A Very Hero New Year - Chapter 3

Here's the unedited Chapter 3 of A Very Hero New Year. I don't know about the rest of you, but I needed to write lots of things with a happy ending this year.

------------------------------

Aisha Franklin’s phone vibrated on the side table. She sighed and hit the pause button on the remote. Dang it. Her son went down without a fuss, and she and Rey were cuddled on the couch, watching a sci-fi movie, after a horrible interview with a potential associate.

“It’s late. You could let it go to voicemail,” her husband said.

She picked up the phone and checked the caller ID. “It’s Harri, and she’s not pounding on the door and waking Mitch. So I will be civil and answer her.”

She flicked the answer icon on her smart phone. “What’s wrong, girl? You still pissed about the interview.”

“This isn’t about the jackass. Turn on the Action 12! News twenty-four-hour channel.” Harri sighed. “Your brother-in-law is on camera doing something he shouldn’t be doing in public.”

“Please be drunk, Steve,” Aisha whispered as she switched from the movie streaming service to the news channel. “Please be drunk.”

Sure enough, Ted Meadowfield’s voice spoke over the amateur video onscreen. “…unknown super rescued a jumper. We haven’t been able to reach anyone at Canyon Pointe University for comment, but according to the law school’s website, the student council scheduled a post-finals party tonight at the Margaret Jackson Patio on the roof of the Hardwick Building which houses the law school. Ted Meadowfield. Action 12! News.”

The camera switched back to Brian Mason, the backup evening anchor, at the studio. “Thank you, Ted. We’ll be updating this story throughout the night as more information comes in. We’ll be back with this week’s weather report after these short messages from our sponsors.”

Rey mumbled a few choice obscenities as he scowled at the screen.

“Have you spoken with Steve yet?” Aisha asked her law partner.

“No,” Harri answered. “What do I tell him? Especially after Rey saved my ass in the same manner before he registered? That Steve should have let the kid splatter on the concrete?”

“Put it on speaker.” Rey gestured at Aisha’s phone. She tapped the appropriate icon. “Harri, do you want me to head down to the school and pick up Steve?”

“We do not need Black Falcon pulled into this mess,” Harri snapped.

“I was going to take the minivan,” Rey said dryly. “We registered it in Aisha’s name only for a reason. It’s not going to raise as many questions if an attorney picks up a client who accidentally outed himself.”

“If we’re going that route, I should be the one who goes to retrieve him,” Aisha murmured.

“What about Steve’s truck?” Tim’s voice crackled through the speaker.

Aisha exchanged a look with her husband. When Miguel Esperanza, their building manager replaced his work truck, Steve had bought the ancient red pickup because he didn’t want to stand out among the students at the law school. She knew exactly how the other students regarded the trust-fund babies, even though Steve’s adoptive parents were new money, not old like Harri and Tim’s families.

“I’ll grab Emilio,” Rey said. “I’ve got Steve’s spare keys.”

“Then go,” Harri said. “Aisha and I will brainstorm some damage control.”

“Can you please come over here?” Aisha asked.

“I wasn’t going to make you wake Mitch and bring him across the hall,” Harri grumbled. “Come over to our loft and bring the baby monitor with you so I don’t wake him.”

Aisha chuckled. “You plan on getting loud?”

“Not on purpose.”

“I’ll be over in a minute.” Aisha tapped the icon to end the call.

Rey kissed her before he rose from the couch. “I’ll go get my shoes and keys. We’ll finish our movie tomorrow night.”

But something deep inside said Aisha would never see the end of the movie until she and Rey returned from Paris next December.