by K Harris
“That isn’t hard to believe, he did the same thing to me. Though he was verbally and emotionally abusive, now that I look back on it, he basically demanded that I be devoted to him and only him. His angry outbursts were often uncalled for when I grew close with Miss Lucille and she has worked for him for years.”
“That hoe worked with, for, and under him for years, you mean.”
“Wait, what? Hold up, Miss Lucille was there for me in a motherly fashion after mom died. I didn’t have anyone to lean on but her, God rest her soul.” I took great offense to that slight thrown her way.
“Destiny, I’m a straight shooter and I tell it like it is at all times. I’m sorry if what I say sounds crass, but Lucille was William’s hoe. His go-to, his jump-off. Your mother found out that he had been fucking the bitch for some time on the sly. I won’t deny that she always held a sweet demeanor, but she was an awful woman for creeping with a married man.”
“How do you know this?”
“Before your mother passed away, she called me and apologized for being distant. She admitted that it was all because of William’s ass, explaining that he didn’t want my “kind” around her. As if being gay was contagious,” the sarcastic snort was followed by a somber look. “Stelle assumed that he was spending the night at Lucille’s, so she had ample time to tell me everything that happened over the years. Even the fact that you weren’t his daughter and he knew from the beginning. She had no clue that he was sterile until after you were born.”
“Stelle never would have gone through with that bullshit marriage if she’d known he couldn’t have children. She always dreamed of being a mother. Marriage, kids, and a bakery were her ultimate goals. Of course, she didn’t know that she was pregnant until after they had been married for a couple of months, but if she had known the truth she could have acted accordingly. That bastard manipulated the situation because he knew she would be locked in with him at that point. He knew you weren’t his, but he wanted to dominate her so much that he waited until the perfect time to reveal his secret.”
“How could she go through with the wedding after she had been unfaithful? I asked my dad about their meeting and he refrained from giving too much away but it was hot from what I could make out.”
“DT is a fool; I haven’t seen him in so long. I can just imagine his descriptive ass speaking of that night.” Auntie Mae rolled her eyes. “Stelle never wanted to marry William because she never felt that intense passion. She settled because it was my father’s wish. As old fashioned as it sounds, William appealed to our parents stating that he was head over heels in love with Stelle. They convinced her to give him a chance to win her over in hopes that love would follow. Plus, it didn’t hurt that he was a military vet. Older people leaned heavily on benefits back then. If somebody had any kind of benefits coming in from the government, you were a catch.”
“Wow,” I shook my head in disbelief.
“She did it to make them happy. I suppose she liked him enough when he courted her. When he proposed, she begrudgingly accepted. Our parents assumed that it would resemble their love story, my dad was fifteen years older than my mom. William knew this much; he painted a beautiful picture of what could be. Stelle was a hopeless romantic so she bought it. He spoke a good game that is for sure.”
“I feel so bad for her, being locked in a loveless marriage. I suppose that is why she often looked unhappy, and just seemed to exist.”
“I can see that, and she suffered from what we now recognize as postpartum depression.”
“From what I can tell, you have never liked William.”
“There is something that I never told anyone besides Leslie. William tried his hand at me first but of course, he wasn’t my type, but I wasn’t quite upfront with my sexual preference back then either. After so many failed attempts to get my attention, he turned his sights on my cute little sister. We were only a year apart, so it wasn’t that much difference and it didn’t hurt that we looked a lot alike back then.”
“She unknowingly took one for the team.”
“Yes, she tried to get our parents off my back about being the first to marry. I confided in her my sexual orientation when we were in high school, so she knew that me getting married was out. Well in the traditional sense and having our parent’s approval was out of the question. Growing up in a town where lesbians were often referred to as bull-dykers by the elderly and carpet-munchers from the youngins, coming out was OUT.”
“Yeah, that had to be rough.”
“I did, however, come out to them before they passed away and my mother admitted that she had her suspicions. When they were gone, it was me and Stelle left. William accused me of trying to come on to him and that was when Stelle told him that I was gay. Apparently, he was incensed enough to believe that it was a slight to his manhood. The ego of a man, I tell you.” Mae chuckled. “Leslie was only my really good friend at the time. Her boyfriend of forever had recently revealed that he had another woman in Memphis and decided he wasn’t ready to be a father. I moved in with her to help with Syd. She was going through the motions; depression was kicking her ass, but I was determined to shake her out of that funk. Her baby girl needed her more than she needed me.”
“Before long, William and some other nasty people around town tried their hand at spreading rumors around about us living together. Since I was now out and open about my sexuality, everyone knew how I rolled. They concocted an elaborate story but the folks closest to us knew the real deal. Eventually, we did take it there, but it wasn’t intentional. It just happened, we clicked and been rocking ever since.”
“Because you were openly gay and you denied him access, he exiled you.”
