Hotel Monteleone

On the streets two weeks prior, James had encountered Remy by chance. The two had shared a small chat when all of the sudden they heard gunshots fired in the distance, in haste James had hurried over to find his brother, afraid what might have happened to him as the sound had clearly come from his direction. Once he arrived, he found Liam lying severely wounded on the floor, Remy, Kim, Clayton and Andrei witnessed the scene and tried to help him, but Andrei couldn`t, it was too late. It didn`t get any better when a group of Acer`s thugs stormed in threatening with violence, unless James told them what had happened to the supplies Liam had stolen.

From there on it escalated, Andrei got shot in the leg while questioned and once James in rage acted in defense, thinking they had killed his brother, he killed two of the thugs without thinking about the consequences. Clayton got stabbed in the shoulder and Kim got shot in the back, the two remaining threats were dealt with, but in the end Kim would die from the gunshot at Colette`s place.

Luckily James was allowed to come with the others to the apartments, where he got to know a few, especially Remy who had taken the time to talk to him. In surprise he also discovered Colette was still alive, the two had known each other back in the day when they went to College and their relationship had been a passionate one. For reasons unknown until recently explained, she left him in Baton Rouge, to be with her mother in New Orleans after the death of her father.

Now years later they were once again reconnected, and somehow James still had feelings for her. The two had shared a heated moment once or twice since they came to her place, but after the incident with Kim things had stopped. Nor did it get any better knowing she was in a relationship of sort with both Cade and Acer, it made him feel sick and awkward. Colette had blamed him for all the trouble recently, for breaking the peace, for the death of Kim and one of her men.

James had trouble settling in and for the most part he had stayed alone, grieving in his own way, about his brother, Kim and everything else. It had begun to weigh heavy on him, but to keep himself occupied he had tried to fix things the way he knew best. As a carpenter he had repaired several things that needed attention, such as keeping the place safe from intruders. He hoped his efforts would not go unnoticed and that Colette perhaps could forgive what had happened.

While the others were just about to wake up, James was already awake constructing things in the courtyard. Recently he had been working on building a watchtower close to the outer brick wall; which would provide them better view in discovering approaching threats. To get up one had to climb the ladder, and on top people could stand on a plateau to scout things ahead. He even had built a roof and a closed railing around it to minimal the risk of getting shot at.

“Finally, it’s done.” With the last wooden board hammered in place, James stood up on the roof and whipped the sweat of his forehead. He climbed down the watchtower and went to look at what he made, his project was complete and it was looking great. A sense of pride and joy fell over him, but he didn`t seek others praise for it. All he wanted was to contribute and make things safer, there were also a lot of other projects he had in mind and in the moment he almost forgot all the negativity that had surrounded him as of late.