ZODIAC
I couldn’t deny to myself how much I had missed Elle in my bed. She crashed around eleven after eating chips and watching ESPN. I noticed how she couldn’t settle down until Sutter had been asleep for a while. Elle loved her boy so much that it made me feel a little guilty to keep them apart.
The next morning, Elle struggled to wake up and get moving.
I didn’t help her fatigue by offering a morning fuck that left her wanting a nap.
The only way to coax her sleepy ass out of bed was to mention Sutter was already at Exile and Nova’s former house.
Elle finally got up, so we could help York move into his place.
I watched her tie two braids into her blonde hair while sliding on her sandals. She wore a goofy outfit with blue knee-length basketball shorts and a yellow oversized Arkansas zoo T-shirt.
“Are you planning to spend your entire pregnancy wearing rejects from your father’s closet?”
Her horny gaze feasted on me dressed in a pale gray button-up shirt and black jeans.
“This shirt belongs to Clint,” Elle said and slid on her rectangular eyeglasses. “Nova and I plan to shop for maternity clothes when we get back to Little Memphis. I’ll buy something sexy for you, lover.”
Her playful wink made my chest hurt. She was heading back to Little Memphis tomorrow. I couldn’t truly relax when she was so far away. Her presence also made me uneasy. Elle had stolen something vital from me.
Rather than get overly honest about how she made my heart soft, I kept my mouth shut and took her hand.
Before opening the front door, I checked the security cameras. I was always a little paranoid, but Elle’s presence made me distrust everything.
No one was around, so I opened the door. We were halfway down the stairs when I decided I needed more fucking cameras to prevent the old bitch from sneaking up on me.
Caren was one of the many foster moms that I’d suffered through before aging out of the system. She wasn’t particularly special, but we kept in touch. I liked knowing she was unhappy. She took pleasure in trying to rattle me. We were stuck in a negative feedback loop.
Deep into her seventies, Caren looked like shit. Life hadn’t been easy for her, and she made it worse every chance she could get.
Today, she wore white shorts and a bright pink tank top. A flowered hat covered her bushy gray hair. She flashed a triumphant smile as soon as she spotted me.
“Not now, Caren,” I muttered as the woman flipped me off.
“I heard you were shacked up with a dumb blonde,” Caren replied immediately. “How did this dumpy bitch win over your black heart?”
Before I could speak, Elle squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry. We have mentally ill homeless people in Little Memphis, too. Just give her a twenty for booze and send her on her way.”
“Are you sure this fugly loser is even a woman?” Caren asked me. “I guess you are a gay little bitch, after all.”
Caren was the classic bad foster parent, only in it for the paycheck. Her husband had died. Her kids were bums, always hitting her up for bail money. Her only value came from the size of her house. It looked good on paper to the foster system.
I ended up with her twice. The first time, I had been around Sutter’s age and stayed eight months until a cousin took me in.
Caren hadn’t beaten or starved me. She was smart enough to realize pissing off traumatized kids might lead to her getting her ass kicked.
Instead, she loved to dig at us with snide comments.
When I was eight, she liked to harp on my dead mom. Did I drive her to drugs? Was I such a bad kid that my mom had OD’d on purpose? Random shit like that.
Other boys got angry with her emotional abuse. Some cried over her hurtful words. I just smiled at her and shrugged. No matter what she said, I didn’t give her a negative response. As a kid, I knew to keep my head down and behave. That was how I would survive to adulthood.
The second time I moved in with Caren, I was a teenager. She constantly tried to rattle me. One of her favorite digs was that I was gay.
“Maybe I am,” I would respond each time she brought it up. “Time will tell.”
Today, as she waited near the SUV, Caren saw her chance to pull out the old nugget. Elle frowned at the woman.
“Is she senile?” Elle asked me, full of concern. “Did she wander away from the nursing home? Should we call her caretakers?”
“You stupid cunt!” Caren yelled.
Elle laughed. “Look at how mad Granny gets.”
We reached the bottom of the stairs, where Caren skulked closer.
“Has he hit you yet?” Caren asked Elle. “Or shared you with his thug friends?”
When Elle looked at me, I saw genuine pity in her gaze. “I’m sorry you didn’t have anyone decent to raise you.”
“Most of the people who fucked me over as a kid are dead. Caren doesn’t have much time left.”
“Are you threatening me?” Caren squawked and reached into her purse. “I’ve got my pepper spray.”
Before I could speak, Elle turned feral on Caren. “If you spray me with that shit, there’ll be hell to pay. Do you understand?”
“Now, I know I’m being threatened!”
