AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This is my first time running for office, but I’m no neophyte when it comes to shenanigans and slinging dirt. I learned that ruthlessness from a master of the game—my father. There was no one more diabolical than him. The ways in which he took joy in the annihilation of people’s lives was a thing of beauty if you got off on it. Repulsive if you didn’t. I was the latter, but I use the ruthless he taught me to break those who hurt the ones I love. How did this little curvy thing walking beside me become one of those people? More than a friend and lover. My wife.
“What was your favorite thing to do with the circus and carnival? What do you miss the most?” Taking her hand in mine, I let our linked arms swing lightly between us.
“You’re not going to believe it.” Giggling a little, she sneaks a glance up at me.
“What?” Her laughter is contagious, so my question gets caught up in the lightness of the moment.
“Getting cotton candy.” She shrugs a little.
“Really?” I challenge. “All the daredevil feats, the trapeze, helping your daddy tame lions, yet your favorite thing and what you miss most is cotton candy?” I chuckle in disbelief, shaking my head.
“Well, my dad was not big on me eating candy nor having food coloring and dyes in my food. We were surrounded by all the deliciously terrible food like funnel cake, fried ice cream, donuts, and hundreds of other concoctions. He had a hard time keeping me away from cotton candy. I loved the bright colors. It’s so yummy.” The way she closes her eyes and licks her lips thinking about it has me staring like a man starved. Which is terrible since we made passionate love this morning and all day yesterday as a way, I figure, to press reset again on this relationship.
But sex has not been the problem since our wedding night. No, navigating this new dynamic of us as a couple is what’s frightening.
From the moment LL came to me with the proposition, I’ve railed against it. Fought it because I was waiting for the betrayal—to be caught flat-footed, looking the fool. Hurt and pain have been my long-time companions. Nik was my only safe space, and to have her ripped from me through what I first believed was her betrayal was not to be borne. Now this new discovery… It’s just a hard fucking reality I have to accept. But the alternative is leaving her—losing her—and that will never happen.
“I get it,” I tell her, steering her in the direction I saw the cotton candy vendor.
We walk through a couple booths, one with Saban, one of Angel’s people, giving temporary tattoos and face painting. Behind her is her shadow, Snake, standing guard like he’s daring anyone to approach, which is negated by the work she’s doing.
Two more stalls down, we hit the cotton candy vendor. “What color do you want?” I ask my little wife, who seems to almost be dancing with excitement. I don’t think there is any such thing as cotton candy flavor. All I can remember is the overwhelming taste of sweetness.
“The rainbow one, please.”
After insisting on the vendor accepting my payment, I hand Nikki a stick of cotton candy as big as her head.
“Thank you.” She pulls off a long strand, holding it out to me. Leaning down, I catch it with my mouth.
“There,” she says, pressing it into her mouth. I deliberately cover her finger with my mouth, sucking the remaining sugar from her finger, loving the way her eyes blow wide with passion.
“If I didn’t have to give this speech, I’d be buried inside you right now.” I growl, tugging her to me for a kiss. “Have I told you how beautiful you look today?” I whisper in her ear.
“Uh-uh.” She shakes her head, the curly ponytail swishing prettily from side to side. I elected to wear jeans with a cowboy buckle on full display and a black Henley with some cowboy boots. Meanwhile, she’s what she proudly claimed was in an A-line, three-quarters sleeve vintage-inspire dress in periwinkle trimmed in platinum thread that puts me in the mind of the fifties’ television shows. She has on platinum Converse. I couldn’t care less but I must say she looks fun and adorable.
“It’s time.” LL appears like a wraith beside us.
“Alright. Give me just a second.” I’m unable to take my eyes off the vision in bobby socks in front of me. “I told a lie.”
Nikki’s eyes widen a little at my solemn tone. I have no idea what she expects, but she simply nods and says, “Okay.” Like she’s ready to take whatever revelation I have to say on the chin.
“When I said I regretted ever picking you up that night and taking you home, I lied. I was out of my mind with hurt and anger, and I lashed out. It was a complete and utter lie.” I cup her face in my hands. “You’re the best thing, my best thing, the best of me, and I’m thankful every day I ran you over with my car.” I swoop down, taking her laughter and her lips.
“I love you, Thi.” She whispers it so softly, I barely hear it. “I know it’s not fair for me to say it after all the problems I caused, but I do.” She steps away. her eyes brown pools of sorrow.
“Nikki,” I say, flummoxed. I knew—God, I knew she wanted me, was infatuated, but love?
“No, go do your thang,” she says, slipping into the Southern twang she’s been growing into more and more since the day I picked her up. “We’ll talk afterward. At home.” She smiles bravely like she’s waiting to be rejected.
“Ladies and gentlemen,the man of the hour and the next senator of the great state of Alabama, Mathias Shelby.” Santiago, who just sang one of his hit songs, throws out an arm, and I come onto the stage.
When LL and Natalie brought me up here, I lost sight of Nikki, so I scan the crowd looking for her. For a moment I thought I saw her on the edge of the crowd, hidden by her gigantic cotton candy. She must be finished with it, and her small form is lost in the throngs of people/
After giving the audience another sweep, I launch into the speech I’d been prepared to give since I saw those kids trapped on our property as my mother languished in the confines of her gilded prison.
“I’m Mathias Shelby, running for senate for this state, and I don’t deserve your vote.”
The crowd gasps, murmurs fill the people as I let my words sink in. I can see my monied supporters look askance at me, all save for Mama-Pete, who looks at me shrewdly over the corncob pipe she has clamped between her teeth, Pa-Pete, who’s standing beside her, wiry and strong, belying his advanced age, and Angel, who’s regarding me with a quirked eyebrow.
