Chaos Chapter 7 #2
Then, I walked off before I insisted on staying with her.
I heard the door shut and the lock engaged.
On the walk back to the parking lot to my bike, I thought about how it would test my strength not to rush her into my bed, but I knew it would be worth the wait.
And I didn’t want to do anything that would ruin what we had.
I was going for a permanent relationship with Bianca Harris.
?
Friday night took forever to get here. I almost broke and went pounding on Mishap’s door last night when I got home.
And then again, this morning before I went to work.
At lunchtime, I nearly went to Souls’ Turf & Terrain, our landscape business, to see him.
But I knew that wasn’t the time or place for our conversation.
Instead, I waited until I got home from work. I paused long enough to shower and change into clean clothes. Then I texted him to find out where he was. I hoped he was at his house. I wanted privacy for our talk. His answer came back in under a minute. I swore.
Mishap: I’m not home yet. Got held up in town. Will be there after 8. Is everything OK?
Me: Nothing wrong. Need to talk to you. Alone. Can you come to my house after you get home?
Mishap: Sure. Give me 15 to shower, then I’ll be there. SYL
Me: SYL, ride safe.
Mishap sent me a thumbs up. I glanced at the clock.
I had almost two hours to kill. I knew I wasn’t in the mood to go to the clubhouse.
My brothers would want to talk or play pool, maybe darts.
I couldn’t until I was sure I had Mishap’s blessing.
So, I went to the kitchen and tried to decide what to make for dinner.
I hadn’t planned to eat until after my talk with him, but it would kill time.
I had some chicken breasts in the fridge that I hadn’t frozen, along with a bag of potatoes.
I’d had the prospects pick up my grocery order yesterday.
I diced the potatoes and added olive oil and a seasoning packet.
I coated the chicken in a mixture of seasonings and breadcrumbs after dipping the breast in flour, then in an egg mixture, and finally in more flour.
I cooked both, taking turns in my air fryer.
It had been the best kitchen investment I’d ever made, in my opinion.
The final thing I added was a huge serving of steamed broccoli.
The meal was simple yet tasty, and I ate it all, but my stomach kept churning whenever I thought about the upcoming discussion.
When I was done eating, I washed the dishes and wiped down the kitchen.
All of that took barely an hour. I got water from the fridge and sat outside on my patio.
It was cool. Only nine days remained in November.
I missed the sounds of crickets and other nocturnal bugs.
I thought I heard rustling sounds, but I wasn’t sure what would be making it.
With the wall surrounding the compound, we didn’t get deer, coyotes, bobcats, or bears, but we did get smaller things like raccoons at night.
During the day, rabbits, squirrels, and the like appeared.
The hoot of an owl came next. In the daytime, in spring and summer, there were tons of birds around.
I sipped my water and let my mind wander and the peace sink in. I loved living in the compound. We were far enough out that we had no one sticking their noses into our business. No heavy traffic or city sounds bothered us. The lake was nearby, and we could boat, swim, or fish there.
With Lake Oconee so close, we’d never thought about having a pool at the compound. But with the addition of a few old ladies and one kid, it might be worth considering. It wasn’t always easy or advisable to have the women and kids outside the walls. Maybe I’d bring that up in church soon.
That idea prompted me to mentally catalog possible improvements to the compound and to my house.
It was a new build, but I hadn’t done anything with the walls or the decor.
I’d left the walls white, and there was very little in the way of pictures, knickknacks, and the like.
Those were things a woman usually brought to a home.
That made me think of Bianca’s apartment.
She had all those, and they gave her place, though small, a warmth and a feeling of being welcome.
I was so far into imagining her doing the same to my house that I startled when my phone buzzed. I fumbled in my cut pocket to get it. The screen lit up, showing a text from Mishap.
Mishap: Home. On my way over. Be there in 5.
Me: Come right in.
I went inside the house. After a quick piss, I settled into the living room. About a minute later, there was a swift knock, and then the front door opened. I listened to his footsteps coming from the entry to where I was. He gave me a nod when he saw me.
“Before you sit, grab something from the fridge. I wasn’t sure what you’d want,” I told him.
“Thanks. Can I grab you something?” Mishap asked as he veered into the kitchen, visible from the living room. Most of the house's common areas were open concept.
“Nah, I’m good.” I held up my water.
I wasn’t about to drink anything alcoholic until after this talk.
I needed to be sober and have all my brain cells working.
I had a feeling Mishap wouldn’t be eager to accept that I wanted to have a relationship with his cousin.
Even if I was offering more than a hookup, it didn’t mean he’d like the idea.
He was out of the kitchen and taking a seat in the chair across from me in no time. He gave me a searching look.
“Okay, I’ve been dying for hours, wanting to know what you want to talk about, especially alone. Spill.”
“It’s about your cousin.”
That statement made him sit up straighter, and his expression became concerned.
“What about her? Did something happen?”
“No, nothing happened. I want to talk to you about her.”
“Talk about what? As far as I know, she hasn’t gone near a bar.”
“As far as I know, she hasn’t either. I stopped by to see her last night. That’s what I want to talk about.”
I knew I was stalling, but I was trying to find the right way to phrase it so he would see how serious I was and wouldn't object.
“Damn it, Chaos, just tell me. What happened last night? And why did you stop by her place? Did she call you?”
“No, Bianca didn’t call me. I went there to talk to her about something personal. And that’s why I asked you to come over tonight. I need to tell you about what she and I decided.”
“Decided?” he asked, puzzled.
Dancing around wouldn’t make this better or worse, so I went for it.
“Yeah, decided. See, I wanted to know if your cousin was interested in me as a man, not as your club brother or friend. After some discussion, she admitted that she is. I’m very drawn to her, too. Based on our mutual attraction, we—”
Mishap cut me off and jumped to his feet. His fists were clenched, and he glared at me.