Killing Cardinals

Chapter 8

The morning sun shined mildly through the transparent windows of the diner. The sweet smell of pancakes and coffee filled the entire room, and I sat there with my glasses on, for the first time in a while. My head had been aching all day, so I'd attempted to take out my contacts and wear my glasses for the day. I stared with a bit of frustration down at my crossword puzzle, biting at the end of the pen.

"Six letter word for a woman who picks up young dudes... ugh, how is it not cougar?" I continued to mumble under my breath until I heard the soft jingle of the door opening. The tall, broad shoulder man with dark toned skin stepped toward the counter, his jacket over his shoulder. After a moment, the skinny waitress pointed in my direction. I waved a bit with a smile, and he smiled back. He came over with a bit of struggle, trying to squeeze between tables without disturbing other guests. I held in a chuckle.

"Boy, you started the party without me, I see." He said, his voice deep and gruff. I let out a huff as I grinned.

"You were taking too long. I was practically falling asleep waiting for you." He rolled his eyes and let out a soft hearty laugh. He slid into the other side of the booth, setting his jacket down next to him.

"Thanks for coming out on such short notice, Darius." He nodded.

"Of course. How long has it been since we talked?" I shrugged, shaking my head.

"Too long," I responded, glancing down as my smile fell. "Sorry that I've been so distant. It's just... you know." He nodded, putting his hands together and interlocking his fingers.

"How've you been, Nic?" I let out an exasperated sigh as I leaned my head on my hand.

"I dunno. I'm... stuck." He blinked, looking down at the crossword puzzle.

"On the puzzle, I suppose?" I nodded.

"Sure, that's one thing. Maybe you can get it?" I slid the paper over to him and crossed my arms, leaning back. "It's not cougar, I tried." He looked at it for a moment, humming before he glanced up with his dark brown eyes.

"What about jaguar?" I blinked, looking down at the paper.

"Shit, remind me to never play Scrabble with you." He laughed, passing me back the paper.

"Clearly, I'm the champ at that game." After a moment, he leaned back, crossing his arms.

"So your dad," he started, and I felt my slight smile fade again. "Thomas told me you might be struggling with some dreams and such?" I leaned forward again, setting my arms on the table.

"Oy, what did he NOT tell you?" Darius shrugged.

"He really only told me that you'd been acting kind of off lately. And that you've been extremely against coming back." He tried to smile jokingly. "I'm guessing that's my fault?" I felt my eyes fall to the table, staring at the patterns. His chuckle faded and he hummed awkwardly.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be joking. What's been going on in these dreams?" I tried to piece together what all I could actually say. There were some parts I knew I'd have to leave out.

"It's just... he's angry in the dream. I guess kinda like how I was. It's probably just a reflection of my own thoughts really. You know I didn't like the ruling that the court settled on." He scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"I know. I was very unsatisfied with it too." I felt a bit comforted by Darius's supported view of how I felt about Harrison. Darius and I both fought tooth and nail to try to get him put in jail, but to no avail. I knew Thomas understood, but I also knew Thomas had faced a very similar situation long ago. He'd remained remarkably quiet in the courtroom.