A Little Bit of Trouble

by A. E. Murphy

  We stay in the shower until our skin wrinkles and can’t take any more moisture. Words are left unspoken, my heavy heart becomes solid stone as we get dressed in the bedroom. All I can see is red, and not because of anger, but because of blood. So much blood. I don’t know how I manage it but somehow I actually fall back to sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  My Woman… Mine

  We eat breakfast in silence, Amelia has already finished hers and is playing in the living room. Loryn glances at me every so often, I know she wants to ask about last night but I’m grateful that she doesn’t.

  “Greg will be here to pick me up soon,” she says quietly.

  My hands clench into fists, “You’re coming with me.”

  “No I’m not. We’re going to walk the dogs, a couple of them need training before they go to their new homes. I offered my help to his mom.”

  “Then go and help his mom, not him.”

  She sighs with exasperation. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “I don’t like him.”

  “You don’t even know him.”

  “I know he wants to fuck you and that’s enough for me!” I growl and stand abruptly. “Do whatever the fuck you want.”

  She shrugs and stands facing me, “I will, don’t worry. Call me when you’ve calmed down.”

  She leaves not long before I do, I don’t see her out. I’m sulking. I don’t want her to go with Greg. How the fuck am I supposed to look after her when she’s with that douche? Yes, okay, maybe I’m being a little bit obsessive but… she’s mine. Not his.

  Talk about a toddler claiming a toy! Whatever.

  Well Summer and Chris were right, their house is awesome and huge and so bright. It’s similar to the house Crystal and I owned except this one is bigger. Chris definitely got a raise.

  Summer kisses me on the cheek and immediately takes Amelia to the garden to play on the tire swing as Chris helps me with my tools.

  “Thanks for coming man,” Chris says and leads me through to the huge den. “I need help fixing this.” He pats the wooden design around the open fireplace. Haven’t seen an open fireplace for a few years now. It’s sweet. The wooden frame of sorts has come loose. “If I tried doing it I’d end up wrecking it. Can you handle it?”

  I nod, “Yeah, no problem.” We get started.

  Summer comes in after a few minutes with cold drinks for us both on a shiny metal tray, “I feel like a little house wife. This is awesome.”

  “Whenever I call you that you tell me I’m a sexist bastard,” Chris scoffs in disbelief.

  “Baby, when you say it you mean it in a sexist way.” She rolls her eyes and looks at me, “He says and I quote. Baby go and get me a beer like a good little housewife.” I start laughing with Chris and high five him which earns us both a slap around the head from Summer. “Men!”

  Five tiresome hours later I’m happy to report there isn’t a loose bit of wood in this entire house. Summer and Amelia go around with a sweeping brush and a vacuum and clean up the mess we left behind as Chris and I sit on deck chairs in the back garden, completely depleted of energy.

  “Good little house husbands,” Summer says and pats us both on the head. “Hungry?”

  “Ung,” we both respond, meaning yes.

  “I’ll go order pizza.”

  “Ung,” we both repeat, meaning thank you.

  Lucas: Are you staying at mine tonight?

  Loryn: Not tonight.

  Lucas: Why not?

  Loryn: Because I’ve been at yours all week and I need to pack. I’m moving to Marie’s tomorrow! Or have you forgotten?

  Lucas: You have about 5 things to pack.

  Loryn: You are such a fucking ass hole!

  Lucas: Is Greg there?

  She doesn’t reply, I’m surprised the vice like grip I have on my phone doesn’t shatter it.

  “What’s up?” Chris asks, clearly sensing my anger rise.

  “Women.”

  He nods as if agreeing. No explanation needed.

  “What’s wrong Lucas?” Summer asks, also sensing my anger as she enters the yard with Amelia behind her. They’ve just ordered pizza I’m guessing. “You’re red in the face.”

  That’s because my blood is fucking boiling in my veins. “Loryn.”

  “Is she okay?”

