LETHAL BRIDE
EPISODE 21
(BRUCE)
BY BRABAR AUSTIN
Brian noticed his stare “Do I look out of place?”. Easton shook his head “No you don’t”
Crystal wasn’t in any way finding this funny. She wondered if Bruce came back from the dead to haunt them.
She never believed in ghost or any thing related to the after world, but with what she was seeing, she believed. If this wasn’t Bruce then it had to be his twin, but she remembered him say that the guy she killed at the club was his only family.
She watched Easton and noticed how he concealed his shock like a pro. Brian winked at her and faced Easton
“Your girlfriend is really something” “explain”
“I mean she is drop dead gorgeous”
“Oh thank you, but she isn’t my girlfriend, she’s just like a sister to me”.
Brian smiled. “Then in that case, a brother is interested”
Crystal gave him the “don’t you dare” look and folded her arms.
Easton cleared his throat and sipped from the glass in his hand, “well, errrrrr, I could allow her keep you company this night, when I say this night I mean in this casino and not on your bed”.
There was an awkward silence for few seconds until Brian looked at the straight faced Crystal, “so shall we?”
She looked at Easton “you really do permit this?”
“Yep”, she pulled him aside “how can I possibly chat with the man I murdered? Every time I look at him I see bullets flying into his head and it makes me sick, please don’t do this”, Easton placed his hand on her shoulder “look, just pretend everything is fine and get to know him, it might just be a look alike or a sibling who knows nothing of us
killing Bruce, it happens all the time, so don’t freak out, take a deep breath and have a
beautiful evening, don’t worry my eyes are everywhere nothing bad will happen to you. And make sure every discussion should be right here, do you understand?”
She nodded and walked towards Brian.
“I see you have a very protective big brother, I wouldn’t blame him, you are like a goddess and every man with blood flowing in his veins would want to have a piece of you”
She smiled.
He stretched his hand she took it then turned back to look at Easton, he gave her the ok
sign and resumed his fun.
Brian took her away from the crowded side, he spotted an empty couch and he led her to it, they both sit simultaneously.
She looked really tense and couldn’t look at him in the eye, he noticed this and smiled with the corner of his mouth, “I don’t bite miss, loosen up and be free, it’s just going to be a
conversation and not an interrogation”
“I am not tensed, I really don’t like the casino that much”
“Okay then, I could take you to a different place, but we have to take your big brother’s permission”.
She remembered Easton’s instruction. “Nope, I will be fine here”
“Ok then, if you say so. But come to think of it, Easton your supposed big brother readily allowed you to spend an evening with a strange person, is that how much he trust’s people”
“Believe me when I say this, for him to allow you spend the evening with me shows there is something tremendously different about you. Tell me about yourself”
“Why don’t you start first”
“I asked first”.
“Alright”. He started talking about himself, she watched him and saw Bruce in him. He stopped talking and looked at her “why are you looking at me in a funny way.
She regained herself and blinked severally “sorry I got carried away, I noticed you didn’t
talk about your family”
“Oh yea, there is nothing much to talk about on that aspect”
“Are you a twin”, suddenly an aura of sadness came over him.
“I was a twin but not anymore, we found his body in his apartment and that was after my elder brother died. We never really got along up to our adulthood, we didn’t even speak to each other, he hated my guts and I hated his.
That was really strange for twins, I know most twins always have a bond but ours’ was different, we fought over every little thing. When he died that’s when I knew I loved him, sometimes I wish I had the power to control time. I would take it to when we were little and start all over again”
A pang of guilt hit her, but she didn’t allow it to show.
“I’m sorry to hear that. What was his name?”
“His name was Ben, Benjamin”. She realized Bruce lied about his name.
“I think he was involved in a shady deal and that got him killed, Benjamin had always
been the lawless one”.
“I’m sorry for your loss” she simply said.
“Okay enough about me, tell me about yourself” “Well, I …….” Her cell phone beeped, she took it out of her purse and saw a message from Easton telling her to meet him by the car. She
sprang up “it was nice knowing you Brian”
He looked confused “you are already leaving?. Can I have your contact atleast”.
She shook her head “no you can’t and this might be the last time we see”. With that she took quick strides out of the casino.
***************
She met Easton holding a stick of cigarette in his hand and puffing out smoke from his
mouth slowly. “So what did you find out?”
“First of all he is not Bruce, he is Bruce twin and again Bruce lied to me about his name, his
real name was Benjamin”
“Okay that’s relieving”
“So what do we do?”
“What do you mean by what do we do? You simply stay away from Brian and let the chapter end”
“Alright”.
“Let’s go home”. Easton got behind the wheels as she hopped into the car, she was eager to leave. Bruce, Benjamin, Brian, whatever, she was leaving the B family behind.
Easton inhaled the air and for the first time he perceived the cologne she wore
“What cologne is that?, it smells really good” “Oh, thank you, I am wearing a Clive Christian Imperial Majesty, a fragrance made for royalty alone”.
“That’s way too expensive Crystal”
“Well, it’s my money I do what I want to do with it, what’s really expensive is talking to the twin of the man we killed, that’s expensive”.
Easton turned to her and smiled “but you concealed your emotions properly”
“Yea right”. She relaxed more on the chair as they zoomed off towards home.
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