Cyrus (16 page)
She didn’t say shit, but she didn’t hang up
either, “You still there, Birdie?”
“My name is Tara Gardner I’ll be twenty one
years old in a couple days. I’m an adult…”
“One more time Birdie, sit your ass still,
or I’ll hunt you down and lock your ass up so fucking tight…”
“You don’t own me!?” There was a question in
that statement and it fucking burned my ears.
“No Birdie…”
“Tara!”
Holy shit little Birdie was pissed, really
fucking pissed and you know the drill the shit made me chub up.
“Tara, fine, Tara sit your ass still.”
She didn’t say a word not one word.
“You can’t leave.”
“When then?” I swear I heard her
sniffle.
“Don’t cry Birdie.” Again she said nothing,
“Where are you?”
She swallowed loudly, I assume to hold back
tears, “Bathroom.”
“Downstairs?”
“Yes.”
Oh damn it Birdie
, “How many windows
in there?”
“One.”
“You had a tour yet?”
“No,” her voice squeaked and I was gonna do
this shit.
“There is one kitchen Birdie and I should
have showed you the townhouse before I left but you were asleep so
I didn’t wake you. So again there is one kitchen. How many
bathrooms?”
“Two.”
“Nope three but there’s two spare
bedrooms.”
I heard her breath out a sigh.
“Work with me here Birdie, one kitchen,
three…”
“You have to go in order,” she sniffed
loudly.
What the fuck was I doing? “Okay one
kitchen, two guest bedrooms, three bathrooms, four…”
“Four doors in the master bedroom.”
“Great Birdie now help me out what’s
five?”
“I hate five,” she whispered.
“Okay, well there are five people that care
an awful lot about you that I know, okay? So five’s not too bad,
Birdie.”
“Who…”
“Nope let’s go here--- six…give me six.”
“Six…I don’t know Cyrus, I just don’t
know.”
“Do better, six what, look around,” she
didn’t say anything, “Okay in the upstairs hall there are six
doors. So seven…” I heard a drawer open.
“Seven washcloths.”
“Good and eight?”
“Eight…different scented soaps, that’s a lot
of soap…”
“You can’t stop Birdie,” she sounded better,
thank God.
“Nine…there are nine rooms in YOUR new
place,” I stressed your maybe she wouldn’t try to leave, “And ten
Birdie, do you remember what ten is?”
“Bites of eggs,” I could hear her a smile in
her voice.
“That’s right, I fed you ten bites of an
omelet today.”
“Breakfast in bed,” she said in the same
happier tone, “That’s the first time, I think anyway.”
“I bet there were times before, I bet your
Momma gave your breakfast in bed.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes, “You
good now?”
“Yes but…”
“No buts Birdie, just chill, get better and
remember your home,” oh man… I was a fucking bitch now, “Which
means if Carly and my Momma are bugging you, you can throw their
asses out.”
“I wouldn’t dare,” she giggled.
“Yeah, me either,” I laughed.
“Thank you.”
“See you soon?”
“When?”
“Not sure, you have plans tomorrow. Maybe
the next day.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Listen to me okay? When you get all worked
up like that remember, one kitchen, two guest rooms, three
bathrooms, four doors in your room, five people who are your
friends, six…”
“Who?”
“Oh Birdie you interrupted and I had it all
worked out, too.” She laughed and it made me smile, “Six doors in
the upstairs hall, seven towels…”
“Washcloths, eight different smelling
soaps…”
“Quiet down I got this, nine, rooms in your
new house and ten what Birdie?”
“Breakfast in bed egg bites.”
“That’s it. Hey--- your bag’s in the den and
so is mine. I gotta come back to grab it soon, my-- lucky comb is
in there. Now go out there and do some girl shit.”
“Goodnight Cyrus.”
Good her voice, fuck! “Sweet dreams,
Birdie.”
~
I looked around the room and everything was
boxed up. I needed to be real careful with how I went about all
this with her. Fuck this was crazy shit.
“You need a tissue?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well I thought you looked like you could
use a hug but then I saw you getting all lost in your thoughts so
it was either a tissue or a fucking pad for your vagina. What the
fuck happened to you? You’re a bitch now.”
