Cherry Bomb

by J.W. Phillips

  Drake Hart

  I knelt down and scooped the necklace off the floor, letting it bounce in my hand. Watching her walk away sent a blade straight through my black heart. She wasn’t supposed to find out this way.

  “I guess you have my proof now?” James asked.

  I swallowed back the pain I was slowly choking on. I felt as if she ripped my heart from my chest and threw it away.

  “Well, don’t tell me you don’t have it.”

  I stood up and turned to face James. I wanted to start tearing his fucking limbs from his body, nice and slowly. Just looking at him repulsed me. “You have no idea who you’re messing with. If I was you I would walk out that door and never look back.”

  “I could say the same to you,” he spewed from those weak, lying lips of his.

  My anger hit its boiling point, my vision blurred as I gripped his neck and had thrown him up against the wall before I even had time to make a cognitive thought. “Get the hell out of my face.”

  Cherry emerged around the corner holding little Henry in her arms. She froze when she saw us.

  “Drake, that’s my daddy,” Noah said as he walked up behind Cherry.

  I released the grasped I had on that piece of scum, letting him fall to the floor, and took off walking in a frantic burst. I couldn’t explain anything to Cherry until I had tied up a few more loose ends.

  When I reached the front door, I almost shattered it as I darted from the only person I could possibly give my heart too. I stood on the sidewalk, thinking. I had no transportation. Not even sure where this chapter in my life would end. I took off running through the crowded parking lot, and across the main highway. Horns honked, tires screeched, a woman yelled profanity out her car window, but I didn’t give a flying fuck. I just wanted out of there. I flagged down a taxi and jumped in when he stopped within mere inches of me.

  I mumbled out my address. The driver looked at me like I was a lunatic. I just shrugged my right shoulder and smirked. Deep down, I knew he was probably right to a point.

  Cherry Webb

  I snapped Henry into his car seat, relieved the medicine they had given him had knocked him out cold. Hopefully, he wouldn’t remember the embarrassment of the night.

  “Momma, what was dad talking about? It made Drake mad,” Noah asked as he crawled into his booster seat and fastened the seatbelt around himself. I looked back at him as I closed the door, unsure how to answer him.

  “Noah, you know how dad is. Drake was just trying to protect Mom,” Ruby said and shot a smile in my direction. Her smile vanished when my eyes met hers.

  I started the engine, stunned Ruby would lie to save Drake’s ass. What the hell was her motive?

  I backed out of the parking lot and spotted Drake standing on the sidewalk in front of the hospital. His shoulders were sagging, his head hung. He was no longer the confident, commanding alpha male I gave my heart to. I thought about him driving me to the hospital. There was an air of hopefulness and joy around us. Now every moment between us was tainted. I flipped on the radio. I couldn’t let myself look back. That chapter in my life was closed. But it wasn’t a chapter of regret. It was a chapter of growth. I had learned so much about myself and what I was capable of.

  I pulled out onto the street when it hit me, it was not the fact that James had paid someone to get dirt on me that hurt. I was use to his game. The pain gnawing at my chest was because I had lost the first person in my life to ever get to the core of who I was. My life again had flipped on its axis.

  I turned onto my driveway, and the first thing I saw was his motorcycle parked right outside my front porch. I blinked back the tears filling my eyes. My kids would never see me go there.

  “I’ll read to Noah tonight," Ruby said, uncharacteristically. “Just put Henry to bed.”

  Where was my daughter? And who had taken over her body?

  “I’m fine,” Noah said as he hopped out of the back seat and slammed the car door. “I’m not five anymore.”

  “Okay, but at least get a bath,” I said and unbuckled Henry’s car seat.

  He snored as his head fell against my shoulder. “Oh, sweetie,” I whispered, taking in his angelic face with his new Frankenstein scar. “I hate to wake you up for a bath.”

