The Artist's Shadow

Chapter 15

Jaftha stared at the phrase on the locker next to his, and wondered when he had ever been given lemons to make lemonade. He forced his attention back to his own open locker because he was probably freaking out the girl who had the locker next to his with his staring. He took his books from his backpack and placed them in his locker, a card fell from one of his books and he picked it up.

Closing his locker and moving through the groups of students who were all leaving for their lunch, he texted Olivia to say he would be a few minutes late. He moved to the outside and took a seat on the stairs as he twirled the card in his fingers.
Did he want to do business with drug dealers? He asked himself and decided to atleast contact the guy and see what he wanted.

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"And what were you doing that made you late for lunch?" Olivia asked through a mouthful of salad. Jaftha took a seat shaking his head.
"Thanks for picking up lunch. I had a business call to make." He said as he opened his can of cooldrink.
"No problemo. Painting?" She asked and he nodded.
"This business guy wants me to paint something he can unveil at his house party in New York next month. He wants something that will leave people gasping and talking about for a while." He said and she smiled.
"That's nice. As long as the pay is good. When will you start working on it?" He shrugged as he read the message that came through his phone. He was being summoned again but aleast it was for later that afternoon.
"I don't know yet, I will still have to talk to guy, he said he would send me pictures of his house so I can decide for myself what to paint that would make it stand out or something. " Olivia nodded and started talking out a date she had that evening. Jaftha listened and nodded but kept on wondering what exactly Bladen wanted this time.

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Jaftha placed his easel and newly cleaned brushes back in the living room, while softly singing the music that was playing in the background. He smiled in anticipation to his favourite part and switched the music louder as he walked into the kitchen. He opened the freezer, taking out a bottle of soda and using it as a microphone first to belt out his favourite part before he opened the soda and drank it. His phone laid down on the kitchen table and he picked it up to see how much time he still had left before he needed to go. Deciding that he would need to get ready, he placed the soda back into the fridge and moved back into the living room only to freeze.

His previously empty living room now contained the A-team who were all looking and touching his various paintings around the room. Seeing one of them about to touch a still wet painting he moved forward immediately.
"Don't touch that." He said and the guy withdrew his hands. Jaftha looked around for the remote to switch of the music when it suddenly shut off. He looked around and his annoyance flared up when he saw Blade with the remote.
"What are you doing in my house? It is only proper manners to knock on someone's door and wait for them to invite you in." He said as he moved the paintings some of the guys were still touching, he glared at them until they mockingly held up their hands.
"Well it's only proper manners for someone to answer when they hear a knock. So it seems all of us lack those so called proper manners." Blade answered causing Jaftha to roll his eyes as he stood infront of them. He saw Blade's gaze move up and down his body but pretended to look at the other guys. When he came home he had immediately taken off his clothes of that morning and put on a pair of boxer's and an extra large shirt which covered his boxers and socks.

"What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at The Pit?" He asked as he saw some of the guys move into the kitchen and the others take seats. He noticed two were still looking at some of the paintings and expected that he had Vipers in his house.
"Well all of us felt terrible that we were always making you come to us, so we decided today we will come to you. Aren't we a swell group?" Gray said and Jaftha frowned at him before narrowing his eyes at Blade who was still standing and looking at him with an amused look and something else he could not decipher but decided that he did not like. A large black bag was placed on the floor since he had moved th coffee table against the wall and he moved his eyes from the bag to Blade who gestured towards the bag.

Accepting his fate he moved toward the bag and bend down to open it. His whole mood dropped even further when he saw what was in the bag.
"This is your last test before we officially welcome you into the group. All the members at one point was given such a bag and 48 hours to sell it, because you are so special, I am giving you 24hours. " Bladen said and Jaftha internally took 3 deep breaths before he looked at Blade careful not to showcase anything.
"You expect me to sell this whole bag in 24 hours?" He asked hoping they were joking.
"Yep, after that we have you inauguration and we give you your own jacket." Bladen said and Jafth felt himself quite possibly die a little.
"24hours?" He asked again for clarification and felt the amusement go around the room.