“Fuck you Zandor-- grab that box and let’s
roll. I got shit to do.”
“Like what? Go to the salon, get a manicure,
go buy something pink and lacy to cover your pussy?”
“Keep your shit up and you’ll be walking
back to Jersey,” I grabbed the last box we left.
~
After Zandor fucked with me for a while
longer he fell asleep, thank God or I was gonna kill him.
It had been one hell of a day. After picking
Zandor up from the airport we headed over to Carly’s old apartment
and grabbed her shit. Zandor had to be contained a bit. My brother
in a tiny apartment with a bunch of strippers was interesting. He
really did hold his shit together more than he normally would have
but he eye fucked the one girl so hard, I thought she was about to
cum in her panties. But we got in and out with hopefully everything
she had there.
I found out who owned
her old place and got permission to get her stuff. Sweet old lady
and I couldn’t wait to share that fucking news with her. Yeah
Birdie, five people at least who give a shit.
Now we were heading back to that fucking
club so I could meet with Tony and his fucking bitch ass boss. I
was gonna have fun with his ass. Fuck him and fuck anyone else who
ever looked at a girl like Birdie and used them like he had her. I
was gonna kill the mother fucker if he didn’t just do as he was
told and then—well she would be better off with him dead and me
behind bars. At least that way I couldn’t fucking hurt her. I laugh
because as much as I know she digs me I know she would dig anyone
who had given her the time of day. Given her a little bit of human
compassion.
~
We walked in Sorority Sisters and Zandor
laughed, “This place is the nicest in the area and it’s shit. When
your dick grows back you need to come to Italy.”
“Anytime you want to compare dick sizes bro,
let me know. Now let’s get shit done.”
It didn’t take much to convince that little
fuck to sell the rights, apparently he owed some people and I shit
you not-- that fucker acted like he wanted to be my friend. The rat
bastard probably would’ve sucked my dick if I would let him. He was
a pathetic excuse for a human being.
Zandor and I sat at the bar waiting for
Larry to look over the paperwork with his lawyer. He had changed,
and it was cool. He saw me looking at him and pried his eyes off of
the red head dancing near him.
“Check this shit out,” he held up a twenty
and she smirked and walked up to him and started dancing.
Zandor showed no emotion when she ran her
fingers up his arm. When she tried to touch his face he pulled back
and shook his head
No.
She immediately looked nervous. His
eyes cast down and she looked anxiously around. He raised his
eyebrow and again looked down.
I about died watching her reaction to him.
She undid his pants and looked up at him, he shook his head no and
she looked down and was about to pull his dick out and he told her
no. And then Zandor fucking dismissed her. She looked confused, he
handed her a fifty and motioned for her to leave.
When she was out of sight he looked at me
and laughed, “Sweet huh?”
“Yeah it’s cool, Zandor.”
“You need to come hang out, learn some shit.
Unless of course your dick really is fucking shrinking.”
~
I’m not sure what the hell happened but
somehow we ended up with the rights to it all. Everyone was paid
off, that shit would never be seen again and before I walked out of
the club—drunk, I broke that fucker’s nose and told him if I saw
him again I would kill him. The little bitch cried like a baby and
promised he would leave.
Jase picked us up and told me there was no
way in hell we were going back to his place and I told him no way
in hell was I going to my place without telling Birdie she was safe
now. She was fucking safe.
Jase didn’t object which was really cool,
cause his ass always argued about shit like this.
Jase unlocked the door and we walked in, “I
want that key.”
He looked at me funny, “Excuse me?”
“He’s telling you-- you can’t come in and
play without permission Jase. He wants you to stay away from the
girl who has his balls and he…”
“Fuck you Z. I just don’t want her to feel
like this isn’t her place, ‘cause it is.”
“You’re afraid she’ll run away from home
again and he won’t…”
“Zandor you better shut the fuck up…”
Jase and Zandor laughed and I was
pissed.
“After I tell her, your asses can take me
home. It’s not like that-- so shut the fuck up.”
After I got off the phone with Cyrus I felt
better. I knew he was trying to help but I wasn’t used to all of
this. It made me feel like I now owed them, and I had nothing,
nothing of my own, not even underwear.
