The Pieces that Built Me

by Amber Lacie

  “Listen here you, filthy jezebel. That beautiful woman is my daughter. No one, and I mean no one, comes after my kids. She’s worth more than you’ll ever be. You’re a waste of life, stealing oxygen from those who truly deserve it. Come near her again, or that sweet boy of hers, and I will take you down with everything I have. I will skin you and make you watch while you scream. Do you understand me? I will destroy you.” Alice stood, straightening out the green sweater she was wearing. “Now, my daughter, asked you to leave. So, go.” She turned to face Andrea and I standing on the stairs with our mouths gaping open.

  Andrea couldn’t contain herself and let out a loud whoop. Never in my life have I felt love like that from a parent. I don’t care if she wasn’t my real mom. It didn’t change the way I felt.

  Whispered praise fell from my lips, “Fucking, Molly Weasley.”

  Andrea chuckled. “Damn straight she is, Potter. Now, let’s get back in the house. It’s so fucking cold my nips have frozen and I need to thaw them before icicles start hanging from them.”

  “You have such a way with words. It’s a wonder you’re single.”

  “Right? Makes no fucking sense. Come on thunder-twat, inside the house we go.”

  I smacked her arm as I followed her into the house. “Promise me you don’t talk like that in front of Jack.”

  “Of course not. I would have called you a thunder-wench. Now, are we drinking coffee, or taking a shot of the vodka left in the fridge? I’m thinking vodka in the coffee. It’s after three, so it’s not like we are having it for breakfast.”

  “I’m not sure that’s any better. Just give me Vodka. Lots of it.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  Alice came back inside and kissed the top of my head, as if she didn’t just defeat a demon in the driveway. “So, I know Andrea packed up your brother’s room for you––did you end up finding anything in the attic?”

  “There are a lot of boxes up there. Old clothes, decorations, my brother’s guitar, and these.” I released the crinkled wad of paper in my hands and pulled the picture of my mom from my pocket, setting both on the table.

  Alice sat down next to me and carefully picked up the letters. Her eyes would glance up towards me every few minutes as she read the ink scribbled on the pages. Without saying a word, she held them out for Andrea, who was digging out glasses from a box for our drinks.

  Andrea’s eyes quickly scanned the words, and sat down at the table with the bottle of vodka still in her hands. “Fuck glasses. Here’s the bottle.” She took a gulp and passed it to me. I chugged a couple of mouthfuls and set it back on the table. To our amazement, Alice picked it up and took a sip. Her mouth gasped from the burn and she let out a couple of coughs.

  “Oh, that’s not good at all.”

  Andrea and I both started laughing hysterically at her reaction. At first, she glared at us, but eventually she fell into laughter with us. It took us a few minutes to regain our composure.

  Andrea was the first one to speak. “Jesus, Arls, that’s a lot to take in.”

  “I know. Thank god, Jack isn’t here. Could you imagine? I’m so glad he will never have to see that––or Lilly. I just––don’t understand why my dad couldn’t tell me. Letters no one reads, hiding in attics, are worthless.”

  “I think he was too scared to admit his mistakes. It’s all over now.”

  A car door slammed shut in the driveway, and Alice took another quick swig from the bottle. “If that bitch thinks she can just walk her ass back in here, she has another thing coming.” She peered out the window and looked towards me. “There’s a rather tall man walking towards us.”

  “Shit. I can’t believe August came.”

  “August is here? Why am I just now finding out about this?”

  “Andrea, it’s not like I had time.”

  “Oh, you had time. We’ve been here all fucking day.”

  Alice silenced us with a wave of her hands. “Both of you shut-up, he’s getting closer. Looks like there’s a couple more with him. He’s so handsome, Arlo. You need to keep that one.”

  All of us jumped at the knock on the door. Alice stood, and let the boys into the house. August, Blake, and another man I didn’t know, stepped into the kitchen.

