––”
“I’m not his wife,” I said as the woman looked at Harvey with a smile, completely ignoring me.
“Your wife? You didn’t say nothing about no wedding, boi. I should call yo mama and have her cuss you something good–––”
“She knows about her,” he said.
“I’m not his wife. I hate him and I have no plans on ever seeing him again–––”
“When is the wedding since my invite must have got’ lost,” she went on as she took my hand in hers.
Without warning, her hand began to produce a silk like web between her fingers as her eyes darkened, and split into two, having a set of four eyes before splitting again, creating six eyes blinking at once.
She began spinning her hand around mine as the silk web started to wrap my palm where the bloody wound was.
“I’m thinking of a fall wedding, somewhere close to October perhaps. It’s her favorite month,” he said as he looked at me. “I’ll let her plan it.”
“Children?” She asked as she continued to spin her web.
“As many as her body can stand.”
“That’s right…” The woman nodded. Harvey winked at me just as his name was called. When he walked off, the woman began humming cheerfully as she continued to spin her web before cutting her many eyes back at me with a sharp stare.
“I’m not his wife or girl–––”
“You would be a fool not to marry him,” she said under her breath. Her web spun around my hand, covering the wound like a spider wrapping its prey.
“He’s not good for me,” I said with my eyes on Harvey talking to other agents.
“Who are your people?” She asked as she looked at my palm that was nearly covered with the white lump of a web wrapped around my hand. “I can’t place your accent.”
Before I could respond, I heard screams and shouting as the sudden cloud of black smoke suddenly sucked back into the lake like it was being dragged into the water.
Everyone was shouting for people to move, and back up until the area settled.
The waters were dark and calm, forming a small mist over the surface that began to spread.
“They’re going to have to lock everything down until we can figure out what’s going on,” someone said from behind. “The entire Underground has to be locked down.”
The woman finished my hand and without a word, walked off to help the next person. Harvey was giving out orders when he glanced my way and blew me an air kiss. I started to say something when my phone rang deep within my bra, and I smiled when I saw the name.
“Asha–––”
“Maggie is awake! You gotta get out here!”