Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves by Richard M. Heredia Read Free Book Online Page B

he could care less. So what if Melanie
was as white as snow? To him, she was beautiful. Her stringy,
carrot-colored hair, freckles and smoky eyes of crystal-clear
tourmaline made it so. So what if she had tattoos up and down her
arms, one on her ankle and another along the small of her back. He
knew what it meant. He knew people called body art in that location
a Tramp Stamp. And, he knew many people of his culture deemed
Caucasian girls easy. Or they would say she was of a loser moral
character if they had a degree of tact.
    He did not care. She was
funny. She was playful in his arms, unafraid to express herself
with either mind or her body.
    He liked that more than
anything.
    Then, thoughts of Anthony
intruded and he forced those luscious recollections of Melanie
aside. What was he doing? This was not the time to get all hot and
bothered. There were more important things than hot shorties,
right? Right?
    “ Don’t you care?” he asked
Daniel, with more force than he intended, a residual response to
the frustration he was directing at himself.
    Daniel peered up from the
LCD of his phone, his brow furled. “What kind of fucking question
is that, Rich? Of course, I care! He’s my friend as much as he is
yours.” He copied Richard’s gesture of a few moments before. Then
the chirping and vibrating of the smart device in his hand
distracted him.
    Daniel was the polar
opposite of Richard. Though they both had Latin American roots,
they’d been sprung from different origins. Daniel was Mexican, a
big one at that. He was not overweight per se, but still carried
considerable bulk. One could say he was big-boned with large hands,
large feet and a large frame to match. He was way over two hundred
pounds, his skin a few shades lighter than Richard’s with hair he
wore combed-back and greased. It was much like the pompadours of
old, seen way back in the 1950’s. To his friends, Daniel was one
such relic when it came to his appearance. His attire was usually
proof enough.
    For their afternoon foray
to the Glendale Galleria he had donned 501 Levi’s, turned-up at the
bottom and a starched white t-shirt. A waist-cut jean jacket and
the black leather Sketchers he had on his feet, made him look like
a bigger, Hispanic version of James Dean.
    “ If you care so much, how
come you can’t stop texting Mariah for like one second?”
    Daniel's sigh was huge. He
tapped the glass of the phone a few more times, and then gazed over
at his friend, his eyes hooded with the first wisps of
anger.
    “ They’ll be here in a few
minutes. You can hold off on the incessant messaging until then,”
added Richard. He met the foreboding cast of his friends’ face,
unwilling to back down.
    After all, it was Anthony
they were talking about. Though he was the quietest of their group,
he was still a member, maybe the leading one at that. More often
than not, they ended up doing what Anthony had suggested or talked
about a given topic he had brought up. Would they have still been
hanging out if it had not been for him in the first place? Had he
not been the one that helped forge their clique back when they were
first starting out at the high school? They had all been nothing
more than a bunch of tight-assed geeks about ready to shit
themselves with nervousness. With a more subdued demeanor, Anthony
had been calmer than those around him. He was the one who brought
them together over those first precarious weeks and
months.
    Richard remembered it all
too well. Maybe Daniel had forgotten or maybe it was less a factor
in his life now that he had Mariah.
    But fuck, man, the dude
and his sisters have been kidnapped! What kind of messed up shit is
that?
    Daniel broke eye contact
first, glancing about Colorado Blvd. Then, he peered about the
transit stop where they were awaiting the arrival of their
girlfriends. They were crawling down the wide avenue, ensconced in
the MTA’s 181 bus. The fact their route took them passed the scene
of the now missing Eagle