I stepped between them just in case Caren did use her pepper spray. Elle didn’t help by peeking out from behind me to glare at the old woman.
“You look like someone put a wig on an infected big toe!” Elle yelled and raised her hand. “And I’m about to pepper spray that stupid hat off your fucking head!”
Caren realized Elle had beaten her to the draw and backed away. “Of all the terrible boys I had stay with me, Mikey was the only one I hoped wouldn’t survive to eighteen!”
“Oh, my God, you’re so evil!” Elle hollered. “You best get your ass out of here before I pay someone to bury you alive. How would you like to wake up in your coffin with enough time to think about the evil shit you did, but no way to live long enough to make amends?”
“This,” I said and turned to Elle, “is the answer. I could never think of the perfect way to kill her. Beating Caren to death felt too brutal for an octogenarian. A gunshot to her fat head felt too quick. I didn’t know how to make her suffer without cracking every bone in her body. But burying her alive is the answer.”
Elle beamed up at me. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m spraying both of you!” Caren threatened, stirring up my temper.
“Don’t mess with me, bitch!” Elle screamed and swayed her braids from side to side. “I’m from Arkansas, motherfucker! The polluted water has made me crazy and violent!”
Caren narrowed her gaze and considered her options. She knew I was patiently waiting for her eventual death. However, Elle seemed ready to get into a shooting war with Caren right here in the alley.
“I hope he gives you herpes,” Caren snarled as she walked backward with her pepper spray still pointed at us. “I hope she gives you dick cancer.”
“Fuck you!” Elle shrieked. “I’m sending someone to fuck you up, Grandma!”
Caren waved off Elle’s threats, even as she hurried her old ass out of the alleyway. Once she was gone, I turned to Elle and smiled.
“The way you scared off Caren was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Elle cried while dropping her pepper spray in her bag. “I just sucked your dick last night, and you think this was hotter?”
“Well, I’ve had my dick sucked before,” I said and kissed her softly. “No one’s ever threatened someone in my honor like that.”
“Aww, my poor foster boy lover,” she cooed and wrapped her arms around my waist. “You deserve to be protected. If that means screaming at a deranged elderly infected toe, I’m your girl.”
I admired her for a moment, appreciating how she hadn’t allowed Caren to genuinely upset her. I’d been the same way with the bitch, yet I held a grudge. That’s why, all these years later, I still planned to throw a party when Caren keeled over.
Feeling exposed in the parking lot, I decided to hurry Elle into the SUV. By the time I walked around to the driver’s side, she had gotten herself emotional.
“What are the tears about?” I asked, starting the SUV.
“I’m sad that no one loved you right.”
“Don’t be sad. I’m a grown man with a good life.”
“I’m not crying for the man you are now. My tears are for the little boy you once were. Mikey had no power, no real home, nothing. That little boy deserves my sympathy, even if the man he became isn’t bothered by what was stolen from him.”
“That’s very poetic, but I don’t like it when you cry.”
“I don’t like it, either. It stuffs up my nose and makes my face blotchy,” Elle said and patted my hand. “Am I still fuckable?”
Smirking at how she was letting the uncomfortable moment pass for my sake, I nodded at her question.
“If you genuinely feel bad for me and want to make my life easier, promise you won’t exert yourself today. Only do the small shit like putting dishes away. Don’t pick up anything. If you’re tired, sit down and put your feet up.”
Sensing Elle wasn’t taking my request seriously, I added, “Because if you don’t, I will be focused on you instead of York.
This is his first real house since he nearly died in the military.
The guy has been stagnant in his life for years.
He’s finally moving forward. That’s where my head should be, but I can’t do that if I’m worried about you. ”
“Aww, you care about people,” Elle cooed, full of mockery. Yet, I could see in her still wet gaze how she understood today was important to me. “I want to help you make today good for York, so I promise to be lazy.”
I appreciated how Elle wanted to know my people. We might still be dancing around an actual relationship, but there was no doubt she valued the men I rode with.
Kissing her softly, I found myself wondering what I was capable of as a man. I hadn’t minded keeping my dick dry while I remained fixated on Elle. I had adjusted to the idea of fatherhood. Yesterday, I’d let myself look weak in front of my guys.
As I drove to York’s new house, Elle talked about Cher’s upcoming birthday party at the Sorority House. She was clearly hinting for my guys and me to ride to Little Memphis to join the celebration.
Taking a large group of guys to Arkansas seemed insane when trouble could be around every corner. Logically, I needed to stick close to home for a while and keep an eye on shit.
But I still agreed to visit Little Memphis because going weeks without seeing Elle just wasn’t an option.