TEN SECONDS , The Kenny Ackerman Story BOOK ONE~ ORIGINS ,by Melly O'Hara

FAMILY

CHAPTER 12 FAMILY

"Rod Reiss ordered you to kill Uri?" Jas asked, unbelievingly, her eyes wide.

"Nope. 'Tweren' Rod. One o' the other Reiss's! 'Sides, Rod don' have the guts ta be king - too fond o' his whores an' his good livin'!" I laughed, sarcastically. "That's why he let his little brother take the throne, 'nstead o' himself. An' that's why he'll 'ventually offer up one o' his brats ta inherit after Uri. He's a chicken-shit asshole o' the highest order, but he's not an assasin. Nah, the Reiss that hired me were the slimey ass-wipe, who's place I took on the King's Council; after he jus' sorta disappeared", I explained.

"So you're telling me that it's true - that you and Uri did become friends only because you literally tried to kill him? You've got to be kidding! And, how is it that I wasn't there; protecting him, along with his other guards? I don't believe this!" Jasper shook her head in disbelief. "And, why did you finally take the job, when you'd already decided AGAINST killing him, because you'd seen for yourself that he was, he is, a kind man? It doesn't make any sense!" Jasper continued, leaning back and looking me straight in the eyes, demanding answers.

I love it when she looks at me like that; so fearless an' jus' holds me to account. An' I know that no bullshit answer will get past her radar. I laughed an' she punched me in the arm.

"Stop laughing, Kenny! And answer me!" she said, the flush o' indignation in her cheeks.

I slung my arm 'round her shoulders an' pulled her close ta my chest, still laughin'.

"Aaahh, I love you Owl!" I chuckled.

She pulled back. "You......love me?" she whispered, her eyes wide an' soft.

"Oohhh......ohh... aahh... well.....umm.. You see ..uuuhh.. what I mean......aaaahhh... what I ment was....." I stammered, embarrased.

"Oooohh, No you don't Kenny Ackerman. Your bullshit won't wash here, not with me. You love me?" she asked, gently.

"Well... I .. aahh", I started, as I gazed 'round us.

Her hand slid ta my cheek, as she gently turned my face ta hers; an' our eyes met.

"Yeah, I do", I whispered.

"I love you too, Kenny" she answered in a voice as warm an' gentle as a Summer's day.

My heart seemed ta burst, an' for one glorious minute; everythin' seemed ta make sense. There were no more questionin' or hunger for more. The world o' a sewer filled with rats, were gone. An' instead it were replaced with a blindin' light o' truth.

I kissed her for the first time; softly, then with a furious, greedy intensity filled with the love I had been guardin' inside me for so long, that were now allowed ta breathe. Her face were flushed an' glowin' in the moonlight, an' I finally understood why the poets an' the troubadors wrote o' love. It were for this. For these moments. An' that's why she told me earlier ta believe in love. 'Cause no matter what were to come in the future, there would always be this moment.

"I still haven't forgotten", she sassed me breathlessly. "You need to explain what you said about Uri", her eyes gently challengin' me, but misty with love.

I cleared my throat, but unwillin' ta end the moment; pulled her close ta me, engulfin' her in my embrace, existin' in the warmth o' her, breathin' in the scent o' her, as my unshaven cheek nuzzled inta her soft hair.

"Well", I began, my voice muffled inside her hair, " I don' rightly know where you were, but surely ya've noticed that AFTER Uri became king, he started ridin' out without ya all protectin' him al the time, an' that sometimes it were jus' him an' his brother, Rod Reiss that were out tagether? Didn' that never occur ta ya as strange? Like, surely, he'd be in MORE danger bein' the King, than he were as the heir? After all, there were more than one heir, but only one King. An' yet, after becomin' king he rode out with even less protection 'an before?" I quizzed her.