So. Long.: Bad Boy Next Door (73 page)

Lou reaches around me and takes the gun from Delores. “Let
me have that before you hurt someone.”

Delores relinquishes the firearm with a shrug. “Okay, but
that means you’re in charge.”

“In charge of what?” Lou chuckles.

“Why,
in charge
of killing burglars and home
invaders.”

“Yes, ma’am. All home invaders shall be shot on sight.” Lou
salutes and pulls the hem of her top down a bit more. “C’mon, Buck. I’ll show
you out.”

Aunt Delores heads down the hall, waving her hand. “I’ll go
take my pills. That’s where I was heading when I heard that
strange
noise.”

“In the middle of the night?” Lou asks.

Delores shrugs. “I’m old. It took me a long time to get to
the age where I can do weird shit and no one can say anything. So hush.”

“All right. Good night. I’ll see you in the morning.” Lou
tugs me toward the front room.

Delores calls behind her. “You might as well go finish your
fuckin’. Poor boy’s gonna have a raging case of blue balls if you don’t. And
that’s quite a set of balls to have
that
problem.”

Lou burst out with a laugh. “Forget his balls. I’ll end up
with a violent case of blue vajayjay.”

* * *

I let myself out of Delores’s back door and head down the
steps the way I came in three and a half hours ago. Instead of heading to
Nan’s, I take a walk over to Lou’s old trailer house. The gray light of morning
has yet to warm up too much, and the grass is wet on my pant legs.

The last time I dragged Lou from this place—her momma
sitting on the floor, screaming and cradling that bastard’s head in her lap—is
as clear in my mind now as it was that day.

It was the day I got that harrowing phone call from Lou, the
one that dragged me from work, and had the hair standing on the back of my neck
all the way through town to her place.

My brain went through a thousand scenarios of what could
have happened with Candace and Lou. Obviously, Candace found the phone I paid
for, not that I’d ever understand why Lou felt the need to hide it. But surely
that isn’t what made her lose her shit. Maybe she was just high and went into a
drug-induced rage?

I ran inside, leaving the door flapping against the wall
behind me. The scent of burnt chemicals hung in the air as I dashed down the darkened
hallway toward the screaming.

Candace held the handle, her feet braced at either side
of the door, yelling, “Just be nice to D’Jon, Loula Mae. He’s not gonna hurt
you if you behave. I need the money; I’ll even give you a little.”

My stomach went rock hard as I bellowed. “Lou? I’m here.
What the fuck are you doing, Candace?”

Candace held tight to the door handle. “Now, Buck. This
is none of your business. Get on home.”

A muffled cry came through the door, followed by a solid
thump.

“I’m not going anywhere without Lou.”

Candace turned as I approached.

She put up her fists, as though she could stop me from
getting to Lou. “You get on outta here. This is family business.”

“Lou
is
my family. Get out of the way, or I swear
to God Almighty, I’ll move your ass.”

“Now, Buck—”

I’d never laid my hands on a woman in anger, but it
wasn’t anger driving me—it was fear. I took hold of Candace’s shoulders,
picking her up and shoving her aside.

I tried the handle on the door, but it was locked. With
one kick it was open. Some dude had Lou at the foot of the bed, a towel
crumpled at his feet. He held her face down into the mattress, his hand working
his belt buckle loose.

Something primal rose from deep in my gut and pushed out
a roar as I grabbed the asshole who was hurting my girl.

I had him on the floor, one fist holding his shirt
collar, the other connecting with his face, his throat, his ear, wherever I
could make contact. I pulled him up between punches only to crack his head
against the fake hardwood with the next one. He pushed at me, his legs flailing
behind me. But fury flowed through my limbs, and there was no letting go. Not
as long as I had breath in my over tight lungs.

Candace jumped on my back, pulling my hair and scratching
at my eyes.

“Get off me.” I staggered back, losing my balance and
slamming her against the wall.

Candace fell off, and I stood straight. I lunged for the
piece of shit lying on the floor with his hands over his fucking face, but
movement at the head of the bed caught my eye.

Lou huddled under the blanket, peeking out past the knees
drawn to her chest, her teary eyes frightened. I kicked the asshole in his ribs
and stepped over him. I gathered the blanket around her.

Candace hunched over the fucker’s face, patting his
bloodied cheeks, screaming like a banshee. “You killed him! You little bastard,
you killed D’Jon.”

I hiked Lou to my chest, blanket and all, and dodged
Candace’s grasping hand as I darted out the door.

A touch at my lower back pulls me from my nightmare of a
memory, one that still occasionally haunts me when I sleep. I usually break out
of it, sitting bolt upright in bed, covered in cold sweat, so thankful I got to
her in time.

The girl I carried out of this shit-ass excuse for a house
stands before me, smiling and beautiful. I swallow the panic still lingering
from the memory too real to completely ignore.

Lou’s hair is mussed and tangled from a night of making
love. “Hey, I brought you some coffee. You okay? You look like you’ve got a bad
case of indigestion.”

