by Quil Carter
We had an impressive spread as far as variety went. All of the merchants’ things: scrap electronics, kitchen utensils, kid toys, chapstick, makeup, toiletries and more, and Reaver’s surplus supplies which were mostly spare household items and electronics he didn’t feel like repairing.
After about three hours I had sold over a hundred dollars’ worth of merchandise! I had even sold a TV to John Tulley for thirty dollars and three bottles of greyboy wine.
As it came to afternoon the square was abuzz. As I had suspected people were out collecting firewood and had trickled into the square for conversation, news, and to buy supplies. I had been chatting with an elderly resident named Juan who had just bought a bag of silverware and a can of Comet from me. At the same time I was trying to sell a serrated knife to another resident named Cam, a tall gangly guy with auburn hair and a round face. It was getting pretty busy, but well, that was the point when you ran a store.
“Some weather we’re having, eh?” Juan said. He had a baseball cap over long stringy grey hair. He glanced up the sky and sucked his teeth. “I’ll be out for the next week scavenging wood; the places Greyson marked off are ripe for dismantling. The whole neighbourhood has been collapsing on the east side.”
“I’ve heard some of the houses collapsing at night, nothing spookier,” Cam said, running the serrated knife over his fingers. “Back in Greendale we had giant ants. They would chew the wood and collapse the houses that way. Now that is a sound you never forget, gets in your bones that noise.”
I shuddered. I wondered if Perish had made those ants.
“Either way, I’ll be off.” Juan gave me a kind smile. “I might be back for that potato peeler, if you decide to knock that dollar off…” He let that drag with a friendly chuckle. We had been unable to reach an agreement by just a dollar. If it was just us I would have let him have it but I didn’t want everyone to think they could haggle me down. Juan turned and left, weaving between a couple of kids walking a deacdog on a long rope leash. Tolerating kids was a part of their training which the kids loved. I should volunteer there again.
All at once the deacdog pulled away from the kids, making the rope leash rise right in front of Juan’s feet. The poor guy tripped and spilled the bag of silverware and the Comet.
I jumped to my feet and ran over to help him up.
“Thanks, Killian, I’m not as agile as I used to be,” Juan chuckled. I bent down and helped gather all the silverware.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, I’ll get you another bag.” I turned around walked back to the cart.
Something got my attention though, Cam was gone, the serrated knife left forgotten. My satchel was gone too. Not only did that have all of my stuff in it… it had all of the money I had made today in it too.
I scanned the square behind my cart, and it didn’t take me long to find him. He was walking fast, with his head crouched down and his arms holding something in front of him. He was heading for the nearest alley in between Carson’s shop and the storage sheds. If he escaped into the east area he could easily disappear into the abandoned houses.
I looked back at my cart. “Juan, watch my shop.” Juan gave me a sober nod and I turned and ran after Cam.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I said when I was near enough to grab his shoulder.
Cam whirled around and looked at me surprised. His round face was stricken as his eyes flicked to behind me, then back to my face.
Like a coward he turned and ran, my satchel still in hand.
“THIEF!” I shouted, hoping to alert one of the officers or a sentry. I ran after the asshole as he ducked into dumpster-lined alley. I didn’t know where the fuck he was planning on going, unless he was going to leave Aras. Eventually he would have to fucking come back.
He was an idiot and a slow one at that. I was fast, and like Reaver had told me, I was agile. I played to my strengths and jumped over a stack of medians that had partially blocked off the exit of the alleyway. I landed in front of him, essentially cutting him off.
Cam skidded to a surprised stop. For a fraction of a second he froze, staring at me wide-eyed. When he regained himself he turned and went to run in the opposite direction. I was still faster though; I reached out and grabbed my satchel from him and pulled.
Cam pulled back and gave it one good yank.
I was about to call for help again when I felt a blow to my jaw and a rush of dizziness and sunbursts. I fell to the ground and blacked out for a second. I sucked in a breath and smelled the cold pavement.
