Page 23 of Zeus: Love of a god

He stood there frozen. Why wasn’t he doing anything? Our son was dead on our porch. Someone had the boldness to kill our son and dump him on our doorstep. From the corner of my eye, I saw Aaron move toward the door. He snatched something down off it. It looked like a note.

“What the fuck?” he mumbled. “Why would this nigga kill my fuckin’ son!”

He dropped the piece of paper that was in his hand before he stormed off the porch toward the car. With a tear drenched face, I picked up the paper to see what it was. I read the words, and my entire spirit left my body.

Thought I’d give you back your rapist ass son.

You touch mine, I kill yours!

-Z

My throat locked up. I couldn’t move as I held my baby in my arms. Out of my three boys, Cory was my favorite. Some said it was wrong to have a favorite child, but I said fuck that. Cory was the only son that ever showed me genuine love. AJ and Jason were replicas of their father when it came to giving a damn about me. AJ once told me when he was around twenty-one that he knew I only had them as a way to keep their father.

I wouldn’t deny that what he said wasn’t true. However, that did not mean that I didn’t love them. Aaron was just sitting in his car.What the hell is he doing?Moments later, in the distance, I heard sirens. Aaron finally climbed out.

When he got to the porch, he extended his hand. “Give me the note.” When I paused, he repeated his request with more bass in his voice. After I handed it over, he said, “Don’t say shit to the cops about who you think did this. We came home and found our boy here.”

“What do you mean don’t say anyth?—”

He took another step toward me. “What the fuck did I say? Don’t say shit to those muthafuckas. Jennifer, I promise you that if you do, we’ll be having two funerals.”

My heart broke at his threat. This was the first time that he’d ever threatened to do some kind of bodily harm to me, and I knew that he meant it. Normally, when he threw out his threats, I pushed them to the back of my head. This time, I wouldn’t.

Before I could blink my eyes again, the police and ambulance were all over our yard. They had me move from our porch. I did, but not without a fight. I needed to be with my boy. Twenty minutes after the cops and ambulance arrived, AJ, Jason, and a few other K.O.K riders arrived. By that time, they had Cory’s body covered and on a stretcher.

When my sons rushed over to Aaron, they both were asking questions. “Not here.” That was all that he said.Not here.

PRESENT TIME…

We buried my son a few days ago. I’d been numb since it all happened. You would think that the loss of our son would soften Aaron’s heart toward me. It felt like it hardened it. AJ and Jason were devastated, along with the rest of the club.

The tribute ride was painful for many reasons. I expected to ride on the back of Aaron’s bike with him, but he told me no. AJ had his little girlfriend on the back of his, the same as Jason. In all the years that we’d been married, I never learned how to ride a motorcycle. When I was a Kitty, I never had to ride a bike alone. I was always on the back of a bike. Embarrassed, I resorted to riding on the back of one of the other Kitty’s bikes.

Aaron didn’t even sit next to me at the funeral. People didn’t bother to whisper about how shady it all looked. Since Cory’s death, there had been a lot of meetings behind closed doors that I was not privy to. Anytime I asked my husband about them, his response wasdon’t you have shopping to do or some shit.My sons were no better.

I loved that man for so long. He would never know all the shit I had to do just to be with him. If I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn’t have wasted my damn time. Who wanted to be with a man who they fought for, to be treated worse than a dog.

“Aaron, what do you want to do with Cory’s condo that he owned?” I asked after I walked into his office.

He looked up from a piece of paper that he was focused on that was on top of his desk. His face tightened. “I’m sorry. I couldhave sworn my door was closed. I didn’t hear a knock, nor did I hear myself telling you to come in.”

“Aaron, are you serious right now? I’ve seen AJ and Jason walk in here without knocking. You never say anything to them.”

He was utterly ridiculous. This was a time that we should be unified to grieve together. Instead, we were at each other’s necks. I’d been trying to give grace. Why should I? He never gave me any.

He stared at me for a beat. “Last I checked, you are not AJ or Jason. They have the right to walk in here without knocking because they’re my sons.”

“I’m your wife,” I said incredulously.

He chuckled. “Jen, sweetie, I would think at this point that you would realize you screaming about being my wife holds no weight with me. As far as your question is concerned, that’s up to you. You know that you don’t have to ask me that as the executor of his estate.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Are you mad that he made me the executor and not you?”

“Why would I be mad when I was the one who told him to do it? I figured you would want to feel what it felt like to get something from someone’s estate. I just never realized that I would bury my son instead of my son burying me.”

My mind replayed his words over. What did he mean by me feeling what it felt like to get something from someone’s estate? I wanted to ask, but I knew he would just say something to piss me off. I chose to go with a safer question. “What’s going on with those fuckas who killed my son?”

Without looking at me, he simply replied, “It’s being handled. Outside of that, it’s none of your concern.”

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