Rogue (In the life of the Rogue Book 1) by KaNeshia Michelle Read Free Book Online Page A

minutes after I had taken my seat. The waitress was cute but I slipped a twenty dollar bill in her hand and told her to only come to our table when I signaled her to. She nodded and walked away and both Zander and I watched her ass as she moved.
    Zander was the first to snap out of her swaying hips and get down to business. “Man, am I glad you decided to come here with me.”
    He looked wrong as he said this. The color in his face was gone and his skin looked gray. I pushed my beer toward him and he lunged for it, finishing the drink in one gulp. He leaned over and stared at me long and hard. It’s all too easy to see how unsettled he was.
    “You didn’t see what I saw, T; they were killing him and doing it slow.”
    I may not have seen what he’s seen in the room but I’ve seen a man killed before. Afterwards I chugged a beer until the vomit taste in my mouth was gone, but I had moved on and understood that you had to get use to it. You had to get you used to the dull ache when you watched a man plead for his life then die horribly in front of your eyes, when his begging had been ignored. The more you saw it the more you ignored the dull ache.
    Zander’s a coward and it’s the first time I’ve realized it.
    I signaled the waitress for another beer. I took my time sipping the drink as I watched my cousin drain his. The fact he’s a coward doesn’t sit well with me.
    Cowards disgust those who aren’t…
    It’s the first lesson my father had ever beaten into me that actually stuck and I respected. Of course I’m sure I’m drunk – the number of drinks I’ve consumed in the last six hours has caught up with me – so I dismissed the thought, hoping I’m seeing things wrong.
    I took out a pack of cigarettes, gave Zander his smoke, and, together, we lit up. The inhale and exhale and the sheet of smoke as it left my mouth was nice. Zander liked it too.
    “How many guys are up there?” I started. I slung an arm over the back of the booth - the buzz of the drinks and the smoke taking over.
    “Three of ‘em,” he answered.
    “He make any noise?” I asked.
    Zander rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t want to think about it, Tristan.”
    “I need to know if an old lady has got her ear pressed to the door while I’m hacking his limbs.” I took another pull from the cigarette then stubbed it out. “This is what we do, okay? So how about you unhook your tits and quick acting like a bitch?”
    “Fuck you, Tristan,” he spat and took a long sip of his drink. “You’re thinking I ain’t got the heart for this. My father says as much, but you’re assholes are wrong.”
    “Listen, bitch,” – and I sipped my drink the entire time I’m talking – “Do I need to give you a moment to find your dick and screw it back on?”
    The drinks were now gone and I looked for the waitress to get her to serve another round.
    “Anything else?” She asked sweetly and smiled at me.
    Zander had smiled too which she seemed to ignore. I could feel his glare on me then. Maybe he was thinking about what his father had said in his bar before the Feds swooshed in.
    I was the looks in our little duo, which I didn’t entirely fess up to or deny. I wasn’t as tall as Zander, he being six feet and me topping out at five feet eight. My hair was curly – now a small curly afro – a light brown with a tinge of blonde highlights. I kept my face clean shaven except for a patch of hair under my chin and my lower lip. My eyes were a light brown, and if the light caught them right they could appear gold. Yet, the clean shaven look was soon about to go now that I was ordered grow out my beard.
    Zander was the typical tall dark and handsome. I would bet money that he could get women just fine. That is, if I wasn’t around to draw attention.
    Zander leaned forward and touched the waitress’ hand, waiting for her to meet his eyes. When they were looking at each other, he smiled slowly, his eyes focusing mostly on her cleavage