  I grumble under my breath, “Oh yeah, I’m sure Greg is tending to her needs.”

  Lucas: Is Greg there? Answer me!

  “He’s her friend.”

  I look at Chris for back up, “Would you let Summer hang around with someone who you know wants to screw her brains out?”

  Chris shakes his head and pulls Summer onto his lap, “Not a chance in hell.”

  “He’s her friend.” She repeats with an eye roll.

  “Why are females so oblivious when it comes to men? It’s so damn obvious sometimes!”

  Summer shrugs, “Maybe because you’re reading too much into it.”

  “Or maybe Loryn isn’t reading into it enough,” Chris states. Yes, exactly. “I’d be furious. You gonna go check on her?”

  I want to but no. “Nope, I’m going to have pizza and chill.” And this is exactly what I do. Well it is until Marie and Jacob arrive with a case of beer, and it is until after a round of Monopoly and shots I get tipsy and Summer puts Marie in a spare room.

  Lucas: Is Greg still there?

  “Stop texting her,” Marie snorts, Summer has filled her in on the details. “She’s not cheating on you.”

  “I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about that asshole putting his hands on my girl.” I gripe and twist my hands in my lap. “What if he attacks her or something?”

  “Now you’re just being silly,” Marie snorts and picks up her phone. “Hi Loryn…” my ears instantly perk up. “What are you up to? Huh.” Her face falls. “Well, we’re having a small gathering at Summer’s new place.”

  “Hello,” Chris waves his hand as if to say, remember me. “My place too.”

  “You coming?” Marie’s phone conversation continues. “Okay then. No… yes he’s here… no of course he didn’t. Yes, he is. What did you say you were doing? And why’s that? Oh. Is he okay? Right. Yeah sure. Okay, bye.” She hangs up and shakes her head. “Apparently Loryn is at Greg’s house.” Boiling blood. “She’s already at a small gathering with her old college buddies. They’re reconnecting. Also, Greg slipped over and hit his head but he’s okay.” Such a shame. “She told me to tell you she’ll call you tomorrow when you’ve calmed down.”

  “I am calm,” I hiss through clenched teeth and suck down another shot. “So very calm. Can’t you see the calm just pouring off me?”

  “Talk about possessive, want me to give you a ride?” Marie snickers and Jacob elbows her.

  “You would?” I say with raised eyebrows.

  Jacob shakes his head, “Don’t even think about it. You’ll push her away.” Dammit. “Come on, let’s have another round of monopoly. I wish Maya was here, I still have yet to beat her.”

  “That bitch is crafty,” Summer agrees with a laugh. “She only buys the most expensive on the board and wins every damn time.”

  Marie smirks, “I beat her once.”

  “How?” Jacob asks.

  “I tipped beer over her hotels and screamed, Tsunami! Hope you had insurance,” we all start laughing our asses off, we wouldn’t put it past Marie to do that.

  Summer adds, “Oh my god, I remember that. And then she slapped you around the face with the board. That was when Maya and I weren’t talking. When she hired a gigolo for me because I said that I needed to get laid.”

  Oh my god, I’ve heard this story but it still cracks me up every time. “Yeah, back in the days when James was completely smitten with her.” Marie laughs loudly. “He used to send us chocolates and flowers and shit when we were rooming together. Used to beg her to date him.”

  “And let me guess,” I laugh a little. “She shot him down every time?”

  They bot
h nod, Summer continues, “He was completely in love with her. She was there when his dad died you know? She saved his life. Only for an hour but he got to say goodbye to his family because of Maya.”

  This is a story I haven’t heard. I nod for her to continue.

  “Well he had a problem with his lungs, when he was younger he had to have some kind of operation because the skin around the lung collapsed. They knew he wouldn’t live past fifty five. Maya was leaving for Europe just a few weeks after this incident,” Summer clears her throat and tucks her legs beneath her. “Her dad apparently asked her to take some files over to James’ parents, which is odd because normally she’d take them to James’ house but I think he was having work done on his apartment so he was staying there at the time.” She claps her hands together. “Anyway… when she got there James wasn’t in but his dad was. Fortunately Maya doesn’t understand personal space and walked into the house uninvited.”

