Death Blooms

by Yolanda Olson

  “Now what? Are you gonna make me try to lift the damn building off its foundation?” she grumbles, taking my hand and letting me stand her up. I let out a laugh because she looks so damn conflicted and worried about what’s next on the list for today, that I kinda wanna pinch her cheeks and tell her to stop pouting.

  “Actually, I was going to take a shower then a nap. But I mean if you want to keep going, we can,” I reply with a grin.

  Aiden lets out a sigh of relief and loops her arm in mine as we pick up our bottles of water and help each other undo the sparring gloves. She seems to be in a much more complaint mood since she knows that she won’t have to worry about me running her ragged—at least not for the next few hours.

  “Besides,” I say as I open the door to the building and let her in, “I can always just kick your ass for real later.”

  Aiden rolls her eyes and sighs, as she disappears up the staircase, stomping all the way up to the second floor like a young child having a tantrum.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Aiden and I are lying in my bed together, cuddled up, and I’m amused at how easily we can go from brutalizing each other to being like this. She insisted on stripping the bed sheets first and made me take them down the washing machine, which I would have done eventually. I just liked having that damn cinnamon and cranberry smell staining the bed sheets. While I was down starting the washing machine, she was in my room putting new sheets on the bed.

  “How long were you planning on laying around in that?” she asks, glancing up at me and wrinkling her nose.

  “For fuck’s sake, Aiden; you make it sound like I’m the only person in the world that’s ever slept in sex sheets before,” I reply as I close my eyes and let out a yawn.

  “You know how long it’s been since I had sex sheets?” she gripes, giving my side a poke.

  “Ow,” I complain with a laugh. For obvious reasons my body is still sore, and the little comeback I have planned is only going to make it worse. “Tell you what—the next time I fuck in my bed and get them all nice and sweaty, I’ll let you roll around in it for a while, okay?”

  “Oh, shut up,” she grumbles, giving me a firm shove in the ribs before turning on her side, facing away from me, and pulling the blanket up to her neck. “I really hate you sometimes.”

  “Hush,” I say, spooning up behind her and placing a hand over her mouth. “It’s sleep time now.”

  Aiden gives me one last, subtle elbow to the stomach to let me know that she’s still as in charge as she can be, and I chuckle.

  It’s strange the way I feel around her. It’s much different than the way I’ve felt around anyone else, but it’s nothing more than knowing that she genuinely loves me as the person I am, and not the false perception that I wear day in and day out. She sees the monster and she loves it.

  It’s almost as if she can feel that I’m thinking about her because she reaches for one of my hands and interlaces her fingers with mine, then moments later, she falls asleep.

  And I’m not too far behind her.

  When I finally wake up, Aiden’s gone from my bed and I sigh. It’s becoming something of a habit, it seems, to fall asleep with someone in my arms and wake up absent the person.

  I sit up and rub my eyes, before shoving the blanket off and going on a little voyage to find her. I doubt she left because she would have woken me up to tell me that she was heading out.

  That’s something Aiden’s always been good for—never abandoning me.

  One of the many reasons the little shit will never get rid of me, I think with a grin as I head into the kitchen area, but she’s nowhere to be found.

  “Huh.”

  I glance into the living room and she’s not there either—that’s when I notice that the door is slightly cracked open. I’m feeling a little frantic at the notion that maybe she did leave without telling me after all.

  I walk quickly toward the door and pull it open, stepping into the hallway and looking up and down the corridor.

  “Aiden?” I call out, my voice cracking slightly.

  “I’m upstairs,” the faint reply comes.

  What the fuck is she doing up there?

  I let out a heavy sigh and head toward the staircase, taking the steps two at a time, until I reach the landing and head into my workshop.

  “What are you doing?” I ask her curiously, stepping into the room.

  She glances at me over her shoulder, a smile on her face, and shrugs. “I just wanted to see what you were working on this time.”

  I walk over to the table and saddle up next to her, nervous that she’ll find something wrong with the piece, but if she does, she hasn’t said it yet.

  “What do you think?” I ask, chewing the inside of my cheek.

  “I actually really like it. I can see where you’re going with this—it’s not done yet though, is it?” she inquires as she tilts her head and lifts the sheet gingerly. Aiden cranes her head and narrows her eyes so she can see what the body of it looks like, then smiles again. “You’re almost done.”

  “Yeah. I’ve been a little delayed the past few days, but it’s not due for a while, so I’m actually ahead of schedule,” I reply, scratching my head. “I’m gonna need your help to finish it completely. You up for it when the time comes?”

  “Of course! I’m surprised that you think you even have to ask me that,” she replies, nodding her head enthusiastically.

  I grin at her and she nudges me before she turns and walks out of the room.

  “You’ll like her. She’s nice and gentle too,” I tell it softly. It looks at me and nods as I secure the sheet underneath it’s neck.

  “I know I’ve said this to you a hell of a lot more than I should lately, but I swear it’s almost over.”

  It closes its eyes and that’s how I know it wants to be alone.