I heard who I think was Matt, and then a lot of shouting and struggling. I grabbed onto my mouth and pulled my hand away, seeing blood on my lips. Then strong arms came around me pulling me to my feet.
“You okay, Tinky?” It was Matt. Reno’s nickname for me must have spread.
“I’m fine.” I shook my head free of the fuzziness and saw Jess cuffing Cam very roughly. He had found his voice and was apologizing. One of the officers named Houston was on his radio.
My heart dropped when he said Reaver’s name into the handheld.
“No, no, no please don’t tell him…” I pleaded, but Houston ignored me. Fuck, he was going to lock me in the bedroom for the rest of my life.
“We’ll take you to Marley,” Matt said, nodding towards the holding prisons. “Take that asshole to the cells.” Then an amused chuckle escaped his lips. “You have some balls trying to rob Reaver’s boyfriend. I hope you’ve spent all the time you want with them though because that psycho is going to cut them off.”
Cam gave me a look of horror. He obviously hadn’t known I was dating Reaver. That just might be the last mistake he made. It was bad enough he pissed off a person the whole block steered clear of, but to do it while he was in charge of Aras? Suicide.
I had my satchel securely on my arm and I let Matt take me to Doc’s clinic. We were almost there when a very pissed off Reaver came storming towards us. His face softened when he saw me though.
“Are you okay?” Reaver said. He tipped my cheek up and examined where I assumed a nice welt was forming. I felt his thumb wipe the blood from my lip.
“Just one hit, I’m fine, hun,” I said with a reassuring smile. “Marley will check me out, don’t worry about me.”
Reaver nodded and his expression turned dark. “This is fucking ridiculous.” He turned to Matt. “Am I insane or are these fucking jokes getting more bold?”
“They are. I had Karl sneaking through my shed last night,” Matt grumbled. “I dunno if it’s Greyson slacking on the court dates or the fact that everyone knows the mayors are out of town but you’re right, this is ridiculous. Broad fucking daylight. Juan says Killian had his back turned for a second to help him after he fell, and Cam just went for it. You got your work cut out for you, Reav my man.”
Reaver growled, his face stressed. First the Kerry’s and now this? Greyson couldn’t come back soon enough.
Without another word Reaver stalked towards the holding cells and we continued on to Doc’s.
Marley cleared me pretty quickly, the cut inside my mouth was very small. Just my tooth biting down on my inner lip a bit. Afterwards since I didn’t want to worry Reaver, I packed up the shop and pushed the cart back into the storage room. Juan had stayed with my stuff, and I gave him a few dollars for his troubles but he refused it. I ended up giving him the potato peeler for a dollar instead.
When he was on his way I locked up and went back to Leo and Greyson’s house. Reaver was nowhere to be found; hopefully he was off torturing Cam. What a jerk. I hated feeling betrayed. It wasn’t like he was my friend or anything but we had been having a nice conversation. I guess I was too trusting and naive at times. Not everyone is nice and friendly like Juan, or Leo, or Reno, the world is full of jerks and unfortunately it can be difficult to tell the difference. The best jerks are the ones who can fake it.
I grabbed myself a bottle of water and sat down on the couch. I counted up our money and neatly tied it up into bundles. We had made one hundred and tw
enty-two dollars. All of it profit! Reaver had a safe in his living room closet; I’d add it to the stash and like I had promised myself I’d go into my old house and grab the money from there too.
Reaver working as mayor was really helping me to see that there were shady people in Aras. I had heard rumours sometimes; my mother would tell me who to stay away from and I would overhear conversations but mostly I didn’t notice. I definitely didn’t notice after my parents died, I just stuck to myself then.
No one would dare rob my old place though, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Once Reaver was relieved of his mayoral duties we would board it up and remove everything we wanted or at least secure it. It was so close to Reaver’s house anyway and we walked by it every day. If anyone tampered with it we would know.
I made some dinner for the both of us, even though I wasn’t sure when Reaver would be home. I lit up the barbeque pit and fried us up some steaks and some corn. The corn would all be gone soon and we would have to go back to canned crap. Even though our corn was sad and tiny compared to Perish’s it tasted alright.
