Page 47 of Chaos Destiny
Ilovemy wife.
I wasn’t one of those fucks who got married to try to rectify their Oedipus-like issues. I left my mother behind in the DMV to attempt to get a college degree in California. There, I met a girl in a network security class. A brilliant, beautiful girl. Before I had a chance to do anything about how I felt about this girl, I answered the call to service and went on to provide military intelligence on a multinational scale. In the process, I met Gage, and it turned out that Gage was like a brother to that very same girl. Fate saved me once before, and here it was, saving me once again.
In the distance, a black sky loomed.
“That doesn’t look good,” Rashida said. “Hey, Julien, what do you think? Does that look like a regular storm?”
“No, it doesn’t,” I answered.
“What kind of storm does it look like?”
“A bad one.”
“Don’t be a dick. It was just a question.”
“Use your critical thinking skills. I mean,” I gestured, “look at it. Thing looks like Galactus.”
“That was dumb.”
Ari would have loved that joke, although it wasn’t much of one. Then, we would have had a debate about Galactus, a comicbook character whose claim to fame was eating planets, and the character’s parallels with and implications for manifest destiny.
If we got that far.
Some of my cruelest nights were those when I dreamed about her—the weight of her breasts in my mouth, her nipples pebbling on my tongue, the slick, warm heat as I held her steady, sinking inside her, and the raspy, desperate way she called my name when pleasure blacked out everything around us.
The first thing that drew me to her was how lovely she was. If there was a word that comprised cute, stunning, and gorgeous, I’d yet to discover it, and I had the inkling it still wouldn’t do her justice.
Then, it was how she made me feel.
For much of my life, I’d felt like I was dropped onto earth out of thin air. My birth parents, whoever they were, abandoned me in a hotel room when I was an infant. One of the housekeepers at the hotel found me, and when I couldn’t be located in any child welfare or hospital system, the housekeeper was allowed to take me home. Eventually, she went from foster mother to adoptive mother, and she raised me in an environment where curiosity was not only welcomed but encouraged.
Nearly everything excited me, and the more I learned, the more I wanted to share. But not everyone was receptive to a kid who would virtually fall out of his seat to talk about the inner workings of the universe in hopes that it would help him find his place in it. Even when people were willing to give me an audience, that excitement would eventually overwhelm them.
Not Ari.
Initially, I sat beside her in class because she was the prettiest girl I’d ever shared a space with. At the time, I hadn’t formulated a game plan for asking her out; however, when I sat next to her, she didn’t get up and switch seats. A few weeks later,some guy tried to take my spot. So, I collected her things and took them to the other side of the auditorium.
Although appalled, she joined me.
Eventually, she invited me to study with her at the library, and I fell for her so fast, Cupid’s head snapped around in disbelief. It was why asking me to give up on her was like asking me to live with a torn-open chest, my heart beating on my palm.
One of the twins waved a hand. “Psst. Hey, it’s Shida, right? Shida, ain’t nobody in this truck a farmer.”
Rashida frowned. “And that means?”
“You sound like you’re wanting Julien to pick you, like an apple or something, but girlie, it don’t matter. You could’ve fucked him this morning—his wife and baby, they alive. That means you fall back. If you’re desperate, me and my brother can fuck you.”
The second twin nodded. “My brother’ll hold your legs. I got your arms. Wait…you choke easy or naw? ‘Cause I got a big?—”
“Memph!” The first twin smacked his brother’s shoulder. “Don’t go tellin’ her all our secrets, now. Women like a man with a little mystery.”
Rashida studied them as if contemplating their offer, and it would do us both a world of good if she did. The quicker I could peel her away from my side, the easier it would be to explain this shit to Ari once I saw her.
Holy fuck.
I really was about to see my wife again.
Gage eyed me. “So what’s the story?”
