Tasty

Chapter 24 #4

“…one day,” he said. “When you have kids of your own, you’ll understand. You think you got it all figured out, but you don’t. But when you do, I’ll be waiting for you with open arms.”

Oh God.

“I don’t give a damn why you did what you did!” I yelled. “I don’t care about what happened in the past or before I was born or anything like that! All I care about is being happy.”

I took a breath before it all broke in me.

“And I was…very…very happy.” My grip tightened on the phone. “And if you took that from me—”

“Princess.”

“No,” I cut in. “We all have to live with our mistakes and decisions, Dad.”

I swallowed, my chest tight but my voice not breaking.

“I hope you can live with yours.”

And then I hung up.

By the time the last guest left, I didn’t even remember saying goodbye.

I just moved through the motions.

Thanks for coming!

Hope to see you soon!

Safe drive!

We’ll be in touch!

All of it felt automatic. Like I was watching myself do it instead of actually being there. Eventually, it was just staff left. Then less staff. Then no one.

I sent everybody home.

Hartland grabbed Chewy on his way out, giving me one last look, he wanted to say something but thought better of it. I appreciated that. I didn’t have the capacity for anything else right now.

I still wasn’t accepting what happened in that room until I saw a body.

Orim stayed with me though.

She didn’t ask anything but she stood there, watching me pace the floor, fiddling with Marlon’s chain on my neck.

Back and forth. Then back and forth.

My hands were shaking again until my phone rang. I froze mid-step and looked down at it.

Marlon.

My heart jumped so hard it hurt.

I answered immediately.

“Marley?” My voice came out breathless. “Are you okay, baby?”

There was a pause.

“…hey.”

It's not him. It’s Marcus. My mouth went dry instantly.

“…is someone there with you?”

My grip tightened on the phone.

“Yeah,” I said quickly. “Yes. My friend Orim—”

“Can you give her the phone, please?”

I immediately turned to Orim, holding the phone out.“Here.”

She took it without hesitation, pressing it to her ear. I watched her face the entire time. Whatever Marcus was saying, she wasn’t giving anything away.

“…got it,” she said finally. “See you soon.”

She hung up and turned to me.

“Let’s go.”

The drive felt too long.

Every second stretched out while I sat there gripping my hands together, pressing my fingers into my palms. I kept looking out the window, then at the road, then back at my phone to see if it was going to ring again and tell me something different.

“Orim,” I said, my voice tight, barely holding together, “is Marlon okay?”

“I literally don’t know anything,” she said without looking at me. Her hands stayed firm on the wheel. “All I got was an address.”

I leaned back in my seat, dragging in a slow breath through my nose and letting it out through my mouth.

I never should’ve left that room.

The car finally slowed as we pulled into Marlon’s driveway. What?

The house looked normal with no signs of anything wrong.

Before the car even fully stopped, I pushed the door open and stepped out. My legs felt unsteady but I kept moving, heading straight for the front door.

Marcus opened it before I could knock.

His expression was calm, but there was something behind it.

“Come on,” he commanded.

We followed him through the house. The air inside felt still. The lights were soft and nothing was out of place. That didn’t match what I knew.

Patch sat at Marlon’s kitchen counter with a drink in his bloody hand. Matter of fact, the entire front of his shirt was blood and it almost made me faint. I held onto Orim as we walked down the hallway and into the living room.

And there he was.

Marlon sat on the couch, leaning slightly to one side. His shirt was off, replaced with thick bandaging wrapped around his shoulder and across his chest. There was dried blood near the edges of the dressing, and fresh gauze secured tight against his skin.

He looked so tired.

But he was upright.

He was breathing.

“Thank God!”

The words came out loud and shaky as I rushed forward, closing the distance between us without thinking.

I dropped down beside him and wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight like I needed to confirm he was real.

“Hey—”

“Are you okay?! Oh my God—”

“Bunny—”

I squeezed him anyway, pressing into him harder than I should have.

“Ow ow ow, Bunny careful.”

I pulled back instantly, my hands flying away from him.

“Sorry! Sorry—oh my god—”

“I’m good,” he said, steadying me with his voice. “Relax.”

“You got shot!” I yelled. “How am I supposed to relax!”

“He got shot?!” Orim yelled.

“I got grazed,” Marlon corrected.

“You did not,” Marcus handed him an ice pack. “The bullet went through the shoulder and out the back. You’re lucky it was clean and didn’t hit anything important.”

I stared at Marlon.

“Grazed?” I repeated. “You could’ve died and you say it’s a graze?”

“I’m alive, ain’t I?”

My hands hovered near him again, unsure where to go, unsure what I could touch without hurting him.

I settled for gripping his forearm lightly.

“And thank Goodness for that. I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t make it.”

“You ain’t gotta worry about that, Bunny. I ain’t leaving you.”