  “Mom, let him sleep. A bath can wait until tomorrow,” Ruby said and unlocked the door. She guided Noah in, and I glanced back at Henry. His hair was a matted mess, but the day had been long and traumatic, so I would go against my grain and let him sleep, mats and all.

  After, I had tucked Henry into my bed and checked behind Noah’s ears after his bath, I settled down on the sofa with a glass of wine to watch an episode of The Real Housewives. Nothing could make a person forget their troubles like someone else’s.

  “Mom,” Ruby said and collapsed down on the couch beside me. “I’m not really sure what all is going on but I do know that Drake is crazy about you.”

  I sipped on the wine. Ruby had formed some bond with Drake, but she had no idea his intent was a mirage.

  She popped a potato chip in her mouth and said between crunches, “Mom, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

  “He’s an experienced con-artist.” If I could’ve managed the will to fake a smile, I would have.

  “No, Momma, I’ve watched the way he looks at you when you’re not paying attention. No man is capable of faking that kind of devotion.”

  I wanted to believe her. I wanted to hope maybe he did grow to care, but it still didn’t change the way we came to meet.

  I grabbed a handful of potato chips and leaned back on the sofa, enjoying the quiet, Ruby and I so easily could settle into. My daughter was growing into a young woman I could see being a great friend. Also, she had proven to be pretty insightful.

  “Mom, do we really have to watch these old hags arguing?”

  Cherry Webb

  The sigh of relief I had hoped for the next morning didn’t come. The words that had spewed out of James’s mouth about Drake and I, had replayed over and over in my head until my body had become numb to everything around me.

  I snuggled closer to Henry, surprised he was still asleep. I didn’t know what questions were to come about Drake, me, and their dad but I was ready and embraced for anything as long as I had my kids happy and secured.

  I kissed Henry on the top of the head, and prayed my kids would never fear me not being there for them because as long as I had breath in my lungs they would be my number one concern. People would come and go in their life but I never would.

  If I didn’t need to pee so badly I would have laid in bed and cuddled Henry a little while longer. But nature was screaming and I had to go.

  I crawled out of bed and without thinking wrapped the robe I had walked out of Drake’s house with around my body.

  I moved down the hallway, appeased that the kid’s bedroom doors were still closed.

  Once I had showered and dressed I headed to the kitchen. The bright sun was streaming in through the oversized patio doors. I poured a cup of coffee, thankful for a coffee maker with a timer once again. Peeking out the window over the sink, I noticed that Drake’s motorcycle was gone. I swallowed the lump that had risen in my throat. He must have retrieved it sometime in the night. Seeing it gone stung and only proved how artificial our relationship was. Stop it, he's gone and that's final.

  I stepped out onto the patio and looked out over my gardens. I had been negligent with them the past few weeks, and they were starting to show signs of my absence.

  I’d heard the patio door click closed behind me, and knew without turning around who it was. “I was hoping to find you alone,” Ruby said.

  I didn’t turn around. I wasn’t ready to answer any questions just yet, knowing if anyone could see through me it was Ruby.

  “Yeah, the boys are still asleep.”

  “Mom, I won't mention him again but at least reach out to him and give him a chance to explain.”

  I couldn’t. The sound of his voice made me feel things I wou
ld never allow myself to feel again.

  “It’s getting late. How about we go in and cook a late breakfast early lunch before the boys stormed the house,” I said, changing the subject.

  Taking a deep breath, I finally turned around to look back into the deep auburn-brown eyes of my daughter. Her hair was a deep, dark brown which contrasted perfectly with her clear, milky-white skin. She was a beauty. So much prettier than her dad or I ever was. A grin tugged at her lips. I smiled back. The loss of a marriage or even a brief affair with who I viewed as the perfect man was not the end of my life. My life was just beginning. The only part of my life that mattered was the kids I was so blessed with.

  I simply stood back and watched Ruby singing in the kitchen while preparing the potato salad. I loved seeing her like this, actually happy and not brooding. She kept trying to get me to join in, but my singing was even worse than Drake’s. I shook my head. I had to quit referencing him in my life.

