Not happening. Not now, maybe not ever. Probably not ever.
Fuck it.
Never.
I take a step back, meaning to return to our room so I can share the news, but a floorboard creaks, and their conversation comes to an abrupt pause.
“What was that?” Pete asks, but Ladonna doesn’t respond. A few moments later, she rounds the corner.
“Ezra?”
“Hi. Hey. Hi there, Ms. Boyd.”
She screws up her face in a frown. “It’s Ladonna, sugar. You can just call me Ladonna.”
“My stepmother taught me to always be respectful of ladies.” I take a step back, but Ladonna matches it with a step forward.
“And what a lovely gentleman you are,” she says, and she sounds sincere. She almost sounds proud. “Baby, I don’t know what you heard, but I can assure you, it’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it? What’s going on?”
“I like you, Ezra,” she says to me, cupping my cheek for some strange reason. Queerer still, I don’t pull away. I simply stand here, allowing it to happen. It’s been so long since I’ve felt comfort from a woman. It’s what I assume most would describe as maternal affection, but I don’t know anything about that. Even when I had a stepmom, she was never the way Ladonna is with Johnny. She never cared. She wasn’t a mom, even back then. I got five short years with my real mom, and the only memories I have are the ones Barbara plays in my mind to remind me. It isn’t fair. I should’ve had a mom like Ladonna. Someone who was there. Someone kind. Maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe we can all just move to Dunsberry. We’ve done it before, when we all moved here.
“Please,” I whisper, gripping her hand. “Please don’t take him from me. He’s mine. He’s mine, and I’m his. If you’re going to take him, you have to take me too. And Bubba. I love him.”
And there the fuck it is. Truth.
I love him. I love them both.
“I know you do. We’re not trying to take him away from you, Ezra. We’re just—” There’s the sound of chair legs scraping against wood, then Pete’s big, clobbersome feet crashing against the floorboards. When he rounds the corner, his face is red like he’s just jogged a marathon. His big brown eyes are narrowed into slits as he stares at his mother, brimmed with bitterness and resentment, I’m assuming. After hearing their conversation, bitterness would be my guess, butPete is hill folk, and who the hell knows what goes through the mind of hill folk? “We’re at our limit, sweetie. We can’t keep the crops tended. We just don’t have enough hands on deck.”
“So, you’re what …? Here to kidnap him?”
Her eyes bulge. “Kidnap? Baby, no. We want him to—”
“Johnny,” I scream, because fuck this. Fuck them, fuck their plans, and fuck their fucking lives. No one takes Johnny away from me. No one.
“Sugar, I promise, if you’ll just let us explain.”
“Bubba!” I cry out.
“We tried it your way,” Pete tells his mother, reaching into his pocket. When he pulls his hand out, he’s holding an uncapped syringe.
“I don’t think that’s a safe place to store that,” I tell him, because it’s not, and he’s going to end up stabbing himself.
Pete snickers. “Listen, little man. I like you. I hope you won’t hold this next part against me.”
“What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, he lifts the syringe, then plunges it into my belly like he’s trying to gut me or something. It isn’t particularly painful, but the surprise is enough to leave me breathless. I clutch Pete’s shirt as he shoves the plunger down, injecting me with God knows what. When he removes the needle, I take a stumbling step to the side, gaping at him. Slowly, I slide down the wall, and Pete holds me by the hip, his touch kind. It’s a stark contrast to the whole drugging situation, but he carefully lowers me to the floor, and there’s concern and care in his eyes. It’s a smorgasbord of emotions, and I asked for none of them.
“What—what was in there?”
Pete cups my cheek and forces a smile. “You’re going to get sleepy. Don’t fight it. Just let it happen.”
I shove his hand away and open my mouth to scream for Bubba or Johnny, but nothing comes out. My tongue is heavy, and my vision is going black around the edges.
“For God’s sake,” Ladonna growls at her son. “Was that really necessary? I told you it was only in case of an emergency. We have no idea who the people are in Texas. What the hell are we supposed to do now?”