Blade moved closer until he was standing infront of a still crouched Jaftha.
"Yep, but if you beg us real nice, I might consider giving you two more hours quite possibly even a whole 3 more hours." He said and his douchebag friends laughed. Jaftha took a deep breath as he rezipped the bag. He looked up at Blade and made sure the look on his face could only be interpreted in one way, he almost smiled when he saw suprise and lust fly past Blade's gaze. He slowly stood up until he was standing infront of Blade so close only a breath stopped them from touching.
"If you want me to beg, Blade, I am afraid you chose a very different setting." He said softly and sweetly. Victory tasted so bloody sweet when he saw Blade look at his lips before moving back when Gray cleared his throat.
"24 hours. If you don't have my money by then you can go back to living in the dark and ruining family relations." He said before turning around and walking away. Jaftha refused to pay attention to his statement and waited until they were all gone before breathing out in relief. The relief how ever didn't last long as his gaze met the bag in the middle of the room.

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By the time Jaftha stopped staring at the bag in disbelieve, he only had 22 hours and 30 minutes left. He groaned as he stood up from infront of the bag and took a deep breath muttering to himself.
"You got this, Jaftha. You can show that self absorbed douchebag. " But he still asked himself how he was going to do it. He knew he couldn't contact his grandfather because he would want to know the whole story and would then tell his grandmother who would be on the first plane to Darten City to rain hellfire on everyone.

A quick glance at an I love NY pin attached to the cupboard in the living room had him run over to his phone still in the kitchen. He saw he had a text from the douchebag himself and rolled his eyes. What couldn't he have said when they invaded his living room earlier?.
DouchebagB--6kg=$10,000. Not less.
Jaftha told himself he was not going to scream so instead picked a cup from the cupboard and threw it against the wall. He watched it shatter and exited the message to scroll down his not that big contact list. Finding the name he wanted he took a seat on the counter and pressed call.

The phone rang 4 times before it was answered and Jaftha smiled immediately.
"Jaftha,my guy, my brother from another womb. What's up? You in New York?" Bones said and Jaftha shook his head.
"Nope, won't be there for a while. How are you?" He asked and heard the noise from wherever Bones was decrease.
"I'm good, working and everything. You?" He replied.
"I'm good, I am sorry to do this man but I really need a favour, no questions asked. " Jaftha said and heard Bones humm before answering
"What's up?" He asked.
"I am sending you a picture now, and I need your help selling it." He said as he stood up from the counter and went back into the living room.

Putting the phone on loudspeaker, he opened the bag, took a picture and send it.
"Just send it, please don't ask me where I got it. I will tell you as soon as I come to New York again." Jaftha pleaded and saw the blueticks appear showing that Bones was looking at the picture.
"Jaftha." Bones said after a while and Jaftha grimaced.
"I promise I will call you later this week and tell you everything but I need this stuff sold immediately. And before you ask, no it is not stolen." Jaftha said and pictured Bones frowning. 

The call went so quiet that Jaftha had to look at the phone to make sure the call was still running.
"How many kilo and how much for the bag?" Bones eventually asked and Jaftha smiled.
"6kg and 10grand. You can add another grand or something and I will give it to you but I just need this out of my house. It's Viper product. " Jaftha heard Bones inhale sharply and shook his head praying Bones wouldn't change his mind.
"Give me 3 hours to look for some people but you owe me an explanation. " Bones said and Jaftha nodded even though Bones couldn't see him.
"Of course. Thank you." He said and heard Bones sigh.
"Talk to you later,Jaf." Bones said before ending the call.

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3 and a half hours later Jaftha was pacing up and down the living room. What if Bones couldn't get any people to buy? What then? He asked as he continued pacing and staring at his phone in his hand willing it to ring and bring him good news.