“Our Plasma Soaked Valentine’s in 1D” Chapter 3

“Billy, you are telling me Billy is the son of ‘The Miner’.  My boyfriend is the son of the local boogie man and somehow over two years this you know never came up?” Ash did not seem to take the information lightly.

       “I can’t tell you that Ashley.  But I can tell you that is what the paperwork says and can tell you based on my math, about a 99.9875 percent probability that it is correct.  Ask TJ.” Kincade responded as honestly as he could

       “TJ?” Ash seemed to be begging for a certain answer, being sure she would not get it.

       “He is who you think he is Ash.  You know Kade isn’t lying.  You know the truth, but who he came from doesn’t decide who we become.”  TJ wrapped his arms around Ash, seeing the tears well up in her eyes.  TJ was a truth teller, but he was also a comforter, never one to let someone else suffer.

       “So, what does it mean that he is the son?” Syd asked the obvious question that had somehow not been asked.

       “Maybe nothing, maybe everything, but given the fact the PD accessed those same files about ten minutes ago.  I am sure they on their way to see William.  If we want any answers before the boys in blue prevent it we might want to make our way over.” Kincade informed the group of the situation.

       “To the Legacy Mobile!” Tina yelled out to the bewilderment of all except Ash who was delighted.

       “Meet you guys there, I need to stop by my house and then I will scout ahead.” Syd was disappearing before the words were fully out.

       “I’ll drive.” Tina hollered to the group.

       “Like hell,”Kincade said as he leapfrogged Tina snatching the key out her hand during the landing, “I can access real time traffic data Tina, makes the most sense to let me drive.”

       “She has seen you play Daytona dude, that argument isn’t going to work.” TJ joked

       “Get in the car Tee.”

       The group (TJ, Kincade, Ash and Tina) piled into the Diamante.  The drive over to the Harris house would only be a few minutes, but the way Kincade drove, it would be a wild few minutes.

       “Just remember ‘Jade’ here doesn’t have an auto reset if you get off course.”  Tina continued to tease Kincade

       “Jade?” TJ asked

       “The car jackass.”

       “Wait, you named my car Jade?  Wait you named my car?”  Ash asked in shock.

       “If you name it its way harder when we have to eat it.” Kincade interjected.

       “Never stopped TJ.”  Tina responded

       “Depends on the name”

       “You know I hate to interrupt a good time…but the cops are responding to murder scene at the local laundry, all hands on deck, not to far from her.  Im messaging Sydney the location now, will have him scope it out.  Should buy us enough time to talk to William though.”

       “How we handle it Ash?  Your boyfriend, your call.”  Tina’s words an echo of a previous statement that told Ash the answer Tina both expected and hoped for.

       “I’ll go up and get him, you guys can wait outside, I’ll bring him out.”  Ash wasn’t exactly happy to have to have this conversation in public but she knew now transparency was everything to her group.

       “You sure you ok with that Ash?” TJ asked out of genuine concern.

       “Yeah, we all need answers so we can fix the issue….but why Jade”

       “It’s green Ash.”

       “I thought Jade was purple.” 

       “Incredible Hulk?  Bruce Banner, the Jade Giant?”

       “Thought they meant his pants…”

       The group pulled into the driveway of the Harris household, as the four poured out of Jade, the green Diamante, the were greeted by Billy Harris.

       “Hey Ash,” Billy greets the others not by name but with a nod and smile, not revealing if he didn’t actually know their names or was more interested in cutting the greetings short to get to the point of the visit, “What’s up hon, you didn’t tell me you would be stopping by with….friends?” the inquisitive nature of the sentence revealed what he had done such fine work to disguise previously.

       “I need to ask you something, and if I am wrong this will be the most random strange moment in your life and I might need to dig a hole and never come out of it..but is your real dad ‘The Miner’?”

       Billy looked both shocked and ashamed at the same time.  He did not want to answer the question but felt that he had no choice but to answer what he was asked.

       “Yes.  How did you know that, why would you even think that?  We, my family, has taken every step they could to insure that they hid every shred of evidence.” Billy answered with a plea that the question had not been asked.

       “Kincade.  You can not hide any information from him, he is in the fast lane of the information super highway.” Ash responded with simply a small hint of shame for getting information about her boyfriend behind his back.

       “Even when that information was legally redacted, your ‘BOY’ can just get it anyway?’ Billy’s question and eyes were pointed not at Ash, but at Kincade.

       Kincade removed his glasses, revealing his replaced eye to Billy, “Not sure I’m the one you want to go eye to eye with, boy.”

       Billy averted his gaze be it in fear or shame over the ignorance he knows he just let show, “I did not mean it like tha…”

       “I know exactly how you meant it, William.  See I know how you see me and my family, I know how us nuevo rich tech industry trash are going to pollute the blood stream of the modern economy.  I have heard that kinda ignorant bigotry spouted my entire life William, you are not the first, not the best and by far not the most clever to ever insult me, so don’t flatter yourself, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, you simply do not matter like that.”

       “Well this is going better than I expected at least.” TJ decided for some reason to add.  Causing all four people around him to slowly turn their heads towards him. “What?  It’s the truth!” TJ asserted.

       “Doesn’t mean you should of said it.” Tina informed her friend.

       “Doesn’t it though?”  TJ’s words seemed to have more to do with everything they had been through than they were about his last statement, the unspoken discomfort in the group boiling over top of the kettle of composure they had set up.

       “Why did you ask that Ash?” Billy repeated his previous question.  “That isn’t exactly the type of question you randomly ask, or a piece of information your…your friend would randomly come across unless looking for it for…some reason.”  Billy’s words were again meant more for her friends than for Ash herself, even in this form of a question.

       “Daddy is coming home.”  Syd’s voice echoed as he stepped out of the shadows, a pick dripping in blood in his hands.