Absolution (Mr. Black Series) Read Free

know, figure it out,” she replied with a twinge of an attitude.
    “What the fuck is your problem?”
    “Oh, sorry I’m not catering to you. You signed up for that shit. I told you to quit a long time ago. Maybe if you had, then Ezra would be alive today.”
    “Are you blaming me for Ezra?”
    “Aren’t you?”
    “Would you rather I have taken the bullet?”
    She didn’t reply. I threw my uniform on the bed and walked to the closet, where the first thing I saw was the uniform I was wearing the day Ezra died.
    “What is this doing here?” I asked.
    “I had it cleaned.”
    “Do you really think I’m gonna wear this fuckin’ thing again?”
    “How am I supposed to know?” she asked. “You talk to me even less than Adeline does. All these fuckin’ deployments. I told you I wasn’t going to stay, and the only reason I did was because of Ezra passing. If he hadn’t died, then I would be gone already,” she said, walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
    I stood there for a while with the added guilt she had just planted in my head, replaying the day Ezra died. It was my fault. I should have seen that fucking sniper.
    Nothing had been the same since I got back. I felt like a zombie, walking through my own hell. I often wondered if it would have been better if I had taken the bullet that day, rather than Ezra. I threw on a pair of jeans and a shirt, then left. I had to get out of this fucking house.
     
    ADELINE
     
    I made my way to the bathroom and was startled by the front door slamming shut. I wondered who had left.
    I leaned into the mirror, still a little sleepy from crying so much, so I slapped my face a few times to get the blood flowing. I groaned to myself, realizing that no amount of physical abuse was going to wake me up any faster. As I waited for the shower to warm up, I observed myself in the mirror until the steam slowly fogged up my image, leaving it an indiscernible blur.
    Lazily I stepped in, where the heat engulfed my weary body and calmed my anxious mind. I sat down and began to cry quietly to myself. Eyeing my bare ring finger under the stream of warm water, I wished there were a diamond sparkling back at me. Alas, my Prince Charming wouldn’t be riding in on his valiant white horse to sweep me away from my daily drudgery, as he had died atop a cliff and would never come back.
    Out of the shower, I dried off, and then quickly slipped on my simple beige uniform. It was about as flattering as a potato sack. I took one last look in the mirror before heading off to work.
    I parked my car and grabbed a cup of coffee from a vendor, making my way down the street to the crosswalk, where the blue walk signal started to blink, signaling that it was okay to proceed.
    There was a loud honk as I took my first step onto the pavement. A speeding cab damn near ran over my foot.
    “Hey, I’m walking here,” I hollered, lifting my arms into the air.
    Unfortunately, I was also holding the uncovered cup of coffee, which splashed all over my uniform and the ends of my hair. Thankfully, none of the scalding liquid made contact with my skin.
    Trying to avoid another hit and run scenario, I quickly made my way across the street, my purse tucked under one arm, my heels clicking against the asphalt as I tried to wring out the excess coffee from my hair.
    “It’s not working,” I murmured under my breath as I twisted it up into an unattractive side bun in an effort to look presentable.
    Running through the main entrance of the diner, Rob, my manager, stopped me. A funny older gentleman, Rob took his work very seriously, almost as if he owned the restaurant himself. Every day, he wore a buttoned up pinstriped shirt with a tie that never matched. His receding hairline mimicked a gray-haired tutu that decorated the back of his scalp from ear to ear, and his glasses were thicker than the glass coasters that were displayed on the coffee table.
    Eyeing the coffee stain on my uniform, he shook his head