  “Looks like the party already started.” Blake motioned towards the bottle on the table. Andrea pulled it closer to her and took another drink. “It’s not for you. It’s for Arlo. She’s had a shit day and she needs this.”

  “Yeah, then why do you get a drink?”

  “Cause I’m her fucking friend, Blake. I’m not some cocky drummer who thinks he’s hot shit and deserves to get into every pair of panties he sees.”

  A deep, baritone laugh echoed around the room. “Holy shit. I like her. She put you right in your place, Blakey.” The man I didn’t recognize wearing a black t-shirt with tattoos covering his arms, smacked August in the chest. “You see this shit? I’m in love.”

  “Fuck you, Walker.” Blake punched the guy in the black shirt.

  “Both of you put your dicks away. Sorry ladies, they have shit for manners.” August smiled at me and I began to melt like a puddle in my chair. He walked over to me and softly placed a kiss on my cheek. “Hey, baby.”

  “Hey.”

  “You okay? You look like I need to hurt someone.”

  “No, I’m okay. Alice handled it.”

  August turned to Alice as he held out his hand. “It seems I owe you thanks for whatever you handled. I’m August Knight, Arlo’s boyfriend.” Alice shook his hand as I quickly corrected him.

  “Friend, August. We’re friends.”

  “See? That’s where we disagree. You just need to accept this. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You said two weeks.”

  The hairs on my neck stood on end as he leaned down and whispered into my ear, “Two-weeks to rock your world, and then I’m coming back for you. I’m addicted to you, lady.”

  God damn it. I was so fucked. There was nothing I could do to push him away, not this time. My belly flipped at the thought. “I know. I kind of like it.”

  He chuckled in my ear and placed a kiss on my neck. Every piece of anger Lilly brought with her earlier was washed away by his touch. He was my magic.

  Blake was always one to speak his mind, so while I was glowing from the thought of August, he was fishing for tail. “Arlo, how’s your friend? The one with the brown hair, cut off at her shoulders. The one with those long legs and that tongue? The way she could wrap it around—”

  “Stop.” I had no desire to mentally picture what he was describing. “What is wrong with you? Seriously?”

  “It’s not my fault you have hot friends. Don’t worry. You don’t have to tell me. I’ll find out, eventually.” Thankfully, I didn’t need to smack him––August did it for me.

  “Ignore him. Apparently, I brought an idiot along today. What’s the plan, babe?”

  “Everything goes in the garage for now. There’s a truck coming by later to pick up all the donations. Everything else can stay in the garage until I figure out what to do with it.”

  “Let’s do this.” August clapped his hands together and motioned to the other men in the room. “You heard her, boys. Start moving boxes.”

  We spent the next hour moving things from the house into the garage. Andrea kept giving me awkward looks anytime August’s back was towards her. I think she wanted to know what was happening between us, but I didn’t have any juicy details for her because I didn’t know, either. Once the house was almost empty, I headed upstairs to the attic to gather the rest of the stuff my dad had tucked away.

  I was in the middle of pulling a few boxes of old clothes closer to me when Andrea decided to announce her presence, startling me. “What is going on?”

  Thankfully, I was able to catch myself and I didn’t fall through the ceiling. “Well, right now, I’m trying not to fall through the ceiling. What is with you always sneaking up on me?”

  “I didn’t sneak up. Maybe
you should get a hearing aide. Anyways, the boys are in the garage. August is ordering food. You have fifteen minutes or so until they interrupt us. Dish.”

  Carefully setting down the box, I slowly turned around on the plank of wood I was standing on. “There’s nothing to dish. You know everything already.”

  “Lies. All lies. Why is August here and why didn’t you tell me you already saw him?”

  “Because there’s nothing to say. We talked. Why do you feel so inclined to be nosing around in my business?”

