Pieces Of Heaven (Heaven & Hell #2)(7)

This might have been a mistake, but just seeing Marissa smile I know that I would do it again. Smiling to myself, I pick up the coffee cup and drain what's left. "I believe you now owe me one."

My comment makes her stop mid chew, and with one of her famous glares, she says, "It's your fault I'm here to begin with." She doesn't even care that she is talking with her mouth full.

I know I shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't even be thinking about this, that this is going to end fucking badly for everyone. But I just don't care right now, not one fucking bit. My heart beats just a tiny bit faster because of her, and I don't think it's done that for anyone but Sandie, ever. That is reason enough to not walk away from her. This thing between us has a mind of its own. This pull is real, it's strong, and I'm already tired of trying to fight it.



       
         
       
        

"I'll make you dinner," she whispers softly, hunched over her plate, pushing her fork around what's left of the pie. "But just so you know"-she takes a huge breath before continuing-"I'm not going to sleep with you, not now, not ever. No matter what people may think, I'm really not that kind of girl."

The words that come out of her mouth shock me. Yes, I judged her at the beginning, and yes, I thought the same thing. But five minutes with her and I knew that wasn't what she was about.

"Good to know. You can come over on Friday after you finish your shift here." I don't say anything more, but I take in my hands. One is clenched in a fist, and the other is gripping the coffee mug so tight I think I might shatter it.

I get up, tossing some money on the counter before Phyllis comes back because she wouldn't let me pay for anything. "I'll text you my address."

Once I'm in my car, I realize that the tightness in my chest has loosened up, just a touch.





Chapter Eight


Mick


"Eat all your food. Momma has someone coming over and you can't be walking all over the house," she told me while piling more mac and cheese into my bowl, a cigarette hanging from her lips.

I didn't say anything, just shoveled the food down. It was a good thing that Jimmie lent me the new comic book that he got. "Okay, Momma." I didn't have time to say anything else before there was a knock on the door.

She quickly threw the pot into the sink that was already overflowing with dirty dishes, throwing her cigarette in another one while she turned the water on to soak the pot.

She really fixed herself up today. She was wearing her 'good' clothes, so I thought whoever was coming was someone important.

Walking over to the door, she fluffed her hair before she opened it. "Baby," she cooed softly. The man whom I couldn't see stepped in.

When he did, I saw that he was wearing a suit like my principal wore at school for picture day, clean-cut, clean shoes, his hair short with a beard.

He closed the door behind him before grabbing my mother around her waist. "Marla," he said before kissing her on her cheek.

"Is that any way to treat the mother of your kid?" she asked him, and my head snapped up. What was she talking about?

"Marla, we have been over this many times before. You can't keep saying things like that." He didn't even notice that I was now standing right behind my mother.

"Who is this?" I asked them both, wondering who would answer me.

The man looked at my mother and then at me. "I'm an old friend of your mom's. We went to school together. You can call me Billy." 

My mother didn't say anything, just rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, we went to school together." She placed her hands on her hips. "Now, Mick, go to your room and close the door. Bedtime is at eight."

I didn't say anything to her or to him. I just nodded and walked back to my room, closing the door behind me.

It didn't take long before the moans started. You would think I would be used to this, but I wasn't. Grabbing my headphones off the side table, I put them over my head, hoping that this time went quicker than it did when other guys came around.

I mean, my mom tried her best, but she missed love. At least that was what she told me. I didn't have a grandma or a grandpa. They told her to leave when she was pregnant with me. So it was me and her against the world, she said. That is until one of her boyfriends came over, and then it was just me against the world.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but when I took off the headphones there was no more noise, so it was my chance to sneak out and go to the bathroom.

Opening my door softly so as to not make any noise, I peeked my head out but didn't see anyone in the living room.

Billy's jacket was still on the couch, so I knew they were somewhere there, probably in Mom's room.

When I tiptoed to the bathroom, I saw Mom's door was slightly open. That Billy dude was sitting at the edge of the bed while my mother was standing in front of him, naked.

"What do you mean you aren't leaving her?"

"It's more complicated than you think it is. I can't just go in there and tell her I'm leaving her. I work for her father at her father's company. I'm going to have no job. How the hell do you expect me to keep giving you money if I have no job?"

"You said you were leaving her when we found out I was pregnant. You promised if I kept quiet, you would leave her when I gave birth."

"I know what I said, honey, but now isn't a good time," he said while trying to grab her hand to pull her closer. She didn't make him work hard, and she was standing in between his legs while he grabbed her ass in his hands.

"She's been depressed ever since she had the baby. She isn't strong like you. She's weak. I'm telling you, she's going to snap soon, and then I can put her away and have you and Mick finally move in with us." He kissed her right between her breasts. "I love you, always you."

She sighed deeply. "Yeah, right, you love me. You love to sink your cock into me, always have. I'm tired of the promises, William, tired of being your dirty little secret, tired of being the mother to your bastard son."

"I promise you, this will be over soon, and then I can claim Mick as my own, give him my last name, and we can be a family."

"I really hope so, because I think I'm pregnant again," she told him, and he pushed her away from him.

"What the fuck are you talking about? You said you were on something, and now you tell me you're fucking knocked up again?" He pushed past her to get his pants off the floor. "I can't fucking believe this shit. I have one knocked up at home, and I have you knocked up here. What the fuck?"

My mom's face turned white. "She's pregnant? I thought you said you were leaving her. This is why you didn't leave her yet? Because you fucked her and got her pregnant?"

Billy's hand flew out so fast, my mom didn't see it coming. Her head snapped back, and she fell to the floor. I rushed in to try and save her right before he kicked her while she was down. "Fucking bitch trying to trap me again."




       
         
       
        
"Leave my mom alone." I put myself in front of her.

"You can have her. Cheap bitch spreads for everyone." He put his shirt back on. "Don't try to say this one is mine, too. You know I'll fucking bury you before the results come back." And with that, he stormed out of the room.

I looked over at my mom, who was curled up in a ball crying. "It's okay, Mom, I'm going to get you water." I ran back into the kitchen, grabbed a glass and water, and then walked super slow so I didn't spill any.

What greeted me when I returned to the room was my mom in a puddle of blood pooling around her bottom. "Mom? Are you sick, Mom?"

Her eyes were closed, and the blood just didn't stop. My hands were all covered in it now.

"Mom?"

My eyes flash open, the sheets tangled at my feet, my chest heaving, the bile slowly rising. I barely make it to the bathroom before everything ejects from my body.

Bending over the toilet is not the way I wanted to wake up this morning. After rinsing my mouth and brushing my teeth, I head downstairs to start my day at four-oh-four in the morning.

"Fucking great," I say to myself as I wait for my Keurig to finish brewing my coffee.

I sit and peer out into the dark night, so quiet and peaceful. I bought this house because it had a backyard that led to a lake.

Looking out over the calm lake, my mind wanders back to the blackest days of my life.

I called 911, not really understanding what was happening but knowing I had to get my mother help. Mom suffered a miscarriage right there in her bedroom. She was never the same after it. As soon as we got back from the hospital, she packed up all our stuff, and we left that little apartment, the only place I ever had good memories of my mom.

That's when everything spiraled out of control. The drugs, the stripping, the men. It was a fucking revolving door. Once when I was sixteen, she was high and drunk, and I picked her up off the couch and brought her into her room. Her whispered confession that night were words I never forgot, words that still haunted me. "I try, Mick, but it's just so hard. It's so hard loving you when all you do is remind me of him."