Chapter 18. Your Ex-Lover is Dead
“Don’t expect the unexpected—that’s just stupid. Expect the expected, ‘cause that’s probably what’s gonna happen.”
– The Diary of Alma Grey
Alma stood next to her cousin, locked in an apparent staring contest with her former snuffle bug, Kody. The two exchanged an extended glance, tension stagnating the air between them.
“Well betrayal bear, you just gonna stand the—”
Alma was brushed aside by her hobbling cousin, who crutched her way over to the convertible.
“Are you crazy? The hell’re ya’ doing here?” Lorena shouted at Jake.
“Back off, Lore. I ain’t here ‘cause I wanna be. You can thank that pain in the ass over there.” Jake dismissively waved his hand at Alma. “But since I am stuck here, where’re the men of the house? Got business with them.”
“You sonuvabitch.” Lorena leaned on the edge of the convertible, getting in Jake’s face.
“A fine dead bitch at that. Just like your mom. I’m sure they’re off frolicking together in some majestic whorehouse in the great beyond. Now—big dude, lots of muscles, likes to hit things. Where’s he at?”
Lorena shifted her weight to one side, holding her body up with one crutch while balling her fist. She swung a strong right hook, catching and shifting Jake’s jaw. He reeled back, shaking it off, apparently unsurprised.
“He’s off buryin’ his brother. You’d best be gone before he comes back ta’ do the same ta’ you.”
Lorena jerked her dog by the neck, indicating for it to follow her as she hobbled back inside. Jake leaned back, readjusting his jaw, and pulled out a cigarette. He lit it as he watched the unhappy couple.
“What? That nonsense don’t interest you two. Carry on with the show.” Jake waved his hand like a maestro and kicked his boots up onto the dashboard.
Alma sighed, rubbing her temples with one hand as she took a seat on the hood of the car, turning back to her brother. “You ruined my entrance, ya’ know. Imagine—of all the possible things that could happen, I run into this douchebag here. Maybe karma’s going my way, maybe I get some kind of payback. I dunno. But no—it’s still all about you, huh Jake?”
Jake shrugged, cracking a wry smile. “It is what it is, sis.”
Alma pulled herself off the hood and followed Lorena’s trail toward the bar. “I’m not done with you, Kody. Not by a long shot.” Alma knocked him out of the way as she proceeded inside.
Entering the bar, Alma found Lorena sitting at a table, holding her head in her hands. She walked up behind Lorena, placing her hands on Lorena’s shoulders. Lorena jumped back, causing Alma to jump back before they each recognized what had happened. Alma started rubbing Lorena’s shoulders, trying to ease the tension. They exchanged pleasantries and discussed trivial matters for a few minutes before Lorena cut to the chase.
“What’re you doin’ here, Alma?”
“My mom died. I don’t really wanna get into it, but you’re the only family I got left, so I wanted to check up on you and make sure you were okay. Haven’t heard from you in I don’t even know how long.”
“Uh huh.” Lorena sighed. “Well, my life’s nothin’ worth showin’ off right now. My foster brother jes’ died, the other one is out buryin’ him, and ya’ brought back the one person who’s damn good at making things worse.”
Alma watched her cousin’s stern expression, trying to hold it all in. Failing, she burst out into laughter.
“Uh, what?”
“Heh, sorry. It’s just—” Alma tried to calm herself down. “It’s just that’s exactly it. As soon as I found out Jake was alive—thanks for not mentioning anything about that all these years, by the way—all I wanted was to find him. Now that I have…I can’t get rid of him! He’s a giant pain in my ass!”
“Yeah…guess I don’t see how that’s funny.” Lorena looked to her cousin only for a moment before her gaze wandered to the floor. “Life ain’t easy down here, in case ya’ missed that part. Might’ve told you about him at some point if he wasn’t busy screwin’ everything up. By the time he finally left, all we wanted to do was forget ‘im.” Lorena blew stray hairs out of her face as sweat trickled down her forehead.
“I hear ya’. And I’m sorry about your brother. I shouldn’t have laughed. Just been so stressed lately…it just came out.”
“I’m gonna go lie down. There’re some extra beds downstairs. Sorry ya’ gotta share with the boys, but it’s all I got.”
Alma tried to help Lorena up, but her cousin brushed her aside and struggled to get up on her own. Mounting her crutches under her arms, Lorena hobbled off with her dog into her room. Alma meandered along, exploring the bar. She wandered into the small kitchen, caught off-guard by the bloodstained floor. Walking back into the bar, she noticed more and more of the sanguine speckles and splatters sparsely scattered about.