  “God made me your best friend, in doing so, he bestowed certain powers on me. Knowing who you are sleeping with is one of them.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ll have a word with him later. Besides, I’m not sleeping with him. I had a showing for the house yesterday, and he happened to be the possible buyer. It’s not like I planned any of it.”

  “He came here for you. That makes the third time he’s come back for you. This isn’t just a crush.”

  “I’m starting to figure that out.”

  “Took you long enough.”

  Andrea glanced around the attic, scrunching her nose at the cobwebs, along the one lone window in the center. Planks of wood were scattered throughout the attic to keep things, and people, from falling through into the rooms below. It wasn’t a finished attic. It wasn’t fancy. It was, however, hotter than Hades and I needed a moment to rest.

  “You are blocking the only circulation I have up here. Either, come all the way up and get off the ladder, or take your big ass downstairs. I need air.”

  She climbed up the last step and spun herself, so she was sitting on the edge of the opening with her feet dangling through the hole. “You are such a bitch. If you and August don’t have sex soon, I’m going to hire you an escort. Your vag is so dusty it’s sucking the life out of you.”

  “Did you come up here only to insult me?”

  “No.” Her fingers chipped away at the little bits of white paint still left on the edges of the doorframe. “I came up here because I love you. This is a lot. First your dad dies, then August shows up, then you find some weird, freaky letter hidden in an attic, revealing crazy secrets about your real mom, and then the crazy bitch showed up. I don’t know about you, but that’s too much for me to handle and it’s not my life. Are you okay?”

  If I was going to move on with my life I needed to be honest, not just with her, but with myself. “No, I’m not okay. None of this is okay. This is fucked up. That’s what this is. Just the knowledge that my dad hid things from me, does me in, you know? And then, there was your mom who stood up for me today. She was a complete badass by the way. Today, is a lifetime worth of therapy.”

  “It really is. What are you going to tell Jack?”

  “Nothing. Maybe when he’s older I’ll give him the short version, but he never knew Lilly. To his knowledge, my mom doesn’t exist, and he doesn’t need to know any different.”

  “And August?”

  “No fucking clue. He just showed up.”

  Andrea nodded her head and glanced around the room once more before looking straight at me. “He came back for you.”

  “No, he didn’t. He swept in thinking he was a superhero trying to buy my dad’s house. He thought he was saving me from some horrific nightmare. If he wanted to come back for me, he chose a pretty sucky way to do it.”

  “I don’t think so. You let him believe you were with someone else. What was he supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know. Stay away, so my life would be less confusing?”

  Andrea gaffed, “Why won’t you let him in? Give me one good reason?”

  “Fine. Jack. Isn’t he a good enough reason? How do I make this work?”

  She sighed, not just any sigh, but the sigh that let me know she disagreed with everything I had just said. “There are no rules to this, Arlo. It is what it is. You’re a great mom, sweetie. Jack knows you love him. Trust me. If you give August a chance, it doesn’t mean the end of you and Jack. It just means that your family will grow a bit.”

  “I know.”

  “Then, what’s the hold up?”

  “What will people say?”

  “Fuck people! Repeat after me. ‘I’m going to be me and anyone who doesn’t like it can suck my eleven-inch invisible cock’.”

  She has gone mad. My best friend, my support system, has completely lost her mind. “Andrea.”

  “Say it, or we will stay in here until you do. I can last days without food. Try me.”

  The crazy thing is, I knew she would do it. She would make me stay up there until I broke down and said exactly what she wanted me to. Knowing that I would eventually need to pee, and that I couldn’t survive as long as she could without food, I gave in. “Fine. I’m going to be me and anyone who doesn’t like it, can suck my eleven-inch invisible cock.”

  “Yes. That’s my girl. Now, let’s get downstairs before the guys eat all the food. Is there anything up here you want to be taken to your place?”

  “I sorted it already. I just want these three boxes behind me, and Daniel’s guitar. The rest can go to the charity auction.”

