Aria and Aubrey { A TLS} : Book Two

Chapter Seventeen: Regret Isn't Even The Word

++Aria’s POV++

--Sunday Night--

“Ace. Look at me.” I sat across from him on the ottoman in our living room. He was facing forward towards the T.V., his eyes set heavily focused on the newscaster on the screen.

"Saturday night marked a tragic end for young Josh Bilik  in a dark alley by the Hilton Hotel in Downtown Hartford.  Reports have shown that the young man was last seen entering the hotel for a quick visit, but it ended up being a very long stay.  There is no news on how this incident actually happened and the cops are still investigating around the hotel. Josh Bilik, only 24 years old, was the son of Maggie and Gill Bilik, both age 45, and the caring lover of Hisha Younger, age 22.

Autopsy reports claim that the 24 year old victim was shot in the head three times, creating multiple fractures within the head. There were also signs of strangulation and even missing fingers.

If anyone has any information on the victim’s attackers please don’t hesitate to call 911. I hope you all have a good evening and keep the Biliks’ in your hearts. This is Gennifer Smith giving you the nine o’ clock news."

A picture of Josh showed up on the T.V. with the word “R.I.P” written underneath it. I looked back at Ace and noticed he had a single tear sliding down his face.

“I knew something had happened to him. He wasn’t returning my texts or calls. I’ll...I’ll kill whoever did this. Josh didn’t deserve to die the way that he did.” He looked at me as more tears rolled down his face. “Severed fingers Aria...three shots to the head...” He whispered out to me. Tears welled up in my own eyes as I crawled over to him and laid his head on my chest. His tears hit my naked skin like bullets, daring to soak through it and into my heart. I felt so bad for my baby, so bad that he had to lose one of his greatest friends to violence. What made it even worse was that I still hadn’t of told him what happened between me and Aubrey and the fact that my mother has Lupus.

“I’m so sorry honey...I know how hard this is going to be for you. I’ll be here if you need me okay baby? I promise.” I rubbed his back, comforting him as much as possible.

He sniffled and held me close to him. “Yeah I know babe. I just...it’s just....I don’t know. I didn’t expect anything like this to happen to him. Not my nigga Josh....it feels so unreal. I don’t want to believe that it happened.”

“I know babe, I know. But the most important thing is that we keep him in our hearts and keep him as close as possible.”

“You’re right baby girl. I just need a minute.”

“Go ahead Ace. Lay down if you need to, I’ll be there in  few.”

He nodded and got up to go towards our room. As soon as I saw him turn the corner, the doorbell rang.

“I got it!” I rushed over to the door. “Who is it?”

“Delivery for Aria King?” Some nigga answered. Delivery? The fuck? I didn’t order anything.

I opened the door and gasped. “Aubrey! The hell are you doing here?!”

Aubrey smirked at me while holding about three different bouquets of flowers. One was roses, the other was peonies, and the third were white Tulips. “I figured since this is my last night in Hartford, I’d come see you...bring you some flowers at least.”

I glanced nervously behind me to check if Ace was there before turning back to Aubrey and giving him the death stare.  “How the hell did you know where I live?”

“Don’t worry about that. I have my ways, let’s say that.”

“Oh, so you’re a creeper now? Huh, figures.”