Trailer Park Princess (23 page)

Zac drops my wrist and steps back. “This isn’t over!” he says and winks at me. Thax simply moves over one more step and completely blocks me from Zac’s line of sight.

“Get in the truck, Rory,” he tells me.

And for the first time ever, I find myself taking orders from my baby brother. When did he become my big little brother?

(ZAC)

I can’t get my cell phone out fast enough. Flipping through my contacts, I hit call and wait. Every ring seems to take forever… Finally I hear, “Yeah?”

“Dude, you are not going to fucking believe what I have to tell you!”

“Do I ever believe anything you say?” Toby laughs. “It’s been forever; how ya been?”

“Shut up and listen to me, man; I’m serious.”

“OK, spit it out. I just got done at practice, and I need to get a shower and go. Tiffany won’t wait long, and I need to get laid.”

“Sweet! OK
, so I ran into Rory…”

“Ugh…NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN!”

“TOBY, SHUT UP AND LISTEN!”

I pause to make sure I have his attention.

“Anyways. That kid she had…dude, that kid ain’t Rome’s. I am telling you there ain’t shit on that kid his. She ain’t dark, and she ain’t short. Everything about her looks like you did back in grade school, except those freaky ass green eyes. She got that from her slut face bitch of a momma.”

“Zac, I told you. I banged the chick once in the back of my truck. I barely got off. That kid can’t be mine. Don’t do this to me anymore. Every time you call, you mess up my head.”

“I am dead serious, Toby. Next time I see her, I’ll send you a picture.”

“DON’T YOU DARE SEND ME SHIT! DON’T YOU DO IT!”

“Whatever, man, but I’m serious. Hey, by the way… bro code and all… You mind if I hit that?”

“She ain’t with Rome now? Last I heard they finally gave up the act and started being public.”

“Who told you that? Besides Clay, everyone is gone from here. Was it him?”

“Nah, I don’t talk to him, dude. He was too weird for me. He was like Rory’s twin or some shit.”

“The only other person around is…” I pause, “ASHLEY! You been talking to her? What the fuck, man?”

“Why you mad, bro? We’ve talked a few times. You know Tiff wasn’t around for a few days. I needed some type of relief, so I called Ashley and made her have phone sex with me. She’s still into me. I may hit it again when I come home.”

“Are you kidding me? When?”

Toby laughs. “I don’t know. It’s happened a few times. Why?
  What’s your deal?”

“Oh, I don’t know…you move off and still keep the local ass hanging on. That’s messed up. You got Tiffany who looks like a Playboy model hanging on your hip, the whole town thinks you’re getting married to her, and you’re still stringing these girls along.”

“You know I don’t plan to marry her; she’s just fun. Besides, I need entertainment when I come home after school. I get a few months to myself before I head out for good. And once I go, I won’t be back.”

“OK
, man, I got to go. I just thought you would want to know. Hit me up when you get home. We’ll do lunch and fuck off all summer. I still got that flex work.”

“Ha, yeah, flex…I hear ya. Take care, man, and don’t get busted. Your ass will end up doing hard time if you do.”

 I click the phone off with more force than needed. I knew Ashley was still hung up on Toby, but I had no clue she still talked to him, let alone was still technically having sex with him in a weird way. I’ll fix this; he’s not getting her. I’ve put in too much time to give her up. That bitch can take it rougher than any other chick I know. She never cries and always bends to my command. Fuck this. I speed out of the parking lot. I need to find my middleman and make a trade
.

(Rory)

Pulling into the driveway, Thax is out of the car and through the door before I come to a complete stop. I take all the kids in and sit them at the table. After I get their snack fixed, I try to talk to Thax, but he refuses to open his bedroom door. No matter how many times I knock, he won’t respond. I should be used to this. It’s how he’s always been. Any time any emotion becomes too much for him to deal with, he locks himself away until he can work through it. I hate he is so upset. I hate that I am the cause of it.

“Thaxton, please don’t do this. I’m sorry you’re so upset. Just talk to me.” I lay my head against the door and close my eyes, willing him to open for me. I hear the door shut, and Rome’s voice fills the room.  I sigh in frustration and go say hello to my man. I’ve had a long day, and his arms are the only things that will fix it.

“Hi, babe,” I say, never raising my eyes from the ground as I walk towards him. Without me saying a word, he knows what I need. He opens his arms, and I walk into them.

“What’s wrong, Princess?” I shake my head against his chest.

“Thax has locked himself in his room again.” He pushes me back so he can see my face.

“He’ll be OK
, Rory; he’s just at a weird stage in his life. He’s working through the process of being a boy and turning into a man.” He says it without a smirk but I can’t help my reaction.

“Rome! He is not jerking off; he’s upset with me! I had an altercation with Zac today…” That gets his attention, but before I can tell him about it, I hear Thax.

“Rome, can we talk please?” We both look up to see Thax standing in the doorway, hands clinched at his side. His face is red from anger and tears. My heart breaks. I cannot believe I am the cause of his pain.