  “Done. I’ll make Walker come get them.” Her eyes lit up at the mention of his name, catching my attention.

  “What do you think of him?”

  “Of who?”

  “You know exactly who, Andrea. What do you think of Walker?”

  “Um, he’s alright, I guess. He seems a bit full of himself, not as bad as Blake, but still too cocky for me. To be honest, I think Jen would love him.”

  “He’s got a penis––isn’t that like a done deal for her?”

  “Nah, he needs a penis and money. He’s got both.” Laughing, she walked back down the ladder and I followed her into the kitchen.

  I was covered in dust and sweat. Thankfully, so was everyone else. The guys were leaning against the counter, stuffing their faces with burgers and fries. Andrea smacked Blake’s hand away from one of the bags and tossed me a burger. Blake tried to reach back in the bag and she growled at him.

  “Did you just fucking growl at me?”

  “Did you just ask me a stupid fucking question?”

  I laughed, as August caught my eye. He smiled and handed me a drink. “He’s impossible.”

  “So is she.”

  “I think they would make a great couple,” August said matter of fact.

  “Are you kidding me? Those two together would be the start of another world war.”

  “You’re probably right. When do I get to see you again? Tonight?”

  “No, I shouldn’t. Jack has been with his grandpa all day. I’m sure Gregg needs a break.”

  I often wondered how people have developed a skill at making a perfectly timed entrance. I was never one of those people. Alice, however, was. She walked over right as we were talking and stuck her nose right in the middle of our conversation.

  “Hush. Gregg adores Jack, and so do I. Besides, a night with grandpa spoiling him rotten would probably do him some good. A little extra love won’t hurt him. I’m sure he could use it right now. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you could, too.”

  “But, Alice.”

  “It’s fine. I promise. I was just coming inside to let you know that I have to go. It’s almost completely dark and I will need to make dinner soon.” She placed one hand on each side of my face. “You’re young and beautiful. You’re a good mom and you work yourself to death. Go have some fun. You deserve it.” She rubbed my shoulders and winked at August. “Be good to her, or I’ll come for you.”

  “Yes ma’am.” August chuckled, while giving her a nod of his head before turning back to me. “She scares me.”

  “You should be scared. I watched her take on Lilly.”

  “Really? When?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later.”

  “You can tell me tonight. I’m staying at your place.”

  “We’re just friends, August.”

  “Would a friend let a friend sleep outs
ide because they had nowhere else to go?”

  “That’s complete bullshit. You have money. You have a mother. You have other friends. You can stay with any of them.”

  “But they’re not you,” He said it as if he needed no other reason.

  “August, why me? Why now? Why not sooner? Why ever? You do realize none of this makes sense.”

  He sighed, as he raked his fingers through his hair. “I’ll make a deal with you. Let me come over. We will talk, and nothing else. You can ask me whatever you want, and I’ll answer it honestly.”

  “Just talking?”

  “I promise.”

  I hesitated for just a moment before accepting his proposal with a nod of my head. I had no clue what I was doing, but everything in me told me to let him in. My fear wasn’t just of me getting hurt; it was of Jack getting hurt in the process. As we left my dad’s place for the night, one single thought circled in the back of my mind. August, don’t hurt us.

  August Knight, the rock star, was sitting in my living room while I poured myself a glass of wine. I knocked back the entire contents of my glass and went to pour myself another when I decided the bottle would be a better decision. My nerves were eating away at my thoughts. Grasping the bottle firmly in my hands, I plopped down next to him on the couch, and propped my feet up on the table.

  “Are you going to share?”

  I took another quick swig and passed the bottle to August. “Here.”

  “Why are you so nervous around me?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. What did he want me to say? It’s not like I was going to spill my guts to him in one night and then we would ride off into the sunset. Life is complicated. It’s messy. Mine was no exception to the rule.

  August took a pull from the bottle, wrinkled his nose, and handed it back to me. “That is awful. It tastes like church wine.”