I take the cup and pull her to my chest, resting my chin on
the top of her head. “I’ll never regret getting you out of that house. I’m
sorry things didn’t go the way you wanted, and that you’re still angry. But I
can’t wish it was different.”

She stiffens and pulls away. Wiping the dew from a clump of
grass with bare toes tipped in purple, she expels a heavy breath and shrugs.

I push the hair from her eyes, sliding my hand to the back
of her neck. “I missed you, Lou.”

She backs up, not even raising her eyes to look at me before
she turns and walks away.

 
EIGHTEEN

My hands cradle my head as I sit on the side of the bed Buck
and I just climbed out of not even an hour ago.

How is it possible to wake up feeling the world might just
be smiling on me, only to have old memories explode like a roadside IED,
ruining the day, maybe even the week.

Mom had threatened to do it; a hundred times she’d said
it.

“Someday you’re gonna pay me back for all I do for you. That
little twat you’ve got. It’s worth some money. We’ll sell it to the highest
bidder and make a mint. I sure as hell wish we’d had the internet when I was
your age. I’d have had a nice little nest egg.”

It wasn’t like she hadn’t warned me. Maybe that’s why she
started hating my friendship with Buck around the time I began to develop.

She’d say, “Don’t go giving that boy anything. It’s not
his to have, and he ain’t got no money to pay for it.”

Aunt Delores had tried a few times to get Momma to let me
come live with her and Uncle Manny. But Momma wasn’t having it.

“The state will cut me off if she lives somewhere else. I
have to have my check. It’s bad enough Loula’s going to turn eighteen someday.
I’m not going back to turning tricks.”

Somehow, even though I’d heard it often enough, it always
seemed like something that would happen far into the future. Not something that
she’d do when I hadn’t even turned seventeen.

A month or so before my birthday, I’d been over at Aunt
Delores’s, helping her in her flowerbeds. Momma wasn’t home yet—no telling
where she’d spent the night.

When I got out of the shower, voices from the living room
bled through the walls. Momma’s company was never a good thing. The smell
turned my sinking stomach sour. It was a sure sign she and her guest had been
smoking crack, its odor rank enough to induce nausea.

Crap. I left my clothes in my room. I wrapped tight in a
towel and held my breath as I opened the door, peeking out before I took the
first step into the hall.

Before I made it to my room, Mom called after me. “Loula
Mae, c’mon in here. I have someone who wants to meet you.”

I took another silent step toward my door, hoping she’d
think I hadn’t heard.

But she stepped to the end of the hall. “Now, you wait
just one second, Girl. You mind your momma. Come in here.”

I turned, my grip tight on the towel. “I will. Just let
me get some clothes on.”

She laughed. “Oh, hell. Don’t worry with that. D’Jon’s
gonna want to see you naked.”

My leg muscles tightened, ready to run. But running from
Momma always resulted in a beating that left me bruised for days. Maybe she was
kidding. Surely she couldn’t be serious.

A tall, dark figure joined Mom at the end of the hall,
his face shadowed, like a nightmare waiting to happen.

And he was.

If it hadn’t been for Buck, my life would have looked so
different. There’s no doubt in my mind; that wouldn’t have been the only time
Momma sold me to some guy.

Without Buck, I’d probably never have gotten out.

I let go of a shaky breath. Did I ever even thank him?

He didn’t kill D’Jon, even though that’s what Mom screamed
as Buck carried me out. But he put a hurtin’ on him. And then he put a whole
different kind of hurtin’ on Momma. He forced her hand in letting me get out
from under her thumb.

I push to my feet. Enough of this.

Some things are too harsh to purposefully dredge up from those
little boxes tucked inside where I keep my demons. Because, unfortunately, one
demon holds hands with the next, and the next, and the next. An endless line of
bad memories, spilling out of the barrel like evil monkeys, ready to take hold
and tear out your soul.

No. Not today. Not ever.

I wipe the dust from my hands. “Now all we have to do is
install the new flooring.”

Aunt Delores nods, her face dirty, sweat trickling down one
cheek. “Thank you, Sweet Girl. Don’t you need to get ready for work?”

I pull my phone from my back pocket. Six-fifty-eight. “Yeah,
I guess I should.”

I press the screen to read the text waiting for me.

-I’m sneaking away. Meet me at the fort @ 7:30. Bring a
blanket.-

I hop into the shower and scrub away the other bathroom
floor’s dirt and grime. I spent the day prying up the old linoleum tiles so we
can fix the problem with the mushy subflooring.

I shave everything that needs it, including my coochie—Aunt
Delores’s word for it cracks me up. I grin as I rub strawberry body butter over
the smooth-as-silk skin. I pat dry and pull my sundress over my head, adjusting
my tits in the halter-style bodice.

No bra. No panties. No point. I won’t have them on long
enough to warrant the effort.

I nab the quilt off the end of my bed and sneak out the back
door. I take my car around to Old Farm Drive, the road that runs along the
backside of the Buckners’ property. A secondary trail leads from here to the
old fort Buck and I played in when we were kids. It was a favorite place for us
to hang out—or hide, as the case sometimes was for me—all through our
childhood.

