An Ember's Touch

Differences

 Sebastian sipped on his coffee, calmly watching the road as his mind was bottled back in his bedroom. The way that woman felt in his hands, he wanted more. He settled his coffee on the hood of the and picked up his new pack of cigarettes. He’d woken up Kassandra with pancakes and coffee while they went over their deal: accompany him to a friend’s wedding and also when needed till the end of the month. He’d keep it simple—for now. He ripped the wrapper off, trying his best not to think about how quiet the house was after she left. Not even Hunter was rummaging around, which surprised him a little. He was used to scolding the twenty-year-old to stop stealing his syrup from the pantry, knowing it’s going to feel weird when he finally moves out. He chewed on his lip and narrowed his eyes at a sudden motion, spotting three SUVs coming down the backroad. He pulled one out and settled the pack back down, picking his phone up to check the time. It was going on nine-thirty. Sebastian wasn’t too upset about the timing, just wishing that he slept in longer till the afternoon like he usually did. But he would gladly blame it on this little business rather than Kassandra’s presence. He settled his phone face down next to his coffee and lit up his cigarette, watching the vehicles pull off and parked in the gravel. Sebastian took a slow, long drag as the driver’s side of the first SUV opened and watched Nate getting out. Nate was wearing acid-washed green baggy jeans and a neon blue hoodie, along with a black baggy beanie. If Sebastian trusted anyone to find someone for him, it was Nate. Tech-savvy bastard. The bright colors screamed hipster nerd but Sebastian and the others knew well enough Nate knew how to handle a gun. He danced his toothpick around in his mouth as he squinted over at him then nodded.“How’s your morning going So far?”

“Could be better.” Sebastian announced, popping his knuckles and scanned over the other two vehicles. He preferred no brutal business, not till two that is. But here we were. “How was your search?” He rose a brow at Nate who stepped backwardS to the rear passenger door.

“Found some s**t this morning.” Nate snorted and opened the back door, stepping away. A man suddenly flopped out and hit the gravel back first. The man had his wrist duck taped and his ankles tied off with dura cord rope. He groveled into the gravel till he squinted and found Sebastian sitting on the hood of his Jeep Gladiator, resting his elbows on his knees. His apparel this morning consists of dark denim jeans, a Volcom hoodie, a flat bill hat, and white converse. He bounced his right leg once and took a drag. He appeared to have nothing intimidating to him from public eyes, but it was a different story to the people he was looking for. His face, his eyes let alone, was good enough to have him watch their souls leave their body for a second. “Edgar Evan’s at your service.”

Edgar’s goosebumps came, quickly stuttering over his words. He struggled to roll to his side. “H-h-h-hey, Sebastian. My man! How’s it been?”

Sebastian’s shoulders sank a little and exhaled long. Nate rolled his eyes, jerking the man up to his feet and shoved him forward. “He wasn’t too hard to find. Passed out in his living room next to a pile of coke and a bitch.”

“Hey, that’s my wife!” The man glared at him, Nate shoving him forward by his head. 



“No apologies.” Nate enthusiastically smiled and followed him, Sebastian gently rolling his cigarette between his fingers as he took the man in. Edgar stood just a little shorter than Nate’s chin, the top of his head was shiny bald as the sides were starting to thin. His soft blue eyes were slightly bloodshot, going bugged eyed when he stumbled a little when Nate shoved him harder. The man was more on the heavy side, Sebastian mentally questioning himself why this guy always wore a button-up Hawaiian shirt when he saw him. Sebastian grimaced at the sight of the sweaty man then lightly nodded to Nate. Nate smirked and stopped himself, without hesitation he kicked Edgar in the back of the legs. The man hollered and fell to his hands and knees. He gritted his teeth in pain and was quick to whip around to see Nate had a gun pointed right at him. “Try anything and you lose an ear.” He nodded his gun and parted his feet more. By how relaxed he was with slipping his free hand into his jean pocket, Edgar quickly remembered this wasn’t their first rodeo. Edgar forced himself to calm down, breathing through flared nostrils and glared at the gravel. 



Sebastian calmly cleared his throat which got his attention. “How I been? Just dandy, I’m still out about…” he counted his fingers and tipped his chin up. “Ah, that’s right! Still 75,000 grand from that backwater casino you run.”

Edgar perked up, standing on his knees and held his hands up. “Charolette will get big, Sebastian. You just have to wai-”

“I’m not waiting for another four f*****g months.” Sebastian rested his fist against his temple and flicked his ash over his knee. With little movement, he checked to make sure he didn’t ash on his converse “And then, I get word someone is rummaging around in my warehouses last night.” His eyes drifted passed them and nodded to the first car, a man who in the passenger pulled his phone out. Sebastian took a long drag as Edgar heard a distant car door open then shut hard, Sebastion’s eyes moved first to spot Hunter shoving a younger male forward. With a small nod and smile, Hunter grabbed the male’s wrist restraint and swept his legs back and out from underneath him. It sent the guy face-first into the ground like a sack of potatoes, Edgar grunted at the sight of his employee. Sebastian spoke coldly. “Care to explain why your employees are sneaking around my place?”

