Son for Hire: Chapter 27 (Patreon)

Kiki does not cry for long, unlike her heart on his sleeve brother she wasn’t much of a crier, but she is in no hurry to break our sibling embrace.  Sensing her emotions had settled I say.

“Hey, I never told you the good part yet.”

My sister looks up at me.  “Good part?  There’s a silver lining to this shit storm?”

“Yeah…or, well, I think so.”  I say.  “Evelyn called me her gigolo.”

“Oh really?”  This news perks Kiki right up.  “So…you two have an arrangement?  

“Kinda.”

“Kinda?”  She sits up and puts her hands on my shoulders  “You’re going to be a kept man?”

“I think so.”

“What do you mean you think so?”  She says.  “What did you agree to?  What’s the pay?”

“I mean…I dunno.”  I say.  “I hate talking about money with her.  It’s so awkward.”

She laughs.  This much needed ray of hope gives her something to seize upon.  “Well start talking to her about it!  We got bills to pay kid.”  She gives me a shake.  “This is fantastic!  You weren’t kidding when you said there was a connection.  She’s willing to do that after only two times?”

“Yeah.”  I smile and wish I had brought it up sooner.  “She’s so amazing Kiki.”

“I told you, don’t fall in love with her.  This doesn’t change anything”  She warns.  “You sure this is legit?”

“It’s legit.”  I say.  “I am sure of that.  She really likes me Kiki.”

“Wow.”  Kiki smiles and kisses my cheek.  “Well, you are a likable guy.  Lucky little bugger!  How come I never got a Daddy but you stumble right into a Mamma?”

“I dunno.  She said it was because I was ‘real’.”

“Real huh?  I think it’s time I got ‘real’ with someone.  Ha ha!”  She quips.  “So is this a trial thing or once in a while or does she want to keep you full time?  Gimme the deets.”

“Ah…I dunno.”

“Donny!”

“Well, I think she wants me full time.”  I say.  “She even wanted me to live with her.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry.  I’m not going to do it.”

“How the hell would you live with her?  Is her husband on-board with this?  Some guys like that shit.”  Her nose crinkles in that cute way she had.  “Does he watch you two?”

“No!  Nothing like that.”  I shake my head.  “No, Alan doesn’t and wouldn’t know about us.  They have this basement suite, real nice place.  We were gonna make up a story and have me live down there as a tenant.  Right under his nose so to speak.”

“Oh.”  She thinks.  “It’s just sitting there empty or are there tenants?”

“Empty.  Ready to be moved into.  But…”

“Sweet!”  Her brown eyes sparkle.  “How soon does she want you there?”

“I don’t know.”

“Geez!  Do you know anything?”  She chuckles.  “If it’s empty you could go right away.”

“Well, it’s a bit more complicated.  Besides, like I said, I’m not going to do it.”  I assure her.  “I’m going to stay here with you.”

She looks into my eyes and stares at me for a long time.  A look of melancholy comes over my sister’s pretty face.  “The hell you are Donny.”

“What?”

“Donny, if she wants you there…you go!”  Kiki says fervently.  “You don’t pass up on an opportunity like that.”  She knocks my forehead.  “Don’t be a dummy.  Sugar Momma offers you a place in paradise you take it.”

“But…”

“Kid.  She’ll only want you for as long as you do as she says.  She says to go, you go.  As long as she’s treating you nice you grab that chance with both hands and you milk that sugar as long as you can, then you get the fuck out if and when things go sour.”

I grumble at her mercenary attitude.  “It’s not like that.”

“Why the fuck would you want to stay here!?”

I take her hand and bring to my chest.  “For you.  For us.”

Her features harden as she slips her out to then hold mine against my chest.  “I’ll be okay Donny.”  She says.  “You gotta go kid.  You have a way out brother…take it!”

“But…”

“I’ll be okay.”  She says.  “I’ll be right here.  Right here ready to welcome you back if things don’t work out.  But you go and you don’t look back unless you need to.  Okay?”

“I won’t leave you.”  I whisper.  “I won’t you leave you behind.  Especially now.”

“It’s okay kid.  Like you said, I’m tough.  I’ll manage by myself.  Heck, it’ll be easier without your mouth to feed.  And I’d FINALLY have the place to myself.  Ha!”  She almost convinces me…almost.  I could see the hurt in her eyes that she was trying so hard to mask.  “Maybe send me a few bucks once in awhile.  Help a sister out until she’s back on her feet.”

“Kiki…”

“This calls for a celebration!”

