Chapter 5

"Roses, roses, roses."

I'm astounded at how similar of a tune it was to the chanting of the word 'loosies.' A mixture of poor parenting, inability to scale that last fence, leading to their third strike, ten years lost in the system. Then, at 11:04 a.m., you find yourself, forty-five years old, yelling 'Roses' outside on a random city block. I saw his whole life in an instant, the saddest part is, I thought of buying roses for Aries.

I should cherish this passion more before the dribble of monotony rears its ugly head. Before the bed rocking is replaced with boredom. Before we start to hate each other, and ponder over "what-could-have-been'. Like everything else in the universe, the star falls, the mystery uncovers, and the puzzle is solved. What then But, sometimes, the disconnect is needed. Anger can sharpen the eyes, where infatuation dulls it. Things get…cloudy.

The sun captured the best features on her face as she laid in bed, me standing near the window, looking out into the world. Last night was a mistake. But the best mistake of my life. It was novice lovemaking, but the Don Fuego and emotion proved powerful enough to satisfy us both. Being inside her felt familiar.

I was happy I woke up first, I think if she did, regret would overtake last night's exploration of two lonely bodies. In reality, that's just my confidence seeping through the floor, I have trust issues like I said. Maybe I should leave before she wakes Place a rose and note on her dresser, something poetic like 'Let's meet again at The Red Wagon.'

Too late, she woke up while I ruminated. To my surprise, her eyes met me lovingly. She sat up and stretched, the sight made me want to ravish her again. Maybe she would let me It's true what they say when you don't go looking for something…

"Dimitri, what time is it"

"A little past eleven. You sleep ok"

"I had like three dreams. The first one, I was some space explorer, cryogenically frozen, and you woke me up four thousand years in the future. You said 'Everything is better now', put a ring on my finger, and then cried like a baby. The second one was short, I dreamt that we fooled around. That's it. You were…ok. Well, the dream you. Not the you you. And the last one I can't remember at all. I think I was a talking hamburger."

"You…dreamt that we fooled around"

"Yea, ha, imagine that. Us having sex"

"Imagine that…" my words fell apart, mimicking my marshmallow heart.

"I see why they call you captain obvious. Come here and kiss me, morning breath and all. Futile is resistance, or whatever Yoda would say." a splash of masculinity re-entered her speech. This time I didn't care, and I complied immediately.

Later…

I looked at the subway map, the multi-colored lines over sand-colored terrain, resembling a four-year-old drawing on the wall with crayons. Baby Pollock. Aries slept under my arm as we headed to brunch, bobbing up and down from the moving subway car. Instead of sleeping, I stared at a bum sitting across from us, drawing something on his cardboard box. A poorman's Salvador Dali. He flipped it to show me his masterpiece. A crude drawing of a stick figure me stuck on an island with a big tentacle thing in the water. Weirdo.Lucky bum, this is my stop.

One tote too many, burned my lips a bit, standing in front of the brunch spot, my mind wandered. Thirty minutes wait time, thirty white people inside eating quietly. Who's not going to smoke with so much time to fill Then it struck me like lightning.

"You've been invited, they reached out to me," I sped out to Aries, watching her lips part to display the widest smile imaginable. Sadly it wasn't enough to change my mood. I was faux-happy that she was happy, but my gut was hungry, and my smile never surfaced.

"So it's real" she replied.

"Feels like we're joining a cult."

"And we get to be together."

I hadn't thought about that part, especially since it'll be her, Helen, and I together. If you threw up on a canvass, the end result would be how I pictured that gathering. Pure chaos. Plus Helen is an older black woman, decided I'd drop that mind trip on you now. You probably pegged her Caucasian, shame on you.

"Where at What time" she inquired.

"I don't know yet. It was very 'need-to-know-basis,' but I suspect another call soon."

"Wow, The Black Horse knows about us."

Somehow that minor detail slipped my mind. The Black Horse, let me fill you in. The Black Horse is an underground community, a site, and chat room on the darknet. They are a growing hacktivist group aimed at the African-American agenda. They've already pulled several stunts and hacks, from politics to local police, to the president. They are boundless, fearless, forward-thinking, our version of the black panthers via the interwebs. Recently they even posted some cryptic messages that some could deem to be 'terroristic,' focusing on a growing white supremacy movement known as the 'Alt-right.' Let me clean that one up, they're not just anti-black, the Alt-right streamlines many absurdities, such as 'white victimhood,' and 'white genocide,' even immigration.It's all written somewhere, but nobody reads.

I don't remember how I found 'The Black Horse,' marijuana thrashed my short-term memory. No timestamps or anything, no evidence of when my alliance began. Like an old friend that you've forgotten the first interaction with, it may have even come to me in a dream.