“Sure, I’ll be right in.” Rome looks back down at me. “I want to know about this altercation, but I want to talk to Thax first. Something is eating him up, and he needs me.” I wipe a tear from my eye.

“Go take care of him; I can wait. He is breaking. Please fix him. This time I don’t think I can.” I leave him to go deal with the kids.

It seems like hours have passed before Rome emerges from Thax’s room; though, I know in reality it has been under an hour. He comes storming into the kitchen where I am sitting with a cup of milk.

“Outside now!” It’s a command; that much is obvious. “What the hell happened today?” he pushes out through his gritted teeth when we get outside. He picks up my wrist and looks at it. A bruise is just barely starting to show, but it’s still there.

“I was going to tell you about it, so calm down.” I jerk my wrist out of his hand.

“Rory, Thax told me Zac grabbed you and pretty much shoved you into the truck. He told me he was in your face and talking nasty to you. Tell me what happened now because I’m about to fucking snap. That piece of shit will never touch you again.” He pulls me to him, putting his hands on the sides of my face. “I love you, Princess, and I will not tolerate anyone hurting you.”

I rise up on my toes and kiss his face. We sit down on the steps, and I take his hands in mine. “Firs
t off, look at me. I am fine, OK? I told him exactly what I needed to, and he got the hint. I know you’re upset, but I promise I dealt with it. I do want to tell you something, though. He said two things to me that rattle me. The first was about Ashley. He said something that gave me the impression he is sexually abusing her. And I think whatever he’s doing to her, he thinks he will do to me.” Rome goes to push up, and I jerk him back down. “Listen to me. We need to ask Ashley. She’s been through enough. If he is hurting her, we have to fix this. She’s family as far as I’m concerned, and he cannot keep hurting her.”

Rome looks distant. I’m not even sure he’s hearing me. His jaw is clenching, and his fists are doing the same. “Rory, I can’t let him get away with this.” I place my hand comfortingly on his shoulder and retell the story of how everything happened. I can see him processing it, and he’s not happy.

“You are not to walk to your car alone anymore. Me, Thax, or Mr. Riaz will walk you out; do you understand me? Just until I can figure out how to fix this.  And we need to talk to Ashley soon.”

I smile and kiss the corner of his lip. “Ten-four, handsome.”

He grabs me around the waist and drags me to him, almost into his lap. “I love you so much. You are beautiful; you know that, right?” He says it over and over as he sprinkles butterfly kisses all over my neck and down my bare shoulders.

“You need to make sure to wear normal t-shirts, Princess. I don’t know if I can control myself with this much skin exposed,” he says as his lips and tongue glide across my collarbone. I forget about everything else, lost in my Rome.

“What do you mean
hooked up
?” I screech over the phone at Mando. “When you were home? Like after you left here? Tell me now.” I fall back on my bed.

“Yeah, like when we left. Neither of us had plans, so we ended up talking all night long. We went and grabbed food at The Diner, and then I took him to the house to hang. The ‘rents were both at work since you were off, so I fucked his brains out…twice.” I laugh and blush even though I’m on the phone. She has such a nasty mouth. “Rory, my God, the boy is a genius. I am going to refer to him as Captain MANMEAT from now on.”

I file my nails and listen with content. No matter the subject, it’s wonderful to hear her voice. She is better than any drug anyone has ever used. She keeps me high on life. Mando saved me before anyone ever even knew I needed saving. She was like a guardian angel sent to help me through the hell that was my life.

“Girl, when he dropped his pants—oh speaking of pants, we can totally share jeans. I love that his are skinny—anyways, so when he dropped them, this huge freakin’ mammoth dick came flying out at me. Hellooooooo commando! I mean that thing almost took my eye out. It was so awesome! It’s huge! Do you hear me? HUGE!”

I pull the phone from my ear and wait for her to finish. “OK, O-K! Enough! I do not care how mammoth Clay’s soldier is.” Ha, she’s crazy…not to mention, I know this will just taper off to…

“So how big is Rome?”
See, I knew it!

“I am not telling you, Mando; that’s private.” Then, she gives me the same response every time…

“I bet it’s tiny. Poor Rome, he has a tiny manmeat, like snap pea tiny. It’s OK, Titty Baby; I won’t tell Romeo you said he was itty bitty.”

I let out a groan. She always does this to piss me off. “He is not tiny, Mando. If I toss you a bone, will you please shut up about it?” She doesn’t care that she’s pushing me; it’s just her.

“Yep, like how big is his bone?” I try to think of what I can tell her without her pushing it even further.

“OK
, Rome has like an on-demand button. He can go for five minutes or five hours. If I want it to be done a certain way, he can control himself as long as he wants.”

She’s silent for a minute. “What? Like all night? By the fuckin’ way, bitch, I just spit fucking soda all over my laptop.” That makes me laugh.