  I understand how it feels and I wish it had a friend like Aiden or a lover like Penn. Because maybe if it did, maybe it wouldn’t be so resigned to knowing that the end is closer than I’ve been telling it.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I wave at Aiden as she switches her hips painfully down the side of the building. I think it’s kind of amusing that even after the hell I put her through today, her need to be the center of every man’s attention is still prominent in the way she walks.

  Even though I know that’s just the way her body moves, it makes me wonder how many times it’s gotten close to getting her into trouble when I’m not around.

  I shake my head and step back inside once she’s safely out of view. I don’t have anything else planned for the remainder of the evening. The piece really can’t be finished at this point without Aiden and I don’t want to bother her about that until after the fight.

  I’ve pushed Penn off until the night of, and from what Aiden tells me, I’ll be lucky if he even acknowledges me again when the time comes.

  Fuck it.

  I decide the best thing to do is just pick up around the place and call Ernie to come get the trash out of the dumpster.

  I like Ernie, though he’s a bit of an oddball. He runs one of the local morgues and I pay him a good amount of money to have whatever is left over from my art incinerated in his crematorium.

  I start on the bottom floor because that makes the most sense. I don’t really do much down here, but there’s still some dusting to be done. Once that’s taken care of, I decide to head up to my workshop. That particular part of the building is never really dirty or unkempt, but the barrels still need to be rolled outside and the trashcans still need emptying.

  Ernie always brings me new barrels and shit when we trade out the garbage so I’m never at a loss for what I need.

  Plus, it’s just nice to be able to talk to someone every now and then that isn’t Aiden. Even though I love her to death, sometimes the same conversations with the same person can become rather monotonous.

  I don’t bother checking on my project before I leave the room. The condition hasn’t changed in a couple of day
s because I’ve been too starry-eyed and destitute to work on it. As long as it’s breathing—and it still is—that’s the only thing that matters.

  With a whistle, I drag the barrels and garbage to the elevator and take the slow ride down to the second floor. In a weird way, I’m hoping that maybe Penn didn’t listen to me and that he’ll be waiting, but it’s not a disappointment either when I don’t find him in the hallway.

  I guess he has more discipline than I do. Request to stay away or not, I would have been knocking on his door by now—just to see his eyes for a few moments.

  But he’s much different than I am that way. While I spent most of my time in the same spaces as him, I would steal glances like a young boy in love, while he would spend his time not realizing it.

  Or so I had thought until last night.

  A smile crawls across my face as I begin to dust the living room. This particular spot has never seen so much goddamn use except for the past few days when I’ve had more company than I can usually deal with.

  With a happy sigh, I turn to the recliner and think about how it seems to be his favorite part in my home. I lean down and inhale deeply, hoping to find his scent still lingering, but it seems to have climbed onto Aiden’s skin and left with her.

  It’s okay.

  In a few days, everything will be normal again and he’ll come back. At least I hope he does. I don’t know if just the taste that I was given the night before would be enough to satiate my need for him.

  Maybe just one more time if that’s all I can get.

  I walk around and head to the couch, picking up the pillows and punching them a couple of times before they’re to my liking, then set them back down again.

  Nothing spectacular ever happens on this damn thing so I know it doesn’t need any special attention.

  I stretch my arms over my head before I head toward the back of the space and proceed to pick up the bathroom. When that’s done, I don’t even bother with my bedroom.

  The bed smells like two of my favorite people right now and I’d rather not fuck with that.

  I pull the garbage bags down the hallway then get to work in the kitchen, deep-washing as much of it as I can. I’m not a germaphobe by any means, but I like to keep a tidy home when possible.

  Was this place neat when they came over the first time?

  I sigh as I finish sweeping the floor. That’s going to fucking bug me now, but I’ll ask Aiden tomorrow when I see her.

  I empty the trashcans and place new bags into them before I wash my hands and call my buddy to swing by.

  “I’m already outside, Gray. Tuesday nights seem to be garbage nights for you.”

  I laugh and disconnect the call, picking up all of the bags and walking into the hallway again. I press the button for the elevator then step inside and turn the key that will keep the doors open while I haul everything inside.

  It never takes me long to do and before I know it, I’m downstairs and stepping into the crisp, night air, bags in hand, being greeted by the strange man that I sometimes see as my friend.

  Mostly he’s a business associate, but he’s so damn kind that I can’t help and hope that he thinks of me as a friend too.

  “Hey, man!” I call out to him, a grin on my face.

  Ernie nods as he takes a drag on his cigarette. He looks a little nervous; paranoid even, and it slows my walk to a halt.

  “What’s going on man?” I ask curiously.

  “Um, I ... I found something in your dumpster when I was loading the shit into my truck. I was kind of hoping I could keep it,” he says, shuffling his feet against the pavement.

  “Huh?”

  My face wrinkles in confusion as I drop the bags and walk over to the dumpster, lifting the lid and peering inside.

  “Oh shit,” I say, the blood draining from my face.

  Ernie comes over to stand next to me and peers inside again before he purses his request.

  “Can I keep it? I’ll be discreet—you know you can trust me, man.”

