Page 92 of Deserter

I did what I wanted, when I wanted. Granted, Celia had brought me down some, but I still called the shots. That was the way it had been since I took over the club and I expected it’d be that way until I left this earth.

Maybe it made me a selfish bastard, but in my head, I’d decided that we were going to see my son. It had been too long and if anyone deserved our time, it was that little boy, not some rich pricks who’d abandoned their daughter when she needed them the most.

End of motherfucking story.

Celia had looked up at me with those big green eyes and the next thing I knew, I was sharing fried chicken and mashed potatoes with people I despised.

“So, Celia,” Norma began. “How did you do fall semester?”

I looked up from my plate to see Celia frozen, her fork halfway to her mouth and eyebrows bunched together. “Mama, I didn’t take classes last semester.”

This time, I leaned over and squeezed her thigh. “My wife’s been a little busy with being knocked up, Norma. She’ll go to school when she’s ready.”

She turned to face me in surprise. “Really? You’ll let me go to school?”

I ground my molars together, wishing like hell that we didn’t have an audience. The way she asked, like I was holding her hostage. “Never said I wouldn’t, princess.”

Norma speared a baked carrot with her fork while watching me through narrowed eyes. “Is education important to you, Grey?”

“Mama, it’s Jamie.”

She didn’t acknowledge Celia’s comment, and continued staring me down. When that didn’t have the desired effect, she snapped, “Are you going to forbid Mary Katherine from getting an education when she’s old enough too? Sell her to the highest bidder for your club?”

I dropped my knife and fork, letting both fall to my plate with a clatter. “The fuck did you just say?”

“That’s enough!” Celia shoved her chair back and stood up. “I hadn’t even thought about school until you brought it up. If I choose to do that, Jamie will support me.”

Norma’s fork slipped from her fingers and fell onto the white tablecloth and she looked to Richard to say something. As usual, he kept his head down and stayed silent.

I pushed back from the table and stood up. “Going outside.”

I had the cigarette lit up and in my mouth before the front door closed behind me. I leaned against the bricks and inhaled, letting the nicotine hit my lungs.

I was starting to think that Norma and Betsy weren’t all that different. They both seemed to turn up just when things were coming together and refused to leave until they’d destroyed everything in their paths.

“Mind if I join you?” Richard pulled the door shut behind him and stepped out onto porch.

I shrugged. “Do whatever you want. It won’t change the fact that we’re leaving as soon as I finish this.”

“She shouldn’t have said that about Mary Katherine. I think she’s just trying to navigate Celia not being a little girl anym—”

With the cigarette still in my mouth, I cornered him up against the bricks, exhaling a long stream of smoke into his face before flatly stating, “Don’t you fuckin’ justify this, Dick. She’s outta line and you’re gonna deal with her. Celia’s a grown woman and she makes her own choices.”

He nodded. “She does, you’re absolutely right. I think… I think Norma just needs a little more time to come around to the idea of you two together, you know?”

I frowned. “She better get used to it because this ain’t temporary. And you be sure to tell her that if she ever speaks to my wife or little girl like that again, she’ll be dealing with me and not you. You feel me?”

“It won’t happen again.”

I took the last drag off my cigarette with a laugh as Kate began wailing from inside the house. “You know how often I hear that shit? It’d be nice to believe it for once.”

Richard grabbed the door and ushered me back inside with a solemn nod. Kate screamed and kicked her feet as Celia worked to free her from the car seat.

“It’s okay, Katydid. Mama’s here.” She lifted her up and I grinned at my splotchy-faced little girl. Her small body shook with sobs and she began frantically rooting around on Celia’s shoulder, looking for a meal.

“You gonna nurse her before we go?” I asked from the doorway.

She looked up at me with a smirk and sank down into the recliner that Richard had sat in the day we broke the news. “You think she’d even consider allowing us to leave first?”

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