Reaver must have smelled the meat because right when I was plating everything he walked in.
Oh boy, did he look stressed.
“I made steak, it’s all bloody.” I gave him a friendly smile.
He looked past me at the meat and sighed. “I could use some food. I haven’t had time to eat all damn day.” He gave me a quick kiss and picked up the plate. I wanted to ask him what happened after I had almost been robbed but I knew better. When my dad had a bad day at work my mom would always wait until he was done eating and had had some heroin before she talked to him.
That gave me an idea. I jumped up from my plate and grabbed my drug bag and put it on the coffee table beside him.
He gave it an approving nod and continued to wolf down his half-raw steak. I ate mine very slowly as usual; I was only half done when his plate was cleaned and he was inhaling some opiate powder.
Reaver’s stressed and bedraggled face relaxed as the Dilaudid pills hit him. I was happy to see him start to look a bit more like himself.
“We have six people in holding cells right now,” Reaver growled. Maybe he wasn’t as relaxed as I thought. I watched as he pressed two of his fingers into his eyes and tensed his face. Then he drew his hand down it. “Hollis arrested a woman in the Red House who knocked out another woman’s teeth with an iron. We have no more room in those damn cells; they were only meant to fit one person each and he insisted on keeping the chick in her own. I don’t see the point. What happens to her is her fault not mine.”
“Greyson will be back soon, right?” I said. I got up and sat beside him, though far enough that he had his space. He handed me the sniffer and I took some Dilaudid powder for myself.
“I hope not,” Reaver said.
I looked at him in surprise.
“Greyson will let them go,” Reaver said, thumbing through the papers he had brought in with him. “And the law breaking will continue. I never realized how much this block was going to shit. Heaven forbid the leaders take some time off to deal with their own problems. As soon as their absence is noted the croaches crawl out from the woodwork. It’s fucking disgusting. They’re like the deacons, always testing for weakness, and once they find one they spring.” I watched a very sinister smile spread across his lips. “You know what is wonderful, Killian?”
I felt a bit spooked by the tone of his voice. “What… dear?”
“They think I’m a fucking babysitter. They think I’m minding the shop until daddy gets home.” He smirked, the devilish smile on his face suiting his already dark features. “They don’t believe I’ll exercise my authority. They think I’ll wait for Greyson to get home then he’ll let them off…” Reaver tapped his finger against his lips. “Very, very interesting.”
This made me feel a bit ill. I didn’t think the shady residents knew what they were getting themselves into. If they thought Reaver would let them get away with these things they were sorely mistaken. This wasn’t going to be pretty. I knew my boyfriend well enough to know he would take it as a personal insult if they didn’t take him seriously.
“Please, just let Greyson handle it, love.” I gave him the sniffer and shifted closer to him, putting my hand on his leg. “We’re not mayors, it’s their problem.”
His chocolate brown hair fell over his eyes as he passed the sniffer through each finger. Reaver’s black eyes were fixed on the drugs, but he was seeing a lot more than just four yellow lines. His mind was working, processing, ticking. Figuring out what his next move would be.
A purple bruise still graced his high cheekbone and there was a small healing cut above his bad ear, fully knitted together and healing. A dangerous arian with the battle scars to prove it.
“Remind me, when was Greyson supposed to return?” Reaver said, still staring forward.
“Not tomorrow but the next day,” I replied.
Reaver nodded, and leaned down to take even more Dilaudids into his nose.
“Human nature is a tricky thing,” Reaver said slowly, more to himself than me. “But humans love bloodshed, especially when you give them the moral approval to love it.”
This was true. At every execution there was always jeering and things being thrown. It was a bit unsettling how much like animals the residents got when they were given the excuse to act like them. The only ones who kicked up a fuss were the families and even then Greyson always volunteered them to take their place. No one ever did.
“But, baby… you can’t hold the trials without Greyson, Leo, and Doc,” I said gently. “Half the council is gone. Their families would never allow it.”
