“Oh no, you did not,” I whispered. But it wasn’t a whisper when I said, “Do not turn this on me!”
“Babe, for fuck’s sake, what the fuck are you talkin’ about?” he shouted, and he’d never shouted at me.
Not once.
Not ever.
And it snapped something in me.
I marched to him and shoved his chest then leaned into his face, in his space, up on my tiptoes.
“I was about to tell you I love you!” I yelled.
I watched his head jerk but kept right on ranting.
“Then your…whatever you call her…other woman, mistress, plaything, whatever,” I screeched the last word, “walks in. I know who she is to you, and I know I have to put up with it. I also know that you are supposed to hide that stuff from me. And now something beautiful has turned nasty and you’re making it worse by standing there lying to me.”
“Jesus, fuckin’ shit, Toots, you know this. I told you this the first goddamn night we met. I do clean!” he yelled.
“What?” I yelled back.
He bent, and I got off my toes or his angry face would have hit mine.
“I fuck clean. I only fuck clean. In any way I can get that clean. Nails is so dirty, the bitch is polluted. I do not fuck dirty.”
At that, I whispered, “What?”
“Yeah,” he clipped. “You are clean.”
I stood still and stunned.
I pulled myself out of it and told him, “I saw you kissing her.”
“The fuck you did.”
“I did!” I snapped, my temper flaring again. “It was the day I went shopping with the girls that first time. I saw you sitting on a picnic table, kissing her.”
“Fuckin’ hell,” he muttered, and then his eyes narrowed before he continued, “No, babe, you saw me sittin’ on a picnic table coverin’ for Gash. An old lady hits Ace at the same time a boy’s hittin’ a piece who’s not his old lady, we cover.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I hissed.
Even though I knew it wasn’t. I’d seen Cruise jump into action to do that very same thing.
“And I wasn’t kissin’ her. Fuck, her mouth’s been everywhere. I don’t share that shit with my brothers. They do. I don’t. Which is exactly my point.”
“I saw it,” I asserted.
“And I’m tellin’ you, you did not,” he shot back.
“I did!”
“Clara, Nails,” he shook his head, “not too smart. You know the use of one kinda woman, the kind like you. You know the use of what you call groupies, women that like to have a good time, no hang-ups, they just wanna party. Then there are women like Nails. Nails, she thinks she can lead a man around by his dick. And she is not wrong. I’ve seen her do it. It doesn’t last, but she gets off on it while it does. And she does it gettin’ him addicted to her snatch. She opens it, wide and free, doin’ that makin’ it so she’ll never really hook a man. And that isn’t about her getting around. It’s that she’s stupid and she’s ambitious. She aims high and her aim is me. So she fucks who she wants with an eye to me. And men will take what she offers, but they won’t do it for long when she makes it obvious she’s with one man and she’s gagging for another one.”
Well then.
That did sound stupid.
And ambitious.
Buck wasn’t done.
“So she’ll take what she can get, a boy lets her in, but she’s been comin’ after me. When you rolled in with the girls, Gash got the heads-up, he rolled Nails out, and I kept her occupied so Gash could get her washed off him and get to Minnie before Nails did something stupid if she got to Minnie. She had my attention, and Clara, that was the first time she had my attention, but she didn’t see it for what it was. She was stupid enough to think she had a shot. She took it. She got in my space, and I let her. But she didn’t kiss me. I didn’t kiss her. No fuckin’ way.”
“You had your hand on her,” I informed him.
“Yeah, so? It wasn’t down her fuckin’ pants. It was to keep the bitch from getting any closer to me.”
This was true.
It wasn’t down her pants.
“The girls told me she was yours.”
“The girls would think that seein’ as their boys told them that to save their own shit. She hangs around and she does it a lot. She’s got a use, or she did, now she’s out. But she had a use, they used it. Gash and Cruise aren’t gonna say she’s around so they can get a fuckin’ blowjob anytime they’re lookin’ to get off.”
Oh dear.
That made sense.
They wouldn’t say that.
In fact, the rules were, they couldn’t.
“Ink?” I asked quietly.
“Ink nailed her before Lorie. Ink finds a woman, he’s like me.”