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Dear Essa,
You’re probably in your new house now. I hope you like it. You deserve it. I feel like Pete would be proud to leave it for you. Wish I’d known him better, but if I were your daddy, I’d feel honored to give it to you.
They say I’m getting out in a couple of weeks. Can’t believe seven years have gone by. It feels so long, but you made the last five go faster. You have no idea how much you’ve helped me deal with life behind these bars. When I started writing, I was trying to help you. I guess friends help each other.
I’ll open my old Facebook account as soon as I’m out of here. Do they still have that messenger service on there so I can contact you? If so, that’s what I’ll do. Or I’ll write to your new address if I can’t. I’ll try to get a cell phone, but I'll just write if you feel uncomfortable with that. You need to get to college and not worry about an ex-felon.
I know you’re going to say I am too old and don’t know stuff, but please listen to me. I’ve tried to tell you it’s not worth it. I know you’re struggling with money. When I get out, I will help you all I can. I’ll be working for my brother and will have an income. I’ll send you some money as I get it. So you won’t need to worry. I know Pete would want me to take care of you.
Please don’t sell your virginity on that website. Essa, you are exceptional. You deserve someone to make that event special, not treat you like a product. You’re probably still mad at me because I told you I was too old for you, but please don’t sell yourself to someone else because of that. I care about you.
Think about what I said and at least wait for me before deciding. Hopefully, the next communication we have will be through Facebook or text. Take care. I’m here for you for anything.
Your Eli
ChapterTwo
ELI
Bright red blood crawled toward my hand. Everything in my mind screamed for me to run from its ooze. My legs were leaden, my arms stiff. The lids covering my eyes wouldn’t stay open, causing the scene before me to flash like a moving picture show. Crawling on my elbows, I squirmed, trying to flee. Before I could get away, the body lying next to me clasped my leg in a death grip.
Jolting awake in bed, I sucked in a large breath. The alarm hadn’t sounded yet. Maybe my nightmares would end now that it was my release day. Dressing in street clothes my brother brought me, I attempted to escape the memories of the horror left over from another fitful night. Relief caused my shoulders to ease some of their tension. Tonight, I’d be sleeping in another bed for the first time in seven years. I wondered how long it would take me to feel peace again or if I ever would.
A guard came to my cell and guided me through processing. With final instructions, another officer handed me back what I’d had in my possession when they brought me in, minus the grave dust and my gun. The plastic bag contained my old wallet with two one-dollar bills, keys to a vehicle I no longer owned, and a cell phone that was seven years out of date and wouldn’t power on.
When I walked out of the prison gate, my older brother popped out of a black Dodge Charger. I wondered if Adon had tweaked the engine for him. Before I could inspect it further, Rhodes grabbed me in a tight embrace. Once we parted, I gripped the bridge of my nose to stop any tears from forming. It was too late. I felt relieved to see Rhodes had some water in his eyes, too.
“Good to see you, baby brother.” I could only nod in response. Even crying was something I thought I’d lost in that place. Maybe being on the outside, I would become an overly emotional basket case. “You hungry?”
“Starved.”
Rhodes drove us to a fast-food restaurant, which was an odd experience; it didn’t seem real. It was something so mundane I had forgotten what it was like. The trip made me feel normal again, if only for a moment. All I wanted was one of those crappy hamburgers. It was the best meal I’d eaten in a long time.
“I traded my shift, so I’ll be with you tonight. I think you’ll like it, the basement, I mean. It’s furnished. You’ll have to get yourself some new clothes, though. You’re a lot bigger than me now, baby brother.”
He was right. On the inside, any time I wasn’t reading, writing letters, or trying to sneak information from contraband phones, I was in the prison gym. My body had changed a lot since I went in a tweaker at twenty-four. I was now a mass of muscles, with tattoos covering every inch, including a few on my face.
“How is the hospital?”
Rhodes’s dark brown hair had grown out since I’d last seen him. As he shook his head, the little curls at the base of his neck waved. “Sucks. Thinking of going for my advanced nursing degree, maybe practicing on my own. Dermatology or something where I don’t get spit on or hit every day.”
“That sounds like a good plan for you.” Rhodes always deserved more than he allowed himself.
We passed an old liquor store, which made my thoughts crash into visions of wasted nights and seedy happenings. Rhodes’s chocolate-brown eyes scanned over me. “Davis is clean now. He’s got a bar up on eighty-first. ‘The Armstead Brewery.’ Something about history in the name. I’ve hung out with him there.”
My jaw clenched. “Huh. Good for him. Guess it’s kept him too busy to visit me.”
“I think he’s wanted to see you.” He quickly filled in, “Ward works for him.”
“How is Dix? He’s bartending?” At least Howard Dixson had visited and even written to me. Not often, but enough. My supposed best friend, Johnny Davis, dipped off the face of the earth when I got sent away.
“He’s good. I think he’s waiting for you to show up tonight, but I told him Adon would have you busy for a few days. And with moving in with me and getting settled.”
We pulled up to Griffin Motors, my oldest brother’s shop. When I left, Adonis was just an employee of the previous owner. Now that he’d bought the place, our family name stood in large red letters above the garage bays. Marveling at the sign, a feeling of pride passed through me. Adon always had a plan; he’d taken good care of us.
Spotting a redheaded, bearded guy in a red pickle suit, my heart skipped a beat. “Tate’s here?” Jumping out of the car, my brother’s closest childhood friend ran to me and gathered me in his arms.
“Bro! It is so good to see you,” he said, his green eyes crinkling with his smile. We’d never hugged until now. It was like I was returning from the dead.