Edgar weakly laughed and whipped around back to him. “Okay, t-t-this is not what it looks like. This is all a misunderstanding.”

Nate abruptly jabbed the gun in the back of his head with the barrel, making Edgar grimace and stiffen. Nate pulled him back to sit back on his feet, spatting it off. “Yeah, then what should it look like?”

“I’m feeling generous this morning.” Sebastian exhaled, brushing his cigarette off the bottom of his converse. All four them now looked when he slid off the hood, both Nate and Hunter more intently. He called to Hunter whom pulled the kid to sit back on his knees and jerked his head back by his hair. “I had a good night last night so you get to pick who gets to live: You or the kid.” Sebastian slipped the half-smoked cigarette back into his pack, noticing there were already two others that were half-smoked. He smirked at his bad habit and slipped it into his back pocket. 



Edgar scoffed then his voice cracked. “I-I-I can’t do that!”

Sebastian took a couple gulps from his coffee then settled it back on the hood. He pulled out his custom-designed gun from the back of his pants, ignoring Edgar’s panic as he unclipped the safety and glanced over the silencer. He made sure it was loaded, yet he couldn’t help but picture Kassandra’s naked body as he unloaded into her last night. Good times. He laughed hard this morning at her doubt of getting pregnant during her first time, sending her on her way with a Plan B pill. Half of him wished she was still naked in his bed when he got back. Then he would gladly cancel all his plans for the day. But he knew that was all good to be true. He held his gun up and enthusiastically grinned at Edgar who instantly shuddered, knowing that look. “Here. I’ll make it easier for ya’.” Without hesitation, he aimed and shot the kid in the shoulder. The kid spun around from the impact and hit the ground, instantly screaming in agony. He then aimed and shot Edgar in the right knee, watching the man buckle over into the gravel and scream too into the ground. “With that done.” Sebastian announced out-loud, slowly making his way over. “Who gets to live from their punishment, Eddy?” 



Nate jerked Edgar to sit back up and gripped his gun tighter. Sebastian squatted down and tilted his head to the side, whispering it. “The boy who tried to break into my funds or the man who already owes me funds.” He blinked, emotionless. He then raised his voice that it made Edgar flinch. “Be selfish or selfless, Eddy. It’s not that hard!” 



Edgar gritted his teeth, yelling it. “It’s f*****g har-!”

With a second, Sebastian had the silencer shoved into Edgar’s mouth. Sebastian’s grey eyes were brewing up a hurricane within them, raising a cold brow. He listened to the kid whimpering off in the distance, forcing himself to exhale smoothly. Keep calm or you’re gonna f**k up. For a second, he got a horrid flashback that gave him goosebumps and put his stomach in one big knot. He slowly turned the gun sideways, whispering it under his breath. “Ya’ know…I had to bite down on a gun once.” Edgar gawked up at him with glassy, pleading eyes. “Bite it or die a p***y, that’s what she told me.” He nodded, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. He ignored it and flexed his fingers, trying to keep calm though his heart was beginning to race faster with anticipation. After a moment of listening to Edgar’s quick breathing, Sebastian had to relax his index finger since he felt his trigger happy itch was coming on. He would be more than happy to finally get this piece of s**t off his watchlist. “I also heard you been harassing a few lady friends of ours.” He leaned in closer, Edgar was quick to deny by shaking his head. 



Sebastian huffed and gently shook his head, standing up and tilted Edgar’s head up with the silencer. “How disappointing…can’t even admit it at the end of everything.”

“And the kid?” Hunter announced.

Sebastian’s cold stare clawed deeper into Edgar’s soul, “He gets to watch this…learn what happens when you cross a line with me again.” Edgar clamped his eyes tight, Sebastian watching the tears stream down his cheeks as the man started to break down crying. He softly called Nate who retracted his gun to his shoulder and stepped back. He pulled his toothpick out and watched Sebastian who slowly smiled and rose a wicked playful brow. Now, Sebastian’s eyes were bright with excitement. Nate had seen this side of his best friend too many times, too many times it no longer phased him nor did he feel little pity for those who were going up against him. Nate calmly glanced over at Hunter who too wasn’t phased by what was going on whatsoever, otherwise was also watching Sebastian.

“So Edgar…are you going to bite the gun or what?”











“You’re in a generous mood.” 



“Like I said, good night.” Sebastian wiped his silencer gun down, Nate leaning against the side of the trunk bed and watched Hunter kick Edgar’s limp body off the railing. A couple of the other boys and him leaned over it to watch and began laughing. Sebastian settled the piece into the duffle bag and went into his pocket, retrieving his phone to see it was an image from Kassandra. His heart thumped harder, quickly opening it to see her in a changing room in a slim fit white dress that complimented her curves. Her text was simple yet it mentally aroused him in seconds:

9:55 a.m. Acceptable?

