Devil on the Rooftop [Book 1]

Chapter 93 - Loyal -

Zander wasn't the only one ignoring our calls. Hino and I couldn't get a hold of Kumar either. Maybe everything was already handled. Maybe Kumar and his associates were with Khaleel to provide back up. I had to convince myself that they didn't need me. I had to let go of things that were out of my control, things like having to leave Jackheights before I was ready to, and my relationship with Arisa Hoffman.

It wasn't easy coming to terms with the fact that I might not be able to return to high school next year. I wanted to graduate with my friends and aim for a prestigious university so that when I finally became independent from my family, I would be safe, secure, and happy. The universe was working in strange ways to put more obstacles in my path. Happiness wasn't achievable and that truth struck me deeper than all the others.

Arisa did kiss Khaleel back. It wasn't a fact she denied or one I was trying to overlook. I accepted it for what it was, Khaleel's fault for putting Arisa in that kind of situation. I was confident about her feelings for me. I was positive that she would pick me over my friend, but even after she became my girlfriend, doubt crept my mind.

"What do you wanna do?" Hino asked, bringing me back to reality. We were standing in front of Khaleel's building, with nowhere to go and zero leads to guide us.

"I don't know," I replied, checking the time on my watch. It was almost six.

Hino shook his head. "I can't believe they went after Dobberman by themselves."

I raised my brow at him. "You're one to talk. Come on, if you hadn't gone on your own then Dobberman wouldn't have felt threatened."

Hino pursed his lips. "Khaleel said Dobberman owed us money. I'm not going to let him scare us out of what we earned."

"Right. I should put more faith in your abilities. Just as we should put more faith in Zander and Khaleel."

As if on command, my phone vibrated. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw a message from Khaleel.

"Finally," I said, grabbing Hino's attention. He moved to stand beside me when I opened the message. It read: 'you're welcome' and had a photo attached to it. Hino clicked on the image. Our eyes simultaneously widened, surprised, and worried about what had come to pass while we weren't around.

"Is that—?" Hino squinted.

"Dobberman," I confirmed.

Hino zoomed into the picture. "It looks like they're burying him alive"

"I'm not against the idea," I said, trying to figure out where the picture was taken and why Dobberman was unconscious in a hole in the ground.

"Do we want to become murders?" Hino asked.

"Right," I said, attempting to call Zander one last time. Still no answer. It was starting to hit a nerve.

"Oooh, fucking bury us all," Hino gaped.

I turned to follow his eye line and found myself staring at a Lexus automatically locking behind a tall and burly man. Hino was able to recognize him right away but I was having a harder time. He had a rich caramel complexion with dark droopy brown eyes and thick wavy hair which had been swept back. He was wearing a dark blue dress shirt and had left a couple of buttons open to reveal his sculpted chest. His jeans were black and they matched his fancy loafers.

"That's not Kumar," I commented.

"That would be Papa Abdul," Hino said.

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets. Hino and I watched in awe as the formidable man came to stand in front of us. It looked like he recognized his son's best friend. That had to be the only explanation. Why else would he stop for a couple of teenagers? There were very few people in the world I knew to be cautious of and Yusuf Abdul was definitely one of them. I only met the man once but our encounter was extremely brief. He nodded in my general direction while picking Khaleel up from middle school three years ago.

"Hino Matsunaga," the daunting man beamed.

"Papa Abdul!" Hino faked a smile.

I watched Khaleel's father grab Hino for an intimate embrace. He then moved back to get a proper look at him. "You get taller every time we meet," he commented.

"You always say that!" Hino couldn't stop laughing but it was far from genuine. "How have you been? Where have you been? Don't tell me! Morocco? Madrid? Nepal? Bumming in Karachi?"

It was Papa Abdul's turn to laugh. A loud, abrupt and thunderous laugh that defeated me. I didn't know where Khaleel was but he wasn't going to be happy about his father's return. The man never showed up to 'hang out' or because 'he was just in the neighborhood', he almost always came to the city bearing bad news.