Page 96 of Why Cheese?
“It’s the same tale as the rest of you. I ate a piece of cheese I shouldn’t and became that which I consumed. There’s nothing more that needs to be said.” Roq tugs down his shirt and puffs up his chest. “Brie? Have you finished cleaning upstairs? The cheeses need cutting and Cheddy could assist with—”
“No.” Cam interrupts. “I’m not letting you browbeat your way out of this any longer.” He takes a deep breath and stares right into Roq’s eyes. “He’s the one who cursed us.”
Roq shakes his head, his lips fighting to smile.
“What?” Cheddy asks.
“That doesn’t make any sense. It was a witch. How could he curse us if he’s cursed too?” Brie argues back.
“It was him. He brought forth the curse while trying to craft the perfect cheese.” Cam sweeps his hand around to the racks and racks of cheese until they look unending. Cheddy and Brie both stare with hardening gazes.
“Is this true?” Brie asks, his eyes brimming with tears.
Roq raises his hands as if he’s about to call out Cam, but they start to shake. “I wasn’t trying to…I. You have to understand the pressure I was under. If I didn’t appease my lord he was going to—”
“How?” Cheddy’s single word cut like a knife.
“A dream and a deal made with a man of shadow. I didn’t even think it real until—”
Tears streaming down his cheeks, Cheddy grabs Roq by the shoulders. “How could you?”
“Chedward…”
“We trusted you. You’re our commander. But you betrayed us? You lied to us? All this time! Why?”
“I did it for you,” Roq says. He moves to pat Cheddy’s shoulder, but the man flings his hand away.
Bawling, Cheddy steps back. His words come in spurts between sobs. “Stay away from me, you coward.” Tears flying off, he runs for the ladder.
Roq glances at Brie. “I can explain. Let me explain.”
Opening his hands, Brie drops the pot to the ground. It bangs about in a circle before coming to a stop on Roq’s foot. Without looking back, Brie joins Cheddy up the ladder.
Enraged, Roq spins on Cam. “How could you do this to me?”
Cam snorts. He picks up the pan and bangs the bottom once. “You did this to yourself.” With a great heave, he throws the pan into the vat and saunters off after Brie and Cheddy.
Roq turns so only the cheese can see him. But his knuckles pop white as he digs into the shelf, a strangled cry becoming a scream. As his ear-piercing wail finishes its final echo, he slumps off back to the vault.
Holding Brie’s painting close to my chest, I beg the universe, “What do I do now?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Broken Blues
CRYING OUT, ROQ hefts a huge wheel of cheese off of the rack. “I did it—” he shrieks and slams it into the wall. “For you!” The cheese splinters inside of its shroud, the pieces landing together on the floor with a splat.
“Every fucking minute was for you!” He smashes his foot into the broken cheese. It’d be a dramatic end if the cheese didn’t ooze up over his shoe and stick to the rivets and laces. Roq shakes his leg to get rid of the mess, but it won’t work. “Get off!” He kicks so hard that his shoe goes flying. It clangs against a milk jug hiding inside the vault.
Red burns in his eyes. With his shoulders hunched and face in a sneer, he marches toward the jug. “What was the goddamn point?” Roq lashes out, his bare foot colliding with the metal can.
The ringing scrapes my ears. I cover them as the canister tips over. Milk glugs out over the floor. A reflection of a broken man glistens across the white puddle and tears start to fall. “Why did I bother?”
After giving the rolling can one more kick, Roq stomps for the ladder. All the while, I stand there, doing my best to not exist. His scream of agony echoes without end in my ears.
I need to get out of here. I have to be back at the hotel room with Mom. What if she wakes up?
My foot splashes the spilled milk in my escape. Without thinking, my hands grab a mop.
