AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When the concierge called he said that he could get me booked on a flight to Trinidad that was leaving at seven fifteen. I told him to book it and then he told me that I would have to lay over there for the night and leave at six in the morning.
“Book it anyway,” I said and hung up, thinking that I could call Fe and tell her to come pick me up and I would catch a flight to New York later that day, but I had to get off that island, now.
Well, Fe picked me up, but I didn’t catch a flight to New York later that day. I ended up staying there with her for three days before I caught a flight to Oranjestad, Aruba. While I was in Nassau with Felicia, she told me about her grandmother that lives in Cas Ariba. It’s a village in the hinterland of the island, as she called it, that she hadn’t seen since she was seven. Felicia met me there and we stayed there for four days before she flew back to Nassau and I went home.
On the way, I had a lot of time to think and I had a lot to think about. I had been gone a long time, a lot longer than I had planned. I thought I’d stay in Nassau for a week and come back. But I had been gone for almost two months. I think that a large part of that is because of Felicia and Cortisha, but it’s more than that. I learned a lot about myself and who I am. And I learned some of it from them.
Talking with Cortisha allowed me to explore thoughts, concepts and ideas through her sexy conversation that expanded my mind. And I liked that; I like a smart woman.
Which leads me to, quiet, shy, Felicia.
She didn’t talk anywhere near as much as Cortisha, but Felicia looked right through me. Cortisha didn’t see me at all. Had she, I have no doubt that she would have gone and spoiled it all by saying something stupid like, “I know you’re in pain, let’s talk about it.”
But not Felicia.
She saw the pain that I thought I was doing a good job of hiding, and even though she seemed to understand and even had insight into where my head was, she allowed me the space to work through it.
Or maybe it was just that any talk about my feelings would have cut into her fucking time, and trust me, Felicia Brown took fucking time very seriously.
I learned a few other things about myself. I learned that I love the beach, I love the ocean. I love women in bikinis … but who doesn’t. I learned that I loved to travel and go new places and explore the culture.
I learned that there are times when my facial expression and mannerisms gave me away, and that can’t happen. I figured if Felicia could do it, she wouldn’t be the only one, so that was something that I had to work on.
I can no longer be prone to fits of rage and anger. I had to be smart. I had to be the source of fuckin’ wisdom, not the cause of the chaos. I was the boss of my own small, but growing family. There were people that I was responsible to and for, so I couldn’t let my anger influence my judgment any more.
I thought about something Don Corleone said in The Godfather. It was something that I needed to embra
ce. He said, ‘I spent my whole life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless. But not men.’
I had been careless.
What I had done because I was mad about killing Vickie, not to mention killing Silky for no other reason than that I wanted to and he fuckin’ deserved it, was reckless and careless and brought this mutha fucka Kirk into my world and more importantly, I had brought him into Andre’s world.
Careless, reckless and stupid, so it had to stop.
I needed to be like the ocean. The perfect blend of strength, power and calm. A quiet, peaceful man, but have the potential to be destructive as fuck.
That’s the new Mike Black.
Now, I really had been gone a long time. Even though I talked to Bobby and Wanda, I got the feeling that they both thought that I was where I needed to be and told me whatever they thought they needed to, to keep me from running back up there.
But I was back now, and I planned on getting up to speed as soon as Bobby started the car. But much to my surprise, when I got to baggage claim, it wasn’t Bobby or Wanda that was there to pick me up, it was Michaella.
“Surprised to see me?” she asked after she kissed me.
“Yes. But I shouldn’t be, should I?”
“No, you know that I missed you and I wanted to see you, so I begged Bobby to let me come pick you up.” Michaella laughed. “He said that him and Wanda had important business to talk to you about, but I said that he should at least let you get settled and enjoy me and a good night’s sleep before the two of them bombarded you with business.”
I laughed. “What did he say to that?”
“He said that he couldn’t argue with my logic.”
“I can’t either.” I put my arms around Michaella and kissed her forehead.
“So here I am with his blessing,” Michaella said.
“It’s good to see you.”