She approached the top of the stairs, looking down before making her approach. She reached the bottom step, turning on the light and looking around the small basement sleeping room: three beds on either side, across from each other. In the middle, on one side, was Kody’s, and across from his was a bunk with scattered books and trinkets. On the far end was a bleak bunk with nothing but a few sets of clothes, many of them bloodstained.
Alma invited herself to Kody’s bunk, rummaging through his things that turned out to be her things. Digging through the things in her bag, she found an old bandana, the vandalized notebook, and a pair of her red, polka-dot underwear.
“Huh. Well isn’t this interesting…”
She closed up the bag and headed upstairs. She stood around in the bar, leaning on a table looking out the window. Daylight started to fade as the sun began its descent. She walked outside, noticing the red convertible was gone, yet for some reason Kody remained. She took a seat on the front steps of the porch, waiting for the sun to set.
“So, where’s my car, Kody? Decided you wanted that, too?”
“It stood out sitting in the middle of the road. Jake moved it. Haven’t seen him or the car since. And for the record, isn’t that Cris’s car?”
Alma chuckled to herself. Kody took a seat next to her, but a firm shove kept him at an appropriate distance.
“Lehane, Lehane, Lehane…you have more important things to worry about. Where do we begin?”
“The beginning’s usually a decent place.”
“Sure, smartass. Go ahead, enlighten me.”
Kody filled Alma in on everything that had transpired since they had parted ways, omitting the parts about Glenn. She maintained only marginal interest, trying not to yawn through most of it. The formalities out of the way, Alma jumped into her key subject of interest.
“So Kody, enough about the boring misadventures of the drama llama—it’s 20 Questions time, and I want honest answers.” Alma turned to face him. “Tell me, what was it about Cris that you just couldn’t resist? Was it her tight ass? Her amazing tits? Fresh cherry? Or just the fact that she was unattainable for most, yet had a mad hard-on for you?”
“Take your pick. They’re all fine features.”
Alma cocked her eye. She watched him with a furrowed brow, rubbing her tongue along her teeth.
“I screwed you over, Alm. I know it. What I did to you was the single most fucked-up thing I have ever done, and hopefully will ever do. I had feelings for Cris, I knew it, and I lied about it. Tried to hide them, tried to pretend they weren’t there, and all I ended up doing was getting drunk and screwing her. I was wrong, and I’m sorry. So if you want your revenge—”
Alma cocked her arm back and slugged Kody with a strong jab to his face, dropping him back onto the porch.
“If I want something, I’ll take it. That’s what I took away from your little experiment. Don’t get all humble with me and act like you’ve learned some grand lesson, because you haven’t, Lehane. Not a damn thing.”
Alma launched onto her feet, contorting her face into a vicious mien. As she lo
oked down on him, the fear of a little boy still dwindled in Kody’s eyes. Breaking her posture, she started cracking up, laughing at him. He sat up, keeping his distance from Alma and nursing his injured cheek.
“Don’t be such a baby about it. You’re fine.”
“I deserved that. That and—”
“Shut up. I know it. Just because I’m not taking your head on a pike doesn’t mean we’re friends. We’re not. Especially if I actually find a pike.”
With dusk having settled in, Alma took a couple steps toward the door. Turning back to Kody, she smirked and shook her ass, shaking her head as she continued inside. She headed downstairs and took the bed closest to the stairs, side opposite of Kody’s. She took her pants and bra off, climbing into bed. Kody came down the stairs shortly after.
“Better not catch you trying to sneak a peek. This is a strict no-fly zone.”
“Might wanna tell that to the flies.” Kody remarked as he stripped and climbed into his bed.
“Yeah, yeah,” Alma mumbled as her eyelids became heavy, weary after a long day of driving. Before she could rest, one question still sat on her mind. “Hey, Lehane.”
“Yeah?”
“What happened to Glenn? You didn’t say anything about him.”
“It’s late, Alm, we’ll catch up tomorrow.”
“Kody, answer my—”
“G’night.”
Kody cut her off. Alma tightened her fist, tempted to carry out her plan of pummeling Kody into submission until he cowered to her every whim, but it was already late. And she’d need something to do tomorrow. Putting her plans for dominating her ex-lover on hold, she closed her eyes and retired for the night.