He made a small muffled noise, eager to race off without another word to find her and f**k her. But he retained himself for now, rather answering with the opposite:

10:15 a.m. Sunday southern bell style. I won’t rip that kind of dress off





“Bastry got a girlfriend?” Nate smirked, watching his best friend intently eyeball his phone like it was a freshly grilled steak.

“Not on your life.” He muttered, seeing that she read it. “Balter lost that bet but struck me a deal, he sent his sister over to my place lat night.”

“Kassandra, right?” Nate whistled, getting his full attention then. He pushed off the truck and smiled at the vast canyon scenery past the guards. “Man, I wanted to rail her back in high school. Ya’ know she was in volleyball, right?” He now fantasized. 



For a moment, so did Sebastian. He pictured Kassandra in short shorts and a tight shirt, squatting down. Shaking it out of his mind, he groaned and shifted. “You’re a manwhore, ya’ know that?”



Nate slipped his hand into his hoodie pockets and grinned at the gravel. “What’s our plan now, Captian?”

“Stop by that AIDS of a place, find the papers of ownership.” Sebastian slipped his phone back into his pocket. “We’re gonna need to transfer names before anyone finds out old Eddy boy here who took a tragic tumble over a guard rail. Remember to grab his car later tonight and drive it off the cliff.” He nodded to the railing. “Dank’s stopping by Momma’s house. on his way home.”

“Fun fun in the sun.” Nate turning to the sound of the guys laughing, seeing the boys were crowded around something. The circle opened up a little bit enough to see the boy from earlier took a wild swing on Hunter moving out of the way and laughed as the kid stumbled forward then turned around and got right hooked square in the cheekbone. The boy staggered back and bounced his head off the car, collapsing to the ground. Sebastian watched the kid lay there breathing heavily while Nate snorted and turned more to them. “Fire in this one, huh?” 



“Since you’re so tough, I’ll give you a souvenir.” Hunter pulled a knife from his back pocket and flicked it out, grabbing the kid by his hair and jerked his head up.

Sebastian’s heart lurched to his throat when he suddenly recognized the kid just as Hunter started to move his knife to the kid’s throat. s**t. He immediately picked up his gun and shot into the sky, making everyone look to him. Fury fumed in his chest when the kid gritted his teeth but squinted at him, grimacing. Sebastian slammed his gun down on the tailgate and stormed over. What the f**k was he doing working for Edgar? What the f**k was he doing trying to break into my warehouse? Hunter and the others got the hefty vibe, Hunter releasing the kid and stepped back. The kid groaned and flopped back against the car where he started to slide back to the ground. In one fluid movement, Sebastian ripped the kid by his collar up to his feet and slammed him against the SUV’s passenger door. The kid growled in agony and clamped his eyes shut, Sebastian leaning in and whispered it huskily under his breath. “Please f*****g entertain me, Spencer and tell me why the f**k is my cousin working for a low life like Edgar Evans?”

The kid groaned, “This is a generous morning to you?”

Sebastian gave props to his family’s sarcasm, pressing his forearm into Spencer’s throat and held his free hand back. He raised his voice. “Hunter, give your knife.” 



“Alright, alright, alright.” Spencer’s eyes flew open and shot his hands up when he watched Sebastian get it, “I need the extra money. Charlie doesn’t know since the casino doesn’t run in his jurisdiction but yours.” He gulped. “Please don’t tell my dad, Sebastian.”

Sebastian tapped his collar bone with the blade and nodded, looking over his red cheekbone. Besides the good bruise to form from Hunter, he knew he was gonna be dead when his uncle found out that he shot his cousin. This day was going smoothly…fuck. “Don’t instigate my boys again.” He muttered softly, tapping Spencer’s nose with the tip of the blade then pointed it at him. “You’re lucky I recognized you or you’d be bleeding out right now.” He flicked the knife shut and handed it back, “What were you doing trying to break into my warehouse?”

“Edgar said he needed a little bit more money, said he’d give me a share if I came back with enough.”



Piece of s**t. Sebastian pulled his arm off and stepped back, he watched Spencer buckle over and cough. He yelled for Nate, Nate coming over. “Take him to Kinita’s. He’s one of Charlie’s.” He muttered, storming past him and over to his truck. “Hunter take a few with you to meet up with Dank. Who knows how much help he needs.” He grabbed the duffle bag and slammed the tailgate shut, cursing under his breath. Now I have to make time out of my day to clear things up with Spencer. He tossed the duffle bag into the passenger seat and slammed the door, he quickly started it and sped off. About two miles down the road, he slapped the wheel and screamed in profanity.