“That is exactly what happened. He kept my sister from me and for the longest, I thought he turned her against me. Once I actually had the opportunity to speak with her, she assured me that she never stopped loving me no matter what William had to say.” Mae swiped under her eyes a few times and sniffled before she continued. “When she died, he forbade me from even attending the funeral. Leslie and I came back to town anyway to say our final farewell to my blood. That bastard stopped us short by threatening to have her cremated if I didn’t stay away. And further pushed the envelope when I asked about you. Stelle had an aversion to fire, never wanted to be cremated. Though it was only the physical body that would be burned, the thought of being cast into the fire was always a fear of hers.”
“Thankfully, Cage’s dad was good friends with the funeral director, and he snuck us in the night before the actual service was to take place. He set her up in a room and let us have our moment to say goodbye. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you, but I just wanted to respect Stelle’s last wishes.” She apologized to me and hugged me as I wept for the lost years. William was a real live monster and I was unfortunate enough to be raised by him. “I’m so sorry, I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“He lied.” I cried harder.
“What do you mean, he lied?”
“She was cremated after the funeral service. I overheard him saying that he was short on funds because of the medical bills that accumulated.”
“Please tell me you are lying,” she frowned.
“No, her ashes were buried with him.”
“I know it’s wrong to speak ill of the dead, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his soul was not at rest. He has done some dirty shit while on Earth, I could only suspect that his final resting place is not quite cool.”
“I have to agree with you especially after hearing all of this.”
“And I guess I can’t come down too hard on Lucille, she was a victim in all of this as well.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It was rumored that her daughter did not belong to her common-law husband, but she was William’s. That man was really old, and he was probably shooting blanks by the time she got pregnant. I heard that she was the reason that William and his second kids’ mama broke up. Apparently, he had been sleeping wi
th Lucille for quite some time behind everybody’s back. She was a loyal mistress; I will give her that.”
“Shit, I’m like Nix now, you gotta give some warning when you are going to spill some tea like that.” My eyes nearly bugged out of my head at the revelation.
“That’s neither here nor there, no doubt they are resting together now.”
“I wonder if her daughter ever knew who her daddy really was, with her nasty ass attitude. She gave me so much bullshit after her mom died.”
“No telling,” Mae commented.
“Thank you for clearing some things up, I know it was some painful things to recall.”
“Yeah, but it was for a good cause.”
“One thing is for sure, everything that he tried to do to keep all this goodness out of my life was foiled. I can’t help but think that he got what he deserved in a way and I hate to feel that way.”
“Truthfully, I do too but we can’t change what we know to be true. He did some pretty foul shit over the years because of his need to be in control.”
“True, I’m so happy that I finally got a chance to meet you. I look forward to spending more time with you and getting to know all of this family that I was deprived of.”
“Same here, baby girl.”
Chapter 18
Cage
There was so much to say, and it always seemed like the wrong time to bring up what’s on my mind. At the end of the meeting with Dez and Syd, I fully expected her to avoid hugging me altogether. When I leaned into her, I thought for sure she would dodge me or give me a brief church hug. Shocked and all, I welcomed her warm body against mine. She fit perfectly and molded into my body just the way she should. If it were up to me, we would have hashed out our differences at that very moment.
Instead, Candie popped up with her usual foolishness and threw a monkey wrench in my moment. Her actions were always deliberate in getting under Dez’s skin but now her bullshit was starting to push me to my limits. Sure enough, we created the monsters that were the club sluts and hang-arounds. We allowed them to think too highly of their position in the club. A time or two in the past an old lady has put one of them in their place and normally that was all that it took. Since so many of the claimed mates rarely come around unless it’s a special occasion, the sluts got comfortable being the “it” clique.
Feeling fed up from being cockblocked by Candie’s ass, I demanded that she left before I showed my natural-born ass. Dez didn’t stand a chance at leaving as I had to get some sort of conversation out of her. It was like pulling fucking teeth, and I’m supposed to be the one with a hard time explaining myself. Before long, hormones and my natural craving for her took the driver’s seat. Though fucked up, I took full advantage of her temporary openness to me. Just in case it would be a while before I could get this close, I drank until she damn near sprinted from the room. This time allowing her to leave was harder than I could have ever imagined.
However, breaking the news to Candie that their time in the clubhouse was coming to an end wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It was quite liberating to do. Witnessing the disdain that Dez held for Candie gave me hope that I still had a chance to make things right between us. Hopefully, the changes that we are making to the clubhouse and the effort that I know for a fact I am putting in to change my mindset will help. It’s fucked up that it took me to be without her to see that I truly needed her in my life like I need oxygen to breathe. If I have to try a lifetime, I will right my wrongs.
Candie, on the other hand, did not handle the news very well. The look of pure shock on her face and then the pathetic waterworks was over the top, but I allowed her to finish with the dramatics. In order to avoid making matters worse than what they could be, I refrained from laughing in her face. The mess she has been keeping up lately had gotten back to me. Claiming that she was certain that I planned to claim her after all of these years was absurd. The only ones who bought that bullshit were the bitches clinging to her as if she were their leader.