“So Carly,” Joe Steel sat on the couch next
to me, “How is it-- living with Jase? I mean, I know I live there
but is it what you expected?” Carly’s face turned red and Joe
laughed, “Those four boys were so much fun when they were growing
up.”
I watched as Joe poured a glass of wine. She
handed one to Carly and looked at me, “You feeling any better?” She
reached and felt my head.
“Yes, thank you.”
“I would offer you a glass as well, but
you’re sick,” she rubbed my head and sat back and took a drink. “So
my boys, shall I tell you some stories?”
Carly and I both nodded yes.
“You have to promise not to repeat a word,”
Carly leaned in towards her and I did the same.
“My husband and I met and were married in
less than a week….” I must have gasped because she looked at me and
smiled, “When you know, you know.”
“Sorry-- I didn’t mean to…”
“No, trust me it was shocking to my family,
as well. My parents disowned me and I left with my very tall,
extremely handsome soldier from my home in Italy. I never regretted
my decision to marry Jonathon Steel. I was pregnant immediately
with Cyrus. He was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen in my
life. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t be able to give him the care
he deserved and Jonathon, oh my-- Jonathon was amazing. He cared
for both of us: he read the same books I had read, and when I was
struggling he was so strong. I remember as a child our whole family
came together when anyone in the family had a child. Each woman
helped the new mother, and I was sure because I didn’t have that
Cyrus would suffer. But I can tell you Jonathon was more than I
needed. Cyrus was such a content baby, no crying unless he needed
to be fed or changed. After three and a half months, Jonathon was
deployed. I wasn’t afraid anymore. Not until five months later I
found out I was two months pregnant. Jovanni or Jase was born a
week after Jonathon returned from sea. It was crazy and wonderful.
It seemed that every time he left I was pregnant but it was
alright. He always ended up home when I was delivering.”
“You miss him,” Carly held her hand.
“Every day,” she took a drink and cleared
her throat. “Jonathon loved our boys as much as he did me. They
were such a hand full and when I grew frustrated—like when Jase
taunted Cyrus cause he was bigger and it would end up in a backyard
brawl. Or when I caught Zandor masturbating over and over again...”
Carly and I both laughed out loud and so did Joe, “Don’t laugh,
boys are very into their penises. Apparently it’s natural. I broke
down one day when I got out of a very cold shower. The boys each at
one point took thirty minute showers each. Jonathon took my hand
and led me to the bedroom and explained it all to me. Apparently
boys have to release, or they wake up with wet nasty sheets. My
husband told me that even the thought of a beautiful woman at their
age would make them need to release. Then he told me every time he
looked at me he felt like he did when he was thirteen years old. He
even said it was a good thing that he left for months at a time or
I would be walking funny every day.”
Carly laughed, “My mom’s friends would say
that’s crude.”
Joe laughed, “But what would Carly say?”
“Well if my husband’s mother wasn’t sitting
here I would say it’s genetic. At least where Jase was
concerned.”
Both of them looked at me, and then away
quickly and I felt my entire face was about to burst.
Joe quickly changed the subject, “I miss my
husband every day.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Carly said
sadly.
“We all lose someone, Carly. You lost your
mother,” Joe looked at her enduringly and then she looked at me,
“You lost both your parents.”
“I don’t remember them,” I said and forced
myself not to cry.
“Mine are gone as well. We weren’t on good
terms, and I regret that every day,” Joe teared up and Carly hugged
her, “Don’t tell my boys please, they don’t see me like this. They
haven’t seen me cry since the funeral for their father. I didn’t
understand why his loss was easier to deal with.” She took a drink
and smiled, “It took forever to understand but I do now. Jonathon’s
love was one without question or interruption. His death was the
same: had he not been there…that day--- I would’ve been. We take
care of those we love, no interruption. From the day I walked away
from my family, I didn’t look back. They gave me no reason to. Now
I understand. It’s been very hard to but I do. If not for Jonathon
I would have married who they had already determined and would have
never had my four beautiful boys.” She looked at Carly, “Twisted
Steel, made beautiful.”