“And even though we have a few cops and city officials in our pocket doesn’t mean the whole force is going to ignore the shit we do, you dumb fuck. I always tell you to keep things low key and not to be so fucking goddamn arrogant. Why don’t you listen, Mark!?” Blane said.
Then he grabbed Mark by the shirt and glared at him, all bug-eyed and breathing heavy as his anger boiled over. Mark decided he better start begging.
“I’m so sorry, cousin. This girl was just so hot and such a good screw I couldn’t help it. Things were going fine but then she wanted to move in here and I couldn’t get the party gone in time and I brought her here and I thought she would be fine but she wasn’t and I’m real sorry, man. I’ll make it up to you! Whatever I gotta do, name it,” Mark pleaded.
Blane relaxed a little and let go of Mark.
He started to turn away, but then swung back around with his right hand and punched Mark hard in the jaw. Mark dropped like a sack of potatoes. Blane gave him a few kicks to the ribs, telling him how stupid he was. When he thought Mark had had enough, he crouched down and lifted Mark’s head by his hair.
“You’re damn, fucking right you’re gonna make it up to me, cousin. You are gonna take me and your crew here to that bitch’s house tonight. Then we are gonna kill her, her dad, and their whole fucking family.”
Chapter 10
Randy stood in the doorway to Rose’s room with his arm around Mallory, her head resting against him. When they’d gotten home, Rose and Mallory had held each other and cried, both apologizing and professing their love for one another. It was a special moment that made Randy so happy to see. He couldn’t help but think that maybe they really did have their Rose back. After they had finished talking about the night, they got Rose into bed. They had been standing in her doorway watching her sleep for a while now. Randy kissed Mallory on the top of the head.
“Our little girl is home, baby, safe and sound,” he said.
Mallory wrapped her arms around his stomach and nuzzled her face into his chest.
“Just like you said, Mr. Wonderful. Once again, you saved the day for our family. I don’t know what I would do without you. What any of us would do without you. Thank God my dad asked Hudson Construction to do some remodeling work on our home all those summers ago,” she said.
Randy smiled at the memory.
He had been 17, Mallory had been 16. He had been part of the crew putting an addition onto her parent’s house, and she would bring him and the crew lemonade every day, twice a day. It was love at first sight for him. He always made sure he was the last one to get lemonade from her so that he could stall her and strike up conversation without interruptions from the other thirsty crewmembers. Randy also began working with his shirt off to impress her. He was in a bit better shape back then, so it actually caught her attention in a good way. After a few days of this, he’d finally gotten the nerve to ask her out and she said yes. They’d gotten serious quick and not too long after, Rose was conceived. The rest was history.
“Yeah, that was when it all began. I know I don’t look quite as hunky with my shirt off now as I did back then, but what do you say I take this shirt off…then everything else, and we have a repeat performance of earlier tonight?” Randy asked.
Mallory took her head off his shoulder, smiled, and slid her hand down his stomach and into his pants. She bit her lip when she got what she was searching for.
“You are a naughty boy tonight, Randy Hudson…and I like it. Let’s go, big boy!” Mallory said.
She kissed him passionately, then after taking her hand back out of his pants, pushed him into the hallway and slapped him on the butt. Randy and Mallory smiled at each other then looked forward to head back to their room and saw Daffodil with a can of mountain dew…and a look of disgust on her face.
“Seriously, are you guys trying to put me into therapy? I’m going to go wash my eyes out now…and I’m sure in a little while I will have to wash my ears out for the second time tonight. Remember, there are other people in this house…and your room isn’t sound proof,” she said and then shook her head, stuck her tongue out, and hurried into her room, shutting the door behind her.
Randy and Mallory looked at each other and burst out laughing. They giggled all the way to their room and shut the door behind them, feeling ecstatic that their Rose was home and all the drama and heartache that had been an everyday part of their life was finally over.
******
Randy was awoken out of his sleep for the second time, this time by a loud pounding on the front door downstairs. Mallory was sound asleep on his chest, so once again, he rolled her gently off and onto her side. He still couldn’t believe how heavy of a sleeper she was. Randy glanced at the alarm clock, 3 o’clock in the morning.
