The Albrechts

Chapter 4

AN: Hope you are enjoying the story!

Dinner was quiet. It was a simple meal of baked chicken and sweet potatoes. No one talked at the table, and the sound of forks and knives echoed through the house. The first to get up and leave the table was James Allen and Rory. They made their way to kitchen and clean of their plates. "Did you get it?" Rory asked as she turned on the water. "Yeah I did...how are you feeling. You've been Tommy nearly all day." She grabbed James' plate and ran it underwater. "He was reading me his stories again. I don't know what they were 'bout...I wasn't paying attention." James chuckled. "Unlike you." His sweet southern drawl emerges, and Rory smirked then looked at James. She bit onto her lower lip. In a hushed tone, she spoke up, "Your note you gave me...you sound sad. You have bad thoughts again?" James' eyes looked toward the window to the dusk sky. "Yea...just thinking about it." Rory knew what it was. It pained her to see him depressed again. She turned off the water and handed him the plate to lay on the drying rack. When James sat the plates down, she took his hand quickly. "It will be okay." He looks down at their interlocked hands and smiled. "I-I know." Rory unlocked her eyes and smiled more. "I'm heading to my room."

James lowers his head and thought about the loss of touch. His eyes wandered upward and saw Hannah come through the doorway. She stood tall and stronge. Hannah was a thick woman and had long dark hair down her back. Her eyes were green and large. She pulled out the trash can and took pushed her food into the bin.

"Why didn't Mark come again?" He watched Hannah watch off her plate.

"He didn't want to hear the bullshit all week." She spoke with bitterness and resentment. "Should have stayed with him." James leaned against the counter top. "Don't need your bitchiness." He mumbled, and Hannah looked at him. She chuckled, "You're lucky that I like you more than the others." He grinned a little. "How's your job going?" He shrugged. "It's going." He shoves his hand into his jean pockets. "Working you hard?" He shook his head. "Yeah..."

"Glad you are enjoying it." Hannah looked at her cousin and sighed. Davis walked into the kitchen with Kenny. "I thought we should all get together and work out the kinks in our family." Kenny sat down his plate. "I thought maybe we talk tonight about everything." Hannah chuckled. "Did mom think our pissy argument was the cause of our tensions." Davis shrugged, "She not wrong. You moved away over mama not giving you money for college." He crossed his arms and legs while leaning against the door way. "Wasn't she suppose to Davis?" Hannah placed her hand on her hip. "You were 23 and changed schools three times. She was done paying for your bullshit." James Allen chuckled under his breath.

"You're laughing? You should be grateful for my mother paying for your education when your mother couldn't." Hannah snapped at James. "You know why she had to do that!" He rolled his eyes while biting his lip. William walked in and looked at his family. "I heard everything. K–"

"Don't say, he's right you have your skeletons also." She huffed, "I'm going out to have a cigarette."

"Go right, ahead." Hannah rushed passed him, and he sat his plate on the counter. "I was going to say that Kenny was right. But she doesn't like listening." The men in the kitchen laughed. Kenny spoke up, "I know we all got distance with each other, but maybe this is what Mama wanted. I know a couple of days of this could mend things together." He had his hands on his hips looking at the men in the room. "Sure, we fucked up at times, but we can change that."

****

The night was still, but Rory was up reading the note AJ gave her.

Dear Rory Rae,

The pain in my past hurts. It's is an ever present thought in my head. It's like a stain on my life I cannot remove. I wish ever more to kill it off at times, but it would pain me to see people hurt over my death. The love you bring to me helps me numb the pain. I love you for that. Thank you, darling.

Forever more yours,

AJ

Her fingers traced over the words, and she smiled. She chewed on her lower lip and slipped the note into her Civil Rights books. She opened her backpack and pulled out a small journal where she kept every single letter between her and AJ. The notes were very personal. Talking about their lives and their undying love for each other; some were even sexual, which were the ones Rory loved the most. She brought only one of the letters with her, and it was her favorite note.

She carefully opens the paper, and her eyes scanned the letter. Her heart skipped beats, and her stomach flipped. She laid on her back, and her hand roamed her body and her pulse exalted. The detail AJ wrote to her, were so explicit yet so beautiful. She was sinning reading this paper, but she was truly in heaven. It was so wrong but so right. Rory starts to feel that feeling between her thighs, and she sat straight up. She rushed to the bathroom across the all to check herself, but the light was on and the door locked. Rory heard the rushing water run and realized that someone was taking a shower. She looked to see Tommy's door crack open and the light on.

She peeked inside to see that it was empty. Tommy's bed was messy, and she noticed the old journal that laid on his bed. Rory knew she shouldn't walk in and read it. Tommy spoke to her that this was personal, but right now. Rory didn't care; she walked right in. Rory listened carefully for the shower to turn off as she started open the book. She opened it right toward the middle and began to read:

His kisses were sweet down my neck. He told me everything is fine and just be free with myself. I wanted every bit of him, more than I need air to breathe. He was life. The fire of my soul. He was my lover. His fingers unbuckled my belt, and my hands ran through his hair grasping it hard when he kissed my neck. "Eain..." I moaned––

"RORY!" Her hands dropped the book quickly to the ground caused all the of paper to fly out. "I told you not to look at this! Why the hell are you?" Tommy rushed to pick up the paper on the ground, and Rory bent down to help. "I-I-I'm sorry. It's just–"

"You're just nosy." His green eye shot daggers into her. "Go away!" He sneered his words at her and Rory began to get up. "Tommy if you g–"

"I'm not!" He pushed her out the door and closed it.

Rory stood in the hallway and tried to make sense of the situation until James opened his door. "What happened?"

"Nothing. Go back to bed." She walked toward her bedroom door, and Jame took her by the wrist and pulled her closer. "Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?" Rory shook her head. "No..."

He looked into her innocent brown eyes and spoke up, "Tomorrow morning I'm going on a hike. Do you want to come?" A small smirk aroused from Rory's face, and she nodded. "What time?"

"I'll wake you up." They bid each other goodnight and went their separate ways. Rory's rushed to bed slipping off her jeans and t-shirt and changed into an oversized shirt that was her father's. Rory reread her favorite letter to dream about this man. Once more, like she did every night, she tucked her love letter away into her textbook and headed to bed.