Page 97 of Defect
“I need to give you something to remind you who you belong to.” I couldn’t slow down the beating of my heart if I wanted to. My tongue pressed against the roof of my mouth and there was no use trying to pull it down. “Don’t people tie a string around their finger so they don’t forget stuff?” He asked.
“Uh huh,” I nodded, trying to unglue my tongue. He walked over to where the new tea station would be and found a red string used to hold together a bundle of leaves. When he came back to me he motioned for my hand and I gave it to him. He tied the string around my ring finger putting it in a bow that sat right at the front above my knuckle. “Remind me after all the drama in our lives calm down that I have a new last name I wanna give you.”
I closed my eyes for a second and then opened them, shaking my head. “Ezra, you’re too fucking much.” I stared at that red string like it was a ten-carat rock on my finger. It was just as special. “I don’t think that’s the type of thing you’ll forget,” I said.
“You know my brain is kind of defective.” He thumped his fingers against his temple and I shoved him playfully. “Now, go ahead and find your lawyer.” He slapped my ass and I bit my bottom lip at the sting. Once my head was on straight again, I was able to concentrate enough to find a lawyer that would help me petition the court for custody of Malachi.
…
“I’m going to get Tyke from school. You coming?” I asked Ezra. He was busy finishing up his Etsy shop so his face was buried in the phone while he picked out keywords and loaded pictures of his blends in glass jars. I loved watching him get so deep into it.
“Yeah, of course. Let’s go.” We walked outside to the car and a horn sounded over and over. I watched him scan the area and then I watched irritation flit across his honey brown face.
It was his mother.
She was such a damn stalker. She knocked on my door at least three times a night once we got home for the evening. We started ignoring her ass. I did order security cameras to install on the parch though because I wanted to use every ounce of footage to show Detective Barnes that she was harassing me and Ezra.
“Fuck. I’m so tired of her following me around.”
“I can go talk to her,” I offered, more than happy to curse her ass out like I’d been doing all week.
“No. I’m tired of this shit. Isn’t there something I can do about it?”
“You can get a restraining order but she lives across the street so…” I shrugged my shoulders and Ezra opened the door for me.
“Maybe if I ignore her she’ll go away,” he reasoned, getting in the car.
“If only. You’re going to have to do something because she’s never going to leave you alone and I swear to god if I get Sun Goddess fixed up and she vandalizes it again, I’m going to jail for fucking her up.”
“Hey, if you get to beat her ass that you’re going to give me Vince’s address.”
“Fair enough,” I replied. We pulled off and I glanced over my shoulder to see her flowing us in her car and blowing the horn for him to pull over. I rolled my eyes and massaged my temples before I did something stupid like hurl shit out of the window at her car.
That woman made me irrationally angry.
She was still tailing us when we pulled into the parking lot of Malachi’s school. I wasn’t even shocked. Ezra got out of the car and stalked over to her, taking long, purposeful steps. I wanted to go with him but it was time for me to pick up Malachi and I didn’t know what the fuck his father was going to do. I didn’t want him riding the school bus and going home to an empty house without food though, so until Vince contacted me directly, I was going to keep Malachi.
When the last bell of the day rang and kids flooded the hall, I was standing right there waiting for Malachi. Amaris saw me amongst the crowd of little people and mouthedI’m sorry. I blew her a kiss and she smiled a little. After Ezra fucked some sense back into my mind, I was fine and what she said didn’t bother me one bit.
“Hi, Solo! Where’s Hulk?” Malachi asked, holding my hand and looking around.
“He’s in the parking lot but he’s here,” I assured him.
“Okay. Hey, what’s this on your finger?” He asked, looking down at the artfully tied red ribbon.
“Hulk gave it to me.”
“Oh. Is it to remember stuff? I saw that on a show before and my grandma told me that’s how people remember things.”
“You’re absolutely right,” I said as we walked out of the school.
“So what do you need to remember?”
“To tell Hulk something a little later on.”
“Tell him what?” Malachi asked, grinning up at me. He knew he was being nosey.
“Stuff,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
