a story about falling in and out of love.
Bear with me, this is my first book!
Book 1: Published 02/2020, Completed 04/2022
Book 1 Shut Up & Listen (complete)
__/ When the one secret that kept childhood best friends Cole and Cobe at a distance is fi...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(Circa 1994, age 20)
November 1994
In November of 1994, the youngest member of the Detroit City Council was elected following the brutal murder of his father. His efforts in putting away the police officers who committed the crime against his family and his people got twenty year old Cecil Adebanjo so much attention both locally and nationally that he'd be fresh out of Michigan State with just a Bachelors in Sociology and Business and already secured a job most could only dream of. He'd even been invited to the white house for a photo op with President William Clinton to prove he wasn't racist like the cops who killed Adebanjo's father.
On the plane ride from DC back to his hometown, Detroit, MI he took a nap. The most delicious, refreshing, deep, crusty red eyes sleep he'd had in a long time. It was like he finally had the chance to just chill. Everything had worked out. Winning trial, check. Deposit settlement funds, check! Dirty cops in prison, check. New government job, check. Life was great. Hard work was paying off. But with the silence and calm came clarity. The type of clarity you only get in silence. All the hustle, bustle, rage and war had kept him busy. But it was all over. It had all ended.
The people were gone— cameras, news anchors, followers and friends. With his solitude came a great noise and shinning. It shook him from his sleep. He's dead. He thought to himself. He never again slept as good as he did on that flight. Once he exited that airport, life was on. Life had been turned on inna way that made him wonder if he had ever been alive before then.
The sun was brighter, unbearable. Chatter, hustle and bustle rattled his brain, making him anxious. Every eye and smile was towards him, he felt. The laughter— oh the laughter. No one could laugh beside him without him shrinking, seething, scoring himself to find where the joke was because it had to be on him. He opened the door to the one bedroom apartment located on campus and rolled himself up into the blanket on his bed and lied there for three days.
He was awakened by a knock on the door. Repeatedly rather. And, instead of knocking it was actually banging. Repeated banging on his door woke him from his three day coma which he still, yet, was unaware of. He groaned, untangling himself from his cocoon. He tapped the keyboard on his computer desk to check the time but noticed the date first. Cecil scratched his head in confusion as the banging continued until the guest began yelling his name as well.
"Cecil!" He heard a familiar voice from the front of the apartment. "C! It's me! Mav." He said his own name a bit lower in volume. Cecil opened the door to his friend. "Dawg, where you been at?"
He scratched his head again. "I uh, just got back from D.C."
"You was supposed to be back like two days ago. I been looking for you. Somebody obviously forgot that we had shit to do. Got me driving all the way up to the boonies to see if yo ass is still alive. Congratulations by the way." Maverik tapped Cecil's arm with the back of his hand as he passed by him to enter the apartment. "I don't know whatchu gon' don with all that money, but, I got some ideas." He chuckled sitting on the couch, picking up the remote control on the coffee table.