  There was a brief knock at the door followed closely after by the loud-ass doorbell. Great, the boys will be up now.

  I hurried down the hallway then into the living room and slung opened the door right as the doorbell rang out again.

  “I have a pizza for a Henry Webb.” A man with a Mellow Mushroom uniform stood on my door step, holding three large boxes of pizza.

  “We didn’t order a pizza,” I started to argue.

  He glanced down at the receipt on top of the boxes. “It says here that it was paid for by a Drake Hart,” he said and ripped the receipt off the box. “Oh, yeah, it says to tell Henry to feel better soon and enjoy the pizza he promised."

  Those pesky tears started to fill my eyes. “Squeeze my hand, and if you make me scream I’ll take you for pizza.” Those words came crashing back to me. At least, he kept one promise to this family.

  There was a shuffle on the stairs and then Noah’s boisterous voice filled the house. “Cool pizza.”

  “Yellow Rushroom. My favorite,” Henry called down from the top of the stairs.

  I peeked up at him and his tangled, nappy mass of bed hair as he slid down the banister. That boy was going to be the death of me. ‘Mommy, we never have pizza.”

  I held up the receipt which was quickly snatched from my hand by Noah. “Drake sent it. I didn’t think it was a mom thing.”

  “Is Drake coming? Maybe he will bring Grace,” Henry said. He had finally bounced in the living room and held out his hands to hold the pizza. I placed them in his arms and warned him to be careful.

  “Put them on the table, doodle bug.” Ruby pointed over to the kitchen table.

  Henry stood on his tip toes, placed the pizza boxes on the table, and let out a sigh of relief as if those boxes weighed a thousand pounds.

  I opened up the fridge and took out two juice boxes and handed one to each boy then twisted Henry around by his shoulders. “Now buddy, you can eat all the pizza you want but first you’re taking a bath.”

  Cherry Webb

  It had been one week, two days, and six hours since a pizza had been delivered to my door. The last sign Drake Hart had even darkened my life. Those eyes, the color of the Caribbean Sea, flashed in my mind and the pain broke through the numbness I had let set in. I believe it was his stare that first captured my heart. A heart I freely gave away, and I wasn’t even sure if I would ever see it again. Get it together. You're a grown woman, Cherry, not some love struck teenager. I might’ve been a grown woman with kids but a part of me had been love struck.

  My kids. True to her word, Ruby had not mention Drake again. However, I didn’t get so lucky with Henry. Not one of the past nine days has he not asked if Drake was coming over. But hard as it was to hear Henry mention Drake, it was the look of despair that came over Noah’s face every time the name Drake was uttered that pulled at my broken heart. He heard those horrible words spew from his father’s lips, words no doubt he understood. But just like he did with everything that concerned his dad he went tight lips and chafed inwardly.

  A tap on the bedroom door knocked me from my much needed solitude.

  “Can I come in?” Ruby said and poked her head in the room. I knew this day was coming. I had seen her eyes light up more than once and knew she had a question pop in her head. A question I was sure I didn’t want to answer. I was still trying to deal internally myself.

  She cleared her throat. “Mom, I hate this. Knowing you’re hurting and I can’t do anything to help you.”

  “Baby, I’m okay. Plus, it’s not your job to help me.”

  “Yeah, it is. My whole life you have done anything to make me happy. Even live with the ass I'm force to call dad.”

  “Don't talk about your dad like that.”

  “Mom, we both know it’s true. He hasn’t even called to check on Henry since the accident. He’s too busy with his business in Raleigh,” she said and stopped picking at her nail beds to look up at me. “Mom, please call him.”

  She wasn’t talking about her dad; she was talking about Drake. We both knew that. But nine days with not a word spoke louder than any phone call.

  I tucked her hair behind her ear. I use to love playing with her hair. I believe it brought me more comfort than it ever did her. “I’ll think about it. Now you need to go to bed. I've got to work tomorrow.”

