Personal Possessions (13 page)

BAM!

The recoil of the rifle
pushed against my shoulder but I could see that I hit right where I
was aiming. My heart was pounding. I was mentally jumping up and
down with excitement. I nailed that buck.

Watching him run off, I
could see he was slowing down out in the field as he was coming up
on a patch of pine trees, then slowly he disappeared; probably
finding a nest of branches or leaves to go lay in to breathe his
last breath.

I whispered over the
walkie, “He’s down, gonna give it some time and then I’m heading
out.” I heard two clicks as a sign that they received my message. I
sat there just thinking about how I wish my dad would’ve been a
real dad and found the time to spend out here with me. He always
said that he would join me the next time I went, but each time was
another time he would push it off.

I thought how it would
feel to hear my dad telling me how proud he was of me. How I had
turned into a fine young man, and that he was pleased with my
accomplishments. But I would never hear them. Those were words that
would never leave his mouth. My father was not the type to tell you
how well you were doing because there was always much more room for
improvements than there was achievements.

Then there was Elle, my
greatest success. She was what made my life worth anything.
Everyone thought highly of me. Great in sports, as a student I
worked my ass off for nothing less than the best. I made sure to
prove my momma raised a southern gentleman by using my manners, but
none of this meant anything to me - it meant everything to her.
That was who I did it for.

I thought back to
elementary school, and chuckled quietly as I remembered asking
momma to slide an extra homemade chocolate chip cookie in my lunch
every day. One for me, one for Elle. That way when lunch rolled
around I would sneak up to her, tell her I was full and just
couldn’t finish it.

She loved my momma’s
homemade cookies, she wasn’t gonna turn it down. She’d smile, a
small smile, and thank me as she took the cookie from me. That
smile was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. It was addicting,
I had to see it, to feel what it did inside of me.

I wasn’t fooling’ round
when I told her back in second grade that I was gonna marry her.
Proving to her as much as I could, that I meant what I said. There
was never gonna be any one else but her in my life.

I must’ve sat there for an
hour. Reminiscing over images and memories that happened in my
life, I looked out and noticed that the clouds becoming
darker.
It
was time to go ahead and find my prize. I walked across the field
that in the summer and spring would be filled with wildflowers, but
was now lying dormant. I loved it up here, it was peaceful, no
arguing, no feeling inadequate.

The horns peeked out over
the tall grass. I began walking faster to the large carcass that
laid between a groupings of large pine trees. The area was so
thick, when you looked out in front of you, all that was there were
pine branches. I moved undergrowth and limbs, crawling in some
areas to reach him. Taking a second to look back at where I was,
and how far I was going into the thicket.

When I made it to him, I
stood up and grabbed a hold of his rack. I wanted to count how many
points the buck was, so I turned his head. Suddenly, I heard Curt
yelling for me to duck, just as I felt the shotgun shell burn as it
whisked by my head.

“Jesus Christ, Bear! What
the fuck were you doing, you shot him!”

Chapter 6

I came out of my thoughts
as I heard a rapping on the window. I looked up and there stood
Lauren. She looked the same, but older. Used up a bit more than she
did back in high school, but refined. She wore clothes that were
professional, as though she had just come from her
office.

Her long tweed coat with
the faux furred lapel brought some style to her thin beige pencil
skirt, and cream colored silk shirt that was nicely tucked in,
accented with a gold belt that hung low on her hips. She didn’t say
a word, just standing there waiting on me.

Pushing open the door, I
stepped out and greeted her, “Lauren.”

“Trevor, let’s go inside,
shall we? It’s a bit cold out here.”

I threw my hand out as to
say ‘ladies first’, as she led me into the coffee shop. I could
feel the iciness that her body threw off, she was probably ruthless
enough to toss a child to the wolves just so she’d have time to get
away. She sat down at the first table she saw, and looked up at me
through her mascaraed eyelashes, “I want a breakfast blend coffee
with a double shot of espresso. Make sure it’s black with no
sugar.”

I looked behind me, and
then back to Lauren.

“
I’m sorry, are you
talking to me?”

She was out of her fucking
mind if she thought she was going to order me to get her anything.
She called me here, I didn’t give a shit if she got her fucking
coffee or not. I undid my coat, and took a seat.

Lauren began laughing as
though I had told her the funniest joke she had ever heard. “Trevor
McHale, you have not changed one bit. You still won’t give me the
time ‘a day.”

My face stayed hard,
nothing about this situation was hysterical. I didn’t want to be
here; and what made it worse was I didn’t want to be here with
her.

“Talk, Lauren. I’m a busy
man and I don’t have time for your bullshit,” I said as I scanned
the coffee shop.

Students, businessmen and
women surrounded us. Possibly coming in on a break or lunch to grab
a bite to eat or cram the last minute details for an upcoming exam.
I could hear the baristas, and other employees working diligently
in the background filling orders and making food.

“Ok, you want to get down
to business, we can do that.” She replied in a condescending
manner.

“Seen your girl
lately?”

I wasn’t talking about
this with her. In fact, I wasn’t talking about her at all. I had
been fine lately. I wasn’t going to start the shit back up again. I
began to push the seat back.

“Saw Bear down in Marietta
the other night. My head popped up, she wasn’t telling me this
information for no apparent reason. She had a purpose bringing it
up. “Ah ha, now that got your attention.” A grin seemed to slither
onto her face. She sat back in the chair, and crossed her legs,
“Don’t suppose Elle’s become a blonde since the last time I saw
her?”

I looked down in my lap.
Wouldn’t know, Lauren, I’m not her keeper.”