  Marie sighs, “Good thing too. Because when she reached the den his dad, I think his name was Phillip or something, was on the floor in the living room blue in the face.”

  “Yeah, she started to do CPR, checking his airways, she called an ambulance and apparently shouted at the dispatcher because they said she needed to stay on the phone but how could she do CPR at the same time? So she hung up the phone and tried to make him breathe but the air wasn’t filling his lungs. His lungs had filled with fluid.”

  “Apparently, she got a biro pen case cut his throat and slotted it in with some tape to hold it but that didn’t work. By this time she was frantic and had her own dad on the phone. He told her he was on his way but Phillip was dying she had to act fast. He was pretty much purple, and as bad luck would have it, James walked in, he didn’t have a clue what to do so Maya did the only other thing she could think of. She got another biro pen, and like before took the ink cartridge out, using a sharp knife she cut him between his ribs and slotted the pen into his good lung.”

  “Voila, he instantly started breathing. The ambulance didn’t get there for another five minutes, if she hadn’t have acted he would have died right there,” Marie shudders. “James had broken down, he was crying, he was frantic.”

  “What did she do?” I ask.

  Marie grins mischievously, “She slapped him and kissed him and slapped him again.”

  “This seems like a pretty big story for them to not repeat,” I frown. “I remember James telling me she saved his father but he didn’t elaborate.”

  “You know what Maya’s like, she doesn’t think what she did was brave or heroic, James doesn’t bring it up because he watched his father die an hour later. I think it still makes him cry, but yeah, I think that’s when he fell in love with her. All of those emotions, all of that fear and suddenly, the girl you have a huge crush on is snogging your face off and hitting you and doesn’t stop until the ambulance arrives, it’s all horribly romantic,” Marie chuckles and makes a gagging motion with her fingers in her mouth.

  Wow. “So why did Sylvia dislike her so much?”

  “The plot thickens,” Marie giggles and sits on her knees. “Well Maya fucked off to Europe not long after the funeral, which she did attend but stayed only for the service. During the time she spent in Europe Sylvia went to visit her a couple of months later, to thank her personally, she was in France already… anyway. When she got there… you know about Paul?” I nod. “Good, well, Maya had recently flown Paul down for a couple of weeks. The same time Sylvia arrived was the same time Paul and Maya were going at it like rabbits in Maya’s apartment. Sylvia knew James loved Maya. It was obvious, we think Maya was his last attachment to his dad apart from his mom of course. When she asked Maya what she was doing, giving herself so quickly to another man. Maya responded, dude we’re just screwing around. Sylvia instantly called Maya’s father who did nothing.”

  “What could he do?” Summer snorts. “Maya was almost twenty, and Paul’s a good man. Her dad wasn’t thrilled about hearing his baby girl was having sex before marriage but what could he say? Maya was independent, she was taking the world by storm. Sylvia didn’t hate her because of this though because she sort of agreed with Maya’s dad. Sylvia hated her after Maya agreed to marry James and she caught Paul and Maya at it… yet again. A few months before the wedding.”

  “I thought she hated her because of her sluttiness?” Marie says looking a little perplexed. “I didn’t know this part of the story! How did I not know?” Join the club.

  Summer shrugs, “Nope, and Maya didn’t tell me. I found out because I was seeing Kyle back then and his dad works with Sylvia. It’s an extremely small world.”

  “What? Who?” Chris is openly gaping at her.

  She giggles and pats his hand, “Don’t worry, it only lasted a few weeks. That guy really annoys me.”

  “Oh my god, I remember that,” Marie starts cackling. “You hated him, she used to cringe whenever he touched her.”

  “Holy shit,” I snort. “Back to the conversation at hand, why didn’t Sylvia tell James about Maya and Paul?”

