Depths of a River

Chapter 43- The Memorial

She closed the curtain and left. He stood up and put on his old clothes that were also washed. I opened the curtain after he put on his shoes and we walked out the room. He checked out by the front desk before we went home.
His Audi stood right in front of the entrance and the security handed him his keys as soon as we walked out the front door. He opened the door for me, like the gentleman he always is, and I climbed inside. He drove to the hotel and parked in his usual parking spot. We got out of the car and walked inside like we did every time.

He closed the suite's door behind me before we walked outside onto the balcony.
Everything was the same. Everything looked the same except it wasn't the same; my sister killed herself and I killed Duke. I saw the river and thought about how it perfectly resembled life. Doesn't matter what drowns inside or crosses it, it always flow forward at the same pace.
My cats sat behind the glass door. Rodrique went inside and came back a few minutes after with two big strawberry milkshakes. It tastes the same as always, and I thought back to the night Rodrique had 'rescued' me from Duke. We finished our milkshakes, and I stood up and walked to his room. I opened the drawer and took out the file. I opened it and went through the pages. There were photos of the whole football team and a list with every player's name and jersey number. Duke's name was first on the list, and it was circled a few times with red pen. I closed the file and took it with me back outside to where Rodrique was sitting. I opened it on the table in front of him.

"I guess it's time to tell you the story." He said, and I saw a trace of a smile on his face.

I nodded slowly at him without saying anything.

"We were together in high school, me and Duke. He got involved in drugs and became a gang member and then later the leader. I worked with the law firm and helped them to eliminate the drug dealers in this town. I found Duke first and recognized him from school. I made a deal with him, if he helps me find the other drug dealers I won't turn him in but he has to stop dealing and get his life together by the end of the year." Rodrique explained.

"He wasn't going to change. He would have killed me if it wasn't for you." He said looking concerned.

"Did you know each other the night he became aggressive towards me at the fashion show?" I asked him, trying to put the puzzle pieces of this whole story together.

"Yes, I knew him, and he knew what would happen if he didn't leave you alone like I said. He thought I wouldn't find out about the rumors he spread about you. If he wasn't scared that I would turn him in, I don't know if he would have ever left you alone, you could have ended up to like..." He said and quickly stopped talking when he realized what he had said.

"Like Cleone..." I finished his sentence.

He looked into my eyes with sympathy, and I could hear them say: 'you know that's not what I meant.'

I walked around and climbed onto his lap. He held me close to him and kissed my forehead.

"I love you Adelynn..." He whispered to me.

"I love you too, Rodrique..." I whispered back to him and kissed the little white bandage in his neck.

I woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee. I got out of bed and walked to the kitchen with my pyjamas.

Rodrique stood in front of the counter without a shirt on. I leaned against the wall and stared at him.

Today was the day of Cleone's memorial service. It was at ten am so we still had a lot of time to get ready. He turned around and smiled when he saw me.

"Morning beautiful." he said and handed me a cup of coffee as he walked towards me.

I kissed him and took the cup from his hand.

"I made us breakfast so that we can eat before we get ready for the memorial." He said and walked back to the counter and grabbed two plates of food then walked outside onto the balcony.

He sat down the two plates opposite each other onto the table. We sat down and started eating.

"Are you ready for today?" He asked me and took a bite of his toast.

"I don't have a choice. I'm glad we can say goodbye to her and try to forget about everything that had happen." I replied him.

I took the plates to the kitchen and put them in the sink after we had eaten.

I walked to his bedroom and opened his closet. It had more of my clothes than his inside. I picked out a short black dress with lace sleeves for the memorial. I put it on and combed my hair to the one side before putting on a bit of mascara, not too much because I knew I was going to cry.

Rodrique came in and put on the suite he took out the night before. He put on his tie, and I walked up to him and fixed it. We left the suite and drove to the place where Cleone's memorial was being held.

There were a few cars outside already.

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