She looked down at her
fingers, “I reckon Bear ain’t neither since I saw him coming out
of…” She uncrossed her legs and leaned over the table as she spoke
softly, “not the nicest establishment in Marietta. But considering
that the blonde on his arm looked like she’d just got off of a
three minute twirl on the pole, I don’t really think he was really
worried about it.”

I sat up even straighter,
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Why the fuck did she think
this was any of my business? I didn’t give a shit about any of
this. I was thinking this meeting was a waste of my
morning.

“Look Lauren, I don’t
really care what you saw, that situation has jack shit to do with
me. I am a very busy man; I don’t do high school drama anymore.
Now, if you have something that is worth a financial gain to me, as
in any lucrative companies that are in need of changing hands, I
would be more than happy to sit here with you and listen, because
seriously, I didn’t come here to look at your pretty
face.”

I went to stand when she
reached into her coat and pulled out pictures. Black and white
pictures, around thirty of them. She laid them all out on the table
and scattered them around so I could see what I was looking at. I
looked down at the pictures and froze.

She had to have been
following him for weeks, maybe even months. They were of him, with
the same woman, if you could even call her that, in almost every
position imaginable. Obviously, they weren’t worried about being
caught because they were fucking out in the open.

They were up against
walls, laid out on cars, on the sides of buildings. Even on a slide
in a park. She had pictures of her slapping him, pulling his head
back by his hair, and him doing the same to her.

I sat down and moved the
pictures around until I could see every one of them for myself.
“Obsession of yours, Ms. Edwards?”

I handled the pictures,
turning them so that I could get a better view. She giggled, “Not
quite.” Standing abruptly, she headed to the end of the line to
order herself some coffee.

Staying at the table, I
took the alone time to look at what was before me. I began
picturing years ago, sitting in my car watching her walk downtown
Richland. A beaming smile on her face, she radiated perfection and
absolute beauty as though nothing was bothering her. Here was her
bastard husband upside a building with what looked like a man in
women’s clothing fucking her as though he couldn’t get
enough.

“Thought you’d like to see
what your ole’ B-F-F’s been up to lately,” Lauren informed me as
she sat back down at the table with coffee in hand.

“Not really,” I retorted
trying to sound unaffected.

I threw the pics that I
had in my hand back down on the table, I was through looking at
this shithead fuck around on a woman who should be the only thing
he sees, but he always had been pretty fuckin’ stupid.

I looked around again, and
noticed that most of the business people had left and there was
only maybe three of us still in the coffee shop. I glanced down at
my watch. We have been in here almost thirty minutes. I had spent
thirty minutes too long with this.

“I felt I owed you this,”
Lauren said out of nowhere. The smile left her face. She gathered
up all the pictures, and put them back in her coat pocket. All but
one. She laid it back down on the table. She reached into her other
pocket, and pulled out another picture. It was of her and I back at
the going away party.

I had her pushed up
against the wall with my arms blocking her in, my face almost
touching hers. Her hands were up on my chest. I could see what it
looked like, but it was far from that.

“Holy shit,” I mumbled.
This party was unreal! People were everywhere, it was standing room
only. I don’t know where the girls found all these people but I
know that we did not know half of them. I was already buzzed, since
I decided to stop by the ole man’s liquor closet before leaving the
house; private party with just me and Johnny Walker. I walked in
the door and headed straight for the fridge.

I noticed people all over
the kitchen. There were couples making out on the countertops,
kid’s heads were leaned back against the sink doing upside-down
margaritas, this place was insane. I opened the door, and bent down
to look at the variety of alcoholic beverages that were available
to me. That was when I felt the warm arms around me.

I felt her nuzzle her
front up against the back of my ass. I pictured her naked up
against me doing that. I moved my ass against her as
well.

“Damn baby, you move so
fucking hot!”

I rose up quickly when I
realized that was not Elle’s voice. I was so busy imagining it was
her, I didn’t even think to see if it actually was.

“Goddammit, Lauren! I’m
‘bout done bein’ nice to ya, now will you get off my ass.
Literally.”

I still hadn’t turned
around, I was hoping that this demand would be good enough, but I
forgot who I was dealing with. I felt her lean over me and then
smelled her breath as she was right at my ear, she was shit faced.
“Chill the fuck out, baby. I just wanted to tell you I’ve got
something to show you.”

I grabbed a bottle of
beer, untwisted the cap and took a long swig before I answered her,
“Lauren, you’ve told me over and over you have something to show
me. I continually tell you that I don’t have no reason to see,
whatever it is you wanna show me. Now if you don’t
mind-“

“Oh, don’t be such a
pussy!” She shouted as she grabbed my hand and dragged me back
through the crowd I had just come through, heading for the
stairs.

“This better be fuckin’
important, Lauren and you better not be scammin’.”

She was laughing
hysterically. She kept turning around looking behind us then
looking ahead again. Totally wasted, her eyes were huge and she was
stumbling and faltering, I wasn’t even sure she could make it up
the stairs.

“Lauren, are you ok? Maybe
you should go and pass out.”

“Come on, we’re almost
there. I think you’re gonna like what you see,” She slurred as she
attempted to wink. I had a feeling this was not going to be
good.

We got to the top of the
stairs, and she turned into what would be my uncle’s office. I was
confused now. If she was dragging me up here to get me to screw
her, wouldn’t she take me to a bedroom? I asked myself. She opened
the door to the office. It was dark, so dark I wasn’t sure what to
expect.

“Come on, sugar - aint
nothing in here that’s gonna bite’cha, unless you’re wantin’ it
to,” She giggled.