“Okay, but… who shot you? Did you call the police?”

Marcus cleared his throat from behind us and looped his arm around Orim, ushering her out.

“We’re gonna give y’all a minute.”

“Wait! I got questions!” Orim pleaded. But Marcus already was pulling her away, the sound of their footsteps fading down the hall until it was quiet again.

Just me and him.

I looked at him again, slower this time, taking in every detail.

The tension in his jaw.

The slight way he held his shoulder to keep pressure off it.

Then I hit him.

“You stupid, idiot fool! You could’ve died.”

“I didn’t.”

“That’s not the point, Marlon! You told me to leave!”

“I needed you out the room,” he replied. “And it’s the reason you standing here right now instead of answering questions for the police.”

I pressed my lips together, looking away for a second.

I hated that he was right.

“You scared me,” I admitted, my voice dropping.

“I know.”

“I thought…”

I couldn’t say what I had thought out loud .

He reached for my hand with his good arm and pulled me closer, guiding me gently so I didn’t press against his injury.

“I’m here,” he said. “Look at me.”

I lifted my eyes back to his.

“You not getting rid of me that easy,” he added. I let out a shaky breath, my shoulders finally dropping just a little.

“Good,” I muttered. “Cause I’m not done with you.”

That got a small smile out of him. It didn’t last long.

“My dad…”

Marlon’s expression shifted. “Yeah.”

I swallowed. “I don’t even know what happens now.”

“We deal with it,” he said.

“We?” I asked, looking at him closely.

He didn’t hesitate.

“We.”

I nodded slowly. “Okay.”

The room settled into a quieter kind of silence. I looked at him again, taking him in one more time. Making sure I wasn’t imagining it.

“For the record,” I added. “That was the worst launch day ever.”

He let out a low breath that almost turned into a laugh.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I paused.

“At least it sold out though,” I added.

He laughed deeply. “Of course, that’s all you worried about right now.”

“I gotta take my mind off all this somehow,” I massaged my temples as I spoke. “Or I don’t think I’m gotta me able to sleep tonight.”

“I know, Bunny. I’m so mad that had to happen in front of you. You ain’t deserve to see yo daddy in that light.”

My hand was still wrapped around his arm, my thumb brushing absentmindedly against his skin.

“I’m sorry, Bunny,” he repeated steady and there was regret under it. “You wanna talk about it?”

I shook my head before he could even finish. “No.”

I knew if I started unpacking today’s events, I wasn’t going to be able to stop. And I couldn’t fall apart right now. Not when I just got him back in one piece.

So I pivoted. I leaned back slightly, looking him over again, the bandage and tightness around his eyes sticking out the most.

“You sure you okay?”

“I’ll be alright,” he said, brushing it off like it was nothing. “Small things to a giant.”

I rolled my eyes a little at that, but there wasn’t any real attitude behind it.

“You’re annoying,” I muttered.

He almost smiled.

“I wanna talk about you,” he said instead.

“About me?”

“Yeah.”

I hesitated, then nodded slowly. “Okay.”

He shifted a little, adjusting himself against the couch, careful with his shoulder but trying not to make a big deal out of it.

“You named the shed after your mom,” he said.

I looked down at my hands for a second before answering.

“That wasn’t really for me,” I admitted, picking lightly at my nails. “That was more for my dad and you.”

“Me?”

“I feel like… y’all been looking at me like I’m her extension,” I said, lifting my eyes to meet his. “Like I’m just… the version of her that’s still here.”

His jaw tightened slightly. “I ain’t—”

“I know,” I cut in gently. “You got past it. But him? I don’t think he can.”

He leaned back slightly, studying me now.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah,” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, my hands coming together as I tried to explain it the way it made sense in my head. “Like she died and he just… paused right there. Both of y’all did.”

He looked away for a second. That was the first real reaction I got out of him.

“And everything after that,” I continued, “y’all just been moving, but not really moving.”

I exhaled, softer now.

“I just was hoping it would give you both common ground to mourn her while embracing me as my own person. Because I am my own person, I make my own choices, move how I wanna move and I love who I wanna love.”

His expression softened just a little. “I know that, baby.”

“I don’t think my dad realizes that.”

That’s what hurt.

“That’s why I named it after her,” I said. “I thought maybe if I gave him that… if I honored her in a way he could understand… I thought it would make him see me different or at least… soften him.”

Marlon let out a slow breath.

“It didn’t,” he said.

“No,” I said. “It didn’t.”

Silence settled again but it wasn’t empty.

He reached for my hand.

“I see you,” he said. “For real. Just you.”

“I know.”

“And don’t worry about Dillon. He’ll come around.”

I looked him in the eyes. “Promise?”

He bit his lip and it told me everything.

“Right.”

“Bunny,” he held my face. “It will be okay. That I can promise.”

I relaxed into him. “Okay.”