Who the hell would be pounding on the door this late? Could be the wrong door, or an emergency. Randy got dressed for the second time tonight. He backed out of the bedroom, quietly pulling the door closed. When he turned around he ran into Lou.
“Whoa, hey! Sorry, buddy. Didn’t know you were there. Did the knocking on the door wake you?” Randy asked.
Lou just nodded and hugged Randy. Randy hugged him back tightly.
“Don’t be scared, little man. Why don’t you wait in your room and I will see who it is and be right back up to tuck you in,” Randy said.
Lou looked up and quickly shook his head.
“No. I’m scared, Dad. I wanna go with you,” Lou said.
Randy sighed. He was trying to think of what to say as the door pounding continued. Randy was about to suggest Lou lay in bed with Mallory when he heard her behind him.
“Me too. Come on, Lou. We will both go with Daddy to see who is here,” she said.
Randy looked at her to say no, but her look warned him not to. So, he picked up Lou and the three of them headed downstairs. Randy peeked through the peephole and saw Mark standing outside the door.
The left side of his face looked bruised. He seemed nervous, as he continued to pound on the door. The bastard should be nervous, Randy fumed. Because Randy was about to follow through on his promise from earlier, when Randy had warned Mark he’d kill him if he tried to ever see Rose again. He handed Lou off to Mallory.
“It’s Mark, babe. You and Lou get out of sight of the door,” Randy said.
Mallory looked concerned.
“Should we call the cops? What if he is drunk or high? Randy, what if he has a gun?” She asked.
Randy didn’t think that he did, Mark was too scared of him to come here alone with ideas of doing anything like that. If his buddies were standing outside with him maybe the cops would be needed, but Randy could handle this weasel since he was all by himself.
“You can call if you want, babe. But I will get rid of Mark really quick. He probably is just hoping Rose will answer or is going to try and give some bologna apology,” Randy said.
He winked at Lou when he said bologna and Lou gave a half smile back in response. Mallory walked over and grabbed the phone and started dialing. Randy rolled his eyes. She put the phone to her ear and frowned, then looked at it, put it to her ear and frowned again. She looked at Randy, worried.
“The phone is dead, Randy,” she said.
Randy took the phone from her and checked it himself. Then he checked the connection to the charger for the cordless. Seemed like everything was plugged in and fine. That’s weird, he thought. It must be a problem with the line or something. Or maybe the phone had just died. Charger could be bad or the phone might not have been all the way in the charger holder. Sometimes, Daffy didn’t get it back in right and it would die. Anyways, it didn’t matter right this minute, they could figure it out later.
“It’s okay, babe. We don’t need the cops anyways. I am going to open the door and take care of this before Mark wakes up the whole neighborhood,” Randy said.
Mallory was nervously bouncin
g Lou on her hip and shaking her head.
“Randy, listen, I have a bad feeling here. Why don’t you go grab your cell phone from upstairs and call the cops and wait for them to get here? Please,” she said.
Randy smiled at his wife. He could tell she wanted to call and wait for the cops, but Randy couldn’t take it anymore.
“It will be fine, baby. I promise,” he said.
He turned his attention to Mark’s pounding, took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and threw it open. Mark looked at him with a surprised and fearful expression. Guess the bastard hadn’t expected Randy to answer the door, he thought with satisfaction.
Randy started to tell Mark off, but was silenced by shock when four other men in ski-masks jumped out from behind each side of the doorway and forced their way into the house. One of them smashed Randy in the kneecaps with a baseball bat, and he heard Mallory and Lou scream as he hit the ground.
##########
Note from the Author
Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me and my book a chance. You, my wonderful readers, bring Homeless and his world to life
www.christopherleecousino.com
About the Author
Christopher Lee Cousino is the author of two novels (short story series collections) and numerous short stories, including the ZOMBIE HERO series and the MAGICAL UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE series. He is hard at work at releasing many more novels and short stories, so stay tuned.
Christopher lives in Hudsonville, Michigan with his beautiful wife, 3 awesome kids, 2 free-loading cats, and his brave and loyal chocolate lab. Check out his website for more information on Christopher’s fiction. Happy Reading
www.christopherleecousino.com
Homeless #1 Page 4