I hate deceiving Aunt Delores, but it’s a must. If she knew
how I really paid for the new laminate flooring for her bathroom, she’d have a
fucking stroke, but not before she cussed out Buck and me for our folly.

As I tramp through the tall weeds toward my destination, the
sun plays hide and seek behind the rolling clouds. I could almost imagine it
isn’t the height of summer in Louisiana. There’s a cooler breeze today. It
blows up my skirt, teasing my pussy lips.

A thread of anticipation runs through me as Buck comes into
view. He leans against a tree, shorts hanging low on his hips, arms crossed
over his bare chest. I pull in a trembling breath.

I repeat in my head the same talk I’ve given myself the last
two times we’ve met. It’s just sex—no different than any other guy I’ve been
with. I didn’t want emotional entanglements then, I don’t want them now.
Especially with Buck. He’s heartbreak on a stick. The first time liked to have
taken me down.

Sex doesn’t mean love. It doesn’t now, and it won’t.

If I tell this to myself enough, I’ll eventually believe it.
I just hope that happens before he leaves again.

He pushes away from the tree and holds out his hand as I get
close enough to take it. Lifting my knuckles to his lips, he brushes my skin
like a feather. Then he turns my hand to give me a warm kiss on the inside of
my wrist, leaving a trail of goosebumps as he works his way to the crook of my
elbow. He sucks in the slightest bit of skin before making a path further up my
arm to my shoulder.

He loosens the bow tied at my nape. “You really should just
show up naked when we get together.”

My breath quickens as he pulls the fabric holding my breasts
to my waist. My nipples bead and pucker. Buck turns me so his cock pushes
against my ass. His arms circle me as he lays kisses across my back from one
shoulder to the other.

“Fuck. You smell good, Lou.” He takes the blanket from me
and spreads it on the ground, in a place that’s been cleared of fallen branches
and pinecones.

“Looks like you got here early.”

It doesn’t mean a thing that he spent some time preparing a
place for us to make lo—have sex. He just doesn’t want a pinecone stuck up his
butt when I climb on and we go at it.

He nods to a basket parked at the base of the cedar tree we
used to decorate with paper ornaments during Christmas. “I thought you might
like a snack. Sustenance for strength; you’re gonna need it.”

A giggle escapes before I can call it back. “You sure think
a lot of your stamina, don’t you, Bucky Boy?”

He grabs his chest as though he’s been shot. “Oh. You
wound
me, Lou.”

“Wound you, my ass. Your ego’s so over inflated, there’s no
way one little jab could inflict any harm.”

He tugs on the bodice of my sundress. “Strip.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Strip. It’s National Naked Picnic Day.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me. National
Naked
Picnic
Day?”

“Sure. It’s a new holiday, not celebrated by many, but the
brave will bare their essentials to take part in the festivities.”

“The brave, eh?”

“Yup. You’re brave, right?”

I shake my head. “This is silly, but whatever.”

I shimmy my dress off, tossing it into his face.

He smashes it to him, inhaling loudly. “Damn, you smell
good, Woman! What
is
that?”

I grab my dress, yanking it from his grasp. “That’s just my
magical pussy.”

“Magical pussy is right.” He unbuttons his shorts, his eyes
devouring my breasts and traveling south to my mound.

The breeze picks up and my nipples contract once more.

Buck pushes his shorts to the ground. His cock is hard and
long, the little vein along the side curling into a spiral an inch and a half
from the head.

I drop to my knees on the blanket, running my hand down his
muscular thigh. I wrap my hand around his dick and gently pull him to stand
before me.

He pushes his fingers through my hair. “You don’t have to do
that, Lou. That’s not what I want from you.”

I lick the end of his hard-on like it’s a lollipop, swirling
my tongue to capture the salty, clear liquid getting ready to drip from its
tip. He groans.

I look up through my lashes, running his erection along my
bottom lip. “What
do
you want from me?”

He lets out a quick breath, his six-pack tightening when I
take him into my mouth. I wrap my lips around his cock only to pull it out
slowly, sliding my tongue back and forth as I go.

“Fuck, Lou. Shit.” He pushes his hips forward as I take him
in.

I pull back again, this time letting the head slip down my
chin, rubbing its wetness along the underside of my jaw from one side to the
other. “What did you say you want from me, Buck?”

“I—fuck, Lou—I just want
you
. I told you that.”

I slip his cock back into my mouth, deeper into the back of
my throat, though I can’t take him in all the way. I wrap my fingers around the
base of his erection, gripping firmly as I pump him in and out of my mouth,
until his knees are bent and his hips move with my motions.

Holding onto his ass cheeks, I pull him in tighter, sucking
hard.

I pull back, but before I can take him in again, he steps
away.

“Stop. Wait. I’m not ready to come.”

Shit.

I have to get this done, and fast. The more time I spend
with him, the harder it is to keep my emotions separate from my body. My
dripping
with want
body.

I grab my breasts, massaging them. Trying to entice him, I
lick my lips. “But you taste so good. Come back here, let me finish you off.”

I push one hand between my legs, rubbing my pussy. “C’mon.
You’re a man. Act like a fucking man. Come and get it.”