  She stood up and started to the door but paused to peek over her shoulder. “I love you the most.”

  “Cheater, that’s my line.”

  It got a giggle out of Ruby. I savored the sound. Laughter had been in short supply a few days too long in this household.

  She closed the door behind her, and I collapsed on the bed. I didn’t even pull back the covers. It was already one a.m. and I had to be a work at ten in the morning.

  Drake Hart

  Rather it had been a blanket fort or under the bed when I was small and lived with my mom, to the club and running now, I had always soothed myself by hiding. But there was no hiding from this pain. It was a hurt so intense it had the power to break the strongest of men.

  I didn’t love. I didn’t give my heart to anyone. Now I knew why. Watching what I had wanted to be my future slip from my grasp before it was truly even mine was a hurt worse than any physical pain I wielded in the club. When our lives intertwined, I changed. I became a man capable of loving. Just one glimpse of her was all it took. When Billy tossed her picture on that desk, I fathomed a life with her. A life that had already crashed and burned. After all, sinners didn't get a chance at happiness.

  I had been driving for ten straight hours, trying to get perspective on what the next step should be. I was broken, pissed, erratic, and wild.

  I didn’t call my dad before I left town. I had to finish the job I set out to do the first time I ever got a glance of Cherry. I might not ever be able to hold her again, but the man I wanted to burn in Hell for all fucking eternity would pay for every ounce of pain he had put her through.

  I pulled into my father’s drive. I should’ve called and informed him of what I had been doing, but I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it. It only reminded me of what I had lost. What I never expected to find. What I was not even sure I truly ever had.

  I gulped back a bottle of Gentleman Jack then threw the small bottle into the glove box. Before I had a chance to get out of the car, Katie was already knocking on the window. I rolled it down and smiled at her.

  “I counted one . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . . six . . . seven . . . eight . . . nine days. I got scared.”

  It was a preconceived misconception that all people with Down syndrome were always happy. But our Katie experienced every emotion. She got excited when she met someone new, she got bashful when someone’s touch was unprovoked, she got sad and pouted when I left for too many days, on a few occasions she has even cried. This was one of those times. Tears poured down her cheeks.

  I had been so wrapped up in the idea of exposing that scum’s every lie, I had forgotten the one who had always depended on me.

  I climbed out of the
car and gripped Katie by the shoulders. “I was working, Soda pop.”

  She shook her head, violently. “No, Billy didn’t know.”

  I had never witness Katie being that upset. Not even when she was dealing with the actions of our mom. I had finally been successful with one thing in my life, destroying everyone I cared about.

  “It was a special job. I drove all day to get to you. I haven’t even gone to my house yet. I came here to see you and Grace. I’m going to stay the night with you then take my girls for waffles in the morning.”

  “Drakie,” Grace said and came bolting from the house. Without slowing, she leaped in my arms. Luckily, I caught her. One day I was not going to be so fortunate. “Where have you been? Mommy is sad.”

  “Sorry, Soda pop,” I said and kissed her forehead. “I’m here now.”

  “Holy hell, son. Where have you been?” Jerry’s voice called out as he came around from the back yard.

  “Tying up some loose ends. I can’t answer any more questions, right now.”

  I placed Grace back on her feet and told her to go pick out a movie for us to watch. Kissing Katie on the forehead, I whispered, “Let me go talk to dad then I’ll be in for popcorn and a movie.”

  I watched her walk back in the house, her head down onto her chin, shoulders slouched. I would have to work to reassure her that I wouldn’t leave her again like that, but first I had a bigger problem on my hands.

  I walked to the backyard and fell back onto a chaise lounge, gripping the armrests. The pain had slammed me again. The parts I had managed to bury came rushing back when I saw Katie hurting. Her eyes mirrored Cherry’s when she begged me to say James was lying. I couldn’t. I didn’t have much to offer but I could give her the truth.

  “Are you going to tell me what the hell you’ve been doing?” Jerry asked and sat down around the patio table closest to me.