  “She didn’t want to hurt her son I assume, she did ask him though, what he’d do if he found Maya sleeping around to which James apparently told her about their freedom until marriage agreement,” Marie rubs her hands together. “He was desperate to be with her, we used to think it was because of her money but after a while we realized this dude really cared about her. That girl was no fool, they both signed prenuptial agreements. I think in her weird way she loved him too, she used to absolutely beam when he sent her stuff and would be singing and dancing all day. Used to drive us mad.”

  “I just don’t understand why I’ve never been told this before,” I say it seems odd, something so huge yet neither of them told me.

  “Did you ask?”

  Well no actually, I never did ask because I’m not psychic and I don’t randomly ask people… did you save someone and fall in love?

  “You should ask James if you’re that interested,” Jacob smiles. “I asked him why he loved her if she was such a pain in the ass to him. He told me that’s why, because she’s never boring.”

  “Is there a point to all of this story telling?” I laugh.

  Marie shrugs, “Maybe it will show you that even after a huge tragedy, you can still move on and fall in love.” Says the woman with the stone heart.

  My face and mood falls, “That’s a completely different situation.”

  “It may be different but it’s also the same in some ways Lucas. You should see yourself with Loryn, you’re possessive, happy, and horny all the time,” Marie cackles at her own words. “You love her, and if you don’t love her then you’re on your way to loving her. She’s a nice girl. She deserves a happy ending and so do you. Maybe you can both give it to each other.” I watch her eyes meet Jacob’s for a moment and the room seems to fall silent.

  Jacob smiles at her tenderly before looking away, Marie pretends not to care by plastering a fake smile on her face and looking my way but I can see the hurt in her eyes. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

  As awesome as this story telling has been I still can’t believe Loryn is hanging around with that asshole Greg. She’s mine. If he even touches her I will… I dunno, probably punch him or something. I feel like going to his, beating my hands on my chest and carrying her out for all to see but I know she wouldn’t like that.

  Unfortunately.

  “I’m gonna go crash,” I say after another game of monopoly and a huge yawn. So damn tired. “You guys don’t mind do you?”

  “Nah, you go on,” Chris says and Summer stands, “I’ll take you to your room.”

  “It’s fine, I know the way,” I respond and lean over to kiss Marie on the forehead. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Marie’s mouth drops open in fake horror, “But that would be so damn boring.”

  “Cheeky,” I laugh and head out of the room.

  Amelia is fast asleep in a huge bed, unfortunately she’s asleep sideways across the
pillows, strange child, so I have to move her before climbing in next to her. That’s one thing I love about Amelia, she’s not ashamed to hug her dad, not yet anyway so I’ll take what I can get whilst I can. As soon as I slip in she reaches out to me and buries her tiny body into my chest. There’s never a time more peaceful in my life than moments like these.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Faking It

  I wake up after a pretty decent night’s sleep, Amelia is gone, probably having breakfast. Shit. It’s eleven. Talk about overstaying your welcome.

  Climbing out of bed I hastily throw on my clothes from the day before and hurry down the stairs and into the den. No-one here, although I smell bacon. Kitchen, they’re definitely in the kitchen. My mouth is watering, damn that smells good.

  “What you cooking for me woman?” I’m guessing Jacob didn’t go home last night. That’s definitely his voice. I stop for a moment when I hear Marie speak, “Stop calling me woman.”

  “Okay, sorry man.”

  She growls out a curse, I listen for a thud, meaning she’s thrown something but nothing happens but complete silence. And then… “I wish you’d let me touch you.”

  “Marie…” Jacob warns and suddenly I don’t feel so good for eaves dropping.

  “Why not? When you’re here for visits. It could be wicked.”

  He sighs and then groans, I hear a chair scrape across the tiled floor, “Marie…”

  “Stop being boring,” I can almost hear the smirk on her face. “You’re becoming a real pain in my ass Jacob Stone.”