“Exactly,” Reaver said, the dark smile appearing on his lips again. He leaned over and gave me a kiss. I kissed him back, and, as seemed to happen a lot, things soon escalated. Reaver slid his hands down my pants and grasped my hardening member. I kissed his neck and started unbuttoning his shirt. He got way too turned on by his twisted thoughts and ideas, but, well, that was Reaver.
A little over an hour later I watched Reaver put his clothes back on. I was sore and exhausted but satisfied. Reaver looked much more relaxed and I was happy I could help with that. Sex was a great stress reliever for him and for me too. I hope Greyson and Leo didn’t mind us violating their couch but I’m sure they had done it enough times.
Well… that was disturbing. I looked down at the couch cushions. Maybe I should have at least flipped them first.
I was a bit disappointed when Reaver belted his gun holder across his chest, but I guess it was time for him to put in the four hours of sentry duty.
“Did you want me to walk you back to the basement?” Reaver asked. He picked through our bag of drugs and put a couple of pills into his pocket.
I was about to say yes but then I remembered that I wanted to look for more information on Reaver’s parents. “I’ll be okay. I want to clean the place up a bit. I’ll go home when I’m tired.”
He nodded but then paused as he was sheathing his combat knife. “You like Matt, right?”
“Sure.” I shrugged; he seemed like a nice guy.
“I’ll be sending him over to walk you back to Quil Street. Just the beginning of the road. I’ll be on west wall so I’ll watch over you the rest of the way.”
I sighed but I didn’t dare push it. It would make Reaver feel safer for me to have an escort, and with the crime rising around us I could see his point. “Okay, I’ll wave to you.” I’d have over two hours to look around anyway, more than enough time.
With one last kiss Reaver was off to sentry and I was all alone. The blinds and curtains were drawn and it was quiet. I locked the door and felt a shiver of adrenaline. I did a bit more powder and started with the ‘Chance’ box.
I carefully opened up the box and looked through it a bit more carefully. I wished I could take all this stuff back to Reaver’s, it was a shame to have it lay forgotten in a box. The blanket was probably Reaver’s baby blanket and he probably lo
ved it when he was little. I’d had a baby blanket too, but it was in our attic.
Hmmm… I gently put everything back and closed the closet door. I tiptoed up the stairs.
The second-storey consisted of a hallway, bathroom that had been turned into storage, two bedrooms and a small office. Everything was covered in cigarette-stained wallpaper that may or may not have had a pattern on it at one time. The floors were bare glue-stained wood and left over fringes of an old ripped up carpet.
Everywhere I looked I could see boxes. Most of those boxes looked like mayor stuff and supplies. I looked around and found the string to pull the attic stairs down.
They creaked, which made me jump a mile high. I was half-expecting Reaver to come barging through the door demanding what I was doing and why I needed to see the attic.
I quickly ran down and grabbed a bluelamp, and took a breath. My heart pounded as I took the first step onto the old wooden stairs. If I was caught I would be in so much trouble. I tried to think of a lie I could tell to justify me being up here.
I heard a noise? Reaver wouldn’t believe that, I would run out of the house if I heard a noise.
But if I heard kittens… that might work. Okay, I nodded to myself as I ascended the stairs, I could use that excuse, that was believable.
The damp, musty air hit me as I reached the top of the creaky old stairs. I crouched down and shone the bluelamp around the dusty, dark attic.
The wood was surprisingly clean, bleached a lighter colour than the floor. The roof itself looked like it had been patched many times with parts of other houses and bits of sheet metal. It was dry up here and not damp at all. The pipe of the woodstove went up through the floor and into the roof; the heat from the pipe probably warmed this area during winter. So this wouldn’t be a bad place to keep personal items.
Should I be doing this? My guilt started to get a hold of me, but my curiosity was stronger. I stuffed down the guilt and took my first shaky step onto the faded wooden floor. The floor creaked and once again I froze, but the house was silent.
I moved the bluelamp around and tried to get a good look at my surroundings. Everything looked like a monster ready to attack until the cold glow revealed its true shape.