  Little Julie, the corner whore, tossed into the dumpster. Fell down the stairs and lies your reward.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I take a deep breath as I step back and give him an even stare. No wonder I could never find her or why the smell of her decomposing body never reached me. Penn hid her in the fucking dumpster.

  I finally nod, and Ernie lets out a deep breath. “Get rid of it,” I tell him softly.

  What he plans to do with her body is none of my fucking concern. What I plan to do with Penn for being so goddamn careless is another matter.

  Ernie helps me load the rest of the trash into his truck, but when he reaches into the dumpster to retrieve Julie, I turn away from him and bid him farewell.

  “See you next Tuesday?” he calls out.

  “Like clockwork,” I reply over my shoulder.

  I’m sure the rats and bugs have gotten to her by now and I can’t stand to see what’s become of her.

  I wait just inside the door to the building like I always do, arms crossed firmly over my chest, and wait for the beeping sound of Ernie’s truck. Once that’s done and he pulls past me, I nod at him again as he waves then I go back upstairs.

  I’m so fucking angry right now that I’m having trouble seeing straight. This man that I gave myself to—that I let fuck me so violently because that was his pleasure, could have gotten me sent to fucking jail for the rest of my life all because he wanted to play a game of hide-a-whore.

  At this point, I don’t know how to feel about him anymore. Did he know that this could mean my downfall, or did he just think that when people die you throw them away in the trash? Why the fuck did he think this was okay to do?

  I toss myself down onto the couch and reach for my cellphone, dialing Aiden’s phone number. It rings once, twice, three, four times before she finally answers.

  “What’s up?” she greets me tiredly.

  “You said Penn was strange. Does he not have a grip on fucking reality?” I bark into the phone.

  “What? Did something happen?” she asks, her tone picking up and becoming curious.

  I don’t know how to tell Aiden the truth. She knows what I do because I like her feedback and help with my art, but I don’t want her to think of me as some kind of mindless killer.

  I take a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, kid. It’s nothing major, I just think I’m going through withdrawals.”

  Aiden giggles, “Was his dick really that good? I mean it’s only been a day, Gray.”

  I chuckle slightly, feeling the anger starting to slip away momentarily. I swear, if Aiden had been born with a dick instead of a pussy, I would have married her by now.

  “Best I had in a while,” I reply quietly. “I’ll let you go. I think I just need to sleep and I’ll be okay.”

  “Hey, before you go,” she says, “what’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Do I get to kick your ass again?”

  I roll my eyes at the ceiling and laugh. “Nope. Tomorrow is yoga and stretching. Then maybe, just maybe, if you’re not a whiny little pain in the ass, I’ll take you out to dinner. Sound like a plan?”

  “For sure!” she replies enthusiastically. “I’ll see you in the morning, Gray!”

  “Later, kid,” I reply softly before I disconnect the call.

  As soon as I hang up with her, I kick myself for not asking for Penn’s phone number, so I send her a text then set my phone down next to me, rubbing my face with both hands.

  I may have told him that I would see him at the fight, but that doesn’t mean I can’t talk to him beforehand.

  Aiden replies almost immediately, and I stare at the information. Maybe I won’t call him because it would make me feel awkward to try and explain how I got his phone number, so I decide to send him a text instead.

  A few, very painful minutes pass by before the phone vibrates on the couch next to me. I don’t look at it right away, instead bringing my legs up, and stretching out comfortably onto my back first
.

  Hey.

  It’s a simple reply and for some reason it’s not what I was expecting. Granted, I don’t know what the hell he would say, but I was hoping for something a little more substantial.

  I found her, I text back.

  Took you long enough lol, is the reply.

  Give me break. It’s only been a couple of days.

  I’ll give you a break. ;)

  My entire body burns crimson and I’m actually relieved that there’s no one here to see how hard I’m blushing right now.

  Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that she’s gone now.

  Where to? Anywhere fun?

  Just gone.

  Tell me!

  To where all little dead whores go.

  You’re being boring.

  The message stings to read, but I don’t think he means it in a cruel way. Until I get to know him better, I just have to brush it off and take it as just words with no meaning.

  I’m going to sleep now.

  Alone? ;)

  Yes. Goodnight.

  Dream of me.

  I have no doubt that I will.

  I toss the phone onto the couch, ignoring whatever message he’s just sent through. If I read it, I know I’ll end up staying awake all night just to fucking talk to him and I have to get some rest.

  Tomorrow is a new day and I have to get back into workout mode with Aiden. Penn can wait until Thursday and so can I.

  Can’t I?

  With a loud groan, I reach for my phone and smile at his reply before I take a deep breath and send one back.

  I yawn widely as he sends another one back and then me in return.

  Aiden is going to fucking kill me when I show up dragging ass or she may be grateful for the fact that I’ll more than likely be too tired to do anything. I guess I’ll find out in the morning.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It’s Thursday afternoon and I’ve been staring at myself in the bathroom mirror for the past hour. Wednesday’s training was partially uneventful because I ended up staying awake until four in the morning texting Penn, but it wasn’t too bad considering it was meant to be an easy day anyway.