Aries and I frequent their chat rooms, agreed on certain tactics and listened in for news, leaks, information. Sometimes even to assist in their targets. A young white cop once raped an underage black girl in his patrol car, we singlehandedly released his malicious sex tape on social media. Silly him, did he think phones couldn't be hacked Or that the facial recognition database didn't contain half of all U.S. adults

Past few weeks, they'd been hinting at a 'Meet the horsemen' gathering. Mind you, the following isn't small, easily in the thousands. How they found Helen, Aries, and I is a mystery. Remember, we're off the grid, we don't upload pictures of ourselves eating breakfast with an inspiring hashtag that has nothing to do with eggs and bacon. Helen is the biggest shock though, I remember spying on her typing a document with one finger.

"Did they drop a name"

"Zeus."

"I believe 'Zeus' is a hub name."

"Hub name" I retorted, genuinely confused.

"It's the overall name for the leader at that time, but every few months or so, there is a new Zeus. God only know how many leaders they had so far."

"You mean alias"

"That's what I said."

"No, you said hub name. Hub as in a focal point, the central part of a wheel, nucleus."

"You knew what I meant."

"If I knew what you meant, why…" I let that last sentence trail to nothingness.

I'm not sexist, but the woman is always right. Don't argue, that's how you get cancer. Every disease came from a headstrong husband arguing with his wife in the midnight hour. The bubonic plague, rickets, all of it. Remember that.

"Mr. Davenport Party of two" the waiter called out.

"Yes."

He walked us to our seat. Upon introduction, the over-friendly waiter shared a forced handshake with me. A tightly folded piece of paper traveled from his hand to mine. I grasped it, half curious, half captivated.

"My name is Apollo," slight inflection on his name.

The soup du jour never reached my ears, I blocked it out, still under the mystical spell of our exchange. I couldn't wait for him to leave to check the note. I refrained from eye contact. Somehow he gained power over me, a secret we shared, there's a minor intimacy in that. Aries vaulted her googley eyes all over him, not from his looks, but because she was still happy. Men, we interpret the signs wrong; we always think without us, women are miserable.

The graveyard of chicken bones piled on Aries plate. Small pyramids of poultry.Who eats chicken wings at brunchDrunk hunger will do that, halfway to her request for a third mimosa. I had to slip away from her. I didn't want to, but inquisitiveness possessed me.

"Gotta drain the lizard."

She didn't even stop eating to acknowledge my departure. She just waved a chicken leg at me, half-eaten. In the bathroom, there were emerald and cream tiles sprawled on the walls, with white pearl sinks. Classy with a touch of terrible design. I don't remember being in bathrooms this ugly and elegant. Well, I splurged for this place, Aries and all. The stall doors were vacant of 70's hairband stickers, no 'Call Nicole for a good time' Sharpee'd on the walls. I unfolded my first clue.

"40.771133 + -73.974187"

What the hell is that A calculus equation My rudimentary arithmetic conjured a headache. Unbeknownst to myself, when numbers stress my body, it responds with bowel movements. Ten minutes later, I returned to the table. Aries was content, with a full stomach displaying in her mannerisms.

"You didn't even touch your food," the words soared like a melody.How does she do that

"I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was. I'll take it to go."

It was like he read my mind, Apollo sprang up near me, uncomfortably close.

"No worries, I'll take care of that. And the check"

"Yea, let's get out of here, go to the park or something," answered Aries.

Apollo looked at me, his handsome face, white teeth, not one stain of nicotine on them, football player physique, and made for TV smile, all of it, enraged me.

"I'll be right back with the check," Apollo cheered as he exited. I watched him walk away.

"Why are you looking like that"

I broke my concentration.Should I tell AriesMaybe later, let me process it first.

"He looked like someone I went to school with, that's all. Sorry for acting weird. So the park, huh Saturday in the park, sounds like an old movie," I countered, plastic smile and all.

"Actually, it sounds like a song by Chicago. But whatever, we could go back to my place."

The tips of her toes landed straight on my crotch, grazed it so slightly that my knee hit the table.When did she take her shoes offMy glass of water took the fall, the essence of life spilling everywhere.

"You klutz!" she laughed hard.

I soaked it up with napkins, feeling flustered, confused. Everything gave me a detective vibe all of a sudden. Between Apollo and Aries intoxicated in 'love-mode', I didn't know where I was. This wasn't my life. I'm the weirdo, half-loner, the 'white-black' kid. Forty-eight hours was all it took for me to acquire a secret meeting, a girl, and now, puzzle pieces. It all looked good, felt good, but in that too good to be true style. Aries calmed me down.

"This is me being clingy. You never seen me this girly before. Let's just enjoy the ride. I was crying yesterday, today, you make me smile brighter than the sun. I'm not trying to smother you, you know me. I'm notthatgirl. But, I know what I want…I want to spend more time with you. Today, maybe tomorrow There's still some Don Fuego left."

"There is" my old-self came back with a vengeance.

"Here's the check, hope you enjoyed your stay. I looked you guys out," Apollo smirked, upon his gracious return to my life.

"Oh, thank you," replied Aries, as she eagerly snatched the check.

"Till next time, I hope you'll come back to 'The Achilles Heel', tomorrow is Sangria Sundays."

"Apollo's strength was akin to a twig. It would only take two hands to break him"