Read Online One Safe Place by Alvin L. A. Horn - Free Book Online Page A

moment what Psalms meant. He was not that kind of warrior anymore, if he ever was. Without knowing that those guys were bodyguards, he saw the alertness of a Doberman in Suzie Q, and Psalms turned in to a tuned precision machine like a heat-seeking missile, and sensed the potential violence that could erupt.
    Those two were ready for action. To avoid trouble is to be aware of trouble before you’re deep in it; act first instead of reacting. Tylowe’s eyebrows moved inward, and wrinkles formed on his forehead. Reflecting on how people could find often on the daily news the aftermath of a bloodbath, not knowing they might be surrounded by men and women with guns anywhere, anytime, he laughed aloud.
    â€œSomething funny?” Psalms asked Tylowe with a smile.
    Tylowe had a smirk on his face. “You knew damn well your girl was coming in here. You could have said so.”
    â€œWould it have changed whatever you’re feeling?”
    â€œWhat makes you think I’m feeling any certain way?”
    â€œYour comment says so. You’re no different than we were in kindergarten at Van Asselt Elementary: always overanalyzing everything. Do you need to go write a poem or something?” Psalms smirked and tilted his back as if he was looking down on Tylowe, when in fact Tylowe had at least a good three-inch height advantage.
    â€œDude, I’m glad I went to Leschi Elementary so you didn’t bully me the whole year.”
    â€œYet here you sit next to me wanting my help.” This time they both laughed.
    â€œCan you two stop reliving playing Cowboys and Indians, and seeing who can swing higher on the swing while looking under each other’s dress, comparing dick size?” Once Suzie Q’s aggression radar went up, it was up. She was a bit pissed at Psalms for knowing other guns were going to be coming in the room, and he knew it.
    â€œQ, we good?” he asked.
    â€œFor now.” She glanced over her shades at Psalms, and then the bodyguards, before she gave Gabrielle Brandywine a stiff smile that resembled someone injected with an overload of Botox.
    Psalms and Suzie Q had forged a lucrative and successful security company. Complete trust in each other’s abilities and laying down all their personal demons and what they’d done in the past made them closer than conjoined twins in some ways. They hid nothing from each other, helping them to recognize one would cover for the other no matter what. They knew about each other’s dead bodies and where they were buried. Understanding everything was for the greater good, till death do they part, even taking all you know to the grave.
    Suzie Q and Tylowe knew Psalms Black’s lover. Psalms’ trusted friends, including Tylowe and his wife, Sterlin, Lois Mae, Ayman, Vanessa, Velvet, and a few select others, socialized with him and Gabrielle at his condo or at their homes.
    Right now they all acted like casual patrons. Psalms and Gabrielle made knowing eye contact as she ordered her food. Her bodyguards each took a table on each side of the door, but close to her. Two other bodyguards sat in the SUVs, observing the comings and goings. Other patrons smiled at her, but let her be. The bodyguards knew to cut off anyone who wanted to talk to her—as if she would want to talk about world affairs with strangers. She wanted to eat good barbecue, and talk with her hosts, and watch her man from a distance.
    An oldie came on, The Jackson 5’s “Lookin’ Through the Windows.” Gabrielle smiled at Psalms.
    Tylowe, Suzie Q, and Psalms finished their meals while debating about and finally agreeing on how to find and rescue the kids. Tylowe explained he could not let his stepdaughter have siblings living unprotected in a harsh world. He had saved Mia from Elliot, her biological father’s evil, and he had to do the same for her brother and sister.
    Tylowe said his goodbyes and started to leave, but stopped by