She scoffed. “Why do you think I was into you, moron? It’s because you play dressup! I could tolerate your need to jump on other half naked men in a ring but I won’t tolerate you coming into my yard and attacking people. The entire neighborhood already thought this house was an extension of a circus and now you’re drawing even more attention!”
“You love attention! Look at you!”
“I love attention onme! Not my house or my niece! And I like attention when I’m doing something to earn it! Jerk.” She threw her hands up when a cop car pulled up at the curb, quickly followed by three more. “You sonofabitch. Now look at what you did. Everyone’s going to think we’ve been cooking meth!”
Cash helped his brothers up and the three of them immediately made a wall in front of me, as if they were hiding me from the cops. Elvis saw what they were doing and tried to stand in front of Aunt Jolene but she smacked his arm and stepped to his side.
“Alright, everyone! Let’s break it up!” There were suddenly cops all around us, shouting different orders and pulling us apart.
Aunt Jolene fluffed her hair even as a young male cop tried to usher her away from Elvis. “What’s this about, gentlemen? If you wanted a picture or signature, you just had to ask.”
“We got reports of gang violence. We’re going to separate y’all and figure out what happened here.”
I snorted. “Gang violence?”
72
***Cass***
Hayes shot me a look. “Stay quiet. You did nothing wrong here.”
One of the cops put his hand on my shoulder to push me towards the house but I brushed his hand off to continue glaring at Hayes. “Don’t tell me to stay quiet. Just because that’s howyouhandle things doesn’t mean it’s the right way. Sometimes staying quiet is an admission of guilt!”
West sidestepped the cop trying to corral him and grabbed my hand. “And sometimes it’s a sign of ignorance and a failed attempt to give you the space we thought you needed.”
“Alright! That’s enough! Get over there right now or I’ll handcuff you!” An older cop with a thick mustache raised his voice at me and shoved West away. “No one is going to collude and align their stories!”
“Don’t put your hands on those kids! What is wrong with you?” Aunt Jolene stomped her foot and lifted her whip again.“That mustache makes me think you’d be into getting whipped. Come over here to me, big guy.”
Elvis grabbed the whip and tossed it away before pulling Aunt Jolene into his arms. “You’re not whipping anyone unless it’s me, baby.”
“We fucked up, Strawberry. We didn’t mean any of that shit we said. I think we were just jealous and being assholes and it came out without us-” Hayes was cut short by another officer pulling his arms behind his back to cuff him. “Hey, what the hell? You just ripped out half of the hair on my arm. Damn. And could you wait? I’m trying to get my girl back.”
“You forgive me for cutting your crotches out, Elvie?” Aunt Jolene ignored more cops and wrapped her arms around Elvis. “I missed you.”
“These people are insane! Let me go!” Jay Kong walked towards his truck and dragged the cop who was trying to grab his arm. “I knew I should’ve never gotten involved with a woman who won’t show me her real hair.”
“Sir! You need to stop! Iwilltase you!”
“We should’ve called. We should’ve come here and broken in.” Cash shot a look at the cop closest to him. “You know, metaphorically.”
“Break them up already! Jesus!” The mustache cop was yelling and pointing at where Aunt Jolene and Elvis were making out.
“I miss you so fucking much, Cassidy. I should’ve told you before. And now may not be the best time but I love you. I want to be with you.” Finding himself being cuffed, too, Cash shot the cop a dirty look before refocusing on me. “I love you. Do you hear me?”
“Taser! Taser! Taser!” Jay Kong fell sideways into the grass and groaned when the officer who’d tased him put him in cuffs.
“Separate them, goddammit!” Mustache was so focused on Aunt Jolene and Elvis making out that he didn’t notice West coming close to me again.
“I love you, Cassidy. I fucking love you so much and I’ve never felt this way before so I fucked up. I fucked up and I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you or making you think I’m like the assholes who came before us. I’m not like them. I know how much you’re worth and how fucking lucky I am that you looked twice at me.” He cupped my face in his hands and searched my eyes. “Don’t leave us.”
“Alright, lover boy! Get away from her.” Mustache pulled me away from West and pushed my shoulder so I’d sit down on the front step. “If this is a fucking gang, I’m the goddamn muffin man. Who called this shit in?”
I looked around at the chaos going on around us and my breath caught in my throat. Neighbors were lining the street to watch what was happening. Jay Kong was rolling around on the ground like a swollen snake, crying about the taser. Aunt Jolene and Elvis were almost humping each other while an exasperated female cop tried to make them stop. Hayes and Cash were in handcuffs and kept popping up from wherever the cops put them to try to get to me. There were flowers everywhere and the sweet floral scent made the fight that had just happened feel surreal. And there I was, sat on our front step, wondering what the hell dimension I’d stumbled into.
“I love you, too, Cassidy! Probably more than my brothers! Say you’ll forgive us!” Hayes was stopped by another exasperated cop and forced to his butt on the grass.
As soon as the cop focused on Hayes, Cash popped up and rushed over to me. “Say we aren’t too late.”