Give a bitch a little leeway and she’ll run out every damn time. It was the perfect time to put her into her place because I didn’t want Dez placed into unfortunate situations because of who I used to fuck. There were others in that clique that I have fucked but they never stepped out of bounds. Unless I call on you, keep your lips and hands to yourself and for sure keep my name out of your mouth. Candie must have forgotten those rules or really assumed that her mediocre pussy was a goldmine. Apparently, she is running around bragging that she has me on wraps when in truth she hadn’t tasted this dick in over a year. Assumptions really did make an ass out of too many people.
“What’s up Prez?” Black spoke.
“Sup,” we shook hands and I got back to work.
“You’ve been burning the candle at both ends haven’t you.”
“It’s all good, gotta do what I gotta do.”
“And what’s that exactly. Die of exhaustion,” he quipped.
“Get Dez back into town so I can claim that ass.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Glad you finally seeing the sugar from this settling down shit.”
“Me too,” I chuckled.
“Speaking of the devil and she, in this case, shall appear.” He chuckled. At that statement, I turned around just in time to see my Destiny walk into the building. The look of pure shock on her face pricked at my cold ass heart.
“What? How?” She asked and turned around in circles awestruck.
“We have been busy around these parts.” Black chuckled at her eagerness to hug him. “If you were home where you belong you would see this magic happen before your eyes. But I won’t continue to point out the obvious.”
“Don’t start, Uncle Black. Old folks always know what’s best,” she playfully taunted.
“Now I’m old, I see you.”
“I’m just kidding. Seriously, how the hell did you guys get this much done in such a short amount of time?”
“Some of my old laborers offered to lend a hand to get your projects completed quickly yet efficiently as humanly possible.”
“This is amazing!” She exclaimed with her hands over her mouth. “I didn’t expect so much to be done so quickly. What’s going on next-door? It looks like more than just foundation has been laid.”
“That’s because it is more than just the foundation. We ordered industrial heaters to keep the area dry and speed up the setting process. The tent is to shield it from the moisture in the air and this finicky weather we have been having lately.”
“At the rate, you are going, this place will be done in a month or so.”
“That is exactly when we are projected to be done. The only hang-up would be if some sleet or snow came, and even that may not stop us. This is the reason I wanted you to come by to see the progress that we have made. Thanks to Cage and some other riders, we have cut down the completion time by about two months or so.”
“Two months,” she questioned in awe. As if what Black said just registered, her eyes connected to mine like magnets.
“What’s good Destiny?”
“Obviously you all are, to get all of this done. Were y’all working around the clock.”
“Nah, nothing like that. Just trying to help out.”
“And it would seem that you’ve done just that.”
“Umm, so what’s next?” She averted her attention from me to Black.
“Now, we are in the home stretch. Even with the holidays right around the corner, we are ahead of schedule.”
“I’m both excited and nervous as hell.”
“Why are you nervous?” I asked her.
“Can I really do this? Working for the diner was one thing but owning not one but two businesses simultaneously, that is a lot of responsibility.”
“You got this. You were running the diner before all the mess popped off, the only thing missing is a warden constantly looking over your shoulder.”
“You’re right, it’s just a small bout of nerves trying to sur
face.” She smiled a genuine smile in my direction, and I felt cheesy as hell because it made me feel good.
“Have you decided on where you are living when you move back?” Black asked.
“No, but I know that I prefer a house. Apartment living is not for me, that much I have learned since living in Denton. Neighbors that are too close annoy the shit out of me.”
“Forget what I was going to suggest then,” Black laughed.
“Right, and the list of rental properties are slim pickings. Either they are seriously rundown, or they are too expensive for me.”
“In that case, I have the perfect place for you.” I suggested with a smirk.
“You can forget about it,” she adamantly shook her head.
“Forget about what, I haven’t said anything yet.” I feigned innocence.
“Bullshit, I’m not moving into the compound. I can’t stand any of the little hoes y’all got hanging around there. My tolerance for bullshit this time around is quite low.”
“On that note, let me go check on the workers in the back.” Black made an excuse to disappear.
“I wasn’t suggesting the compound. There is a property that I think you would like. The owners moved and the house has been vacant for a long time. They keep it from being run down and make sure there are no trespassers. I’m sure I could negotiate for a reasonable amount on your behalf.”
“Really?” From the skeptical look on her face, she wasn’t sure what to take from my offer.
“I mean with it being around the holidays, finding something in a month will be next to impossible. If you don’t love it, it could be a place to call home temporarily.”
“Where is this place?”
“I could take you there right now if you wanted to take a look at the spot. One small phone call and it can be arranged.”
“My flight is at five but if you promise to have me to Syd’s by three, I’m game.”
“I’ll make that call for you Prez,” Black appeared out of thin air. “Y’all head on over there.”