***

A celebration is exactly what we have.  Kiki gets ready and we head out to a movie.  With popcorn and drinks we roar our way through the hilarious comedy, our upbeat mood and constant quipping making the show far funnier than it really was.  A couple of Karen’s grumbled at our frivolity the whole time and were rewarded with popcorns pinging off of their heads as Kiki waged war.  We made two bitter enemies but it was just the release we needed today.  Following that was a really nice meal at a hole in the wall Jamaican place that just opened up in the neighborhood.  The food was delicious!  At the restaurant we dance and sing along to the reggae tunes and even draw the owner’s kids into our silliness.  There is a smile on every face as we take our leave.  From there we get tarot readings from this crazy old hippy Kiki knew.  The gist of which was that I “had an exciting opportunity that will expand my horizons if only I am brave enough to seize it” and that Kiki “faced a crossroads in her life and that she ought to think hard on which path to take”.  I thought it all nonsense, the two readings sounding way too vague and a way too similar, but Kiki makes a big deal of it and talks about it for the next half hour as we just wander about.  

“See!  An exciting opportunity.  The cards know.”  Kiki says.

I roll my eyes.  “How many times has that crazy old bat said that exact same thing?”  Kiki pinches my arm with that extra little twist that only a sibling could get away with.  “Ouch!”  I laugh.

“You’ll see.”  She says knowingly.  “The cards don’t lie.”

All in all the evening was just wonderful.  We rejoice not only in my opportunity but in our freedom from the cruel Diane.  Neither of us knew what tomorrow would bring but tonight, my wallet fat with Evelyn’s generosity, we can just be brother and sister again.  Things were going so well, until…

“Hey Donny.”  Kiki says with a growing fidget that I had come to recognize.  “I gotta go meet some friends.  Front your sis a fifty?”

“Friends?”

“Yeah.  I told Jude and Charlene I’d swing by tonight.”  She says.  “I’m hoping they might be able to help me line up some work.  I just need a few bucks.  Ya know, in case we hit the bar.”  She grips her left forearm with her right hand and rubs it subtly, impatient for my answer.

She was lying to me.  She wasn’t going to a bar.  She was going to her dealer.

“Um, maybe we should just hold onto what we’ve got.”  I say.  “I don’t know when Evelyn…”

“Come on!”  She presses me.  “You got a Sugar Mamma now.  She’ll make sure you’re okay.  Just fifty bucks Donny.  I’m good for it.”

“Kiki…you know you don’t ever have to pay me back.”  I say, more than a little offended that she wanted to treat this as a loan.  “Kiki…"

“So you’ll give it to me?”  She cuts me off.  “You’re the fucking best kid.  The absolute best.”

How could I say no?  She’d been carrying my mooching ass ever since Mom left.  Now that I was flush I was going to deny her?  No way.

“Yeah, sure.”  Reluctantly I pull a fifty and twenty from my wallet and hand it over.  “Please don’t buy drugs with it.”

Her hand pauses, just for a second, and her face flinches…before she snatches the bills quick as a striking viper.  “I won’t.  Geez, have some faith.”  She laughs tensely and pulls me into a hug.  “I have had the best fucking time tonight Donny.”

“Me too.”

“We’ll do this again soon.”

“Sure.”

“I love you kid.”  She kisses my cheek.  “Don’t wait up. I’ll probably be late.  You know how the three of us get going.”

“Yeah…sure.”  I say and hug her extra tight.  “I love you.  Please take care of yourself Kiki.”

“You know it.”  She pats my chest.  “See you in the morning.”  With that she hurries off back down the street from where we’d just come.

I stand alone on the sidewalk and watch her go.  How many times had I watched my mother walk down this same street, curly hair bouncing to her stride?  The similarities were chilling.  With fresh eyes I look around me at the rundown buildings, the bars in the windows, the cracked concrete, the single scrawny tree barely clinging to life along the side the road, the graffiti, the trash carried by the wind through a nearby alley, the sound of sirens and the screeching of a domestic dispute wafting down to the street from an open window above me.   All of this I contrast with the blissful quiet along with the bright colors of the blue pools, verdant lawns and trees, and perfectly painted homes of Evelyn’s area.  I look back down the street and Kiki was already gone.  Swallowed up by the churning old ghetto.

***

I am home for maybe an hour, just sitting in the dark and thinking, when my phone rings.  I look at the number, the last one I had programmed in that very day, and I smile despite the fears weighing down my heart.

“Mom.”  I answer.

“Hey baby.”  Comes Evelyn’s smooth voice.  “You don’t mind me calling right now?”

“Never.”  I say.  “God I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”  She says.  “How was the rest of your day?  Did the cab get you home okay?”

“I got home.  The day turned out great.  Wonderful in fact.”  I say.  “Yours?”

“Not as good without my little man.”  She sighs.  “But it was okay considering.”

“That’s good.”  I say.

“What’s up?”  She asks, hearing something was wrong just by the tone of my voice.

“I talked to Kiki and I’ve done some thinking and…there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“I will move in with you Evelyn, if you can manage it.  It want it more than anything.  I’d be the luckiest boy in the world!”

“But?”

“But…Kiki and I….”  I take a deep shuddering breath to summon my courage.  “…we’re a package deal.”

“Excuse me?”

“I will not leave my sister behind.”

Chapter 28