A coastal breeze brushed against Malachi's tepid cheeks as he stood in the senator's vacant office. The senator liked to feel the natural God-given climate while reading over pages and pages of bills for the budget committee. It reminded the senator of his youth, sitting on the steamy grass under the oak tree as the wind rustled through the pages of one of the books on his yearly reading list.

This was the office Malachi wished to inhabit one day, with the deep auburn-stained desk in the grandiose room with built-in bookcases and twin hazelnut leather chairs. Malachi just had to graduate from Dartmouth, get into Harvard Law School, pass the bar, and win the votes of his constituents. That's all!

Malachi leaned against the windowsill peering at the garden of orange lilies and blue cornflowers intermingling with verdant bushes around a pair of stone benches. With his nose drawing in the fresh air it wasn't enough to avoid the pungent stench of built-up cigar smoke. Malachi's damp hand gripped Alex's ankle monitor as the green light still gleamed since he was still in city limits.

"The Congressman is waiting on your call about his proposal." A woman divulged on the other side of the door.

Malachi rose to his feet. The Senator was back. The woman fairly attractive; in a khaki pencil skirt, red cotton V-neck shirt, black pumps, and a loose side braid draped over her shoulder walked in.

"Guests are supposed to sign in and wait in the lobby until I come back." She harked holding an iPad in a black leather case against her chest.

Malachi rushed over to her. "I wanted to talk to the Senator." He abruptly pushed the ankle monitor in the pocket of his shorts.

"Malachi my boy." The Senator cried. "I heard you were in town. It's a pleasure for you to stop by."

The Senator's brown eyes and rich black hair resembled the residue of charcoal left on your hands after starting the fire in a barbeque pit. Malachi had those eyes, Alex had those eyes—those were Lemen's eyes. The Senator walked with power in a navy suit clicking the sides of his maroon mug with the spoon as he stirred the sugar cubes in the hot coffee.

The woman wafted her eyes over Malachi's rich, smooth toffee complexion trying to see the similarities between the young man who stood before her and her boss.

Malachi gave the striking woman a lopsided smile and half-shrug, "They say we're family."

"We are!" The Senator told as he made his way to his expansive desk. "Lisa, this is my oldest brother's son. The governor's.... you know." He gesticulated

Lisa just nodded going along with her employer. She plucked her eyes from Malachi and placed them on the man who was in his forties, "I'm going to go make those calls about the education fund."

Roan nodded as he flipped through one of the many folders Lisa gave him on the way in.

Malachi took in Lisa's black eyes before advancing towards the door and a flare of passion radiated from her and evaded the room with the confidence of a jaguar in the Amazon. She enraptured his attention from that brief moment. He needed more of her, wanted more of her.

"She's here Monday through Friday every week." The Senator pointed out standing behind his desk rifling through the proposal he was already supposed to have read.

The Senator's modulated voice broke Malachi's trance the hypnotizing beauty put him in. Malachi looked away from the door. He hadn't spoken to the Senator since he graduated from Dawson.

Malachi pulled the ankle bracelet from his pocket and tossed it on the man's desk, "Alex is gone."

"What do you mean gone." Roan sat his smack the mug he had toted in the office, coffee sloshed on his pristine desk. "People just don't disappear in the ether." He lowered his eyes to the ankle monitor. "And how did he get out of that."

"I don't have answers to any of those things." Malachi stared straight into Roan's eyes. "I just need you to get your guy...Phil to find him before he gets into more trouble. Can you do that, at least?"

Roan rubbed across his neck with an exasperated sigh. "The Lemen Fourth of July Barbecue is in a couple of weeks. The entire family will be there. You'll meet everyone like you should have twenty years ago." His hand fell from his neck and he slipped it in his pant pocket. "You vow to come and I'll look for the troublesome boy."

"Are you trying to bargain with Alex's freedom, right now?" Malachi's gaze burned with indignation. "He's your nephew. I thought you Lemens were all about family." He air-quoted not fully believing the hype. "You should want to do this out of the kindness of your heart as his uncle."

Roan came from behind the desk. "I am—and I also want you to come to The Lemen Compound for the fourth out of the kindness of my heart."

"If you find Alex..." Malachi tsked loudly. He didn't want to commit it but he had to before police officers or parole officers stopped by his house to check on his brother. "We'll both be there."

"Good." Roan clapped his wide hands together thunderously. "I'll call Phil up and he'll get on it right way."

"Just so you know..." Malachi backed up toward the door. "I'm a Johnson---since birth! Just to make things clear."

Roan's thin lips curved up as he lowered himself in the tufted leather chair, "But you're a Lemen since conception." He winked at the young man. "Don't forget that.

Malachi's eyebrows drew together as he flung open the door, "Just hold up your end of the bargain."

"I will." Roan insisted grabbing the receiver to the phone on his desk.

Malachi strutted down the short hallway covered in white and green wallpaper. Lisa jumped and swiveled her chair back to her desk.

"Don't act like you weren't listening" Malachi proclaimed strolling up to Lisa's desk.

"I don't have to act. I was listening. You just startled me shooting the hallway like a rocket and all." Lisa explained scribbling an important message down on a neon pink post-it. "I've overheard many family discussions here but I've never been graced to hear one from the black sheep of the family. No pun intended."

Malachi smiled, "There are two black sheep in this family."

"Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Johnson." Lisa flirtatiously smirked picking up a folder from her exquisite desk.

"Call me Malachi." He smiled wider showing the crater of a dimple on his right cheek. "Mr. Johnson is my dad and I hope to see you soon."

Malachi was going to ask for her number, take her out on a candlelit dinner on Emerald Lane, take a walk on the beach, watch the tides roll in then seek pleasure in her secret garden. Then, never call her again. Hey, he didn't have time for a relationship; Dartmouth, Harvard Law, and votes of constituents remember.

It would be a dawg move but a brotha has needs. Unfortunately, she didn't seem like a one-nighter. If Gavin were here he would tell him any girl could be a one-nighter it all depended on how quickly you could forget her and lose her number. Sadly, he didn't want her as a one-nighter he wanted her to stay around a while so, he let the moment pass.

Lisa rolled the chair back, stood up, and grabbed an arm full of papers, "I'm sure he's going to mail that invitation out again so I'll give it four to five business days and we can play this little scene over again." She flashed a smile and turned down the hallway.

Malachi leaned over watching her strut down the hallway. If he only could be a dawg for one night, oh well he thought as he walked out of the office.

Do you think Phil will be able to find Alex?

Should Malachi open himself up to love and pursue something with Lisa?