I quickly grabbed my spare keys from the junk drawer. I got in, cranked up, hit the garage opener and backed out. I was turning into the street when King came running out of the house. He ran to the end of the driveway then just stood there. I watched him through the rearview mirror. He looked downright evil, like he was ready to cause me pain. I trembled. I would explain to him I just needed a minute.
I was reeling from the violent grip of anxiety that had overtaken me. I knew I shouldn’t be driving, so I parked down the street at the park, climbed into the back seat of my car, then I cried myself to sleep.
When I woke up it was light out. I checked the clock and saw it was after nine in the morning. I panicked because I had an exam that morning. I tried my hardest not to think about what happened with King. I reasoned that if he hadn’t killed his wife she probably wouldn’t have stopped until she’d killed me. She seemed deranged, but she was married to King, so that was to be expected.
I crawled back into the driver’s seat and drove back home.
When I got there my momma had already packed my bag. She told me King had let her know I ran James away. “Why and how would I do that, Mother?” She slapped me. Instead of hitting her back like I wanted to, I grabbed my bag to leave. Fuck her, she wanted me gone. I would leave. I opened the door just as King was pulling into the driveway. A squad car pulled in right behind him.
He stared at me with so much malice it unnerved me.
Time seemed to slow down after that. King got out of the car. His white t-shirt and blue jeans had blood on them. He stood like he was waiting for something. The officers rushed him, slamming him to the ground. Momma rushed out past me yelling at the officer “What is going on? That’s my son.”
I later learned that King had went to Ellis’s house thinking I would be there, when Ellis told him I wasn’t King had assaulted him.
The whole time everything was going on I just stood frozen like someone had pressed pause on life, watching it all unfold. It was weird, because the look on King’s face as he was shoved into the back of the car was almost serene, like he was okay with being arrested.
I always wondered why. In the end I begged Ellis to not press charges. He didn’t, but King still went to jail. The cops had searched his car and found a gun. He was found guilty of possession of an unregistered firearm. In Florida that was a mandatory five years.
After that I had nowhere to go, so I moved in with Ellis. We moved to Georgia and I transferred to Spellman. I put the past behind me, somewhat. I tried to act normal. I finished my freshman and sophomore year of college before Ellis and I got serious. I thought marrying him would be the first step in the right direction.
He turned out to be worse than King, in my opinion. At least King had loved me. Ellis turned into a nightmare. He seemed to hate me but wouldn’t let me go. He forced me to drop out school. He didn’t want me to have friends. The sex that was already mediocre from the beginning turned terrible. Some night his dick wouldn’t even get hard. He would blame that on me. Then his parents started asking for a grandchild, so of course we had to give them one. We tried but couldn’t. For a year I thought I was the one with the problem.
King’s hand on my shoulder brought me back to reality. He held the gun out for me to take. “Do it.” He circled me. “Kill him. Prove to me that you never loved him, that it’s always only been me. You want to do it. You’ve dreamt of killing him. This is your chance. You say you love me, prove it. You started all of this. End it,” he taunted. “I showed you I’m willing to sacrifice it all for you, that I love you,” he said sounding less calculating.
“Why did you look so at peace that day?” I asked, ignoring the gun.
“What day?” he nodded.
“The day you were arrested.”
He paused; his brow creased as if he was contemplating it. A lascivious smile slowly spread across his lips.
“I knew that day even if I went to prison for ten years, I’d be in your head for every day of those ten years. You wrote me once a month for nearly four years even though I never responded. You say you didn’t come back here for me. But you didn’t leave when you found out I was here. You could have gone to a hotel. I’m in your head, Eden, your heart.” He reached out to tap me on my chest. “Your soul.”
I cut.my eyes at Ellis, uncomfortable at the fact that he was hearing one of my secrets. The letters I’d sent King I’d sent out of guilt at first, then it just became a habit.
King snapped his fingers in my face. “You don’t have to feel bad. Ken has a secret of his own.” He turned away from me to face Ellis. “Don’t you?”
Ellis glared at King.
King waved his gun towards him. “Should I tell her, or will you?” King paused long enough to make sure he had my attention. “Well, since you don’t seem to want to tell her…” He sounded giddy.
Ellis stood up from his chair so fast it fell over. The bang startled me, I jumped.
King’s reaction was to aim the gun at Ellis’ head. “Sit your ass back down.”
Ellis hesitated for a few seconds. King tapped the gun with two fingers. He nearly growled. “Pick the fucking chair up and sit down or I won’t let her shoot you. I’ll gut you like a fucking pig and I’ll take my time.”
Not even waiting for him Ellis to comply, King turned to face me while pulling my right hand into his, acting as if I would need comfort for what I was about to hear. He retrained his gun on Ellis
Nervously, I chewed at my bottom lip waiting on bated breath for what would come next. I knew about the affairs. I knew about his vasectomy. What more could there be?
King pulled out a cellphone that had to be at least four years old. He scrolled through it for several seconds His tongue was stuck between his teeth. He did that when he was excited.
When he found what he was looking for he turned the phone in my direction. I took it.
The shock of what I saw had my mouth falling open. The first picture was Momma on her knees in front of Ellis. My stomach roiled. I almost dropped the phone. My head snapped in the direction of my husband.
“This is from back in high school.” Ellis still had his toned body. I didn’t even know Ellis and my momma knew each other then.
The world felt like it shifted on its axis.
Ellis looked about ready to murder King. His face was a mask of rage. He looked how I felt. His eyes kept darting towards the gun, like he was considering going for it.
King laughed drawing my attention. “When I told you to stay away from him it was for your own good,” he said, with a condescending smirk on his lips. “Boy Wonder is a local mother fucker, literally. Long before I knew he was interested in you I saw him going in and out of the hotel I was holed up in with all the local cougars, your momma was one of them. I told him to stay away from you or there would be consequences.” King sighed and sneered at Ellis. “But your husband likes to play loose and fast with his life.”
I took a tentative step back, raised my hand and massaged my temples in an attempt to stave off the migraine.
“You want to shoot him now?” King asked eagerly.
Aggravated, I glared at him, while my mind kept replaying all the times my momma came to visit me. Her and Ellis acted like a couple. One incident in particular came to mind. I couldn’t sleep so I got up to get a glass of water. I caught Ellis coming out of the guest room where she slept at like four in the morning. I hadn’t even questioned it. I hadn’t cared. But now I felt dirty.